Carmen and I need a little help from our friends

It's hard to find the words but I'm going to try and let this flow from the beginning so things will make a little more sense. In late April Carmen had a regular doctor's appointment but with a new doctor, we have never seen before ever. Just as we were leaving, he asks if we knew she had a heart murmur; aortic to pulmonary is specifically what he mentioned. He sent us for a stat x-ray and an EKG that we had done the next day. We contacted our regular provider and followed up with her to receive all normal results from the tests. She wanted to refer us to cardiology just in case, so off to Gainesville we went. Carmen had another normal EKG followed by a Trans Thoracic Echo, this brought up some serious concerns. The right side of her heart is slightly enlarged, and one of her pulmonary veins couldn't be located. They could see her heart working overtime and didnt know why. Her cardiologist ordered a Trans Esophageal Echo. Carmen was put under general anesthesia and had the procedure done without any complications. The results confirmed that her vein is connected to the wrong side of her heart causing the condition PAPVR (Partial Anomoulous Pulmonary Veinous Return) along with a large 1.2cm ASD ( Atrial Septal Defect) which means she needs surgery relatively soon. She is extremely lucky that she doesnt have any symptoms and her heart is still able to keep up and compensate for this defect.

This is something that should have been caught much sooner than it was but we are still blessed it was caught before there was permanent damage. The doctors say that with the sugery her heart will remodel and she will make a full recovery. It's hard to imagine she has been living with a congenital heart defect her entire life and not had a single symptom. She is so strong and tough I know she will make a full recovery if we can just get this done! Summer is the perfect time.

Fast forward to last week, the surgical team finally calls to begin the process and schedule surgery. We go ahead and agree on a date which was only 6 days away on 6/14. They never once led me to believe anything could go awry. Pre-op was scheduled for Monday 6/13. We were in the hospital from 6:45am to 1:00pm monday. Around 8:30am I noticed on the app the doctors use that the surgery had been rescheduled for Thursday. I immediatly asked the staff about this change. They sent the scheduler into our room who had little to no answers for me. She did however tell us to stay in town and if they got it approved they had block time on Wednedsay and Thursday and they would get it done by Thurday for sure. She also told me she was off work Thursday and she would have everything fixed by Wednesday(today). Always sticking to the plan surgery on Thursday at the latest. I have been diligent with the insurance company and I have called numerous times over the last few days. I have confirmed that the hospital submitted the paperwork but left out the CPT code for half the surgery. At this point I come to realize what has really happened and there is no way for this to be sorted out in time for surgery Thursday.

Meanwhile, my mom had taken off work and was already driving here from south Florida when we found out she wouldn't be havin sugery the next day. Due to the fact that she had already rented an air bnb with no cancellation policy at 1 hour hour before chek in and the hospital giving us hope that things would work out she decided to stay in town with us as well and wait. We waited 3 days out of town in an air bnb only to be told today at 4:57pm via the app that the surgery was cancelled until they could fix this insurance thing, and now they will have to apply for an extension on the existing approval as well. Its honestly a huge mess. Financially I knew it was going to be hard to swing this but I had it worked out to an extent but wasting this entire week has really hurt us. I had to switch to PRN a few weeks ago when I knew I couldnt fullfill a full time work schedule with all that was coming up in my life but I never imagined 2+ weeks off work. Not to mention that I havent been able to work an entire week in almost a month because of all the doctors appointments. Things are just staring to add up. So, here I am, being vulnerable and asking for help. Setting a goal was hard but this will help us get through a month and I really think thats all I need right now. I want to be able to be with her an focus on a smooth recovery. Prayers and love and good vibes are always so very welcome! some folks have shown interest in sending carmen some snail mail and I know she will love that also just get with me for the address.

thank you to everyone who stuck with me this far. I appriciate all the love I have recieved in the last few days. I have really needed it.