Summary: Two cancers, two surgeries and a recovery period that won't be paid, but bills that must be

Our family has had three medical emergencies in the last two years. Our son Jonathan had a rare cancer that wasn't diagnosed properly for 10 months and finally had to have a lung and a lot of teeth removed. My husband Dave had his problematic kidneys announce themselves again, and one doctor put his account into collections within a few weeks, preventing him from getting the diagnostic information he needed to see if the problems can be controlled.

Now, it's my turn. I'm a disabled senior citizen trying to keep this family together on a part-time salary as I work from home. I don't have employer insurance, or sick leave or gap insurance or anything like that. Fortunately, I do have Medicaid for my actual medical costs. I began having bad hemorrhaging last fall, in October, and it turns out I have endometrial cancer. It's easily cured and managed with a full hysterectomy, which I have scheduled for March 2, 2023.

The trouble comes in that we need to make up the salary I'll be missing while out on leave. As it stands, I can only afford to miss three days (spread over a weekend, Th/F/M), but would really like to take the rest of that week off. The surgery is going to be robotic, so it has a shorter recovery period. But I won't be able to take the pain meds I need to manage my disability for several weeks before and after the surgery, which will make getting to my downstairs office and even sitting for hours uncomfortable until the doctors clear me to resume my meds.

And then there's the issue that Dave is on Medicare and it doesn't cover as much as people might think. We'd like to get the doctor holding his test results hostage paid.

Jonathan had to have multiple teeth removed, and it left behind a bill at the dentist. We'd like to get that paid so we can look into prosthetics or implants, at least for his missing front teeth. He also has Medicaid, but it didn't cover a large portion of the dental work.

We will be using these funds to cover my medical leave, the critical medical costs, and lawyer fees if we have to file medical bankruptcy for other costs not mentioned here.

Thank you in advance for reading this, and for any contributions you can make.