Support Elsie and Nicky's Fresh Start in Portland

Hello!

We are fundraising to get ourselves back on track financially after many medical emergencies both of us have gone through and now we are undergoing a major move!

My lady-husband Elsie is disabled and had major spinal surgery in April of 2023 to help alleviate her spinal bulge which has been causing pain for years and throughout 2022-2023 has started her left leg to go numb.

After this surgery, we thought everything was running smoothly. No feeling returned to her leg, but the pain was relieved. Unfortunately, in February of 2024, Elsie had an intense muscle spasm in her lower back and ended up being bedbound from this spasm. We didn't know what was wrong but we knew that there was an issue with the surgery site. After finally getting an MRI after being on a waitlist for almost a month the doctors saw that there was significant scar tissue growth in the area they performed surgery on 10 months ago. Apparently, only 5% of people who received this type of surgery get these complications. So she was sent back into surgery to remove the scar tissue and get her mobility back. There were 3 months of her being bed-bound, constantly going back and forth to doctor visits, and also post-surgery complications of spinal leaks. I do not drive, so it was many Lyft rides from our home in Santa Cruz to her hospital in San Jose. Luckily we had friends and family to sometimes drive and help out, but a majority of the time we were paying for these emergency travels.

Simultaneously as this was happening in April, I started experiencing terrible stomach and pelvic pain. I was diagnosed with Diverticulitis after receiving COVID for the first time in 2022 (due to the lack of safety protocols at work and the urgency to return to work in person) and later found out my gut health continues to be affected by my bout of COVID where it's not like regular diverticulitis. The flares can be more intense, longer lasting, and more damaging to my intestines. So I was worried it was that, but again, at this point, I was in the dark about what it could be.

I had to go to urgent care several times with no help or alleviation of the pain I was experiencing. There were so many theories of what was wrong, a urine infection but no infection was detected, a vaginal infection but again no infection was detected a diverticulitis flare, but nothing helped. I was on a liquid diet for about 2 1/2 months and lost a significant amount of weight that was concerning to everyone.

I was on 8 different antibiotics that didn't help me. It was only after the 5th urgent care visit that a doctor took me seriously enough to do a major check on me. I was given CAT Scan along with blood work instead of constantly just peeing in cups and having many invasive vaginal exams that were showing up as nothing wrong. In this CAT Scan they found the issue. I had many tears and fistulas around my sigmoid colon that were communicating with my bladder and causing intense pain and discomfort. I was told that if I continued antibiotics the infection might clear up and they would then need to do surgery. So I was expected to continue my liquid diet until June, but my body had other plans. Eventually, I couldn't even keep liquids down and was admitted to the emergency room in mid-May. The fistula developed an abscess that was growing and threatening to pop. The doctors wanted to drain this abscess as soon as possible but couldn't safely do it so I had to be admitted.

I stayed at the hospital for 2 weeks on IV antibiotics trying to get rid of this abscess. I ended up needing emergency surgery to remove my sigmoid colon because at this point, it was damaged beyond repair and the abscess was not growing anymore, nor shrinking, so instead of continuing antibiotics, they wanted to remove everything. This was so I could eat solid food again and utilize the bathroom without any more pain or discomfort. There were many scares of how this surgery could have turned out like living with a colonoscopy bag, needing to go back for a 2nd surgery, and of course, dying because operating with an active infection is extremely risky. Luckily, everything worked out and the surgery was a success.

My recovery is still ongoing, but because of the constant emergency room visits and my long hospital stay, I have a significant amount of medical debt at the moment which is the majority of this ask.

Elsie and I are also in a big transition period, we just got approved for an apartment up in Portland, Oregon, and we need to move by September 1st. So, with all of these expenses coming up with moving, alleviating some of this medical emergency debt we have would be so helpful to us, to have a fresh start when we do this big move this September.

So many mentors and friends recommended me to make a GoFundMe to help us have a more stable situation after struggling with such an intense start to our year, we are hoping to end it better.

Your help directly helps Elsie and me pay off our medical debts, credit card debt due to the constant Lyft travel and co-pays for these urgent care visits and medication costs, and provides us a sense of safety and care rather than stuck in a state of struggle and survival. We are hoping to reach $2,000 before our move to alleviate our credit card debt and anything more would directly go towards this daunting medical debt.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you'll be able to help us reach a state of relief and safety