Please Help Rae Get Surgery
Donation protected
Only a few people outside of my family know the medical struggles I’ve had since the birth of our daughter Amali 2 years ago. But it’s time for me to be open about it, because if I’m honest, we’re really struggling.
I’ve finally been approved for surgery in 5 weeks time on the 2nd of August 2024. However the surgery is coming at a cost well beyond what we were expecting. I’ve been quoted $7,000 for the surgery itself, anaesthetist, surgical assistant, and 1 night in hospital. With my only other option being to continue waiting however many years it takes for a specialist through the public system. As I’ve been advised, this would mean starting the process all over again and pushing out the surgery an estimated 4 to 6 years minimum. Our healthcare system is so broken. So now I am desperately reaching out for help.
All of this started 2 years ago when our beautiful Amali was born. It was a planned C-section due to an increased risk of rupture. But things went less than smoothly. It took an hour just to get her out, I struggled to stay awake during the surgery, and had an indeterminate amount of blood loss. Everything seemed to be okay in the end though, and when Mali stopped breathing for a few minutes at 2 hours old my whole focus shifted to her wellbeing and ignoring mine. I shrugged off pain, bleeding and feeling ill for 6 weeks. It was at that point I knew something wasn’t right, I’d had an infection, I was still in pain, and my postpartum bleeding wasn’t stopping and was in fact getting worse.
For 2 years I’ve had hospital visit after hospital visit, scan after scan, blood test after blood test, referral after referral and appointment after appointment to try and figure out what was going on. It started as “something left in there” with a “slow active bleed” and an “enlarged boggy uterus” that hadn’t gone back down to normal size even months after the birth. I’d pushed to be seen and scanned only to have the doctors at the hospital discharge and dismiss me as I wasn’t haemorrhaging and had passed the infection. Eventually I was referred to a private specialist and was diagnosed with a possible AVM at the site of the “retained product” along the suture site. But after an MRI it finally seemed to be Adenomyosis caused by complications from my C-section.
Adenomyosis is a condition similar to Endometriosis, but is localised to the uterus. The endometrial lining grows into and invades the muscle wall of the uterus; causing pain, swelling and bleeding. Symptoms can sometimes be treated with medication, but the only way to confirm the diagnosis and also cure it is with a hysterectomy.
It’s been a long journey of trialing different medications to no avail, and now my last resort is surgery. The only way I’ve even been able to come this far in getting a diagnosis, trying medications and now surgery, has been through the private gynaecologist (despite not having private health insurance.) I was hopeful that I might be able to be referred through the public system for surgery after my diagnosis, but unfortunately that’s not a possibility. So now I’m here, and needing to come up with $7,000 all so I can be a better Mum and Wife without the ongoing issues of Adenomyosis.
I would be so so thankful for any help. I know so many people are struggling financially but every little bit helps. I just hope and pray that one day we will see change in the public health system, so no other Mum has to go through this.
Love Rae,
and the Holfter’s xx
I’ve finally been approved for surgery in 5 weeks time on the 2nd of August 2024. However the surgery is coming at a cost well beyond what we were expecting. I’ve been quoted $7,000 for the surgery itself, anaesthetist, surgical assistant, and 1 night in hospital. With my only other option being to continue waiting however many years it takes for a specialist through the public system. As I’ve been advised, this would mean starting the process all over again and pushing out the surgery an estimated 4 to 6 years minimum. Our healthcare system is so broken. So now I am desperately reaching out for help.
All of this started 2 years ago when our beautiful Amali was born. It was a planned C-section due to an increased risk of rupture. But things went less than smoothly. It took an hour just to get her out, I struggled to stay awake during the surgery, and had an indeterminate amount of blood loss. Everything seemed to be okay in the end though, and when Mali stopped breathing for a few minutes at 2 hours old my whole focus shifted to her wellbeing and ignoring mine. I shrugged off pain, bleeding and feeling ill for 6 weeks. It was at that point I knew something wasn’t right, I’d had an infection, I was still in pain, and my postpartum bleeding wasn’t stopping and was in fact getting worse.
For 2 years I’ve had hospital visit after hospital visit, scan after scan, blood test after blood test, referral after referral and appointment after appointment to try and figure out what was going on. It started as “something left in there” with a “slow active bleed” and an “enlarged boggy uterus” that hadn’t gone back down to normal size even months after the birth. I’d pushed to be seen and scanned only to have the doctors at the hospital discharge and dismiss me as I wasn’t haemorrhaging and had passed the infection. Eventually I was referred to a private specialist and was diagnosed with a possible AVM at the site of the “retained product” along the suture site. But after an MRI it finally seemed to be Adenomyosis caused by complications from my C-section.
Adenomyosis is a condition similar to Endometriosis, but is localised to the uterus. The endometrial lining grows into and invades the muscle wall of the uterus; causing pain, swelling and bleeding. Symptoms can sometimes be treated with medication, but the only way to confirm the diagnosis and also cure it is with a hysterectomy.
It’s been a long journey of trialing different medications to no avail, and now my last resort is surgery. The only way I’ve even been able to come this far in getting a diagnosis, trying medications and now surgery, has been through the private gynaecologist (despite not having private health insurance.) I was hopeful that I might be able to be referred through the public system for surgery after my diagnosis, but unfortunately that’s not a possibility. So now I’m here, and needing to come up with $7,000 all so I can be a better Mum and Wife without the ongoing issues of Adenomyosis.
I would be so so thankful for any help. I know so many people are struggling financially but every little bit helps. I just hope and pray that one day we will see change in the public health system, so no other Mum has to go through this.
Love Rae,
and the Holfter’s xx
Organizer
Rae Holfter
Organizer
Elizabeth West DC, SA