Medical healing after transplant

Raised:

 USD $1,360

Campaign created by James Eastburn

Campaign funds will be received by James Eastburn

Medical healing after transplant

Hi , my name is Amber and I am James’s wife . I’m doing this on his behalf  as he’s starting to really worry about things financially him being admitted now for the 3rd  time into John’s Hopkins hospital having issues with being able to breath even though he’s on oxygen full time at home . I want to do what I can so he can focus on his journey& health.  Besides working part time where we live which doesn’t cover nothing but our cell phone bill and keep food and gas in my car to get me thru to my next check , sadly he’s always been the breadwinner in our home . 

So let me explain his story some , James has always worked very hard since the day we got married almost 13 yrs ago , never missing a day of work even when he was sick with a simple cold that would have kept others home ! He’s a truck driver for cloverland dairy in Salisbury Md and has been with them for many years and he absolutely loves his job and loves driving his tractor trailer ,  so him being on oxygen has really affected his job and being able to drive with a CDL license . He’s as of now lost his cdl license and won’t qualify for another one until he’s off oxygen 😞. His goal this entire time has been  nothing but to get well enough to get his cdl back and to go back to work and get his exact position back with Cloverland dairy in Salisbury Md that he’s been with for a very long time ! He loves his job and the guys he worked with ! I will now give a bit of info far as his disease below . 

Starting in Dec he got what we thought was his normal annual asthmatic cold that he gets same time every single year , gets meds and they don’t work so long story short here we are in mid Feb and he goes to his dr to ask for testing and that was a ctscan which came back showing “interstitial lung disease “ with ground glass opacities, we had to be referred to a pulmonologist which we seen late Feb . The lung dr was very positive but that was until his follow up appt after he seen how much worse off James was and at the drs office they put him on oxygen and that was 4/4 and since that day he’s not been able to come off of it , matter of fact as of today he’s in need of more oxygen then what he was that ! He was admitted for the first time on 4/4 to Easton memorial hospital and spent weeks there with them running tests trying to get his pulse ox to a normal level and trying to figure out what treatment to do plus trying to see if he was able to handle a lung biopsy but unfortunately his health was so poor that his lung dr said it would cause more harm then good . So we go home  permanently on oxygen to then be told they need to refer him for double lung  transplant as his disease is progressing way faster then they expected and have actually seen beings he was just diagnosed with this . He’s never smoked so let me make that clear ! Every single time he stands up his pulse ox drops to low 70s sometimes even lower to low 60s , not able to walk our yorkies any longer and that stopped prob end of April tbh , where he sits in our living room , we have a half bathroom not far from the chair he sits in daily and just going to the bathroom his o2  drops walking those few steps even on oxygen and he’s got to stop at our kitchen island to catch his breath after urinating and when I see him it looks as if it was someone that just came inside from running laps that’s how much he’s huffing and puffing ! This has changed his/our entire life as he was very active and always working , I mean hanging a picture on our wall caused his pulse ox to drop 😞.  As of right now we don’t know exactly where or why he has this disease . 

He was admitted for the 3rd time on and put on high flow oxygen which means he will not come home until transplant time , which is now / right now as I type this up !!!!!! We got the call 10/9 for his offer on new lungs . He’s in surgery as I type this up ! He’s been in Hopkins now for almost two months just this time around . I will post updates on this post as I get them along with pictures of him as well ! 

This is not something that we take lightly nor wanted to do. He has been sick for several months and we haven’t asked for one penny from nobody nor have we asked for help from anyone. We have been trying ourselves to get through this but unfortunately, because our circle is very very very small, family and friend wise, we don’t know where to go or what to do so this is what I am doing and I’m really hoping that this gives me the opportunity to be able to focus on my husband‘s recovery and health after surgery because we will have many many many follow up appointments for the first month three times a week  so we will have gas. We will have tolls , we will have parking fees and we’re driving from Cambridge Maryland all the way to Baltimore Maryland every single doctors appointment so we’re driving hours away especially the first month is going to add up as it already has.  I haven’t mentioned food or housing so that’s another issue . I have to make sure I have dog food for my furbabies etc . He was approved for his disability thru social security but that won’t even start coming in until end of November, crazy isn’t it ?! They also won’t give him ANY back pay that he was told he would get by the interviewer but we were told he’s not entitled to it due to being on ssdi that they hold back 5 months of payments which would be this entire time of us waiting, so all that money that we needed desperately has now financially just made things so bad especially that this week his short term disability thru his job is ending this week and that is not even a full check and hasn’t been but 39% of his pay the entire time he’s been getting it . We are literally about to be out of money and that’s being brutally honest which is very hard to even get out right now ! He’s worried and stressed and I want him to focus on himself after surgery , not anything financially . I won’t be able to work the first couple months he’s home having to be home with him and having so many follow up appts weekly which we are told he will have 3 every week first 1/2 months . I’m praying the car loan can be deferred (again ) so I doubt that . I will try my best to work when I can once he’s out of the clear icu wise and my thought is to drive back and forth but that’s gas and stuff I won’t have accounted for sadly as that’s more driving then I’m use to distance wise for gas for part time hours . I think I’m saying to much and making this way to long now . 

