Support LaCole's 3rd Spine Surgery

***UPDATE*** 11/14/24

c5c6 fusion approved, surgery will be on Dec18th, and LaCole will be flying to Texas Dec 16th and coming back Dec 24th.

***UPDATE*** 10/29/24

LaCole will be having her 3rd cervical spine surgery with Dr. Jason Taub in Plano Texas in December, awaiting insurance approval.

She will be having her artificial disc taken out and having her C5C6 fused, along with osteophyte (bone spur) removal, as Dr. Taub pointed out numerous left behind on the right side of her cervical spine, with also a few on the left side of her cervical spine, which can cause extreme pain if they are pressing on nerves exiting the spine.

***UPDATE*** 9/30/24

LaCole had a blood metal allergy test done and she is highly allergic to nickel. Nickel is one of the elements mixed in her artificial disc. Her surgeon said today that she has to fly back to the Texas Back Institute and have the disc taken out and get a spinal fusion surgery. This will be getting coordinated moving forward.

Please donate and share,

Thank you!

***9/1/24 UPDATE***

LaCole is doing very poorly, her pain is unchanged since having spine revision surgery. Medications are still not helping and the pain is still severe reaching 8-9/10 frequently.

It's been suggested to her to do metal allergy testing to see if the implant in her spine is causing any inflammation and pain, if she were to have a metal allergy.

The blood test is not covered by insurance and is costly and it's been ordered to see if she has a nickel allergy.

Anything helps, thank you.

THE STORY OF HOW IT STARTED

Hi everyone, my daughter LaCole fell in August 2023 and herniated her C5-6 disc.

She was in excruciating pain constantly up until she finally received a diagnosis in Jan 2024 of the C5-6 herniation. Epidural shots did not help and she had an artificial disc replacement (ADR) surgery in Feb 2024.

It was going well for the first 5 weeks, her pain was getting better and better, then it came back with a vengeance.

She has been suffering in extreme pain constantly with medications and PT being of no help to her. She's also done more injections in her spine with no help whatsoever.

She has been unable to work as an RN for 10-plus months now, and she also had to quit Nurse Practitioner school, even though she completed 2 years of it and only has 3 semesters left until she graduates.

I watch her endless suffering every day since she had to move in with me and her stepfather due to her being unable to financially support herself.

During all these months after surgery she remained in constant communication with her surgeon, who ordered scans, but despite her continued concerns of extreme pain he has dismissed all of her concerns time and time again, stating "Everything looks great."

It's led to her suffering endlessly throughout this experience and she had to take it upon herself to reach out to ADR support groups and seek out of state world renowned spine surgeon Dr. Bitan in New York City. He told her, the cervical artificial disc has failed, and is not in the correct position and slipping out of the disc space, which is what is causing her severe pain. A possible allergy to the disc metal of the M6 disc implant was also brought up as a possibility. An allergy to the metal would cause osteolysis over time and this condition causes severe pain as well.

The surgeon in New York City has offered to do her revision or fusion surgery, but told her she is free to choose a surgeon of her choice.

Since Dr. Bitan is out of network, she was directed to seek out Dr. Blumenthal with the Texas Back Institute. She had a teleappt with him 6/26/24 and he agreed with Dr. Bitan's review of her images, stating her disc moved out of place, and is oversized and is pushed up way too far and he agreed to do her revision surgery. She is awaiting surgery dates now, so she has to fly to Texas to get spine surgery. Her friend will be accompanying her.

Dr. Blumenthal offered her another disc (simplify) not M6 that she currently has, or she can choose to do a bone graft fusion. We're hoping the surgery dates are soon, but she is low on funds living off her bank account, which is dwindling down at this point.

She hasn't been able to work in nearly a year, as I mentioned above so, I decided to create her a gofundme to help with travel and medical expenses, so she can go get the care she desperately needs to get her life back.

I want to see her smile again and be able to return to working as a registered nurse and finish out her nurse practitioner degree!

I appreciate all who donate to my daughter LaCole, for her out-of-town revision surgery.

Thank you so much guys!

She will be so grateful for the help.