Medical Expense Fundraiser for Shane Spangler

5/13/2023

My boyfriend, Shane Spangler, was in a serious dirt bike accident this past Friday afternoon. Shane has been riding dirt bikes his whole life and an unfortunate accident happened doing something that he loves. Together we have two young children, two boys, who love him more than anything. He is currently recovering at the hospital. He has undergone his first surgery with the second one potentially scheduled for this coming Monday for a punctured and collapsed lung as well as other serious injuries he has sustained. At this moment we do not know when Shane will be able to go back to work, or how much these surgeries will cost.

I know that things are difficult for a lot of families right now, but no gesture is too small, anything will help.

Update 5/15/23 9:00am:

I want to thank everyone for their continued thoughts & prayers, as well as the text messages and concerns. Please understand I am getting an influx of them and it’s hard to respond to everyone in a timely manor while also being Shane’s nurse. They are not going unnoticed and they are appreciated more than anyone will ever know. We are having a very extremely frustrating time at the hospital. After 3 days we still do not know what's really going on or when surgeries are. And we are getting no information or conflicting information. Due to this, I will update every one when I feel I have the right information. Thank you for your patience. This may take some time, so please bare with us.

4:52pm Update 5/15/23 :

It took me waking up feisty and raising some hell this morning, but I can now confidently give an update after advocating for Shane. Around 12:45pm they took us down to prep for surgery to fix and plate the clavicle as well as the broken ribs. The ribs are broken pretty close to his spine but the doctor is confident he can plate them. 3:40pm they took him back to surgery, and it will about 3-4 hours. Keep the prayers and positive vibes coming. Thank you all.

10:02pm Update 5/15/23:

Shane’s surgery went well this afternoon. He made it back into his room around 8pm tonight. Despite the smile and the thumbs up, he is in a lot of pain. They went in and plated

his clavicle, as well as five out of the nine fractured ribs. He still has his chest tube in, and it is still draining blood from his lung. It’s looking like he is going to make a full recovery, we just have a very long journey ahead of us. At this time we don’t know how much longer Shane will be in the hospital due to the chest tube still being in and blood still draining out. Shane & I want to thank everyone for all of your continued thoughts, prayers, & support.

7:54am Update 5/17/23:

Update: Shane Spangler is in a substantial amount of pain this morning. Yesterday his chest tube came disconnected from the port twice. Which was terrifying. I’m holding it for him and air is coming out of his side every time he breathes. He pushed the nurses button immediately- no one was coming, I had to run out on the floor to find someone. Our experience at Mercy Hospital has been completely awful, and somehow even that’s an understatement. I’ve been his nurse this entire time, let’s just say that. They were able to put it back, and taped it. Sent in x-ray to make sure that it didn’t move internally when it came out. No sooner does the lady walk in to take the x-ray, it just falls out from the port again. Seeing the panic in his face was so scary, when it was disconnected he felt like he couldn’t breathe and I could visibly see that he was struggling. They had people from trauma come up and their solution was to zip tie it. So far, it has not come apart again. The nights are extra rough. Neither of us are able to sleep very much. We are still getting conflicting or no information, so I have not updated as I would rather be giving an accurate update. Shane and I sincerely appreciate the texts, the thoughts, the prayers, and the positive vibes. We definitely need them. I pray to God we get some information today, and see when we can get this chest tube out and when we can start to look forward to going home.

11:37am Update 5/17/23:

The doctors who put in Shane’s chest tube Saturday made their rounds this morning. It sounds like a rib punctured his lung and that is what is holding us up currently. They are waiting for the lung to heal itself because it has a tear in it. A time frame is unknown as everyone heals differently. If after however many days and x-rays it doesn’t not show that it has healed then they will have to go back in and spray it with something to help it heal itself. Besides from that the ribs and clavicle are plated and doing well. Sounds like as long as he has the chest tube for his lung, he will also still have his epidural for his happy juice. Thank you all for everything. Your continued thoughts, prayers and concerns. We need all the prayers we can get. I do also want to mention that communication for Shane is a lot right now. Several doctors came in this morning to check on him right in a row, and boy that took a lot out of him. He does try periodically to be on his phone to show you all he is ok, but that too is a lot and sometimes makes him nauseous. So please understand that if he doesn’t respond, he’s not ignoring you, he sees it, and he appreciates it more than you know.

If anyone could share the GoFundMe page, we would appreciate that.

5:13pm Update 5/19/23:

We were hopeful that Shane’s chest tube would be able to come out today as the other doctors that did his collarbone and ribs didn’t see a reason for it not to. Unfortunately the doctor who put the chest tube in came by and made the decision to not pull it out today due to the x-ray showing his lung still has a tear/leak. Praying that tomorrow morning the x-ray will show even more improvement and that he can get the chest tube removed.

