This post is not for the faint of heart. There are disturbing images. I am warning you now. If you don’t want to see the images, or just don’t care why she needs help, and want to help… Donate by clicking the button…

This page would be viewable to regular readers, if I had any. I don’t… so if anyone accidentally runs into this post, I apologize. I have not worked on this site in forever, and am just using it right now as a vehicle for a friend in need.

On May 5th Jen had surgery on her knee, an Arthrosurface HemiCAP implant. You can read more about the procedure at Arthrosurface Implants

While the surgery seemingly went well, her wound didn’t heal.

Recovery was supposed to take about ten days and Jen was expected to be back at work on or around the 17th.

During this time her employer kept trying to confirm that Jen was, in fact, going to be ready for work on the 17th. She kept saying that she couldn’t guarantee it because of the physical setbacks.

On the 16th she ended up in the Emergency Room with excruciating pain, and her return to work was delayed.

Physical therapy started soon thereafter.

On the 17th, I think the second time the bandages were taken off, they found this:

Thank God Jen had taken a picture with her phone. The Dr. immediately scheduled an appointment with a plastic surgeon the next morning. They were going to see her at 8:30.

Jen got home and posted the photo on Facebook. Her friend Tim, who was in London, England at the time, saw the posting. He called her within 30 minutes of her posting and told her that she HAD to call an open wound specialist he knew.

Jen got off the phone with Tim, and realized she didn’t have the Dr.’s number, so she emailed him a note with the photo. He called her within 60 seconds, and told her to report to emergency at Good Samaritan Hospital the very next morning.

The skin was dead and dying around the wound and obviously, the incisions were not healing. Jen went into surgery on the 19th (two days later) to cut all of the bad stuff away, and attempt to start the healing process. This is what it looked like after the first surgery, on Sunday the 20th.

They let her rest for a day, and she went into surgery AGAIN June 22nd, and she is scheduled for another surgery on the 25th.

The point of this post is

TO INCITE A CALL TO ACTION!

JEN HAS A NEW JOB LINED UP FOR WHENEVER SHE CAN GET BACK TO WORK, BUT SHE HASN’T WORKED IN SIX WEEKS AND PROBABLY HAS TWO TO FOUR MORE WEEKS TO GO BEFORE SHE CAN ACTUALLY MOVE AROUND. SHE IS BROKE, AND SITTING IN A HOSPITAL BED WORRIED THAT WHEN SHE GETS OUT OF THE HOSPITAL SHE WILL BE EVICTED. SHE DOESN’T HAVE MONEY FOR RENT, FOOD, STORAGE, CAR, ELECTRIC…. THE BASIC NECESSITIES.

This was not Jen’s idea, but mine. You see, I would give Jen the shirt off my back, but I don’t have what she needs… which is money. This is not a loan, it’s a gift. Feel free to donate anonymously, or shout out in the comments below at what you contributed. The amount doesn’t matter, because the situation is pretty damned bleak. Even $25 from 32 people would be close to paying her rent.

I am not asking you to do something I wouldn’t. A friend and I split her cell phone bill ($160 each), enough to keep it running into July, but it’s still behind in payments.

I will continue to post photos and stories of her recovery; and copies of receipts so you know where the money went. THIS ISN’T ABOUT GREED, IT’S ABOUT TRUE NEED. I will close the PayPal donation account down when she is covered. I think we are looking at about $5,000 - $6,000…. But certainly she needs $1000 in the next week for her rent.

Give what you can, even if it’s only words of encouragement.

Please help.

June 25th, 2010

I went to visit Jen tonight in the hospital tonight. Thank you God. You put her in a hospital right down the street from me, at Good Samaritan on McDowell and 12th Street. She has had two surgeries in the last 3 days.

The first surgery sounds like a complicated ACL surgery where they took part of her calf muscle and stretched it like a tendon to the other side. I am not a doctor, and I don’t get to talk to them, so I am hearing this third hand through a friend that spoke with her parents, and Jen. Apparently the doctors were very pleased at that surgery, and it’s always nice when the doctors are pleased with their work. Unfortunately, all I could see tonight is a line of stitches from the top of her calf muscle to the bottom, and a clear plastic drain tube running out the bottom of it.

The second surgery was today, and while I didn’t think she would want a visitor, she asked me to come over.

Again, graphic photos are coming so I am warning you.

Today’s surgery was for the skin graft. I had skin grafts when I was a kid, but the depth of the injury was, thankfully, millimeters. Jens tissue need, on the other hand, is fairly deep (as skin goes)… and while I wanted to think it would be a breeze, it looks to be nothing of the sort. In fact, it’s major – major.

The whole top of her knee basically needed replacing, because they had to cut out such a large amount dead tissue. I surmised that they would simply razor it off her rear end, leaving no more scars showing outside the bikini line… but that was just my wishful thinking. They went for the outside of her thigh on the same leg; right side. Here’s what it looked like tonight.

