Austen’s Story

Site created on April 24, 2020

    Starting back in late November Austen caught a flu like respiratory illness, possibly coronavirus now that we're all looking back. That knocked her out of commission for a good week and a half from work, and took multiple weeks more to recover. As she was recovering, she saw her back surgeon and was recommended to have a bilateral SI fusion surgery as soon as possible to fix the ongoing problems with her back from the car wreck in March of 2018.      The recovery from the surgery was long and much more difficult than anyone expected. After multiple calls and visits to the back surgeon it seemed to be that where she was was where it was going to be, and there was no option for progressing forward on recovery and nothing more could be done to help her back hurt less.       During all of this Austen began to experience terrible headaches which may be related to the surgery or could be a completely separate issue. Frequently Austen would faint, and had at least one seizure. The headaches also started to cause facial paralysis on her right side. Austen began trying to see any doctor possible to try and figure out what was causing all of the problems.           Because of covid-19 most doctors were not seeing patients in-clinic and most were not accepting new patients so it took weeks to get in to see a general practitioner. Over that time Austen ended up in the ER multiple times related to the headaches and abdominal pain. Once Austen was finally able to see her GP she was immediately referred to an oncologist and a neurologist. At this point Austen had lost over 15 pounds and about having substantial abdominal/GI pain.      Again those appointments took a week or two to get through and finally after seeing the oncologist a CT scan of her abdomen was requested. And that CT scan found the large tumor which was found extending from just below her stomach all the way down to her lower pelvic floor. It is believed to be intertwined with some of the organs in her abdomen, has active blood flow and is potentially also infected. Austen had now dropped to under 100 pounds and was in constant pain from her abdomen and from the headaches.      Austen was then sent to Phoenix to the Mayo Clinic in order to figure out how to remove the tumor safely and to address all of the symptoms that she has that which seem to be related or connected to all of what is going on now.       Russ and Austen arrived in Phoenix on Friday an initial consultation for surgery is scheduled for Monday morning. As with most things like this the cost of this medical endeavor as well as the cost of being away from home is unknown at this time so any donations on the gofundme page, meals via the meal train page, love, thoughts, prayers and positive vibes would be extremely helpful at this point.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Russell Davis

Austen has been wrapping up tests this week and should be done with everything Friday. We are returning home on Saturday and will have a final plan for care at that point. The doctors have been ruling out cancer, and thankfully everything looks good on that end although Austen will have to more routine testing done to monitor her system. The tests have ruled it down to an auto-immune disorder which was initially caught in the bloodwork at Helena.  The marker Austen has in more commonly associated with cancer but luckily that does not appear to be this situation.  Unfortunately with the pandemic the treatment, which is immune suppressant therapy, isn't a viable option unless Austen gets even more ill. The doctors are hoping that with some medications her symptoms can be managed for long enough that a vaccine or other treatment for Corona is found. Until then it will be medications and lifestyle changes to try to manage things for as long as possible. While the answer isn't anything we had expected it does give us a plan that can be followed.  The doctors are still sorting out her stomach issues as there as related and unrelated symptoms seen. Thank you all for the kind thoughts and messages, it has been an incredibly long few weeks but we do see the end of tunnel. 
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