Needing help for medical bills
I never thought that I would have to do this along with so many others, but I did not know what else to do. In July of 2016, I had to have my first spinal fusion of L5-S1 and 8 months later I had to have my second one in the following March because the first one failed and the second didn't do much either and failed as well. After that, I had both a hard time mentally and physically through several rounds of various treatments of physical therapy, 8 caudal epidurals (tailbone), acupuncture; you name it, I tried it and I was then diagnosed with failed back syndrome in January 2018. On March 25th, 2019 my right leg began to swell painfully and by that weekend I couldn't walk. I was able to get into the doctor right away that Monday, but the swelling had completely gone away and two days later it was back but this time it was the left foot and the swelling progressed up to my knee and back to the doctor I went and again the swelling had disappeared again it really was hit or miss with the doctor to be able to see the actual swelling.
Finally, after the sixth appointment, the doctor was able to see it and put me on gout medicine because of my descriptions and the pictures that I had shown them. In between being testing for gout (that came back negative as well) I was then was kept on rounds of high dosage antibiotics and steroids because doctors thought it may be cellulitis, or some type of infection, even though my labs came back negative but the readings were off the charts, my inflammatory levels were at 33 which was extremely high (most people levels are between 9-11 give or take). by then I was taken off work for 3 months due to doctors' orders because I needed to keep my legs elevated. During that time I had several MRIs, CT-scans, and ultrasounds ordered by heart doctors, vein specialists, and disease specialists on my veins and everything were coming back normal. My pain management doctor thought it was lymphedema but didn't know what the cause was; because generally, you are either born with it, because of cancers like Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkins lymphoma, or from a double mastectomy caused by breast cancer, or even a car wreck. My grandfather had recently passed from Non-Hodgkins and his entire body had swelled up and his swelling didn't go away until he was embalmed. I then had cancer tests and found out that I had a very high white blood cell count but thankfully no cancer.
I was taken off work again because the swelling had got so bad and my skin was weeping so bad that my socks were drenched in fluid and the pain got so bad that on May 30th, 2020 I went to the ER because it felt like the bones between my toes and the arch of my feet were broken along with the swelling. I was seen by 5 different doctors/specialists and they ran more tests and one was to check for possible blood clots in my lungs but that came back negative as well except I had a severe case of community pneumonia. After a few hours, the main doctor came back into the room and told me that I had a severe case of lymphedema that was caused by the surgeon who did my back surgeries. He said it wasn't intentional but the surgeon who performed the surgeries either knicked or cut through one of the lymphatic drain valves to which scar tissue had either grown through or over it and that is why I am swelling the way I do. He stated the reasons why this can happen is from car wrecks, trip, and fall, and rare occasions; surgery. and that the symptoms generally show up right away or within 1-3 years or more and mine showed up exactly 2 years to the day of my second surgery and he wasn't sure if was the first or second or both surgeries that caused the lymphedema.
I just knew the basics of lymph nodes in your neck, armpits, and groin and I never heard of the lymphatic system and that it runs all over the body and that it is an integral part of the immune system. I asked why it took so long to come to this diagnosis, and the ER doctor stated that is because when going to med school, general/family doctors only study the lymph nodes and lymphatic system for 2-3 hours unless they go into a certain medical profession that calls for it and since it was so advanced he said the damage is irreversible and I will have it for life and I would need to be treated by a lymphatic specialist.
By July 2020 my general doctor found a place but I would have to drive out of town every day for a two-week treatment plan (3 hour round trip) for the first few weeks and then every other day but it ended up going for a month and a half where I was wrapped up like a mummy to my waist with casting material, sports tape, and special made ace-like bandages that I had to wear for 23 hours a day to try and control the swelling and get it down enough so that I could be measured for compression garments. When I started, the physical therapist said that I was stage 2 borderline 3, and when they were able to get the swelling down as much as possible, I was measured once again and then I was sent to another place to be fitted for compression stockings that I had to fight tooth and nail to get any coverage through my health insurance. During this process, I have found that most health insurance companies pay very little to nothing for treating lymphedema and compression garments/stockings are seen as cosmetic. I've had to pay over $4,600 in physical therapy costs because my insurance only paid for 5 visits, $260 per stocking (not pair) to which I could only afford 2 pairs and those were the cheaper ones, and just like a regular sock they may last for about a year, maybe a little longer if well kept.
