Emergency Surgery on August 22nd.

For several years no doctor or dentist has been able to find the source of the chronic pain in my left cheek. It has impacted many areas of my life, causing me to grind my teeth so hard that I break crowns, crack teeth, and pop out fillings. There was something I could feel in my cheek that made me slur my speech and smile with only half my face. I went to the ER several times because the muscles in my neck and upper back were so tense I couldn't get myself off the floor and was in too much pain to drive or go to work. I had several X-rays done in the hospital and the dentist's office but they all looked normal. My blood work for two years has shown that I have some kind of infection, but the source could not be found. My BP increases every doctor's visit. I often go several nights without sleep for the pain, and I have been prescribed several rounds of antibiotics and pain killers which did not help. I was diagnosed with "Generalized Anxiety Disorder" because at every doctor and therapist appointment I would cry about my pain and express that I felt like something was wrong with me, but I didn't know what; and it felt like nobody cared or was going to help. Finally, a dentist told me that my problem was beyond her scope of practice and gave me 6 referrals to 6 different surgeons in November 2021. They were all backed up "because Covid", and I could not schedule an appointment until August 2022. At this appointment, I paid out of pocket for a CT scan.

Finally, my problem was found. I have a hole in my maxillary sinus, a cyst, and a large infection, which is draining into my cheek. I already lost 2 teeth to the infection, and the surgeon has to remove more in the same area to treat it. All my left top molars will be removed. The abcess will be cleaned, the membrane of the sinus sewn shut, a cadaver bone graft will be put over the holes in my maxilla, I will have blood drawn and put through a centrifuge to collect yellow blood jelly to promote healing, and I will have to be sedated for the procedure which is expected to take two hours this Monday, August 22nd. The oral surgeon is only billing my dental which is only covering the tooth extractions, leaving me to pay for the sedation, blood jelly, bone grafts, stitches, and wound cleaning out of pocket. On Monday, I will need to pay $6,352. If I can't get it all by then, it will be another $223 for delayed billing and a payment plan.

After four to six months, if I heal well enough, I can look into getting implants to replace the teeth on the left side. The surgeon says I can get by with just two implants instead of four. I expect them to be about $2,000 each. Bringing my total expected medical bills to $10,575. However, I am setting the goal right now to only what I need for this first surgery, which is $6,352.

Currently, I am working with my insurance and social workers on how to get my surgeon to bill my medical as well as my dental insurance so that I will not have to pay for so much of the procedure out of pocket. If that happens, I would be glad to refund donations given here as much as possible. However, it will have to be retroactively approved by my insurance because I cannot wait any longer to have this infection taken care of as it has already taken such a toll on my heart and sanity and I am in excruciating pain at every moment.

I do believe that I can prove this is an emergency medically necessary procedure, but it may take me a while, because I don't know what I'm doing. If you cannot donate, but have a knowledge of health forms and billing, in particular how to get an in-network oral surgeon to bill Medi-Cal to cover what Denti-Cal does not cover, please contact me as I would appreciate any and all forms of assistance. However, if I am in recovery, I may be a bit slow to respond.