Support for Nicole’s Spinal Infection Recovery

She is my very best friend, she is my person, and she is suffering. Nicole Constantine and her
family (husband and two boys 4 &1), had their
lives turned upside down when a planned spinal fusion surgery on 6/23 went wrong. In just 4
weeks, Nicole had 3 spine surgeries and 4
hospital stays.

Her 2nd hospital admission was just 36hrs after discharge. Her pain had escalated and was
intolerable at home. She returned to the hospital for pain management and had a post op MRI
showing fluid build up as well as a “failed spine
surgery” - the decompression portion of the
surgery was not successful and in a surgery that was supposed to improve back and leg pain, she ended up with extreme nerve pain and
numbness/weakness through 90% of both legs. At this time, her surgeon decided to give steroid IV treatment and work on better pain
management. The plan at discharge was to wait a month and see if her body would naturally
resolve the fluid build up that was
thought to be causing the additional pain.

Unfortunately after only 5 days, Nicole began
noticing symptoms of infection at her incision
site. Her dr placed her on oral antibiotics, but
within a week the infection worsened. After
calling her surgeon, she was suddenly taken into surgery that night for an infection/abscess wash out and repeat decompression. Although Nicole thankfully experienced some reduction in her
leg pain and numbness, she said ultimately it felt like starting at square one. All progress she
made in mobility was wiped back out. Nicole was then discharged after 24hrs.

Just another 5 days later she was being sent
back to the hospital for the 4th time to have an
additional surgery for the infection. Final
cultures have shown she is fighting 4 different
hospital acquired bacteria, with one of them
being “deep” meaning it’s further into her spine
and more dangerous. On top of this, the deep
bacteria is also considered MDRO (multi drug
resistant organism), meaning it will be much
more difficult to beat this infection down. Nicole spent another week in the hospital as the
infectious disease team determined the best
treatment. She is now home and on IV
antibiotics 24hrs a day for at least 6 weeks. She will then have to follow up with oral antibiotics
for an undetermined period of time. This is all
best case scenario. In reality, the drs have made
it clear about the real possibility of her having
another surgery for infection washout, or even
hardware removal and replacement.
The infection being MDRO, she may even get
through most of the antibiotic treatment and
then the bacteria becomes resistant and takes
back over. Another possibility is the infection
being cleared, but she continues to have the
debilitating leg pain and numbness. This would
still require another surgery and 4-6 week
recovery period. There is a lot of uncertainty.
For now, Nicole has a home healthcare team of
nurses and physical therapists that visit multiple times a week to monitor her health, and support recovery efforts. This surgery was supposed to
improve quality of life, and instead it worsened
in so many ways. She still imagines the day
where this is better and gets to run around with her boys, participating in the best parts of life
again.

Being hospitalized during this pandemic has
added to the stress since visitor restrictions
don’t allow children. And since Josh always was
caring for the boys, he couldn’t visit either.
Thankful for video chat, but it’s not enough
when you’re a little one and need your mommy. Oliver, her oldest, has been randomly crying and asking her not to “go back to hospital again” ever since the 1st stay. Each additional stay has only
shaken his world more. His little brother Jaxson
is only 1 and has been experiencing terrible
separation anxiety. It’s so heartbreaking, but
completely understandable, especially since
none of us feel totally secure in this situation. As positive as we are remaining, the reality is that
we don’t know when she may be back in the
hospital. This is a lot of stress for any person or
family to take on. There’s so much uncertainty
and fear, and for Nicole specifically, there has
been immense pain, nausea, and debilitation
each day. Josh and Nicole have now missed too much unpaid time from work, and the financial
burden keeps growing. The last thing any one
should have to be worried about in these kind of times is money. While she is fighting for her life, I want to gather support to help provide some
sense of security and relief for the family.

Please help me in supporting Nicole & her family as they battle through these woods. All funds
will go towards medical expenses, bills &
groceries.

Thank you for all kindness and support towards this cause!