On top of everything else besides dealing with the chronic pain from my spine surgeries and severe neuropathy in my legs, I have to deal with the constant shooting pains in my calves and feet because of the constant contracting and swelling of my skin in those areas and it can be unbearable to walk most of the time and when the swelling gets really bad; my skin will weep, mostly my toes and my skin itself feels like actual elephant skin, leg fatigue, fevers, and the dark discoloration is not pretty either and the doctor told me that I now have to avoid scrapes, scratches, accidental bumping my legs into something, watch out for lesions and not to scratch them or pick at any of the loose skin because that could turn into cellulitis, fleshing eating bacteria, and other infections. I still have to go to work because I am out of sick leave, personal, and vacation time due to doctor visits and the times I had to take off because it just hurt too much or where I had swelled so much I couldn't wear my work clothes. I haven't been able to actually wear shoes since November 2019 and I have to rely on sandals with a velcro strap so that I can loosen them throughout the day and I pretty much wear them all day long unless I am laying down or sleeping because I cant' tolerate the pain of my feet touching the floor or a pair crocs depending on the weather. I have several things to consider because it doesn't take much for my feet and legs to swell; just sitting the wrong way or wiggling my toes can cause them to swell, doing too much walking, what the weather is going to be like especially the heat will aggravate them that includes the wearing the stockings that are also binding, itching and can be quite warm to wear and the heat will be even worse on the days that I have to wrap my legs.
Positive self-esteem is difficult to have when you have swollen limbs and people will stare when I have to wear shorts I want to be able to wear shoes again I will most likely have to have some type of custom shoes, but it will be hard to find something that isn't binding across my feet because it doesn't take much for them to start swelling and I am sure that the price for a custom made shoe will be through the roof. Last Friday I was notified that I could lose my benefits/ let go from my job because I no longer have any personal/sick/vacation time left to cover any future time that I may miss for doctor visits or from being sick and I don't know what to do. I am glad that I finally know what the medical problem is and that I have been able to work when I can, but at the same time I am so far behind on everything and I have nothing left as the saying goes "Robbing Peter to pay Paul" to make ends meet. Since it is a new year, I am struggling now to pay for current doctor visits and treatments because they are wanting balances to be paid in full even though I have been paying what I can when I do go before I can be seen.
Up to the point of having two spinal fusions; I was used to working over 70 hours a week from a full-time and part-time job that I had worked since I was a teenager and I now struggle to work 40 hours a week and I am supposed to have four more but I am too scared to go back under the knife since the first two not only made my pain worse and now I worry that more damage could be caused to my lymphatic system. To some degree, it can be managed, but it does get worse with time. I sincerely appreciate any donation from the bottom of my heart that will help me get caught up on my medical bills for these ongoing treatments for this lifelong condition that I now have.
Finally, after the sixth appointment, the doctor was able to see it and put me on gout medicine because of my descriptions and the pictures that I had shown them. In between being testing for gout (that came back negative as well) I was then was kept on rounds of high dosage antibiotics and steroids because doctors thought it may be cellulitis, or some type of infection, even though my labs came back negative but the readings were off the charts, my inflammatory levels were at 33 which was extremely high (most people levels are between 9-11 give or take). by then I was taken off work for 3 months due to doctors' orders because I needed to keep my legs elevated. During that time I had several MRIs, CT-scans, and ultrasounds ordered by heart doctors, vein specialists, and disease specialists on my veins and everything were coming back normal. My pain management doctor thought it was lymphedema but didn't know what the cause was; because generally, you are either born with it, because of cancers like Hodgkin's lymphoma and non-Hodgkins lymphoma, or from a double mastectomy caused by breast cancer, or even a car wreck. My grandfather had recently passed from Non-Hodgkins and his entire body had swelled up and his swelling didn't go away until he was embalmed. I then had cancer tests and found out that I had a very high white blood cell count but thankfully no cancer.
I was taken off work again because the swelling had got so bad and my skin was weeping so bad that my socks were drenched in fluid and the pain got so bad that on May 30th, 2020 I went to the ER because it felt like the bones between my toes and the arch of my feet were broken along with the swelling. I was seen by 5 different doctors/specialists and they ran more tests and one was to check for possible blood clots in my lungs but that came back negative as well except I had a severe case of community pneumonia. After a few hours, the main doctor came back into the room and told me that I had a severe case of lymphedema that was caused by the surgeon who did my back surgeries. He said it wasn't intentional but the surgeon who performed the surgeries either knicked or cut through one of the lymphatic drain valves to which scar tissue had either grown through or over it and that is why I am swelling the way I do. He stated the reasons why this can happen is from car wrecks, trip, and fall, and rare occasions; surgery. and that the symptoms generally show up right away or within 1-3 years or more and mine showed up exactly 2 years to the day of my second surgery and he wasn't sure if was the first or second or both surgeries that caused the lymphedema.