If you can’t donate that’s okay , just share , share , share and share as my social media circle is so small that’s what is most important I know . Also I ask that you still continue to pray for him and our family for peace , financial relief and medical healing as his goal is to get back into his truck asap and get back to work . He said with new lungs he will not be considered disabled if things in life allows him to go back to work . Again we both didn’t want to do this but as he’s having surgery and all income has stopped idk where to go or what to do to be honest . 

Thank you for your support up until with all the prayers ! 

We will be (well I am until he’s discharged as his room don’t have a bathroom nor shower and icu doesn’t allow usage of toilet ) at the packerman house , which is a house with discounted hotel room like discounts plus parking is cheaper 4$ a day compared to 15 a day ! Pending how he feels with the travel every week right when discharged if we will go home or stay there first few weeks as they said lots of ppl do that live more then 30 mins away . So if you would like to contribute to this I can find a way to get info on how it can be paid from your end . Food don’t even get me started on it , I did pack some stuff from home but not having a fridge or place to eat it really I’m not eating well right now mostly due to my emotions tbh . 

Thanks Amber 


Recent Donations
Show:
Jon M
$ 50.00 USD
1 month ago

Home soon!

Jon M
$ 50.00 USD
2 months ago

Healing is on the way!

Anonymous Giver
$ 50.00 USD
3 months ago

Praying for you.

Gerri
$ 60.00 USD
3 months ago

I'm Jon's daughter & I'm praying for you & your family.

DJ Rittenhouse
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

Get well brother! We're praying for y'all!

Jaime Rittenhouse
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

Praying!!

Jimmy and Dawn
$ 100.00 USD
3 months ago

Continued prayers for you all

Anonymous Giver
$ 50.00 USD
3 months ago

Chrissy
$ 500.00 USD
3 months ago

Hang in there. Love you & praying for you.

Anonymous Giver
$ 250.00 USD
3 months ago

Sending prayers for strength and healing during this time for you and your family.

Melanie Robb
$ 50.00 USD
3 months ago

Praying for a rapid recovery! Cannot wait to see when he is home..

Updates

Update #4

October 30th, 2024

As of today 10/30 he is still in icu at Hopkins & we found out late yesterday that his left diaphragm isn’t working and so it has a major affect on his healing process and answers to why he can’t lay flat since surgery and when doing so he can’t breath and if forced to lay flat he will cough half to death with his says dropping immediately on oxygen even with new lungs smh. It took us moving to a new icu floor to get these answers sadly and to be listened to unfortunately. Also his body is rejecting the lungs so he started plasma 10/30 and will do 5 treatments every other day for 10 days in hopes this works ! We needs prayers like crazy ! If you can donate , please continue to share and send prayers our way . My husband is 46 yrs old and has never smoked a day in his life , had always worked hard and taken care of our family . This is his goal is to get back to his normal life . He’s still on the vent , has a trachea in now so he was not incubated again . So he’s still not fully breathing on his own but we are slowly working on that ! He’s still not walked sadly , nor physically been outta bed nor ate any type of food . He’s only being tube fed as we speak . 

Update #3

October 19th, 2024

10/19/24 - James had a trachea put in this morning ! This isn’t a set back as the bypap was having to be put back on that after surgery , after 8 days  being incubated not once but twice . He has scared me with his recovery tbh . He’s now breathing better with the help of some support and the trachea but his gases look great and his bronc this morning all the secretions and puss that was in his lungs is almost gone ! This was a very sick man these last 11 days ! He won’t be leaving the hospital any time soon. He’s got to do physical therapy , speech therapy along with lots of other things ! Keep praying please ! 

Update #2

October 18th, 2024

So yesterday Thursday 10/17 he came off sedation and tubes came out , bypap had to stay on for 4 hrs and after that is when he took that off and wasnbake to breath on his own but with reg cannula oxygen (which is needed and okay they say ) sadly as the night went on that evening he’s now back on bypap as we speak Friday morning 10/18 and his gases thru the night were not great so they let him test by sedating him so he could test after having a long day and night the night before and all Thursday day . As of this morning he’s still on bypap , if things don’t go well they will incubate him again 😞. We have no answers besides infection right now it’s set him back along with secretions and fluid in his lungs he don’t know how to get up on his own as he’s too weak physically . We need major major prayers please along with shares . He won’t let me even grab my drink next to him in same room as he don’t want me letting go of his hand 😞

Update Update #2 Image
Update #1

October 12th, 2024

Okay so James had his double lung transplant on 10/10 and today is a little over 48 hrs post op . They tried taking him off the sedation and taking tubes out today 10/12 and after doing so the bypap machine was put on him (he hates it ) I left so I didn’t have to hear noises that comes with all this as his anxiety has been kinda high and it’s making mine high as well  , of course I leave and go for a walk around the hospital to get phsical activity myself and of course he asks where is his wife is asking for me . So I feel awful but once I came in he started trying to talk telling me To turn the fan on and when I didn’t know what area to put it on far as his body he got pissy slamming his hand down not being able to fully speak 😂🤣 so I told him don’t get pissy with me and he squeezed my hand when I told him that I loved him and that it’s all okay and to calm himself down asap . He did but didn’t , his breathing got so bad he was breathing 50 breaths per minute which is bad so here we are back to full sedation and being incubated . I’m so so so heart broken seeing him this way . 

The pics below are of before and after his disease took over his lungs 

Update Update #1 Image

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