Breathe Easy_TJ's Road to Recovery

Hi All,
My name is Rico Lovan. I am TJ's future brother-in-law. However we've considered each other brothers for quite some time. Luckily TJ is still with us but his medical conditions could have been fatal had he not received surgery on his lung in time (thoracotomy). Please read Andrea Lovan's (TJ's fiancé/my sister) description of the medical challenges they've been going through.

I am hoping everyone can help TJ (and Andrea) breathe easy (pun intended) by raising money for him (and my sister). The funds will be used to assist them with their finances through this extremely difficult time as his road to recovery will be an additional 4-6 weeks. They may also have to continue to board their large dogs Bronn and Luke as they would be more than challenging to care for during recovery. Pet lovers, you know how hard this can be to leave your kids. These funds are needed as soon as the funds can be provided.

This means so much to me because, this is my brother. TJ is a kind, considerate, and selfless human being to all. If you call on him and he is able, he will be there and do all he can to help just because he is happy to do so. He's a truly stand up guy. I would be truly grateful for any donation at all. If there is anything I could ever do in return in your time of need, consider it done. TJ agrees with me on this.

***Andrea Lovan's description of TJ's medical battle:

As of Tuesday October 4th, TJ has been in and out of the hospital a total of four times. He was initially brought into the ER early Tuesday morning after developing a fever, shortness of breath, and was experiencing sharp pains on the right side of his body near and around his rib cage. After completing a physical exam and ordering a chest X-ray, the doctor diagnosed TJ with Pneumonitis. Pneumonitis is inflammation of the lungs which can be caused by a bacterial or viral infection. After running various tests, the doctor found the pneumonitis was due to an infection called Pneumonia. To treat TJ's symptoms, the doctor prescribed him with hydrocodone for the pain and antibiotics to help fight the lung infection. However, after a few short days, TJ had gotten progressively worse even with medicine. The pain was so excruciating that it made it very difficult for him to breathe let alone stand up straight or even lay down comfortably. In addition to his shortness of breath, he was experiencing increased chest pain and had a temp greater than 101.1. So we went back to the ER early Saturday morning October 8th, and the doctor ordered another chest X-ray. This time the X-ray showed a small pneumothorax. A pneumothorax is a collapsed lung where the air leaks from the lung and build up in the space between the lung and the chest wall. To make sure the pneumothorax didn't get any larger, the doctor admitted TJ overnight for further observation. With the pneumothorax being small, the doctor advised us it may go away on its own without requiring further medical treatment which is exactly what happened. TJ was discharged 24 hours later. However, the pain was so unbearable and uncontrollable with medicine that we ended back in the ER by 6:30am Sunday morning. X-rays weren't showing anything different from before, and there wasn't much the doctors could do for TJ but increase his pain medication and send him back home a couple hours later. Since then, a full day had gone by and TJ's pain level was still at a 10, he had a decrease in appetite and energy, lack of sleep, and ongoing shortness of breath. On top of all that, he began coughing up black phlegm/mucus which led him straight back to the ER for the fourth time in one full week. Instead of doing a chest X-ray again, the doctors ordered a chest CT scan. The CT scan showed TJ had fluid and pockets of pus building up in his right lung that required cardiothoracic surgery immediately. He was then re-admitted into the hospital for the second time within a few short days, and a thoracotomy was done the very next day (Wednesday 10/12). Surgery went smoothly and he's recovering well, but he will have to stay at the hospital at least through the end of the weekend to monitor his pain and until the infection is fully drained. Overall the recovery time could take 4 to 6 weeks before he's back to 100%.