I just knew the basics of lymph nodes in your neck, armpits, and groin and I never heard of the lymphatic system and that it runs all over the body and that it is an integral part of the immune system. I asked why it took so long to come to this diagnosis, and the ER doctor stated that is because when going to med school, general/family doctors only study the lymph nodes and lymphatic system for 2-3 hours unless they go into a certain medical profession that calls for it and since it was so advanced he said the damage is irreversible and I will have it for life and I would need to be treated by a lymphatic specialist.
By July 2020 my general doctor found a place but I would have to drive out of town every day for a two-week treatment plan (3 hour round trip) for the first few weeks and then every other day but it ended up going for a month and a half where I was wrapped up like a mummy to my waist with casting material, sports tape, and special made ace-like bandages that I had to wear for 23 hours a day to try and control the swelling and get it down enough so that I could be measured for compression garments. When I started, the physical therapist said that I was stage 2 borderline 3, and when they were able to get the swelling down as much as possible, I was measured once again and then I was sent to another place to be fitted for compression stockings that I had to fight tooth and nail to get any coverage through my health insurance. During this process, I have found that most health insurance companies pay very little to nothing for treating lymphedema and compression garments/stockings are seen as cosmetic. I've had to pay over $4,600 in physical therapy costs because my insurance only paid for 5 visits, $260 per stocking (not pair) to which I could only afford 2 pairs and those were the cheaper ones, and just like a regular sock they may last for about a year, maybe a little longer if well kept.
On top of everything else besides dealing with the chronic pain from my spine surgeries and severe neuropathy in my legs, I have to deal with the constant shooting pains in my calves and feet because of the constant contracting and swelling of my skin in those areas and it can be unbearable to walk most of the time and when the swelling gets really bad; my skin will weep, mostly my toes and my skin itself feels like actual elephant skin, leg fatigue, fevers, and the dark discoloration is not pretty either and the doctor told me that I now have to avoid scrapes, scratches, accidental bumping my legs into something, watch out for lesions and not to scratch them or pick at any of the loose skin because that could turn into cellulitis, fleshing eating bacteria, and other infections. I still have to go to work because I am out of sick leave, personal, and vacation time due to doctor visits and the times I had to take off because it just hurt too much or where I had swelled so much I couldn't wear my work clothes. I haven't been able to actually wear shoes since November 2019 and I have to rely on sandals with a velcro strap so that I can loosen them throughout the day and I pretty much wear them all day long unless I am laying down or sleeping because I cant' tolerate the pain of my feet touching the floor or a pair crocs depending on the weather. I have several things to consider because it doesn't take much for my feet and legs to swell; just sitting the wrong way or wiggling my toes can cause them to swell, doing too much walking, what the weather is going to be like especially the heat will aggravate them that includes the wearing the stockings that are also binding, itching and can be quite warm to wear and the heat will be even worse on the days that I have to wrap my legs.
Positive self-esteem is difficult to have when you have swollen limbs and people will stare when I have to wear shorts I want to be able to wear shoes again I will most likely have to have some type of custom shoes, but it will be hard to find something that isn't binding across my feet because it doesn't take much for them to start swelling and I am sure that the price for a custom made shoe will be through the roof. Last Friday I was notified that I could lose my benefits/ let go from my job because I no longer have any personal/sick/vacation time left to cover any future time that I may miss for doctor visits or from being sick and I don't know what to do. I am glad that I finally know what the medical problem is and that I have been able to work when I can, but at the same time I am so far behind on everything and I have nothing left as the saying goes "Robbing Peter to pay Paul" to make ends meet. Since it is a new year, I am struggling now to pay for current doctor visits and treatments because they are wanting balances to be paid in full even though I have been paying what I can when I do go before I can be seen.
Up to the point of having two spinal fusions; I was used to working over 70 hours a week from a full-time and part-time job that I had worked since I was a teenager and I now struggle to work 40 hours a week and I am supposed to have four more but I am too scared to go back under the knife since the first two not only made my pain worse and now I worry that more damage could be caused to my lymphatic system. To some degree, it can be managed, but it does get worse with time. I sincerely appreciate any donation from the bottom of my heart that will help me get caught up on my medical bills for these ongoing treatments for this lifelong condition that I now have.