Before CRPS
After CRPS
In April 2023 my family and I decided I needed to get treatment at the Spero Clinic in Arkansas to hopefully put my CRPS in remission. I started seeing amazing functional progress almost immediately. Within five weeks of being at the clinic, I was walking completely unassisted. This was a complete miracle because a few months prior surgeons told me I needed to have surgery on my Achilles tendon if I wanted any chance at walking normally again. During week six, I started to get a rash around my incisions from my spinal cord stimulator implant. We monitored the rash, but it progressively got worse. I met with a surgeon in Arkansas who agreed to take the stimulator out as I was reacting to the components. This began a very different journey, one I never imagined having to take.
Beginning in June 2023, my treatments at the Spero Clinic were limited. I had surgery to remove my spinal cord stimulator; however, the surgeon could not remove two of the leads because they had become coiled. The belief was once I healed from the surgery, I could resume my full treatments at the clinic. Unfortunately, I developed an infection, and the decision was made in July to have another surgery to remove the remaining two leads and wash out any infection. This surgery was much more invasive due to the coiled leads, resulting in my surgeon having to remove two bones from my spine to release the leads. After this surgery, my pain was elevated and I felt like something was still off. At my follow-up appointment, my staples were removed and it was discovered that I had another infection. This infection was preventing the surgical incisions from closing. I felt defeated, as all I wanted to do was resume my treatments at the Spero Clinic.
I began taking antibiotics and hoped the infection would clear quickly. Unfortunately, things continued to get worse. I was referred to a wound care doctor and began wound care with her. She was optimistic that the wounds would heal fairly quickly. But, this was not the case. I eventually was referred to an infectious disease doctor, had a PICC line placed, and began strong antibiotics to take care of the infection. After six weeks, the incision was still not healing. It was at this point, that my parents and I made the difficult decision to pause all treatment at the Spero Clinic, and I returned to Sioux Falls to seek answers from doctors at ‘home.’ Finally, toward the end of March 2024, my doctor in Sioux Falls decided I needed to have another surgery. So in April, I had surgery for a secondary wound closure. The surgery went well, but the recovery was the hardest one I had been through. At my two-week post-op appointment, my surgeon cleared me to return to the Spero Clinic to resume my CRPS treatments. This felt like a miracle, as just a month prior, I believed I was going to have to push my return to treatment back further. So, even though my incision is being held together by a wound device to aid in the healing, I will be returning to the Spero Clinic on May 13 to resume my treatments.
My family and I truly believe the Spero Clinic is the place I need to be to put my CRPS in remission! We have faith that remission is around the corner, so I am excited to be returning to the clinic. As a family, we do not ask for help often, but I need your help as none of my treatments are covered by insurance! I’m asking for your help in my journey to beat CRPS. I’m continuing this donation page through a non-profit foundation whose founder is a former patient at the Spero Clinic. Any donations will go directly to my care and expenses. In addition, all donations are entirely tax deductible. I am extremely grateful for any assistance and will update everyone once I resume my treatments at the clinic.
Thank you all so much!
Help me defeat CRPS!
Love, Afton