Meredith’s Meatsuit Is a Lemon

Hi, I’m Meredith, and I’m incredibly lucky to be alive. I have a rare, systemic form of vasculitis that has caused hundreds of large DVTs, 6 pulmonary embolisms, multiple organ ruptures and failure, and the implantation of a lot of medical devices that keep me kicking. I’m a mother, artist, chef, and restaurateur in the Nashville area. You may know me from my restaurant Butterbean Bakery & Bistro. In the past few years since I closed BBB due to my illness, I’ve had nearly 30 major abdominal, brain, and vascular surgeries and still have more to go. My most recent bout of procedures happened because my stomach spontaneously ruptured and tore about 4 inches and spilled stomach acid into my body cavity, where my brain shunt tubing ends, causing peritonitis and sepsis. Bacteria from my stomach made its way up my shunt tubing to my brain, where it infected my cerebrospinal fluid and caused sepsis with a different pathogen. When they did the ct to see why I was in so much pain, I ended up coding, so they intubated me and put me in on life support in an induced coma in the SICU. They performed an exploratory lap where they cut me from sternum to pubic bone, and when they found the issue, had to remove part of my stomach, clean out my abdominal cavity, and called the neurosurgeon in to externalize my shunt. I went into multiple organ failure and wound up on dialysis because my kidneys stopped functioning entirely. I ended up having another brain surgery to remove my shunt after my CSF was infected, and then my 9 inch long wound from the lap surgery dehisced down to my peritoneum. I was in the SICU for months, part of which I was comatose for, and I have had 3-4 appointments a week at the level 1 trauma center almost 2 hours away from my home. Driving me back and forth has taken its toll on everyone I love. I have depleted my savings trying to keep my life afloat while I’m unable to live normally. I’m having another brain and abdominal surgery July 5th, and have reached the point that I’m asking for help from my community because I believe we as neighbors love our brothers and sisters enough that we help them when the society in which we live systemically refuses to. It’s really difficult for me to humble myself enough to ask for help. I’m trying to stay positive for my family, and I know I’m BEYOND blessed to be here, but it’s hard when you can’t even make ends meet. These funds will be used to pay medical bills such as for the extra inpatient days that are over my insurance’s limit, meds, has to drive back and forth several hours each time, and any other unforeseen expenses that may arise. In the event I don’t make it, these funds will be used for final expenses, medical bills, and will be diverted to my mom to raise my kids. Thanks for reading this far, and thank you for your donations and shares, y’all have a lovely night! ♥️

ETA- Just letting everyone know that I survived my 5th brain surgery and I’m still in the hospital. I could really use your help so I don’t lose my livelihood and can support my children while I’m recovering. Thank you so much for reading this far.

ETA 7/23/23, here’s an update-Hi everybody! I’m having some surgical complications from my last brain surgery, I have a huge extremely painful pseudocyst comprised of CSF in my abdomen around the tip of my shunt because my peritoneal wall is so scarred from enduring so many surgeries and prolonged contact with stomach acid from my gastric rupture that it can’t absorb the cerebrospinal fluid being shunted into it any longer, and I will need *at least* two more surgeries to try to divert the distal portion of my shunt into either the pleural space around my lungs, or directly into my heart. Neither option is ideal for me, because I have so many DVTs and stents in my chest that it would have to go through to reach my heart, and I’ve had so many pulmonary embolisms that my lungs aren’t functioning as optimally as they could be and don’t really need the extra burden. I will have to come off of my blood thinner with an inpatient heparin drip for 5 days prior to the procedure again, plus the surgery itself, then the recovery and observation period afterward. I can not express how devastated I am about the never ending suffering I am being subjected to. I am trying to stay strong for my kids, but it’s difficult. I can’t even drive currently, so I’ve had to rely on either DoorDash, or asking my mom to drive an hour out of her way if I need something or have to go to the dr. I could use a little help with the whole endless medicalbills/expenses/gas/necessities/household bills since I’m unable to hustle my art stuff in my current state. Thanks for reading this far and being invested in my future health, I’ll let everyone know when I’m admitted, it’ll likely be tomorrow. Please donate or share, I am so thankful for you all, you just have no idea how deeply grateful I am to every one of you. ♥️♥️♥️