Help Beth get through surgery number 10!

Hi. I'm Beth and I have an unfortunate condition where my intestines never attached correctly in my body and this has lead to all sorts of problems. After 6 surgeries to try to correct things, I decided to try a hail Mary and get a loop ileostomy. I opted for this rather than a colectomy because having a colectomy with my weird anatomy is dangerous and difficult. We (my medical team and myself) thought that if we bypassed the colon that maybe I'd be able to live a normal and pain free life. The ileostomy was not without complication and I ended up having 2 corrective surgeries after getting it. This all would have been worth it if it had worked the way we hoped, but it did not. I'm still constipated as waste continues to collect in the colon, I'm still having issues with pain and nausea, and in short I feel pretty horrible all the time. I went back to my doctor and spoke with several other doctors and everyone told me that in order for me to feel better I have to get the colon out. So surgery number 10 is happening on Feb 20 and I'm getting the colon out completely. This surgery is risky as my colon is wedged by my abdominal aorta (a very large vessel that supplies blood to the lower half of the body) and my mesenteric vein (supplies blood to the intestines). Nicking either of these is a bad thing. Also no one has ever done surgery like this since my anatomy is one of a kind. So this is scary.

The other part of things that is making this stressful is money. I was hospitalized for an infection (in that dumb colon) a couple of weeks ago and have been unable to return to work. I'm struggling with extreme pain, exhaustion, nausea, dehydration, and other symptoms like racing heart and low blood pressure as my body is on the struggle bus. Our family is also dealing with the extensive and ongoing mental health needs for one of our children. All of my treatments (and my child's treatments) cost money, which we have less of than usual because of my inability to work as a nurse at this time.

I know that I don't have to justify needing help, but I feel like I need to explain a little because I'm asking you to donate some of your money to me at a time when we are all struggling with inflation. Justin (husband) and I are responsible people who have worked hard to get where we are. I went to school for nursing and managed to graduate with a 4.0 even while having 2 major surgeries (again on stupid uncooperative colon) during school. We managed to pay off debt and to even save some money. I started nursing to help people after my nurses helped me, and I really love it. Life was ticking along until it wasn't and the wheels feel off. It is amazing how fast medical bills eat through your savings. It is disheartening to watch how illness wipes out everything you worked to get and keeps taking more.

This weird defect I have has made everything I do difficult and yet I keep going. Unfortunately I can't make money appear from nowhere. People have asked me how they can help and the answer is a donation towards my family so we can pay towards medical bills and daily living expenses. We don't qualify for help with bills as we make too much, but we don't make enough to cover everything. So if you want to help by donating, please do. IF you want to send thoughts and prayers I'll take them too as I'm scared about surgery. It's painful, recovery is long and painful, and no one knows how things are going to go.

Thank you for the time you took to read this. I appreciate it.

Love you all.