HelpOurFamilyAfterSurgery

On December 3rd, 2025, I was doing dishes thinking everything was normal when all of a sudden I got a severe pain in my abdomen. It stopped me dead in my tracks. I tried stubbornly to wait it out, I took Tylenol, I tried a heating pad, I tried soaking in a hot bath with Epsom salts, nothing helped at all. I became feverish, I vomited several times, and finally listened to my wife and went into the hospital. After a CT scan I found the cause was acute diverticulitis, and that not only was my colon severely inflamed, but that it had in fact ruptured. I spent 5 days in the hospital on IV antibiotics and began getting better. I was sent home with more antibiotics, but within a couple weeks things stopped getting better and started to get worse. I spent Christmas eve and Christmas day in bed while the pain slowly got worse. After again finally listening to my wife, I went back to the hospital. Another CT scan revealed that I now have 3 large abscesses that formed in my abdomen. I was transferred to another hospital with a surgical team that could install drains to get rid of the abscesses. I took a day in between though, because my cat that I have had for the last almost 20 years had reached the end of his journey and had to be put to sleep, and I couldn't miss that after 20 years of him being there for me. Once that was over and I came to the other hospital, I found out that they could not actually put in drains for all three abscesses. The only options were invasive surgery or antibiotics and wait. Well after 4 days of more antibiotics, my infection markers were not improving, so surgery it is. I will have to have a portion of my colon removed and will have to have an ostomy for likely 6-12 months, at which point I will have to have another surgery to reconnect what is left of my colon. The background at home is that my wife has had to take over all aspects of caring for our 5 children and keeping up with our home during this time. She was let go from her job the first week because they were not willing to work with her during this medical crisis, and is currently doing doordash and Uber to try to hold things together, but it is not enough. We are hopeful that we can file our taxes within the next month, which will give some breathing room, but right now things are looking rather bleak. We are out of savings and falling behind on bills, and I'm worried about keeping the heat and lights on, not to mention keeping rent paid, until we get our tax refund for the year. We are utilizing our local food pantry to help with groceries, and looking into possible social services that could help, but to be perfectly honest there's just not that much help to go around these days. As much as I hate having to ask, we really need some support to get through these next few months until I can be back on my feet and get back to work. If you can contribute at all, we would be extremely grateful. Every little bit helps more than the nothing we have right now. Thank you.