UPDATE: March 30, 2024

It has been a while since I update everyone on any progress or setbacks I have had on this journey I have had. In the last 2 years I have had a couple of small TIA's again. This has caused the Neuropathy, a chronic illness that worsens over time with no cure, from the initial TIA to worsen a little faster. I can walk for about 2 short blocks and than have to stop. The tumor behind my eye has stayed the same, luckily. I am still getting the pictures taken but as of now I only have to have them once a year. This is great. The real miracle is with the Brain Aneurysm. The last scan they did, which was in August of 2023, showed no Aneurysm. My doctor explained that there is a rare phenomenon that causes a spontaneous disappearance of the aneurysm. The downside to this is that in some cases it has been noted that the aneurysm has reappeared after a couple of years again. So, we will be monitoring for any reappearance. I have encountered more health diagnosis since, though. I have some serious nerve issues causing my dominant right hand and lower arm to go numb. More tests and possible surgery, according to the Neurologist, are now on the table for that. Many x-rays are being done. EMG has been done already, showing nerve damage. Damage in my cervical spine radiating down my back which is now sending me to PT and Pain Management. The Migraine Headaches are still with me and I have been getting a lot more of the breakthrough headaches. So with all these new issues I have been put on a few more new medications. I am now up to, including the OTC meds I am required to take, 15 medications every day. And the final new piece is I am now under the supervision of an Oncologist/Hematologist. I had lab work done that showed some very strange findings in my blood work and my Neurologist suggested I see this Oncologist. Being adopted, but knowing I knew a biological first cousin on my birth mother's side, I asked her about a medical history. She was kind enough to tell me she was having an outing with my half sister that weekend and would it be ok with me if she told her about me and ask about "our" mother's medical history. Of course I said yes. She did find out the medical history that I needed to know, and feared, but at least now I knew. We also found out that my half sister did not believe I was their half sister. Even though the picture my half brother sent me of "our" mother looks just like me. We look like twins. But I get it, 1959, you didn't talk about those things for whatever reason. No one knew, and we will never know for sure now. Anyway, I have to keep going back to this Oncologist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center every 6 months now, unless something changes, because the blood work shows that I could be on my way to a possible diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma, an incurable, but treatable, form of cancer of the white blood cells or the plasma cells found in the bone marrow. The last labs showed a slight difference in the labs in some areas but not others. So, for now we keep monitoring and praying. It does show that my immune system is pretty much deteriorating slowly.

I am still in desperate need of funding for my bills to get me over the last hurdle of getting me out of debt from all of this. My main bill I need help with is fuel, oil, which is not only for heating my house but it is also used to provide me with hot water. The price has gone up and is costing me about $500 a month, half of my monthly SS check. Which leaves nothing much left to cover mortgage, electric, car insurance, etc.. I have taken myself down to the bare minimum of what I can do and cannot do myself. I have fired my cable company, no more strings attached! Yay. Stopped all my subscriptions to any papers, delivered and on line, that I was receiving, except those that were gifted to me by someone else. And any other type of subscriptions. I applied to my state and received assistance for food and my water bill which was months and months behind. And they helped me with a few months of my electric bill. But the help with that ran out and I was almost a year behind with that bill, so still owe quite a lot on that. The credit card companies have finally tried to sue me to get their money, since I had to max them out when I had to use them to get all my brain scans, eye scans and all my other testing done when my insurance was not paying for anything. So, now if I cannot start paying them I will have to go to court and be sued and risk having everything, AGAIN, taken away from me including my home.

But because of some very generous people who have donated and who believed in me doing my part to work hard at this also, I am down to only needing help with raising $5,000 to meet my goal and be at a point where I can manage my finances on Social Security, and in one month being on Medicare, by myself. I won't be able to afford a Medicare Advantage Plan at all. I may be able to get what they call a SNAP-D Medicaid plan, but I will have to find ALL new doctor's which does not make me happy at all. I finally trust every single one of the doctor's I have now.

So, I am asking, if there is anyone out there who can see it in their heart to help me get over this last hurdle I would appreciate it so very much. I have worked hard to get to this point and place and do not want to go backwards now. I can't. Mentally and physically, I just can't.

Thank You

Roseann

UPDATE; OCTOBER 2022

It has been a journey, and I have been lucky that the Tumor in the eye has not grown, and the Brain Aneurysm has not grown. I now only have the scans and pictures every nine to twelve months unless I notice any changes.

But due to the hours at work being cut drastically and the stress of everything, I had to take early retirement. But I still have a ways to go to get my finances from the expenses taken care. Any amount, small or large, would be appreciated.

Hi, My name is Roseann Stanley. I was diagnosed in June of 2021 with a Tumor behind the Retina in my right eye. And, luckily, it is a very slow-growing tumor and for now, only needs to be monitored. But that monitoring requires having a picture taken every 4-6 months of the eye as long as there are no changes. Once any changes are detected, the monitoring and pictures will have to be increased. At the same time, I started having massive headaches, which we thought was due to the fact that I needed glasses since my routine appointments were rescheduled due to Covid. Once it was determined that this was not the cause, and I also started having issues of being unstable at times and seizure-type symptoms, I was sent for Brain Scans to try to determine whether I had another TIA, which I had back in 2010. The scan did show I possibly had 1 or maybe 2 more. But they were really checking for a Brain Tumor. It did not show a Brain Tumor. But when my Neurologist was able to look at the pictures of the scans, he noticed that it showed there is bleeding and that I have a Brain Aneurysm. I just had an Angiogram done which will show the size of the Aneurysm so they can determine whether we will just very carefully monitor this or we will have to go in and do surgery. Needless to say, this has caused me a great deal of financial difficulty as my hours at work have been cut from 40 hours a week to between 25-30 hours a week. My medical bills will continue to mount no matter which outcome happens. On top of that my Mortgage has gone up twice in the last 2 years due to our states high property taxes going up and my high deductible and co-pays on my insurance have drained me financially. I truly never thought I would be in a position to have to reach for this kind of help. But here I am. I am asking from the bottom of my heart for the help of any amount, small, medium or large, that anyone can spare that would greatly help me out. If I am ever in a position in the future I will pay it forward. Insurance I had at the time did not help since the deductible and out-of-pocket expenses were enormous.