As many of you know, and some may not, my dear sister Kirsten Akin has been facing some major medical problems. Hard to believe this whole nightmare started two weeks ago. On Monday, May 18th, Kirsten went in for endoscopy as a simple outpatient procedure. She had this done at Billings Clinic, and at the completion they said everything went well and sent her home. She had complained of pain from the time she got out of the procedure. As they arrived home, the pain worsened and she went into the ER in Powell. The initial scan showed pancreatitis. They admitted her and she began treatment for pancreatitis. Come Tuesday afternoon her pain was once again worsening and became unbearable. At this point they knew something more was wrong and called for life flight from Billings. Upon arrival to Billings Clinic they discovered that she had been perforated during the endoscopy procedure and there was a leak where her stomach and intestines meet. Her body was filling with fluid from this perforation. In the middle of the night/early morning hours of Tuesday/Wednesday they took her in for surgery. After the completion of the surgery, they told the family she was very sick and had a long road ahead of her. At that time, none of us realized just how long of a road it would be. She went into ICU that morning after her surgery. She was on a ventilator and was sedated to varying degrees depending on the day. She has now had a total of 9 surgeries and still has an unknown number left. This last Friday, May 29th, we got the best news to date. They were able to take her off of the ventilator. The ventilator was used due to the number of surgeries she was having, and they were trying to give her body a rest from doing any work so it could just heal. She is able to talk and is just as smart as ever. Kirsten knows everything that has happened to her. To be honest, she probably knows and understands way better than any of us do since she is a RN. The nurses and doctors say things like ‘she is soo tough, she is a rockstar patient’. The doctors have given us a prediction of a timeline of what to expect, but remind us that it is just that, a prediction. At this point, she continues to have surgeries every two days. She will hopefully be out of ICU by next week, possibly a 2 week hospital stay, and then up to a 20 day stay at a rehabilitation center. It will most likely be at least 6 months before she is fully recovered.

Many people have reached out wondering what they can do. Unfortunately due to the current circumstances, she can’t have visitors or anything delivered to her hospital room. So I decided to start this Go Fund Me as a way for everyone to show their support. Please leave messages for Kirsten on this page. We also setup a special account at the Bank Of Powell. You can make your donation directly at the Powell or Lovell branch (checks payable to Allen Akin) or to this online Go Fund Me. Thank you for all the love, prayers and  
support for Kirsten.