On January 2nd, Matt woke up with excruciating pain, and after much pushing from his mom and me, he decided to go to the emergency room. He had been having abdominal pain for months but was dismissed by his primary doctor as a side effect of the medication he was taking. Once at the emergency room, they found that his gallbladder was infected and needed to be removed. They scheduled an emergency cholecystectomy for the following morning, January 3rd. What was once believed to be a simple procedure turned into an ongoing battle for Matt. The surgeon found that Matt’s gallbladder was gangrenous and starting to affect his other organs. He had infection pockets in his abdomen that needed to be drained.

Unfortunately, Matt had to be transferred to another hospital on January 8th and has been undergoing medical procedures since. The doctors have been trying to put in stents to allow the infection to drain and keep fluid from building up. Matt has been in the hospital for 16 days, and each time we think he is getting close to being released, the surgeon has to go back in and do more procedures. With no release date in sight, and months of recovery, his family is trying to keep it all together. They are traveling to visit him as much as they can while caring for all their other responsibilities. As the primary support for his family, life has gotten very complicated by this medical experience.