Santa's Surprise: Charlie's Unexpected Surgery

Ok y’all - I’m going to step outside my comfort zone and be extremely vulnerable with you right now. This is going to be long, so please - stay with me.

We need your help. And I will probably over explain *why* we need your help because asking for help (for myself) has never been easy for me or Charlie.

Last Sunday around noon, Charlie was in a car accident. He lost control of his car and crashed head on into a tree. First off, he is doing - ok. He crawled out of the car. Good Samaritans were able to get ahold of me and the paramedics within minutes. And he was rushed to Medical City Denton.

I don’t know that I will ever get the image of him being strapped to a gurney and loaded into an ambulance out of my mind. To say I was in shock is an understatement - to be honest, none of this feels real right now, so I may still be in a bit of shock.

Honestly, I’m not 100% sure what happened once he got to the ER. I know they did CT scans of his entire body and head, x-rays, bloodwork, etc. All I know is, when I got to there, he was in copious amounts of pain.

All in all, he got lucky. Really, really lucky. His injuries include pulmonary contusions (bruise on his lungs from slamming against his ribs), a broken rib #1, a small puncture in his lung (from the broken rib), small lacerations and a large abrasion from his seat belt (thank whatever god you pray to that the belt didn't break & let him fly through the windshield), a fracture in his L1 (topmost section of the lumbar spinal column) and his seat belt sheared open his abdominal wall causing a large ventral hernia. We spent two and half days in the hospital - which is honestly kind of insane.

Like I said, all in all - he got away lucky. But, there’s a long road ahead of us.

His lungs seem to be doing ok so far. He still can’t breathe very deeply, but he has a Spirometer to help maintain his lung capacity so he doesn't develop pneumonia or some other lung infection.

His rib will heal in time. His back will also most likely heal in time, but he may need a back brace and physical therapy. Only time will tell on that one.

His lacerations and abrasions are healing up pretty well. Sutures will come out soon on one small laceration. I’m using my vet tech skills to treat his other wounds and they're looking better. But y’all - the bruising and swelling is bad and everything hurts. He developed a hematoma in his scrotum - they more than doubled in size (but are doing better). His abdomen is black and blue and yellow all over.

Now, the scary part (at least it’s scary for me). Yes, he is home but yes, he still has a giant tear in his abdominal wall and needs to rely on me for most everything until after his surgery. Apparently, the tear is too large for most general surgeons to perform surgery on. While inguinal hernias are the most common (he got one working at IHOP back in the day), this type of hernia is not. Apparently, this type of hernia is not one most surgeons have any experience with or know how to repair at all. That information had me panicking all week. Thankfully the hospital was able to find someone in McKinney who was willing to take on his surgery…which apparently cannot happen for 6-ish months as they need his injuries to heal before going in. They may or may not need to bring in an orthopedic surgeon as well to help secure the mesh used to repair the tear to his hip. My heart dropped the second Charlie told me this. SIX MONTHS. To say I am freaking out is an understatement.

Now, where the ask for support comes in…I wish this didn’t have to be about money, but it is.

The past couple of years have been really hard on us. If you’ve noticed we’ve been around less, it’s because we haven’t been doing the best…

I’ve had multiple visits to the ER and specialists over the past year and a half. Medical expenses is one of the reasons I had to leave DASF - I needed health insurance. Among other health issues, I still need surgery as my gallbladder is pretty much not working anymore. As of a year ago, it was only working at 25% functionality. I need updated scans to confirm, but I’m sure it’s worse off now. We’ve been trying to save up for the surgery since I was quoted $40,000 for that (with a 20% deposit needed) and a biopsy of my liver, all with no insurance (which was a precaution as they think it’s just fatty liver but they wanted to double check). In general, I’m OK. But I still need surgery before it ends up being an emergency. I’ve never had gallstones nor has my gallbladder ruptured, but I really don’t want to experience the pain that will cause. With all this going on, we're not sure what that means for me and my surgery right now - there's still a lot to figure out.

Between my medical bills and Rocko’s medical bills, we’ve nearly maxed out our credit cards and what little savings we had is completely gone.

Charlie’s car was our primary source of transportation. My Jeep - is a lemon and quite honestly, I shouldn't be driving it at all. Amongst all the issues, we’ve had to replace the transmission twice on it (around $6,000 and it’s still messed up) and now the shop tells me the computer is going out and it could just stop working at any moment. It seems to be fine getting me to and from work (2.5 miles away) but it starts to overheat and act up if I try and drive highway speeds for longer than 15 miles - which means I can't use the jeep to take him to his surgeon in McKinney. While it is repairable, we’re not putting another $3,000+ into it. We just can’t. So we started to save for a downpayment on a new car for me and were on a good trajectory…but, we’ve had to use that savings for the downpayment the ER required, bandages and medications, a walker and other items Charlie needed this week. Nealy $1,000 in one week we were not expecting to spend.

While I got insurance when I started my new job, we just can't afford the $600/month it's going to be to get him on insurance. So everything - the ambulance, the ER, the private room he was put in for 2 days, regular follow ups with a PCP, consults with the surgeon, follow up diagnostics, the general surgeon, the possible orthopedic surgeon, the physical therapy, the anesthesiologist, and so on and so on…are all coming out of pocket.

My head is spinning with the costs, and I am overwhelmed. If I was quoted $40k for a routine surgery and a biopsy with no insurance, I have no idea what this very-hard-no-one-really-knows-how-to-do-this kind of surgery will cost. I know there's still a lot up in the air - so I'm doing my best to take it one step at a time.

His laptop, while functional for the time being, needs to be replaced so he can work. Thankfully, Charlie can still work, so if you know anyone with digital advertising needs, please send them his way - hello at hdicagency.com

We will get some money from the car insurance, and fingers crossed we can trade in my jeep for something, so we can get us a car that will actually run properly. We’ll figure out a second car at some point down the road once his surgeon clears him to drive again, sometime in late 2024(?).

Thank you to all the people that have already been helping us this week. It has given us the time to figure out what help we really need going forward. I wish I had another answer besides financial assistance, but I really don’t.

Several people have asked about meal trains. With Charlie being a long time vegetarian, his diet is already pretty strict, but he can't eat a lot of food right now. We have to be super careful with his digestive system as any added stress from acid, spice, ect can cause him pain and discomfort, as well as potentially worsen his hernia or cause it to rupture. If you would like to drop off food, thank you, please message us for the address. Door Dash and/or Uber Eats gift cards are also very appreciated.

Unfortunately, the help we need the most is financial. I know we’re headed into the holidays and I know times are tough for everyone, but any help you can give is greatly appreciated.

We don’t ever ask for help for ourselves (we’re usually the ones raising money for someone else) - but I’m at a complete loss on how we can do this alone.

Once again, thank you for all your love and support. Outside of GFM, here are other ways to support:

PayPal Link - @skweeker015

Venmo Link - @sKweeKeR015 @KiaraHunter

Zelle Link - chunter015 at gmail.com kiarahunter1105 at gmail.com

We will update the GFM numbers as we receive better quotes about the surgery expenses. We will update as we get information and things progress. And, you know us, anything we don't end up needing, you know will 100% be put back into the community.