Help our family recover
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Landon is starting his third year at university. I (Tamara) am working full time as a special education teacher in American Falls, ID. We have
a 6 year old daughter, 4 year old son, and 4 1/2 month old daughter. The
university increased the cost of insurance so we opted out as he was one credit
under full time. The cost of adding him to my insurance is an extra $500
a month which we simply could not afford on an Idaho teacher's wage. Landon has
suffered from headaches for the last few years but they were more of an
annoyance until just before our baby was born in April. He soon found that he could not walk with the
baby and rocking caused severe headaches.
He went to see the doctor at the university health center who gave a
preliminary diagnosis pseudo tumor cerebrai. It is rare for men his age and
size but the opthomologist concurred with the diagnosis but wanted an MRI to
rule out any tumors. An hour after the MRI was completed we received a phone
call that they would like both of us to come in and see the doctor. The MRI
showed a 4 cm tumor and cyst which was causing hydrocephalus. We saw a
neurosurgeon four days later. He recommended surgery within two weeks. As we
did not have insurance the hospital would not book the surgery until we had met
with the county about the possibility of a loan to pay for the surgery or an
emergency. As we left the surgeons office Landon found that it was difficult to
walk in a straight line. Within days he
could not get out of bed due to the pain.
It was recommended by his PA that he be on bed rest. I was back at
work but was trying to get all the paperwork together to meet with the county
and make the appointments. By the end of
the week Landon was unable to sit up in bed without extreme pain. He left his
bed long enough to attend our daughter's kindergarten graduation. Around 5:30
in the afternoon Landon went to get off the couch to walk back to the bedroom
and everything went black and shooting pain occurred. He fell to his knees next to the couch and took
almost 15 minutes before he could move and lay down on the couch. We immediately
contacted the hospital and were told to come in.
When we arrived we saw a doctor within minutes, a cat scan shortly after, and within 30 minutes he was up in the ICU. The scan showed tonsiler herniation. Meaning the pressure was so much it was causing parts of his brain to move that are not supposed to. They started him on morphine for the pain (which was off the charts) and steroids to try and bring down the pressure. The next morning we were informed that emergency surgery was needed but the surgeon was not sure that he could put a team and although it was short notice on Memorial Day weekend the surgery took just over four hours and recovery was an hour and a half. The pressure was so extreme that when they removed the back of his skull the tumor "delivered" itself halfway out. When Landon woke up his first thought was that his head hurt but only on the outside. It took four days until his brain was able to regulate the pressure and the shunt was removed. He was up sitting on his own after 48 hours and walking 24 hours after that. He left the hospital five days post op walking to our car. His recovery is miraculous. We qualified with the county for a loan. They were able to whittle our bills down to just over $40,000. Unfortunately it did not cover the bills for scans and doctors prior to the hospital and due to a clerical error on the hospital's end we will now have to pay for three scans done after the surgery. We are looking at another $10,000 that the hospital and specialists would like paid now, putting the total medical bills alone at $50,000, in addition to our regular living expenses. We have put as much as we can on our credit cards so that we could keep the creditors away, but are not sure how much longer we can stay above the payments. Thank you for any help you can give. We realize that it will take awhile but we are grateful Landon is here with us still.
When we arrived we saw a doctor within minutes, a cat scan shortly after, and within 30 minutes he was up in the ICU. The scan showed tonsiler herniation. Meaning the pressure was so much it was causing parts of his brain to move that are not supposed to. They started him on morphine for the pain (which was off the charts) and steroids to try and bring down the pressure. The next morning we were informed that emergency surgery was needed but the surgeon was not sure that he could put a team and although it was short notice on Memorial Day weekend the surgery took just over four hours and recovery was an hour and a half. The pressure was so extreme that when they removed the back of his skull the tumor "delivered" itself halfway out. When Landon woke up his first thought was that his head hurt but only on the outside. It took four days until his brain was able to regulate the pressure and the shunt was removed. He was up sitting on his own after 48 hours and walking 24 hours after that. He left the hospital five days post op walking to our car. His recovery is miraculous. We qualified with the county for a loan. They were able to whittle our bills down to just over $40,000. Unfortunately it did not cover the bills for scans and doctors prior to the hospital and due to a clerical error on the hospital's end we will now have to pay for three scans done after the surgery. We are looking at another $10,000 that the hospital and specialists would like paid now, putting the total medical bills alone at $50,000, in addition to our regular living expenses. We have put as much as we can on our credit cards so that we could keep the creditors away, but are not sure how much longer we can stay above the payments. Thank you for any help you can give. We realize that it will take awhile but we are grateful Landon is here with us still.
Organizer
Tamara Palmer
Organizer
Pocatello, ID