Briana's Surgery....Yay!! Thank You ALL!!

***UPDATE: Message from Briana***

Dear Family & Friends,

My husband Daniel & I would like to personally thank you for your incredible generosity & love! The outpouring of support has been nothing short of miraculous! With the financial relief provided by each one of you I am now able to pursue the specialty procedure that is not covered by insurance. Thank you for your compassion in donating, sharing the fundraiser, sending words of encouragement, saying prayers for us, it has given us so much hope & lifted our spirits during this trying time! We cannot wait until all of this is "behind" us... ; ) Sending you all our love!

Eternally grateful,

Briana & Daniel

***UPDATE: Message from Briana***

Hello all my loved ones... after a tearful meltdown my Mom surprised me with this GoFundMe campaign. ❤ Thank you to everyone who already contributed! I'm blown away that you donated so quickly to help me. ❤

Although it is personal & embarrassing, I'd like to share my story as a PSA & hopefully to get recommendations that could lead to my permanent recovery & help anyone else going thru this humiliating condition!

Just before Covid hit I decided to get a series of colonics from someone highly recommended with the hope of resolving my chronic migraines. During the first session the practitioner accidentally scraped the inside of my rectum with the colonic tube. I ended up with an e. Coli infection & two perianal abscesses. (Picture a baboon's butt). The pain was unbelievable! Like my bumcheeks were two balloons that could pop at any second!! I ended up in Emergency Surgery, just shy of going sepsis.

The surgery was a huge relief, but unfortunately the surgeon either cut too deep, or the at home wound care by the nurses ended too quickly because of Covid, & the surgical wounds never fully closed. I could type 100 different things I tried & several different types of practitioners I saw to heal, but ultimately the wounds turned into fistulas, which is like a tunnel that goes from a hole inside the rectum out to holes in the buttocks. The body can actually create these fistulas without being injured from a surgery. People with other gut issues, IBS, Crohn's, colitis are all at risk of developing fistulas & it is such a private area that many people suffer in silence for years not knowing how to treat it or trying various treatments that fail. It is a very isolating & depressing condition, let alone painful & time consuming. If anyone else out there is going thru this too or knows someone who is, I am so very sorry!! Please reach out to me & I'll share with you resources I have found. ❤

I had been managing to live with the fistulas, but in November one turned into an abscess again that sent me to the ER. The antibiotics to treat that gave me C diff infection & only a couple weeks later flared up another abscess which caused me to be hospitalized. They gave me another round of antibiotics & now I have a second C diff infection which had me back in the ER for vomiting & dehydration last weekend. They told me I must close the fistulas so I'm not living with open wounds that can keep getting reinfected & turning into abscesses.

Which brings us to today.

Currently I am facing a HUGE decision... the standard surgery is called a fistulotomy with setons & all the surgeons I've seen for consult so far have said I should expect some form of incontinence after, they cannot predict if it will be mild or severe. So... that is a nightmare. There is a newer procedure called FiLaC laser that does not cut thru the rectal muscles. Rather than several months of recovery & follow up visits to have plastic seton bands tightened every two weeks to cut thru the skin, the laser has an estimated 5 day recovery period. So far I have only found one surgeon in Beverly Hills, CA who uses the laser, but he does not accept insurance. The other laser surgeons are in Georgia, Florida, India & Austria. It's been surprisingly difficult to find a laser surgeon. I have spent weeks calling dozens of offices that feature laser on their website, but they don't actually treat fistulas with the laser. It's been a long, exhausting couple of months.

Daniel & I will be reading medical articles & testimonials all weekend to get as fully informed as possible & we'll be praying we'll be guided to make the best choice with the least medical complications & the highest chance of complete healing!

Your prayers that we choose the procedure with the best outcome & full recovery are so, so, so needed & appreciated!!! Thank you in advance for any prayers, advice, referrals or donations you can contribute! I miss & love you all! Your kindness is so appreciated! ❤ ❤ ❤ I look forward to getting my life & my booty back. Can they throw in a Brazilian butt lift while they're at it??? Jk! Jk!! That is not safe. I won't be doing that.

Love you all!!! ❤

XO

Briana

From Shannon:

To my dear friends and family, many of you may or may not know that Briana has been suffering with a very complicated medical problem for 4 years now almost half of her married life. A condition that was suppose to heal in 2-3 months after the first surgery went wrong! She can't even work right now and has-been in and out of the ER. It's quite severe and takes a specialized surgeon to correct the issue. Many insurance companies will not cover the necessary procedure, and the procedure itself has a very low success rate, but surgery is the only option and she feels forced to take the risk. We have called all over the United States to try and find the best option for this surgery, and unfortunately have discovered we will have to pay out-of-pocket. Briana has already accumulated 4 years of medical costs due to this condition. You may have never heard of it, it's a complex intersphincteric fistula, and causes constant pain, infections and discomfort. Takes daily care just as an open wound would need. All family members are contributing to get this done, but still exceeds what we can all afford. Hoping some of you may be in a position to contribute whatever you can. I deeply appreciate your love and concern for Briana. These contributions will go directly to her specifically for the surgery. Our goal is just to make sure she can get the surgery to correct this debilating condition and get back to a normal life. Thank you so much for your love and donation. Momma Shannon ~ Love you guys ;-)