Riley’s Unexpected Hospital Expenses

We are asking for any donations that could help cover this extremely unexpected medical expense. Our family has had a really rough year medically and just as we were beginning to finish paying off medical debts from my own unexpected surgery, Riley ended up being admitted to Hemby Children’s Hospital last week. I’ll jump to the conclusion really quick for those that may not want to read this entire post. Riley was diagnosed with a difficult to treat Mastoid bone infection on both sides at the base of her skull. 

Around the middle of the week two weeks prior she had begun complaining of her ears, and we assumed it was another case of swimmers ear since she is prone to those infections and had been swimming in an indoor pool in the days prior. Over the next few days her pain became worse and it was visible to us that she was in more pain than we had ever seen her in. She didn’t want to eat due to it hurting her ear, then began to have a hard time swallowing as well, lost hearing in her left ear, and sleep was near impossible. Last Monday we took her into her pediatricians office since she was still getting worse and they were concerned about the pain behind her ear near the mastoid bone but could not locate any evidence of a middle ear infection, which ruled out their thoughts of the mastoiditis. They gave her antibiotics and asked us to follow up on Thursday. Then on Tuesday I looked behind her ear and noticed a lot of swelling and redness, not on her ear but behind it running down towards the base of her skull and she was now complaining of pain in the right ear. We decided to make an appointment with a Pediatric ENT Specialist to get a second opinion. The following day we took her for the second opinion and were told the same thing, that there was no evidence of a middle ear infection so mastoiditis was ruled out, however to call if she became any worse. We were given our third prescription and sent home. That evening her ears began to push forward and the swelling seemed even worse so I sent a note to her pediatrician and included a picture. The following morning her pediatrician called and asked that we please take Riley into Hemby ER, that she would call over with orders for bloodwork and a CT scan. Her blood work reflected a serious infection and her CT scan confirmed that she does have an infection in the Mastoid Bones located in the base of her skull behind her ears. This infection can have complications due to its location to the brain and also the spinal column, however lucky for us there is no evidence of that in her case. This infection also requires aggressive treatment with IV antibiotics due to it being located within a bone, which is why she was not improving on the oral antibiotic. She was admitted into Hemby Pediatric Hospital this past Thursday evening. We had an Infectious Disease Specialist come in Friday morning to discuss her course of treatment and what the next 10-14 days will look like. She will not spend her entire treatment in the hospital, they will discharge us from the hospital and continue oral antibiotics and medicated ear drops for the following 10 days after she receives the “jumpstart” from the IV antibiotics. We were told that there are no milestones really showing improvement with this infection, and we won’t begin to see improvement until around 10 days into the antibiotics but as long as she is not getting worse then that means she is responding well. We will still have a long road ahead of us in the coming weeks with specialists, further blood work and several follow ups. We will continue to see her Infectious Disease Specialist for the continued treatment as well as finding out why she was able to contract this in the first place since her situation is very atypical. No one has any answers on how she got this since a middle ear infection was never found. 

Due to the treatment in the ER, the bloodwork and the emergency CT scan, her medical bills had already jumped to several thousand dollars within a few short hours. We do not yet know the cost of her admission stay, but we do know the costs are adding up quickly and could use all the support we can get. 

While we do have great health insurance, it does not cover all of the types of care she is receiving due to the type of infection she has and will not cover what we need for the prolonged treatment. 

We appreciate any help that can be given at this time and I ask everyone to please share this. Thank you and please keep Miss Riley in your thoughts and prayers!