Ann Christiansen

On Thursday, November 16, 2017, Ann was out in her favorite place of peace —the yard.  She was raking leaves when she tripped and broke her femur.   With her trusty sidekick Abbie staying by her side to protect her, she finally barked enough to get the attention of some kids walking by.   Ann got them to go to a neighbor’s house and immediately Fritz and Helena ran out to help.   An ambulance was called and the pretty much the entire caring neighborhood had arrived by the time they took Ann to McKay-Dee hospital here in Ogden.  Surgery was scheduled for the following day, and on Friday she had a rod placed in her leg during an extended surgery.   It was well into the evening  by the time the surgery was over and she was back in her room.   

By Saturday morning it was evident that something else was going on besides the broken leg/hip.   She was in extreme gastrointestinal pain.   They spent most of Saturday trying to alleviate this pain, and were unable to do so.   By Sunday morning it was evident that another surgery was needed to find the source of this pain.   When the surgeon came out of that surgery, the news was grave.  He found that much of the large intestine was dying or dead.   He removed part of the large intestine  and did a temporary procedure as she needed to get some time to try and recover from that procedure.   He gave us the news that this was now a very critical situation and she may not make it through the night.   If she did, there was about a 10% chance of survival.     She did make it through the night and another surgery was performed on Monday morning.  That surgery resulted in removing 30% of the large intestine and 60% of the small.   She also now has feeding tube directly in the small intestine.

Along with all this, she has multiple medical issues that affect how her body responds to everything.   At this point, she is in ICU and basically on life support.   Her liver and kidneys have shut down and they are exploring options to help with that situation.  It sees that there is slight improvement in one area and then another issue arises.   

We ask that you keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.  We will update this site as we have more information.  Thank you!