Tonya's medical fund

 About 6 months ago my sister, Tonya started having horrible headaches in her left temple. These headaches would come and go and would cause swelling in her left eye. After visiting the ER and having CAT scans done (3 months ago), she was sent home with pain meds to continue her every day life. Last Tuesday while at work, the headache started again, yet she pushed through her work day. When picking up her boys from school after work, she decided it would be best to let Braylon (her oldest) drive home because of the swelling in her left eye. By the time they got home, her eye was completely closed shut and would stay that way for the next 3-4 hours. When the eye finally opened there was no vision in it, 2 seizures followed later that night and we waited hoping the vision would be restored as the headache passed. The next day Tonya took off work to allow her body to rest. Even though the vision had not returned, she started feeling better and decided to go to work on Thursday morning. After getting to work, Tonya was rushed to the Memorial hospital in Savannah and immediately admitted. After doing an MRI she was met by the doctors and specialists that would become her new team as they broke the news that they had found two aneurysms on the brain. The last week has been a roller coaster to say the least. Tonya was admitted to the hospital Thursday night and the team immediately began to research and run various tests trying to find the cause of the blindness. Her team consists of a primary doctor, an internal doctor (and his 4 residents), 2 neurologists, a neurosurgeons, an ophthalmologist, a rheumatologist, and a team of doctors whose job was to research any possibility that could explain Tonya's blindness. This team was there from the very beginning gathering data and recruiting other specialists. The neurosurgeon saw her and ordered first a CT Scan and then one with contrast to check the flow of blood to the eye as well as to the rest of the left side of her brain. They were searching for the cause of inflammation even considering a rare blood disease that didn't fit her age and health but seemed to fit her symptoms. Still nothing was found that could be the source of the problem. That same night an ophthalmologist came and performed a cursory exam of her eye, which seemed to be healthy. He did a more thorough exam on Friday but concluded that the eye and the optic nerve directly behind it was in perfect condition. Thursday ended with a late night visit from the rheumatologist. He explained the inflammation, and subsequent blindness, could spread to the right eye and affirmed the need for a high dose steroids that had been ordered earlier that day. Friday morning brought a parade of doctors to the room once again. An MRI with contrast was performed focusing on the eyes and the surrounding blood vessels. This MRI showed a pinpoint in another section of the brain that most likely is from a previous stroke sometime in the past but unrelated to the current problem. Blood work was run day and night but as of yet nothing informative has been found. That night Tonya had 2 short seizures that left her exhausted and hurting. Saturday continues with exam after exam. An EEG was run to form a baseline to compare to a later EEG on Tuesday. Later that evening an angiogram with contrast was performed but again nothing conclusive was found. Sunday brought a relative day of rest but that evening Tonya had a seizure that lasted for 6 minutes. It took so long for her to recover that they considered moving her to a step-down unit for closer monitoring. After keeping an eye on her they decided to keep her in her room. Monday was spent talking to doctors. They decided to do a spinal tap early that day and that night another late night MRI was performed on a lower section of the brain. Tuesday morning they did another EEG that showed serious spikes of seizure activity that was residual effects from Sunday's big seizure. Later that day they performed a biopsy on the blood vessels on the left side of her brain. When all was said and done it was concluded that Tonya should go to Jacksonville to see an eye specialist at the Mayo Clinic. Despite all of the testing, research and brainstorming there was still no evidence that could point to the source of the problem. She was discharged on Wednesday after meeting each of her doctors for a final checkup and all of her team has made the decision to send her to Jacksonville to the Mayo Clinic hopefully this coming week. She has followup appointments with each doctor as well as ongoing steroid treatments and pain control at home. After returning from Jacksonville, one of the neurosurgeons has come up with a way to safely remove at least one of the aneurysms. It's a lot to take in. It's been a very emotional time. We're taking this time to reach out to friends and family for any help you might be able to offer. The expenses of hospitals stays, doctors visits, medications, etc is unbelievable. Tonya is not one to ask for help and is the one we go to when we need help but this is going to be leaving her out of work for weeks to come still so absolutely anything will help! Most of all, we request your prayers as tests and research continue. We're trusting and believing that healing will come! She's a mother of 3 boys and has a lot of family and friends who love and need her well. We also understand not everyone can give, we would appreciate just sharing her story and maybe the next person can. Thank you all for your love and support!!