Dad's Health Battle: We Need Your Support

2024.

This is about to be a heavy long post.

My parents moved to Myrtle Beach in 2020 and their main health care system they have been relying on for care is through Tidelands.

In January-February of this year my dad got sick. Back in the end of 2022 he broke the heal of his foot falling off of a ladder and had to have 3 titanium rods placed to seal his bone in place. They have, many times over the course of this entire nightmare, sent him home from the hospital because they basically couldn’t figure it out. Shrugging everything off. Chalking everything up to rheumatoid arthritis. He continued to get worse and worse.

I remember at one point in February, side note right at my dads birthday, the doctor said “well there’s not much else we can do, if I were you I might would just go home and watch the Super Bowl.”

Throughout the ups and downs at one point later in the summer things seemed to be getting better. He was finally getting cleared from the wound doctor!!!

Until his body started to push a rod out because his bone had healed and decided it didn’t need it anymore.

At the time this was happiening it took multiple doctors and hospital trips for them to FINALLY realize the infection he had was coming from the rod pushing out.

So the doc just took out the rod in an in office visit and basically hoped for the best.

In my opinion, that was not the right call.

Because of course, due to him being so incredibly sick and going from over 200 lbs as a 6 foot man to under 140 lbs so quickly the body loses muscle mass and fat at an alarming and unhealthy rate, and if you are a 6 ft man who hasn’t been under 170 since a young adult, OF COURSE it’s going to break down the titanium material faster. A simple Google search shows that.

So again, I’m not a doctor, but at that point once they seen the first one rejected they should’ve all been removed.

But they decided to wait. This whole entire time they just want to “wait and see”. The waiting and never knowing what is going to happen next has been one of the hardest parts.

Somewhere in between all of this he was seen at Caromont in Gastonia. More than once.

Despite their mess ups, they saved his life twice. Because the hospital in tidelands “couldn’t”. Some random doctor that is rarely there genuinely saved his life that time and we are forever grateful. That was when he was septic.

Then the next time he visited Caromont he had an allergic reaction to an antibiotic that gave him “red man’s syndrome” and he went into anaphylactic shock because of that. He was left unattended not hooked up to a single machine besides the antibiotic. No heart monitor, NOTHING. The ONLY reason my dad is alive because of that is because my mom was in the room and ran for help.

Then they offered the same medicine to him AGAIN , just at a lower dose. Which, obviously, my dad refused. With good reason.

Because at that point it wasn’t just a blood infection (had multiple of those)

He ended up having to get surgery to remove the other 2 rods (again, SHOCKER) back in Myrtle.

At this point they brought in an infectious disease doctor (which should have been done MONTHS PRIOR) who took a biopsy of his bone to figure out what infection it is and why it won’t go away.

Well, it wouldn’t go away because it wasn’t a typical “infection”.

Turns out it is a super rare fungus that grew in his bone . He has to be on infusions for it.

This is a very aggressive medicine and the doctor was surprised he has tolerated it. So, that has been one blessing.

However, even though this part has been figured out and is being treated, there is something else.

My dad is a medical mystery and they finally admitted they couldn’t figure it out and he needed to be transferred.

So, the day after thanksgiving my dad was transferred to MUSC in Charleston.

Where he still is. With no actual release date in site. At first they swore it was RA, since it is genetic and my uncle has it, but his markers never made sense. Still don’t. So now the RA specialist at MUSC thinks it is something else. And they FINALLY sent off results for genetic testing. So we are currently waiting on that. While my dad remains weak, sedated with heavy medicine 99% of the time, I remain hopeful. He also should be done with the medicine for the fungus tomorrow and they will do another MRI to check if it worked.

So there is still the possibility the fungus will not be eradicated.

If that does happen, amputation will be the next step. Or he will lose his life.

So what do you do when the health care system continues to fail you over, and over, and over again?

You keep pushing. You keep advocating. And thank GOD my dad has a woman like my mom in his corner. She has been his warrior through all of this, like he has been for her many of times throughout the years. My mom has not had it easy, but one thing is for sure, she loves my dad and when you really love somebody “in sickness and in health” comes naturally. Not easy. NATURALLY. There’s a difference. And I see that with them.

My parents are not perfect. Nobody is. But I can say with 100% certainty my sister and I are incredibly blessed to have a mom and dad who love each other with every fiber of their being.

I am making this post not only to ask for any help that anyone is able to provide financial wise, but also we are hoping somebody out there specializes in rare autoimmune diseases and sees this. Theres a lot more to all of it , and if you know somebody who is willing to help we can share more. This is just a simple synopsis, believe it or not.

My mom has had to be my dad’s 100% care giver since the beginning of the year. They are having to stay 2 hours away from home. And they have no idea for how long. I know it has been a rough year for everyone, but seriously anything helps.

If you took the time to read this we thank you.

Prayers, thoughts, good vibes, donations, doctor connections…. We will take anything we can get.

Despite not always having the best care, we are grateful for those that have gone the extra mile. Because there have been plenty of doctors and nurses that have and continue to do so.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays with their loved ones. Hold on tight and be sure to let them know how much you love them. There are so many trivial things in life that just aren’t worth it.