🩺 Help Us Recover After 4 ER Visits and a Dangerous Medical Misdiagnosis
This last week has been a nightmare.
Our daughter Dixie (18) was in and out of four ER visits across three different hospitals, repeatedly dismissed—not because her symptoms weren’t real, but because she’s a legal medical cannabis patient.
Her symptoms began on June 24th with intense pain, vomiting, and signs of gallstones. After stabilization and the diagnosis of gall stones, and drawing her a picture of what her gall bladder looked like on a white board, 
the doctor said to follow up with a GI, wasn't super serious and they discharged her. She went home. Progressively got worse to the point of not being able to keep anything down orally. And we went back to the same ER. She was stabilized and after learning about her cannabis use, suggested her symptoms may be worse because of her cannabis use, and discharged her. She progressively got worse over night. The next morning we had a mobile IV nurse come in attempts to keep her comfortable at home and avoid yet another ER visit. This nurse said it was her medical opinion she probably shouldn't have been released, called her spouse who is also a medical professional and they both advised us to take her to a different ER. At this ER, after learning she used cannabis legally, the PA diagnosed her with Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) without testing or medical basis, but told her she has a gene that carries it. We were also told the gallstones "disappeared," and she was being discharged. I had follow up questions like how did they base this diagnosis? When did they test her for this gene? Where did the gall stones that were clearly there days ago, go? What happens if she crashes again? We were told with the medication they gave her, she'd be fine as she was stable at the moment, and the PA had already left and was not available to answer my follow up questions and were discharged.... Again.
The next early morning, she lost consciousness.
Her father rushed her to a third ER, where he demanded she be taken seriously upon entry. Once seen, the PA at that hospital was very concerned with her medical state and made sure she saw the actual doctors, she was instantly admitted with gallstones lodged in her bile duct, severe electrolyte imbalances, critically low potassium, and other related infections! She’s now getting proper care, being kept mostly sedated and getting prepped for procedures and possibly surgery—but we are drowning in the fallout.
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💔 What We’re Facing Now:
Dixie will likely lose her job after only accepting that position 2 months ago and having to call out numerous times for illness before even having and leading up to the official diagnosis of gall stones. She was feeling ill off and on for a while now.
We’ve had to pay out-of-pocket for subcontractors to keep our business going
We’ve lost work hours, racked up fuel and supply costs, and managed crisis care for our other children.
And we’re emotionally and financially maxed trying to recover from this disaster while helping her heal. Our small growing business wasn't quite ready to take this kind of hit.
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🎯 Our Goal: $6,000
This covers immediate and unavoidable costs:
First and foremost - Lost wages and expenses/bills for Dixie
Subcontractor payouts
Transportation and emergency needs
Support for our family while we stabilize
If you can donate, thank you—truly. If not, sharing this means just as much.
Thank you for seeing us, and for helping hold the weight when we’re out of strength.
💛 – Jena, Seaside Select & family
