Kim's Medical Journey: Hope Lives Here

Post Op Appt and Update 2 : 2/20/2025 Kim returned to the surgeon’s office for an additional follow-up appt today. This appt intended to get further clarification on the reasoning behind some of the operative choices made and to understand Kim’s unique healing trajectory better. In addition, Kim’s aftercare for pain control, general support, and communications between insurance, hospital, and physician have not gone smoothly. In future surgeries, for better continuity of her care and comfort, Kim will be followed by a specialty pain management team to ensure her pain control is safe and effective.  Kim has been consistently suffering from migraines and mixed headache types. She has severe pain in the jaw, neck, shoulder (the spinal accessory nerve), and inner ear, and trouble with speech and swallowing (the hypoglossal nerve). At this time, the tightly packed musculature of the head and neck are like steel cables. Kim is also contending with shortness of breath, which can be due to...

Kim and her family are working hard to help her heal, find comfort, and rest after the many challenges they have faced over the last five days. One major obstacle has been the lack of pain medication until yesterday. This has been excruciating for Kim, as her body can only tolerate one rare and expensive type of pain medication for her safety. The acute phase of recovery following such invasive surgery requires adequate and targeted pain management. During her surgery, doctors resected (cut) tissues, reconstructed her jugular vein, removed numerous lymph nodes embedded in biofilm-like scar tissue, shaved down cervical vertebrae, removed her styloid bone and stylohyoid ligament, and worked to free up nerves also encased in the same “sticky” scar tissue. The surgery to reconstruct the vein and remove bony structures pressing on it is difficult enough on its own, but manipulating major nerves adds to the unbearable pain. No one should have to endure this. Yet, despite all of this, Kim per...

  ➡️The last few days have been grueling for Kim and her family as she deals with unrelenting pain and severe post-surgical swelling with some hardening. She was forced to go without critical medication due to insurance denials, and the cost of the medication out of pocket is exorbitant. Kim’s surgical team advised her to go into the ER yesterday for additional imaging and lab work to ensure no serious surgical complications occurred during this acute phase of healing. After 6 uncomfortable hours fasting, in case interventions were warranted, thankfully, the ER scans were clear of clots, abscesses, and other serious complications. They were able to give Kim some short-term pain assistance and reassurance but ignored normal mast cell protocols for IV fluids after having contrast dye. The ER was able to order the rare and necessary medication that she had been missing for the last 5 days, which they are finally obtaining today. ✅The focus continues to be on managing her pain and allo...

  Not a medical update, but .... 📣BIG NEWS: We are 65% of the way to our FIRST goal—thank you for your incredible support! 🙌✨ And now, thanks to a very generous donor, every donation made through GoFundMe will be matched with a private, no-fee donation—up to $1,000 (from the donor)! That means your impact is doubled—turning $1,000 into $2,000 for this important cause. ✨ Once we hit our goal, the extra $1,000 will be donated directly to The Giffords, ensuring that every dollar goes even further! We’ll share the exciting news once we’ve met our goal and the private donation has been made—so let’s make it happen together! 💛 Can you help us cross the finish line today? 🔗GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/HelpandHopefortheGiffords Every dollar counts, and together, we can make a powerful difference! #DoubleYourImpact #DonateToday #Grateful #HopeandHealing #WeLoveYouKim

  We want to share an update on Kim as she moves through an intense phase of healing from yesterday’s surgery. Right now, the focus is on managing her pain and allowing her body the rest it needs to recover. As we mentioned, the surgery went well in many ways and unfolded as the doctors had hoped in some respects. They were able to clear many of the troublesome areas located in her neck and base of skull. However, once they began, they discovered that this first part of the procedure was far more complicated than they had anticipated. Because of this, they weren’t able to accomplish everything they had initially planned so as not to overwhelm Kim’s body. While we knew she would need a second surgery, this may now mean even more procedures to address what couldn’t be done yesterday. That said, there is some good news—Kim is able to talk! This was a major concern going into surgery, as there was a possibility she could temporarily lose her ability to speak. While we are incredibly re...

  Post-Surgical Update: Kim is in recovery at this time. More details to be released soon. In the meantime, I will give you all a rundown of what the surgery entailed. The primary focus of today's surgery was opening the Jugular Vein (the large vein that drains blood and waste from the brain back to the heart). This was successfully accomplished through a three-stage process. 1. The vein was flattened and twisted, not a normal open tube. Over 2 cm of the vein was scarred to the first cervical vertebra in her neck. He shaved the first vertebra to release the Jugular Vein and then needed to re-construct the vein itself. It is now flowing at 5 times the pre-surgical rate so the brain is able to drain from that side. 2. Kim had a sizeable cluster of enlarged lymph nodes in the same region that were also engulfed in scar tissue. There are 6 different compartments of lymph nodes in the neck. This was in the second compartment and caused many issues with lymphatic drainage further downstr...

Kim is in the pre-operative holding area as they prepare her for the surgery.   She is heading into this as only she could - calm, positive, strong. We will update the blog and other resources as information is shared from the medical team.   Kim personifies the caregiver. She has sacrificed so much to provide others with health, care, compassion, joy, Italian cooking, and comfort. She is the ultimate "Mom" and a loving spouse. To me, she is my adopted family - a sister. Our deepest gratitude to all for loving the Giffords and lifting them up. Let's go team Kim!

Starting today 2/10 through next Monday 2/17 its Team Week Challenge!!! We need to reach a wider audience for the Gifford family fundraiser. Would you be a team leader in your network of friends?  It’s not about you donating again but getting others you know to reach a goal you establish. The friends can reach out to their friends and so on.   Kim is so excited about this idea because she wants to know everyone’s team name!!! She said they better be funny. An event was created on the Facebook page.  Say that you are coming to the event and the Linktree shows up.  This is the post below: Let’s Cast the Net Wider for Kim—Together! 🙌🏻 We’re so grateful for the generosity of all who have donated so far—your support has been incredible! Now, it’s time to EXPAND our reach. Kim still needs us, and we know there are more people out there who would help if they knew how. Let’s create teams to amplify our impact and set collective funding goals. By pooling efforts—shari...

TODAY IS $10 TUESDAY!!!! Let’s see how many of you can donate $10 today!!! LETS DO THIS!!!!

Make a commitment to raise at least $100 at your Super Bowl party tomorrow and encourage your guests to contribute generously to aid in achieving your target.🎯 https://linktr.ee/giffordfamilyhope?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=5f77b73b-9e69-4aeb-a16c-8f97e301ab6a

 Let's keep the love flowing.  Please consider a donation no matter how large or small. Most important is to share Kim's story.  Share share share To donate and follow Kim's journey click the link tree below. Link Tree