Support Sam's Unexpected Medical Journey

Hi!

I'm Miranda, Sam's sister-in-law. I'm here because on June 23rd, Sam went to KRHC in Algona for a scheduled, routine procedure to remove her gallbladder after being in pain for quite some time. While attempting to perform the procedure, the surgeons discovered that her gallbladder was inflamed, scarred, and twisted and no longer felt comfortable moving forward. They then decided to place two drainage tubes and transferred her to Des Moines via ambulance.

After further testing and imaging, they too decided that they were not comfortable with operating. They decided the next move would be to transfer her via ambulance, yet again, to Iowa City.

There, they are working with the medical team to come up with a plan of action. They decided the first step would be to remove the stones that are stuck in the bile duct. This had to be done by ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, which is basically inserting a tube down her throat all the way to her gallbladder to remove the stones. This was performed today, June 25th. They will now continue to work on getting the inflammation down so that they can safely operate and remove the gallbladder.

They started this journey expecting a routine procedure while going home the same day. As you can see, it has turned into so much more than that and they were not expecting, nor prepared for something like this. Brandon has been by her side from the start. They have two children missing them at home, Benjamin (8) and Skylar (5), who were also not expecting this.

With 3 hospital stays, 2 ambulance transfers, testing/imaging, and multiple procedures, it is going to be a rough way back. The financial weight of this unexpected and scary event is going to be astronomical for their family. Especially with no PTO and all of the missed work for both Brandon and Sam.

Sam is currently in a lot of pain and the both of them are extremely overwhelmed as this all happened SO fast.

I know it's rough out there right now, but if you have a few dollars, or even some good vibes to spare to ease their financial worries while trying to navigate through this, I know it would mean so much to them. I'm hoping we can work together and help ease the financial restraint it will be putting on their family!!

Thank you for taking the time to read their story!!