Hi, My name is Susan and I find myself needing help.

A friend suggested that I use Go Fund Me to help get me over a financial road block. It has been a horrible winter for me-struggling to pay bills to keep the lights on and food on my table.--

I have gone back to work as a Realtor but it takes time to rebuild momentum and let past clients and neighbors and other associates know that I ma working again. Real Estate transactions take time to cultivate & I must say I have 3 or 4 new clients who I have started the process but will take 60 to 90 days to reap the financial benefits.

I have been living on social security which has reduced my monthly amount because something from the past.-I can oly stretch what I have only so far.

Building real estate transactions is the key to success and key to my not shaking like a leaf every day because I don't know how i am going to pay all my bills And Now the medical bills are piling up since the surgery. Dialysis is a real killer.

I have tried selling anything & everything from upscale purses to never used scarves and trinkets on EBay on The Real Real without any success-I've only had 2 scammers come after something I had posted to sell and wanted me to pay them-What a racket!

Bunch of crooks.

But in the midst of my being a nervous wreck I do have good news. I have had 2 post surgical MRIs of the thigh show that there is no recurrence of the tumor or any residual evidence of the tumor.

I did fall about 4 Saturdays ago--sprained my left hand pretty badly &-had a beauty of a black eye!

I'm lucky I didn't break anything--I tripped on uneven cement walkway and went down like a rag doll

--I completed 8 weeks of Physical Therapy--P.T. works But you have to keep working at it.my therapists - 2 in particular worked with me to be able to drive again

i actually seem to do well driving better than walking sometimes.

I have fallen 4 times-once in my house-- no problem-I landed on s love seat in my hallway, once in my driveway because I forgot NOT to lead in with the "bad " leg. No strength in the quad Hamstring is strong but anyway I went down It took 2 people to help me up.

I have been trying every which way to to make ends meet--Back at work in Real Estate but even with 18 years of experience under my belt, it takes time to get back into the thoughts of even neighbors who may want to list their house.

I have my Brother John who comes with me to preview any properties for my 2 clients out of Philadelphia--I cannot manage walking on uneven surfaces or sand or gravel. I am truly at a loss here.

He and I have had 4 very very difficult months money wise.

Something was done to our house-- which I will not get into here--we had to deal with creating a new pathway for survival as a way to deal with it.

Thanks to my neighbor and her Mother, I get a lift to Church every weekend which has been a true Blessing --becoming friend with these 2 ladies and sharing the joy of Mass with them.

I struggle to keep my spirits up going to Mass helps.

Please continue your prayers for me and my recovery and for my Brother. I go for my 3rd MRI of the thigh early August to make sure there is no evidence of recurrence of the thigh tumor and chest CT Scan.

Should you read this update for the first time and then long story below as to HOW I got to this point and you want to help me out during this temporary hardship, PLEASE HELP me.

Thank You again for your continued support and love.

I am approaching the one year anniversary of my collapse I am trying not to dwell on it because it was a chain of event that had to happen to discover the tumor & remove it!

Thanks again

Love Susan & my Sandy woof woof

ORIGINAL POST

Let me explain what happened to me --At the end of May, I woke up in Beebe Hospital's ICU one night thinking that I had died because I couldn't talk couldn't move my arms and not a one person walking around out in the hallway. I was intubated-which was just awful, an absolute nightmare, IV's everywhere, nasal oxygen, wrists restrained to bed rails, no sheet or blanket on me & I think a nasal feeding tube in my nose. Finally a figure appeared walking towards my 'room' -Turned out to be my nurse named Sean. This man took care of me for the next 3 or 4 days--not sure exactly. But he got me to a point where the tube was removed from my throat--he did it! He explained that two of my neighbors found me collapsed in my TV/office room in my house.

I had alot of new information to process including the reason for collapsing was that my kidneys shut down--they weren't quite sure from what-

Later on the theory was that they found a large tumor in my right thigh and the kidneys could not handle the extra cells that the tumor was shedding.

I was started on dialysis. Never in a million years would I have ever thought I Susan Giove would need dialysis. A special port was placed for dialysis for easy access under the collar bone. I was warned that I could feel some irritation which I did Friday at around 3 AM

I called the Nurse an asked for pain medication. I was told that I had to take Tylenol first before they could give me half of an oxycodone. So I agreed to Tylenol. NOW hospitals don't dispense the nice gelcaps that we can buy in our local pharmacy or supermarket or even Walmart. NO--They dispense the old fashion what I call Horse Pills tablets--Big!

I got he first one down okay The second one got stuck--I told nurse Help Me I'm going to vomit --in a panic-- She handled me something like a big towel which I rolled up and my head whipped back & I vomited everything inside of me probably from dinner 6 o'clock the night before

It was terrible-Horrible even.

She helped settle me down but I started to get tingling on right side of my lips. Breakfast came at 7. I had to use a spoon to take a little juice. I couldn't use a straw. I went to dialysis right after and was visited by Nurse Practitioner who was prepping me for a biopsy of the mass in my thigh-She had me take my face mask off & told me I looked like I had a stroke. The whole right side of my face was pushed to one side & I couldn't fell anything!

I was exhausted when I returned to my room from the needle biopsy of the mass. All I wanted to so was take a nap. The House Doctor came in an took one look at my face and instituted Beebe's cardiac crisis team. I was inundated with IV's, emergency EKG, emergency blood work and Cat Scan of my head to rule out a stroke and Specialty Nurse who stayed with me until crisis was over. CAT Scan showed that I did NOT have a stroke of any kind and the emergency team members were sent back to their normal duties.

I had a Tele-medicine consult with a Neurologist from Thomas Jefferson medical center. She asked a ton of questions but had no answers.