9:41am Update 5/20/23:

Last night around 3am, we got bad news. Shane woke up to sounding like Darth Vader, and his chest tube they so wonderfully zip tied just a few days ago, disconnected again. We don’t know for how long, he woke up feeling like he had run a mile. They’re saying it sounds like now because it disconnected that the lung collapsed again. They put him back on suction after this happened. We’re really sad, as we were so hopeful that today we would have been able to be told the chest tube could come out. Now the process starts all over again. Suction all day, x-ray in the morning, take him off suction, see how he does all day/night, x-ray Monday morning, maybe get the tube out, and then pain management maybe go home by Wednesday…maybe.

10:00am Update 5/23/23

I’m sorry I haven’t posted an update. Who wants to just keep updating with bad news? Shane’s chest tube fell out again over night Sunday into Monday. Which set us back again and he was put back on suction all day yesterday. They stopped the epidural, so he was pain managing all day yesterday without it. He’s pretty much a bad ass. This morning they took another x-ray and said his lung is looking better, so they took him off suction again and will be off of it all day but the chest tube stays in. If all goes well and this tube stays intact, they will do another x-ray tomorrow morning to see if the tube can come out. The epidural is being removed today since it’s been off for nearly 24 hours. Hopefully we are one step closer to finally getting out of here and getting my guy home. Praying like crazy!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Update 2:23pm 5/27/23:

Well, we’re finally home. As you can see, he’s doing alright. Don’t let the photos fool ya though, we’re still working on the whole pain management thing. The bike is for photo purposes only, he insisted. Thank you all for all of your support, your thoughts and your prayers. And today is his birthday! I can’t express how thankful I am to spend another one with you babe. Happy Birthday loverbutt. I love you to the moon & back.

Update 5/30/23 2:11pm:

This isn’t an update I thought I’d have to give. But we are back in the hospital. Last night Shane Spangler came down with a fever of 102.6. Despite the Tylenol, the fever proceeded to fluctuate all night. I brought him back in, they did the x-ray which definitely showed some fluid around or in the lung. They wanted to get a better picture so they took him for a CT scan. The doctor just came in after reviewing those images and there is definitely an infection on the lung, and fluid. But they don’t know if the fluid is infection, water, or blood. He’s making some phone calls now to get the right people involved and to see how they’re going to get this taken care of.

Positive vibes and prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Update 5/31/23:

What a roller coaster the last 24 hours have been. Yesterday evening they ended up draining nearly 2 liters of fluid from Shane’s lung via needle through his back into his lung. They sent that off to get tested to see if it’s infected.

After we got moved up to a room, the night nurses tried to kick me out where as it was fine for the last thirteen days we spent here. Long story, I filed a complaint but I did just receive an apology and told that the night staff will be informed that I am allowed to stay overnight with him.

We were told around 10:30ish that the fluid in his lung is confirmed to be infected. Shortly after they took him downstairs to get another type of tube put in to drain the fluid.

I can’t help but feel this is happening because of all the issues he had with the last chest tube. I will try to update later today and I am praying they bring him back soon. I just really hope everyone knows how much we both appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers.

Thank you so much.

Update 6/1/23:

Yesterday Shane got back from the procedure around 11:30am. They put a smaller tube in his back below his incision into his lung which then drains into a bag. The location is terrible. It’s right in this muscle that just won’t stop spasming, so he’s been in an excruciating amount of pain. It took until almost 7pm for me to get them to reach out to whoever they needed to, and Shane constantly yelling out in pain that entire time, to figure out his pain management because it was breaking my heart seeing him in so much pain. Between what was drained from his lung when we got here Tuesday in the ER and what they were able to drain yesterday, a total of about 4 liters of fluid have been removed from his lung. They have already been by to take an x-ray this morning. Now we are just waiting for the doctors to make their rounds and tell us what they see and what the plan is today. I feel like I remember them saying something about being able to put antibiotics directly into the tube as well, so maybe that will happen today. It was also brought to our attention that he has a few blood clots in the infected lung as well. They have him hooked up to heparin and he will have to be on blood thinners for probably the next three months and also antibiotics for at least a month because of the infection.

X-Ray Update:

The x-ray this morning is still showing something going on in the lung. They scheduled a CT scan for sometime this morning to confirm what is actually still left in there. If need be after the CT scan they can inject what the doctor referred to as clot breaker to break up whatever is in there. Absolute worst possible case scenario would be surgery where she explained they go in and literally peel the infection/gunk away like an orange peel. For this surgery they would I believe have to open him up and it would be high risk for another infection and just tedious, they really don’t want to have to do this kind of surgery unless they absolutely have to. So, let’s keep the positive vibes and prayers coming because that’s something he definitely doesn’t want to endure.

When you ride, wear all of your gear including that chest protector. He says it’s not worth it. Gear up.

June 2nd Update:

I realize I have asked for alot of prayers recently..and I don’t think that either of us thought that we would have to go through all of this.. but Shane was just taken downstairs for another surgery. Despite the attempt with the drainage tube, there is still infection that isn’t coming out on it’s own. At this point they are saying he is more likely to die from the infection that’s currently in him than from the surgery. So, they’re going to make a four inch incision, go in and scrape the infection out and put another chest tube in. The surgeon is from the U of M hospital, so to me that was more reassuring than what we’ve dealt with.

