Make Matt great again!
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Over the years Matt has had what seems like endless medical problems. At 25 he lost his right kidney due to a 15mm kidney stone that rendered it nonfunctional. Two years later he was due to have his gallbladder removed it was meant to be a standard laporoscopic surgery, due to his liver bed bleeding the doctors had to preform a full insision.
As most friends and family already know, a year and a half ago Matt's health has took a drastic nose dive.
In October 2016 things got to an all time low, It started with what seem to be a horrible gastro. The symptoms continued and worsened as time went on, leading to being in and out of the hospital. Matthew has already had 3 colonoscopies and 2 endoscopys, not to mention the endless blood tests and stool samples. Which all came back negative.
The most recent stool test (calprotectin) that was done checked the inflamation in his intestines, a normal range being 50 to 200, Matt's was 2100. During this time he and I have missed several days of work, for Matthew even weeks at a time. At a point things have been so bad that he had to actually leave his position.
This is when all the expenses began, after seeing several doctors and spending countless hours in and out of the hostpital for different testing- his current gastroentorologist was completely at a loss. He started Matthew on Entocort a corticosteroid which cost 140$ monthly. Even without the slight incling of a real diagnosis his gastrointerologist was trying to give him some relief. It has been two months now, the first month seemed to give a bit of relief but it was short lived. Matthew has lost about 25lbs due to simply not wanting to eat out of fear of being sick.
Matthew was then given a referal for another gastrointerologist (Dr. Mishkin) at a private clinic, he had his first appointment last friday.
Dr. Mishkin has already sent Matt for a "chromogranin A" a blood test used as a tumor marker to help diagnose carcinoid tumors.
In hopes of getting Matthew's life back he has refered him to a private laboratorie to do further testing, which as can be imagined is quite costly. Which brings us to this very difficult situation.
We have already spent all of our savings on our upcoming move this June and on a variety of different medications meant to help, (antispasmodics and antidiarrheals- Lomotil and Bentyl) to simply give him the ability to leave the house without needing an adult diaper.
The current testing that is required to hopefully get a real diagnosis is as follows
MRI 900$-1000$
Hydrogen breath test (glucose,lactulose) 400$
Fecal testing 400$
CT scan 450$
In the event that Matt's breath tests come back positive his required treatment is 2 rounds of a specialised antibiotic Rifaximin each 14 day treament is 800$, it is not covered by the RAMQ. Which we have been told by two different doctors might not work to irradicate the problem.
In order to achieve this goal of one day hopefully knowing what has caused all this and not waiting over a year for it. I am reaching out to all our friends and family for help, Matthew cannot continue to live in this state of constant fear.
Any donation will help us move closer to reaching our goal, we are forever grateful for all the help and kindness. Thank you in advance.
All my love and gratitude,
Alexia
As most friends and family already know, a year and a half ago Matt's health has took a drastic nose dive.
In October 2016 things got to an all time low, It started with what seem to be a horrible gastro. The symptoms continued and worsened as time went on, leading to being in and out of the hospital. Matthew has already had 3 colonoscopies and 2 endoscopys, not to mention the endless blood tests and stool samples. Which all came back negative.
The most recent stool test (calprotectin) that was done checked the inflamation in his intestines, a normal range being 50 to 200, Matt's was 2100. During this time he and I have missed several days of work, for Matthew even weeks at a time. At a point things have been so bad that he had to actually leave his position.
This is when all the expenses began, after seeing several doctors and spending countless hours in and out of the hostpital for different testing- his current gastroentorologist was completely at a loss. He started Matthew on Entocort a corticosteroid which cost 140$ monthly. Even without the slight incling of a real diagnosis his gastrointerologist was trying to give him some relief. It has been two months now, the first month seemed to give a bit of relief but it was short lived. Matthew has lost about 25lbs due to simply not wanting to eat out of fear of being sick.
Matthew was then given a referal for another gastrointerologist (Dr. Mishkin) at a private clinic, he had his first appointment last friday.
Dr. Mishkin has already sent Matt for a "chromogranin A" a blood test used as a tumor marker to help diagnose carcinoid tumors.
In hopes of getting Matthew's life back he has refered him to a private laboratorie to do further testing, which as can be imagined is quite costly. Which brings us to this very difficult situation.
We have already spent all of our savings on our upcoming move this June and on a variety of different medications meant to help, (antispasmodics and antidiarrheals- Lomotil and Bentyl) to simply give him the ability to leave the house without needing an adult diaper.
The current testing that is required to hopefully get a real diagnosis is as follows
MRI 900$-1000$
Hydrogen breath test (glucose,lactulose) 400$
Fecal testing 400$
CT scan 450$
In the event that Matt's breath tests come back positive his required treatment is 2 rounds of a specialised antibiotic Rifaximin each 14 day treament is 800$, it is not covered by the RAMQ. Which we have been told by two different doctors might not work to irradicate the problem.
In order to achieve this goal of one day hopefully knowing what has caused all this and not waiting over a year for it. I am reaching out to all our friends and family for help, Matthew cannot continue to live in this state of constant fear.
Any donation will help us move closer to reaching our goal, we are forever grateful for all the help and kindness. Thank you in advance.
All my love and gratitude,
Alexia
Organizer
Alexia Trougakos
Organizer
Verdun, QC