Sunday afternoon I had a 2nd tele-med consult with another neurologist at Jefferson. More questions. About 2 hours later, my nurse came in and told me to pack up that I was going to Jefferson. I had not been allowed out of bed without assistance. My legs had become very weak. I was taken my helicopter up to Jefferson on a sunny Sunday afternoon in June. I did not have have my sunglasses but I did have my METS cap to use to shade my eyes a little. The ride on the helicopter was an interesting one but I could not really enjoy it. I was scared of what loomed ahead plus I couldn't see much from being on the stretcher in a prone position. Arrived in Philadelphia about 30 minutes later. Was taken in Jefferson's Neuro building. Was put into a semi-private room. Spent 3 or 4 days there, never saw my roommate--was interviewed by so many doctors, nurses, techs and medial students that I lost count.

II was moved into the hospital at 5:30 in the morning-had to ride over in ambulette Philadelphia at 5:30 in the morning had a still quiet to it as the sun came up and the city started to come alive.

My new room was a private room on the 9th floor in Gibbon. I had every possible test imaginable!

Went to dialysis 3 times a week where I met great people who took excellent care of me.

After the MRI with contrast material, the Neuro specialist said that the extreme violent vomiting caused a whip-lash effect in my face and the Facial nerve & Trigemmal nerves were injured. It caused my eyes lids to stay open when I was asleep, great difficulty swallowing, lips could not move, could not smile, could not frown, or blink and my lips were twisted, vision was distorted-double vision at times. It was horrible!

BTW I did not look at myself in a mirror until I was in my 3rd room at Jefferson when on one trip to the commode I looked up and there was the mirror-When I saw myself, I was horrified. I looked like a zombie. One eye bigger than the other and my mouth shifted to one side of my face. I was shaken up and realized that the strange looks people gave me was because of what my face looked like. Today my sight is better, right eye is back to normal. Left eye still a little off. Left ear still blocked. Sounds like when you get water in your ear. SO my hearing is off.

Neurologically stable, they sent me back to Beebe to prepare me for going home. I spent another week in Beebe Hospital. Was sent home with a laundry list of health care workers who would be visiting me.

A nurse care worker stopped by for a one hour interview. I had Occupational therapist want to see how I got dressed every morning--I nixed her visit. There was nothing wrong with my hands or legs that would prevent me from dressing myself.

Had a Physical therapist who I thought was stalking me --had to discontinue her services. It took about one month or my legs to gain strength that I could drive again. First time I tried was in early August--not far-- close to my house.

I could not go to beach by myself--I'd get dizzy from walking on even sand-so I reluctantly stayed outside my front door every day to catch a few rays & read a little--trying to capture the same feeling like being on the beach.

Now all this time I tried to go to the office so I tried to work as much as I could from home.

I also knew that ahead of me was the prospect of surgery to remove the tumor from my thigh. I spent most of August back & forth to Philadelphia for tests ahead of surgery. August was also spent trying to figure out whether to stay at a Ronald McDonald type of house while getting radiation treatments. I was going nuts trying to figure out what would work best for me

September was radiation treatments in Philadelphia and blood transfusions here in Rehoboth.

Went to meet the surgeon & part of his team in October to discuss surgery. The Orthopedic surgery scared to beejesus out of me. Seriously worked my nerves that I really was a basket case, physically shaking.

He told me all of the worse possible things that could happen to me post op. depending on how much muscle he had to remove to get the tumor out. I may never walk again or drive or always have to use a Walker with a brace were possibilities as well. Oh I almost forget that he said if surgery lasted longer than 8 hours, I would be intubated overnight in ICU and hopefully remove the tube the next day. The prospect of waking up intubated again was not something I wanted to hear or even think about after my horrendous experience back in MAY. It was the scariest proposition ever set in front of me by one person.

Back to Jefferson I went on Oct 29th in the Pavilion wing of hospital--orthopedic section.

Surgery was performed on Oct 30. I woke up in Recovery in not too much pain just very uncomfortable still not sure what happened. I was relieved I was not intubated and that I felt pretty together!

Once back in my room, A team member came in and put a leg brace on my right leg.

2,2 pounds of metal and velco. The next couple of days were filled with PT, trips to the gym dialysis. I went home after 1 week. The first night sleeping in my own bed was heaven on earth! Stitches came out on Oct 19th --lost count there were so many -maybe close to 2 dozen.

YEs I am getting around better but still have to endure dialysis even though my kidneys are making urine. I have not tried to drive yet.

I do feel the weak spot on my thigh. I feel it when I get out of bed. I use the walker during the night because of the weakness. The brace has become annoying I'm dragging it around-always wearing it when I go out.

I have not been able to work like I want to work.

I have 1 listing in Georgetown which is a bit of a challenge top sell

Had 2 offers which fell though in the pat week.

I thought to try to sell some of my jackets and clothes that I do not wear or never wore on PoshMark & EBay. I have a few different items listed on Poshmark-and was scammed trying to buy a Brand-named purse of mine. Was counting on the $2500 he offered for it which would give me some breathing room financially. And just to add insult to injury, Social Security cut my monthly payment in half for past 4 months because they found an over-payment from years ago. So I have been struggling with this decrease income since the summer.

I live with my stomach in knots.

I need a help right right now to get me over this financial nightmare and back on my Realtor life that I really enjoy and with it brings a decent income.

Thank You for listening to my story. I'm sure I left out a few things here and there.

I survived the hospital nightmare. Now I work and pray to survive the cancer that was removed form my thigh. 5 years was the the hallmark in medicinal world.

I had a party last time when I reached the 5 year survival date of September 28. I hope to have another survivor party Oct 30 2028. I pray that the Good Lord will.