medical bills, health insurance
As all who know me know, I've been suffering with several diseases and have gone through over a dozen surgeries, and countless procedures, over the last 12 years. I have severe chronic pain in my abdomen & pelvis, caused by severe Endometriosis, Interstitial Cystitis, Pelvic Organ Prolapses, Hiatal Hernia, Giant Cavernous Hemangiomas, breast masses, redness, swelling & tenderness, & internal Adhesions everywhere, the worst of which are wrapped tightly around my Liver, squeezing it & gluing it to my ribs, Diaphragm, & abdominal wall. the Endometriosis has spread everywhere, & possibly even into my skin, because I am covered with Petechiael Hemorrhages & Purpura from head to toe. During one of my "Major" surgeries, the surgeon told me beforehand that there was no need for me to do a pre-op bowel prep because she "had never nicked a bowel before". I'd only had "minor" surgeries up till that point & didn't know any better, so I followed her instructions. This surgery was my Hysterectomy, & I was scared, but trusted my Doctor. Woops! When I woke up in the post-op ICU, my Dr was as pale as a ghost & her hair was tousled like she'd been running her hands through it over & over. She completely down-played what happened, & told me that while she was removing a dense Adhesion connecting my Cervix to my Rectum, she had "made a minor defect on my Bowel". When I read the surgical report, I found out the truth; that she had nicked my Bowel & the contents had spilled into my abdominal cavity! The hospital's chief surgeon was called in to repair the damage, stitch & wrap the Bowel, and dump antibiotics directly into my open abdomen to flush out the toxins she had spilled. I was also put on IV antibiotics, required more painkillers, & had a longer hospital stay because of her arrogance. It also may have spread the Endometriosis through my bloodstream, spreading it further than it would've gone if that hadn't happened. Since then, I've had many more surgeries & procedures, from Colonoscopies & Upper Endoscopies, to catheterization several times a week for Bladder instillations, & having needles inserted into the inner sides of my feet by my ankles & attached to a T.E.N.S. unit to send electrical pulses up the nerves into my Bladder! I'm continually seeing specialists, trying to get help with all these concurrent problems and trying to reduce my pain, and I'm working with several excellent doctors now... but it's very expensive! Our health insurance premium is over $1,300 a month, plus copays, prescriptions, etc, as well as the cost of living (food, gas, etc), and our only income is from my husband's job, which pays $12.75/hour. I am still waiting for my SSDI application to be approved, but it's an extremely long process (3 1/2 years & counting)! We are seriously struggling financially & are constantly worried. We also owe thousands of dollars for most of my surgeries, tests, and procedures, and the bills keep adding up, with many more to come. If you can possibly help us, even a little, that would be a huge help! We need all the help we can get! Thank you so much for reading this, and please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments! Much love to all of you!
I have some pics from some of my surgeries, including 4 pics that were taken during my first surgery ever, in 2002. The Dr found & removed these Adhesions between my Uterus and Abdominal side wall. The fact that there were Adhesions in there before I'd ever had any surgery was a clear sign of Endometriosis, especially when combined with my other symptoms... but it took a different Dr doing my second surgery to find a ton of Endometriosis implants, & it was confirmed through pathology! I had previously posted these pics here, but the website removed them because they may be too graphic for some. If you would like to see any of my surgery pics, or if you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me! :-D Thanks again for taking the time to read this, & for any help you can give us! ♡♡♥♡♡
