Tina Travis's Medical Expenses
Donation protected
Tina was taken to the ER on Saturday, August 19 due to a severe rash and swelling that developed overnight. This was cause for concern because she was one week post-op for a hernia repair. Upon arriving to the ER, she was quickly put on steroids and epinephrine because the first thought was that she was having an allergic reaction to something. After 20 minutes of being in the ER, Tina began complaining of numbness in her foot. The doctors assumed this was realted to the rash and said it would go away soon. However, it did not. The numbenss increased and pain set in. Her words were she felt like her foot was "dying". Upon closer examination, it was clear that something was wrong with her foot. The doctors worked quickly trying to find a pulse in her foot and were unable to do so. Through a soonogram, they discovered that there was little blood flow past her right knee and almost no blood flow to the right foot. The doctors then ordered an arterial CT scan. This scan proved that there were blood clots in her foot and leg. She was quickly take back for vascular surgery. What should have been a 1-3 hour surgery ended up lasting 5 and 1/2 hours. The surgeon reported out that surgery was difficult. She had to have her aorta stinted in the abdomen and both renal arteries stinted. Several blood clots were removed from the leg, however, the surgreon was unable to remove the clots from the foot. It was decided that we would wait and see if blood flow to the foot would reestablish it and if the clots would break up with medicine.
In the meantime, doctors were still completely puzzled as to what the rash was that covered her whole body and why had blood clots developed so quickly. Over the next day, Tina was seen by hemtologists, dermatologist, rheumotologists, pulmonary doctors, vascular surgeons, internal medicine doctors, critical care doctors, and so on. Everyone was still puzzled after 48 hours.
After surgery on Saturday, Tina was admitted to the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Baptist Hospital. She continued on life support until midday Sunday when they were successfully able to excubate her. Her vitals continued to improve and she was taken off of pressure support Sunday evening.
Monday morning came as a shock to us all. It was decided that blood flow was not going to reestablish itself to the foot and the surgeons felt it was best that her right leg be amputated from below the knee. Surgery was originally scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. However, a short time after speaking with the surgeons, the hematologist came to visit with some news about the rash.
The hematologist, as well as the team of doctors, agreed that they believed Tina suffers from a very rare blood disorder called Heparin-induced Thrombocytopenia, or HIT, for short. Heparin is a drug given when blood needs to be thinned for a short period like surgery. My mother received heparin during her hernia surgery as well as during her vascular surgery on Saturday. While heparin is supposed to thin the blood, when sufferers of HIT are given heparin, their blood actually creates blood clots instead. These are the blood clots that became lodged in my mother's foot and leg. Another side effect of HIT is the rash she received as well as very low platelet counts. This causes another hurdle because it is very risky to perform surgery on a patient with low platelet counts. For this reason, the hematologists have asked the surgeons to wait 7-10 days before amputating the leg. This is the period of time the body will need to rid itself of the heparin and restore platelet counts to an acceptable level.
With that being said, my mother is looking at a very long hospital stay. After she has her amputation and is released from the hospital, she will have to be placed in a rehabilitation center for 2-3 weeks. From there, she will have a prosthetic leg and foot made.
Through all of this, Tina is unable to work and short term disability only lasts so long. Her husband will run out of time off at the end of this week and will file for FMLA but as we know, this only secures his job. They will experience a tremendous amount of medical bills and will have copayments to pay for her prosthetic that will be approximately $3,000. All money raised from this will go directly toward medical and living expenses for Tina and her husband.
We appreciate any contributations and we covet your prayers during this time.
In the meantime, doctors were still completely puzzled as to what the rash was that covered her whole body and why had blood clots developed so quickly. Over the next day, Tina was seen by hemtologists, dermatologist, rheumotologists, pulmonary doctors, vascular surgeons, internal medicine doctors, critical care doctors, and so on. Everyone was still puzzled after 48 hours.
After surgery on Saturday, Tina was admitted to the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit at Baptist Hospital. She continued on life support until midday Sunday when they were successfully able to excubate her. Her vitals continued to improve and she was taken off of pressure support Sunday evening.
Monday morning came as a shock to us all. It was decided that blood flow was not going to reestablish itself to the foot and the surgeons felt it was best that her right leg be amputated from below the knee. Surgery was originally scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. However, a short time after speaking with the surgeons, the hematologist came to visit with some news about the rash.
The hematologist, as well as the team of doctors, agreed that they believed Tina suffers from a very rare blood disorder called Heparin-induced Thrombocytopenia, or HIT, for short. Heparin is a drug given when blood needs to be thinned for a short period like surgery. My mother received heparin during her hernia surgery as well as during her vascular surgery on Saturday. While heparin is supposed to thin the blood, when sufferers of HIT are given heparin, their blood actually creates blood clots instead. These are the blood clots that became lodged in my mother's foot and leg. Another side effect of HIT is the rash she received as well as very low platelet counts. This causes another hurdle because it is very risky to perform surgery on a patient with low platelet counts. For this reason, the hematologists have asked the surgeons to wait 7-10 days before amputating the leg. This is the period of time the body will need to rid itself of the heparin and restore platelet counts to an acceptable level.
With that being said, my mother is looking at a very long hospital stay. After she has her amputation and is released from the hospital, she will have to be placed in a rehabilitation center for 2-3 weeks. From there, she will have a prosthetic leg and foot made.
Through all of this, Tina is unable to work and short term disability only lasts so long. Her husband will run out of time off at the end of this week and will file for FMLA but as we know, this only secures his job. They will experience a tremendous amount of medical bills and will have copayments to pay for her prosthetic that will be approximately $3,000. All money raised from this will go directly toward medical and living expenses for Tina and her husband.
We appreciate any contributations and we covet your prayers during this time.
Organizer and beneficiary
Amanda Stoker
Organizer
Jacksonville, FL
Tina Travis
Beneficiary
