Medical bills and travel expenses to doc
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Our daughter Samantha's journey began when she was in 8th grade. Sammy and her twin sister loved to run. Both were in cross country and track. To finish their 7th grade year Sammy was part of her team that won State in track. The next season did not start out well. In there first CC meet Sammy was making her last trip through the corse and twisted her ankle and lost her shoe also but continued to finish the race and did. From that point she was seen by a doctor and placed in a boot to help her through her sprain. She followed treatment and recovered and started training again. As we went for her first longer run she made it 2/3rds of the way and her ankle popped and there is where RSD / CRPS took her teenage years. I had to carry her home in tears.
Sammy was diagnosed with RSD on October 5th 2011 since then she has seen several doctors and had numerous treatments
They started with nerve blocks 7 total and the last had us rushing her to the ER in excruciating pain. Through all of this mom had to quit her job to become a care giver for Sammy Next was a (SCS) spinal cord stimulator trial and then placement. She had to have 3 lead revisions with in a year it was this treatment that ended up putting her in to remission and she was able to turn off her SCS without any pain on 9/12/13. Eight days later we were in a serious accident that totaled our SUV. Sammy was kept over night for observation and Mom had a cracked sternum and had to end up having surgery on her knee along with having issues with her shoulder. From there several test, treatments, procedures and hospital stays have followed. We had to find a specialist to help with her RSD. bad thing with this is that the doctor is 3 hours away but the some times 6 hour drive in a day for a doctors appointment has been well worth it. In the past year Sammy has been through a EEG that lead to eye surgery, 3 five day epidural blocks, gagleion block, new SCS to replace the one that was no longer working properly. She has also been diagnosed with POTS which affect her heart rate and Gastroparesis which affect her digestion and depression. Her doctor told us at the last visit that she is one of four of his most complex patients. Just to give you an idea this year in May we had met our family in network for insurance with all of Sammy's treatments. In the past three years we have seen our teen start with unbearable pain, crutches to wheelchair to crutches back to walking and bike riding to crutches back in wheelchair to walker then crutches and back to walking. It's been hard just watching her go through it all. We have went from living a good life with 2 incomes to fighting to pay our mortgage and struggling to make it till pay day. We have had to sell a lot of things we have built up over the years including our retirement funds and borrow from family just to get her to doctors appointments.
A few things that amaze me through this journey is that it has brought us as a family closer together and seeing the support and the new friends that have come from this horrible disease has been a blessing.
Sammy was diagnosed with RSD on October 5th 2011 since then she has seen several doctors and had numerous treatments
They started with nerve blocks 7 total and the last had us rushing her to the ER in excruciating pain. Through all of this mom had to quit her job to become a care giver for Sammy Next was a (SCS) spinal cord stimulator trial and then placement. She had to have 3 lead revisions with in a year it was this treatment that ended up putting her in to remission and she was able to turn off her SCS without any pain on 9/12/13. Eight days later we were in a serious accident that totaled our SUV. Sammy was kept over night for observation and Mom had a cracked sternum and had to end up having surgery on her knee along with having issues with her shoulder. From there several test, treatments, procedures and hospital stays have followed. We had to find a specialist to help with her RSD. bad thing with this is that the doctor is 3 hours away but the some times 6 hour drive in a day for a doctors appointment has been well worth it. In the past year Sammy has been through a EEG that lead to eye surgery, 3 five day epidural blocks, gagleion block, new SCS to replace the one that was no longer working properly. She has also been diagnosed with POTS which affect her heart rate and Gastroparesis which affect her digestion and depression. Her doctor told us at the last visit that she is one of four of his most complex patients. Just to give you an idea this year in May we had met our family in network for insurance with all of Sammy's treatments. In the past three years we have seen our teen start with unbearable pain, crutches to wheelchair to crutches back to walking and bike riding to crutches back in wheelchair to walker then crutches and back to walking. It's been hard just watching her go through it all. We have went from living a good life with 2 incomes to fighting to pay our mortgage and struggling to make it till pay day. We have had to sell a lot of things we have built up over the years including our retirement funds and borrow from family just to get her to doctors appointments.
A few things that amaze me through this journey is that it has brought us as a family closer together and seeing the support and the new friends that have come from this horrible disease has been a blessing.
Organizer
Jeff Koehl
Organizer
Indianapolis, IN
