Surgery for Angie
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Hello. Pictured above is a photo of Angie Snodgrass Kusturin and me, her mother, Jana Snodgrass. This was a good day taking a walk at the Springfield Nature Center. Since 2013 there have not been very many good days.
Angie was diagnosed in 2013 with Trigeminal Neuralgia. It is extreme facial pain. She has two wonderful kids. I can say that because they are my grandchildren. They have missed out on quality time with their mother because of this for several years. Plans of any kind cannot be made because she never ever knows when the pain will come.
Of course the first thing to do was go to the Dr. It took more than one visit to finally be diagnosed. The average time to get diagnosed is seven years. She was hospitalized for pain management several times. She was sent to a pain clinic but even their drugs did not help. There are a few medications out there to help. Several of these drugs could not be tolerated by her. None of them take care of the pain but some make it more tolerable. Lyrica was helpful but back then was 6-7 hundred dollars a month. Luckily she was able to get samples from her family Doctor. Lyrica is now down to four hundred a month. Still out of reach.
Angie has crippling pain that sends her to bed almost everyday. Her quality of life has slowly but surely diminished. Feelings of hopelessness and depression are now the norm.
We found Dr Suen, an ENT and department head at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Known as UAMS. He knows most all the nerves in the brain. He is an honored physician and is published. Angie saw him on May 13. He located the nerve that was giving her pain and did a nerve block. The pain was gone immediately. This nerve is the culprit. She needs surgery to get rid of this nerve.
Angie will have numbness in the corner of her right eye and down the right side of her nose with a small scar on her forehead. She is more than willing to have this procedure. To be without pain after six years would be a blessing!
The problem is, she has no insurance and does not qualify for Obamacare. Waiting for Medicaid but it doesn’t transfer to another state. Her father and I have exhausted all our resources. We cannot pay for this much needed surgery. There are no grandparents to help us out. There have been expenses involved to get this far. MRI, Cat Scan, and four hundred dollar Dr visits. We are in debt for these too.
It it would be a wonderful thing to see Angie happy and productive again. This is our long awaited chance. Please help if you can. Our hope is to have this done the first week in June. With the holiday coming this story may not be posted in time. We’ll deal with it as needed.
Angie was diagnosed in 2013 with Trigeminal Neuralgia. It is extreme facial pain. She has two wonderful kids. I can say that because they are my grandchildren. They have missed out on quality time with their mother because of this for several years. Plans of any kind cannot be made because she never ever knows when the pain will come.
Of course the first thing to do was go to the Dr. It took more than one visit to finally be diagnosed. The average time to get diagnosed is seven years. She was hospitalized for pain management several times. She was sent to a pain clinic but even their drugs did not help. There are a few medications out there to help. Several of these drugs could not be tolerated by her. None of them take care of the pain but some make it more tolerable. Lyrica was helpful but back then was 6-7 hundred dollars a month. Luckily she was able to get samples from her family Doctor. Lyrica is now down to four hundred a month. Still out of reach.
Angie has crippling pain that sends her to bed almost everyday. Her quality of life has slowly but surely diminished. Feelings of hopelessness and depression are now the norm.
We found Dr Suen, an ENT and department head at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Known as UAMS. He knows most all the nerves in the brain. He is an honored physician and is published. Angie saw him on May 13. He located the nerve that was giving her pain and did a nerve block. The pain was gone immediately. This nerve is the culprit. She needs surgery to get rid of this nerve.
Angie will have numbness in the corner of her right eye and down the right side of her nose with a small scar on her forehead. She is more than willing to have this procedure. To be without pain after six years would be a blessing!
The problem is, she has no insurance and does not qualify for Obamacare. Waiting for Medicaid but it doesn’t transfer to another state. Her father and I have exhausted all our resources. We cannot pay for this much needed surgery. There are no grandparents to help us out. There have been expenses involved to get this far. MRI, Cat Scan, and four hundred dollar Dr visits. We are in debt for these too.
It it would be a wonderful thing to see Angie happy and productive again. This is our long awaited chance. Please help if you can. Our hope is to have this done the first week in June. With the holiday coming this story may not be posted in time. We’ll deal with it as needed.
Organizer
Jana Snodgrass
Organizer
Springfield, MO