Help Becca & Baby Pay Medical Bills & Living

My sister in law Becca was severely injured during delivery of her baby in June through an epidural. She is still in poor condition, MRI yesterday showed Brain Sag! As a result they have piles of medical bills and my brother is unable to work as he cares for Becca, their newborn and their 6 year old son. Please read her story and consider helping them out with any financial gift and with sending prayers. Thank you! Kristi

In June, my second son was born. I opted for an epidural as it had helped with My firstborn. An epidural is supposed to go in the epidural space to deliver pain medication. It is not supposed to puncture your dura.

It is Really not supposed to go all the way through your spine.

Mine did.

I had excruciating spinal headaches, neck/upper back/between shoulder pain, muffled hearing in my left ear, tinnitus and affected vision as a result.

Turns out your cerebrospinal fluid (csf) affects a lot of things, and when you leak it, it can't act effectively.

The treatment is a blood patch. They take your own blood from your arm and inject it in your back where the leak is, to direct your body to heal it.

I was patched before discharge with my new baby and was feeling some relief but wasn't given appropriate after care instructions and within 2 days was back in intense pain. I was told it would heal on its own, maybe in 6-9 weeks. As I have PTSD with needles, I opted to attempt to heal on my own.

I did not.

In August we went in for a 2nd blood patch. I was given after care instructions and followed them. I experienced improvement! My head pain was intermittent, my hearing still muffled but not as bad, vision still affected, but I started trying to do life again.

And blew it. Because I was still leaking on the inside which I didn't know.

A 3rd patch was attempted with absolutely no effect. We went in for the 4th patch, a CT guided one with glue, in November.

At this point I've been leaking for 5 months. Your body replaces your spinal fluid every 6-8 hours. And attempts to produce enough to compensate for leaking if you are.

The 4th patch was placed through 6 needles in my spine, while I had a needle in each arm. They put blood and glue all around everything.

And it worked.

But now my body is producing enough spinal fluid to compensate for a leak that I no longer have. Now I'm in High pressure pain as too much fluid fills my skull and surrounds my brain. And I'm at risk for more issues as a result.

Update 12/9/22 I had an MRI today and it turns out I have a brain sag and I’m still leaking fluid. I need additional extensive and invasive tests and talk to another surgeon.