Help the Tinney Family!

The Tinney family is known and loved in many communities. You might know Jason as your trusty techie at Skyview Middle School. You might know Jamie from her work at Catholic Charities. Or, you might know their boys JJ and Jaxson from school or their many sporting activities. The Tinneys are a hardworking and independent family which is why we know accepting outside help is not in their comfort zone. But, we also know that they would be the first to step up to help another family in need, and there are so many people who would love to make a difference as they walk through a very challenging and scary time.

In January, Jamie took a big step towards what she hoped would be a positive change. She underwent weight loss surgery. Everything seemed to be going well. Then in the first week, one of Jamie’s incisions became infected and she was allergic to the Dermabond glue used to cover her incisions causing horrendous itching.

In the next two weeks, things went from bad to worse. After trying various clear liquids with no success, Jamie ended up with severe abdominal cramping, nausea, diarrhea and terrible acid reflux. She was needing IV fluids twice a week.

By week three, Jamie was unable to tolerate even water and was nauseous all the time.

She was admitted to United on February 10 for severe dehydration and malnutrition. An endoscopy showed a stricture in her new stomach pouch. The goal for the new opening is 2cm, hers was at 0.8cm and inflamed. The surgeon widened the opening to 1.5cm hoping that would start Jamie on the road to recovery.

By Day 6 at United, Jamie was still only able to drink water and was suffering from severe nausea and pain. The surgical team decided to insert a PICC line and start her on TPN (total parenteral nutrition). The plan was to continue the TPN for 2-4 weeks. She was finally able to go home on February 20, 2023.

Over the next 2.5 weeks, Jamie had 3 dilations and 2 ER visits with no improvement. After being on TPN for a month and only being able to take in water for her meds, she was finally able to get an appointment at the U of M thanks to a friend’s help.

Friday, March 17 at the U of M, they did an endoscopy to see what was going on and placed a stent in her GI tract to help keep the opening wide enough. Jamie was sent home later in the day still nauseous but with instructions to drink and have pureed foods. By Sunday evening, the nausea had increased to the point of dry heaving. Called the U and was told to go to the nearest ER for CT scan, fluids and to check for perforation and stent placement. Stent was still in place. Jamie was given nausea IV meds and sent home with a pill form of the nausea meds which proved difficult to keep down. Made it thru Sunday night and Monday alternating nausea meds every 4 hours. Checked in with the team at the U of M, and they feel her system is rejecting the stent due to her sensitivity to metals.

By Tuesday (3/21) evening, the nausea had again gotten bad enough to cause dry heaving. The U of M triage said to come to the ER for admittance, possible stent removal, and planning of the next steps. Jamie ended up not being admitted and was sent home with yet another anti-nausea pill. She is currently scheduled to have the stent removed on Wednesday, March 29. Some good news is an x-ray showed the hole is open and hopefully working as intended.

Jason has been at Jamie’s side through all of this. Unfortunately, that means he has used up most of his PTO. Additionally, they recently found out JJ needs elbow surgery. We know there is an army of supporters that would love to step in to help. We hope you will consider contributing to support Jamie, Jason and the boys so they can focus on what matters most - their family. Please help us spread the word. Thank you!

JJ's elbow

JJ's elbow (bad) next to Jax's (good)