teresadringenberg:

hockeyteeth:

This is Steven. He’s my best friend. We’re going on 6 years together now, and I couldn’t imagine my life without such an awesome person. He was extremely healthy, and the only time I ever had to take him to the hospital was when he stage-dove during a set of a band he didn’t even really like, and the crowd moved, which made him fall on the ground and crack his arm in half. Good times. ANYWAYS, like I was saying, super healthy guy, right?

Right around December 1st, he started feeling kind of sick. His stomach was bothering him, but we figured he just ate something spicy or something didn’t agree with him, etc. Two weeks later it wasn’t going away, and he finally gave me the details of the situation, so I made him go to the doctor. Doctor transferred him to a GI (gastrointestinal) specialist, which of course took FOREVER, so on Christmas Eve when he decided he couldn’t handle the pain anymore, I skipped my family trip to grandma’s house and we took a trip to the urgent care instead, where they prescribed him some antibiotics and steroids and sent him on his way. By this time he had lost about 30lbs. While all of this was going on, he wasn’t eating, because everything he ate went straight through him and he wasn’t gaining any nutrition. I’ll save you the gory details, but just know he was also losing a ton of blood every time he used the restroom. He was pale, super skinny, extremely dehydrated and he looked like a completely different person.

We somehow made it through Christmas, and on New Years Eve, he had his colonoscopy. This was going to tell us everything that was wrong and it was going to be fixed and done with. Or that’s what was supposed to happen, anyways. He had his colonscopy, and the doctor diagnosed him with Ulcerative Colitis - the worst case he’s ever seen. I need to add here that they also biopsied his colon about 8 times to check for cancers. That’s important because that’s the reason his colon tore open a week later. 

He was at home not getting any better, and one night he had extreme pain in his side. He though his appendix had burst, so he called his parents phone. Both of them had their phones turned off. He called me but my phone was on silent. Thankfully, his little brother answered. That is a miracle in itself for reasons I won’t bore you with, but let’s just say his brother is a heavy, HEAVY sleeper, and he doesn’t remember that phone call. His parents rushed him to the ER and he was taken into surgery immediately.

I woke up the next morning not having a clue what was going because my stupid phone was on silent for WHO KNOWS WHAT REASON. It’s never on silent and I still can’t believe that happened. I had about 40 missed calls from Steven and his parents and a ton of texts asking me if I was okay. I called to find out he was taken into surgery and they didn’t know how bad it was. They didn’t even know what was going to happen to him. 

After a major panic attack, I rushed to the hospital to find out he was coming out of surgery and that they had removed 90% of his colon. Listen, you need your colon. It forms your stool and makes it hard, and it soaks up all your water and minerals. Without it, life is tough.

Not only was his colon pretty much gone, but all of the bacteria and stool that was in there was now in his bloodstream and he went septic. He was placed in the ICU for three days and then transferred to a regular room. His incision wasn’t healing, so about 2 weeks into his hospital stay they took out all of his staples on his stomach, leaving a literal 3” wide x 7” long x 3” deep gaping hole to do this thing called “wet-dry” packs, where they dip gauze in saline, shove it in the wound, let it dry, and then rip it out, pulling out all the bacteria. They did this three times a day for about a week, until they realized it wasn’t working. That’s something I could barely handle watching. I’ve never seen someone in so much pain.

Somewhere in there his lung collapsed, they had to put a tube in his side and drain fluid, and then they couldn’t get his fever down the entire month he was there so they inserted a PICC line to administer antibiotics straight to his heart. Also throw in a persistent rash, drains on both sides of his pelvis that gave us nothing but problems, and so many other health issues.  

To heal his incision they sent him home with a Wound-Vac which is like a space bag on your wound, constantly sucking out bacteria. He was hospitalized for a month, and then on home health care for a month where we administered his antibiotics by IV and a nurse came and changed his dressing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. He had lost a total of 60 lbs, and as you can see from the pictures, he was extremely skinny.

We’re just now getting back to normal, and he has surgery again June 10 to form a mock-colon called a J-pouch. Modern medicine is incredible.

His mom, who was the one in the family with the insurance, lost her job while Steven was in the hospital.

Yeah, no more insurance. His parents are also about to lose their house due to her losing her job.

Now that you know Steven’s story, if you have the means to donate a little, I can’t stress how much it would help us. Our lives are put on hold and we can’t move forward until we figure out how in the world we’re going to pay for these medical bills. Although the emergency surgery is over, he still has at least two more coming up, and the bills are looming. The price of medical supplies and hospital stays are the biggest scam, and I don’t know how we are going to make this work. If you aren’t able, all I ask is that you would kindly repost this so that maybe someone will hear his story. I am so happy to say that he is alive and on track to being healthy, and although he may never be 100% back to his “normal” self, he made it through everything and he’s alive and that’s enough to be thankful for in itself. 

If you would like to donate, you can do so here: 

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=6DAWCNVVRQVMG&lc=US&item_name=Steven%27s%20Surgery%20Fund&currency_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donate_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted

Dear followers, these are some of my really good friends.
And one of the best couples I know.
Please donate!
Anything would help!

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kaosinfekterad:

(mmmm, Jesse <3)

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imalittleredtorvette:

#I AM IN LOVE WITH A 72 YEAR OLD MAN

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