[Fandfs] Sarah's operation

[Greg Minshall <minshall@umich.edu>]

hi.  this is from Honey and somehow didn't get to the list.  (there are
one or two updates i'll post immediately.)
----
From: Sarah Hope Williams <sarahhopewilliams@gmail.com>
Date: September 17, 2010 11:12:07 AM PDT
To: fandfs@maborgias.com
Subject: Update On Sarah's Surgery

Dear Friends and Family

It's been a long year. Since my ICU stay in April I have been to a
never-ending series of doctor appointments, surgical consultations,
and had blood tests on a near weekly basis. But the end is in
sight, thanks to my wonderful medical team and wonderful and wide- 
ranging support system of friends and family!

My surgery is scheduled for next Monday, September 20th. My mother
is coming up to stay with me during the procedure and keep me
company while I am under observation at the hospital (San Francisco
Kaiser, on Geary) for a few days following the surgery. The
procedure will involve the removal of a fused portion of my first
and second rib, a skeletal abnormality which has been determined to
be causing damage to my subclavian artery, as well as removal of
some the tissue surrounding my artery. In layman terms, this
basically means there is a piece of rib bone poking at my artery,
causing damage to the artery itself and creating blood clots which
have travelled into my brachial artery and several collateral
arteries. The previous course of action surgically has changed
somewhat; I'm will not be receiving a bypass graft on my subclavian
at this point in time, which is good news! I'm not ready to be
bionic. The hope is that my giving the damaged artery plenty of
space to heal I will be able to avoid any more clotting and any
further surgery.

As some of you may know, last month Kaiser denied me affordable
health coverage due to my, ahem, 'pre-existing' condition. In order
to help me afford the outrageously expensive coverage I need in
order to have surgery, several of my close friends teamed up to
raise money to cover several months of insurance and the additional
costs of surgery and medication.  They set up a website to funnel
donations from my wide-swath of friends and acquaintances, and
organized a silent auction on the site, which will run until the
end of September.  I am astounded at the love and support my
friends and family have shown me.
A friend from Monterey was so inspired by the website and silent
auction, he is donating part of the proceeds from an event he is
throwing next weekend! The site my friends created for me can be
viewed here: https://sites.google.com/site/hopeforsarah/home

We will send out an update when I'm out of the woods. Please send
good thoughts on Monday.

Much Love,
Sarah Hope Williams
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