Back Surgery, Medical and Financial Assistance
At this point in time, I've experienced more frustration, pain and anguish than I ever expected to, and have no where else to turn... I need help! I turn 42 this week, but move and feel like a crippled man of 80.
For a little over a year now I've been having extreme lower back pain; Sciatic nerve pains that shoot down my right leg; creaky, popping joints everywhere on my body with accompanying stiffness and pain; along with various digestive problems that amplify my back pain, as well as radiating all around my abdomen. I can't stand or walk steadily; cannot sit without intense stabbing pain in my right hip/buttocks, with shooting right leg pain or spasms; plus have extreme pain and difficulty doing anything I used to do. I also have begun a gluten free diet and might have been undiagnosed with Coeliac disease for years, destroying my intestines, plus giving me Osteoporosis. My digestive issues are definitely exacerbated by the immense stress of this whole ordeal, and it's definitely not helping my mental state being in constant turmoil, pain or uncertainty.
Since July of last year, I have been waiting to be declared disabled by Social Security Disability (SSD), but they continually insist I am capable of "using my limbs" and therefore I've been declined. I had previously been Unemployed, so I'm without any form of Insurance, and at present cannot afford the medical treatment I need, or the monthly bills for my residence. The next step is to have an SSD hearing before a judge, and that could be more than a year off. In the meantime, I have been fruitlessly trying to seek treatment; wading through Government red tape; and being told by doctors that they can't help me without a form of insurance to bill. All this while my rent is going unpaid, just barely keeping utilities kept on, and having no real place to go, let alone a way to get there.
My work history includes everything from manual labor as a night stock person or postal clerk, to retail management and computer technical support, but I'm unable to perform any of my previous work experience without debilitating pain. I can't even spend time sitting at my own computer desk without crippling pain (it took considerable effort, while enduring agony, to spend the time composing this About page). I was even forced to sell my car 8 months ago, because it wasn't safe for me to drive, as well as being something I could no longer afford.
I've already sought help from local charities and Social Services, but except for monthly food stamp benefits there's little to no additional help forthcoming. I am hoping to find funding to be able to continue residing in the apartment I've lived in for almost 20 years, and also to afford the myriad medical treatments that Charity Care doctors want me to have, but are near impossible to have done without actual insurance or Medicaid. My monthly bills and expenses barely equal $900, but unless I come up with two months of back rent near immediately, I am in imminent danger of being evicted.
I know that times are indeed tough all over, but I am hopeful that with a little help (and luck?) I will weather this storm and find the treatment I so desperately need. If indeed there are people willing to help donate to my situation, I intend to donate 10% of anything I receive to Catholic Charities, which to date are one of the only organizations which has extended assistance to me. I truly pray that I can one day return to normality, without pain or suffering, and hope that all who need help find it with the help of generous souls out there, and social donation sites like this.