Please keep the prayers coming… we really need them.

June 3rd Update:

Shane’s surgery went well yesterday. The surgeon said they were able to scrape out another liter of infection. The way they explained what they saw is he had like a rind around the lung that they had to literally peel away. Unfortunately he now has three chest tubes in for drainage, which are really the source of his pain right now and what he described to be burning which I assume is from the peeling/scraping. The x-ray this morning shows the lung looking a lot better. Infectious disease will be involved now to keep an eye on him and I believe there was worry about the infection affecting those three plated ribs. Not really sure what that means, but I’m praying like crazy it doesn’t mean they would have to go in and replace them. Waiting for some clarity on that this morning as the doctors make their rounds.

Last night was extremely rough as far as the excruciating pain and lack of sleep went. The surgeon offered another epidural, which we really don’t want to do with how painful the last one was. After that was expressed he said he will see what he can do for pain management today.

While he was in surgery I had the pleasure of meeting the Chaplin, and she was wonderful. It was nice to have someone to talk to. Not only did she pray with me, but she genuinely seemed to care. She listened to me about our stay here and how bad it’s been and even took me down to medical records so I could obtain all of his records from his stay at this hospital. She thought that would help me feel more comfortable in the event that God forbid something else comes from this, that we would feel more comfortable going somewhere else because I’ll have everything we need, including the imaging. She even cared enough to ask if I had eaten anything, and obviously I hadn’t. So she took me to the cafeteria and she got me food and a drink. She was very sweet, and I’m very greatful she came to see me.

Praying for pain relief, rest, and healing.

Thank you everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers and kind words.

June 4th Update:

Last night was a little rough managing Shane’s pain, and by a little I mean a lot. It got so severe that he was contemplating telling them to just put another epidural in like last time. I got very concerned because his right arm has become so weak to the point where he has to use his left arm to lift it up. As of this morning and expressing this concern, they’re assumption is that those three chest tubes are just causing a lot of discomfort and pain all over the right side of his body. Hopefully in the next few days whenever they finally make the decision to pull the tubes, they’re thinking that will eliminate the pain and he will feel a hell of a lot better. They also mentioned maybe doing a scan of the arm just to make sure everything is okay.

The infectious disease team came by and let us know that whenever he is eventually discharged he will be sent home with a picc line in his arm and that’s how I will be administering his antibiotics that way for six weeks. The reason for this is obviously because of this gnarly infection that they scraped out. But also because of that concern surrounding the plated ribs. The surgeon said that the screws to the plates may have touched that rind of infection they scraped out. Therefore doing antibiotics for as long as they want us to will hopefully fight it off any infection that may be hiding and he won’t have to have the plates removed. After all, the reason for plating the ribs is because they were just floating there not connected to anything.

Today just feels like a big waiting game. Wait for orders to be given. Wait to see what happens next. Wait to see if the medications will work. I’m hoping they take the chest tubes off of suction today and switch them to water seal so we can take a step closer to getting them removed and going home and starting this long road of recovery.

We’re tired, we’re scared, we’re stressed, we’re overwhelmed. We want to be able to go home and be with our boys again and have a sense of normalcy. I haven’t worked except for one day once I finally got him home this last time and Shane isn’t going to be able to work for God knows how long considering we keep getting set back. I’ve got a lot of emotions going on and thoughts. I just want to say I am insanely thankful for everyone who have been helping out with Anthony while we are in the hospital. I know this is hard for our kids too to make sense of and understand what emotions they may be feeling. It certainly takes a village, and we are grateful for ours.

I feel like we have had nothing but fails and set backs, and we just really need a win. Let’s pray for a win in these upcoming days. And maybe a good malpractice lawyer once all is said and done.

6/13/2023:

We’re home, round two!

I haven’t posted anything because the reality is we both needed a breather as we are both still so physically and mentally exhausted. Let’s pray we don’t need to go back to the hospital for anything else life threatening.

Shane is still in a pretty substantial amount of pain and breathing is still difficult, conversation alone can exhaust him. I mean, his first chest tube was May 13th- that was left in for 12 days, his surgery for his clavicle and ribs was on the 15th of May- all of this followed by all of the horrible health care and complications you all got to read up on. And then only home for a few days and boom, we were back in the hospital again, only to get cut on some more. His poor body has been through so much in the last month, and not to mention the mental state for all of us has been an absolute shit show like everything else in this continuous nightmare. And we’re still kickin’ ass and takin’ names!! We do have to drive to infusions DAILY for the next six weeks, so his body can work with the antibiotics and continue to fight off this nasty infection. But we got this! I got you babe. ❤️

Where as we are home, and so glad to be there, we are not out of the woods quite yet. Today and every single day, we thank all of you for all of your continued love, thoughts and prayers.

Thank you!