Jens thigh, where they got the skin from:

This is what her knee looks like today:

And here is our Jen, in all her glory, keeping what little connection she has to the outside world, texting, or Facebooking… or perhaps trying to watch TV on the darned thing…

The emotional trauma of all of this is quite enough. She has been bedridden for over six weeks now, and truly has no end in sight. They don’t even know if the skin grafts will ‘take’. If they do, it’s a minimum of two more weeks of immobilization, and maybe four.

The ‘need’ is genuine and deep. She needs something to survive on to keep her bills paid. She is not full of ego, and has already applied for state assistance. She will do food stamps, and dollar store shopping, because that is what it is going to take. Please understand, if I were in her situation, I would need the help as well.

Please donate what you can.

ALL COMMENTS ARE MODERATED, SO IF YOU DON’T SEE YOUR COMMENT RIGHT AWAY, NO WORRIES. IT WILL BE UP WITHIN IN THE HOUR AS LONG AS IT’S NOT TOO LATE, OR TOO EARLY IN THE DAY.

THANK YOU!

June 30th, 2010 (Day 13 in the hospital)

Sorry for not posting more regularly, but between work, my own family, visiting Jen, monitoring the comments, and the donations, things have been a little hectic to say the least. I have been to the hospital two or three times since my last post, tonight being the most recent, and while Jen is sounding better in spirit on Facebook, the situation is still pretty darned scary.

She has been out of work since this whole ordeal began, and now has to deal with the next few weeks. There wasn’t much to report over the last three days, just praying that the skin graft took hold. Today they took the wound vacuum off and seem to be pleased at the results. This was after three days of complete bed rest. Complete. She had to keep her leg straight and prone, because even the gravity from standing up on one leg could prevent the skin from her other knee from grafting. Bed for three straight days… No standing (not even for a second), no wheel chair… Just. Bed. It’s Jen, you guys… Ugh.

The doctors are saying that she could get out as early as Monday, the 5th. That’s FIVE more days! A total of 18… Completely. Unexpected. Days. And 6 weeks of not working… as a single mother.
We have raised SOME money, and I thank you for all of your contributions, but we don’t have nearly what is needed. The next challenge is insurance. Because a new job is in store, she will have three months (from the start date of her new job) to wait for the new insurance to kick in. This entails COBRA, or an individual policy, either being VERY expensive. Thank you to John for helping with so many things…

Basically, this is a donation site, starving for donations. I am calling on all of you who visit and read, to donate just a little. Again… $25 from 40 people is one month worth of insurance… and more than 100 people have visited, and less than 20 have donated, far less. I am not asking you to give what you don’t have, I am just asking you to give something.

Creepy… Why do I feel like Sally Struthers all of a sudden?

OK… I am going back to the hospital tomorrow night. I will let you know more about her situation then.

ALL COMMENTS ARE MODERATED, SO IF YOU DON’T SEE YOUR COMMENT RIGHT AWAY, NO WORRIES. IT WILL BE UP WITHIN IN THE HOUR AS LONG AS IT’S NOT TOO LATE, OR TOO EARLY IN THE DAY.

THANK YOU!

July 5th (Day 18)

God willing, Jen is going home today. It has been an incredibly difficult time, to say the least! Unfortunately the road to recovery doesn’t look like it’s going to be an easy one at all, and while she has a job waiting for her, it won’t start for another 2 weeks or more. She is still in dire need of financial assistance. More bills are piling up, and donations have slowed to a halt. She really could use anything you can spare. Please continue to post this link anywhere you can think of to increse donations.

July 8th, Day 21

Jen got home from the hospital on Monday. Today I saw her post on Facebook that she needs a clapper. As in, ‘Clap on, Clap off’ light. It’s one thing to say that to a close and guarded friend. It’s another to post it on the most public forum possible. Who admits that?

The desperate…

She gets around, but obviously not comfortably.

Monday, before she left the hospital, the Doctor made her change her own skin graft dressing. She was going to have to know how to do it at home, but he said that he was making her do it because ‘If I do it again, you’ll kill me”.

Tuesday morning at home was a nightmare of drug withdrawal. Seizing muscles, burning nerves reconnecting… She texted me “I am not this strong”, to which we all know she is. I mean, really she has no other choice… but it’s more than any of us can even imagine going through (I hope).

She still has a portable wound vac on, which she has to drag everywhere she goes (which probably has a lot to do with the Clapper).

The photos taken are of such detail, and such horror (really) that I have actually put them on a whole separate page. Copy and paste the following link in your browser bar at your own risk.

Newest Photos Here

If you have no desire to include them into your world, just understand that the financial need is still there and will be for a while.