Help Chris Breathe After Two Collapsed Lungs lol

BEGRUDGING RATIONALE

I have rejected and resisted several dozen repeated requests to do this for almost a month now. But after several of my friends have stubbornly overridden my staunch refusal to accept any help and are sending it anyway via their own independent means, I figure it would be best to just accept the inevitable and make it easy for people to do what I guess they're gonna do anyway. I know my friends, I know when I'm outnumbered, I know y'all are crazy, and that resistance is futile. <3

Here is the compromise that me and MLE worked out to make me ok with this whole shindig: I'm doing this only on the condition that 100% of the funds raised go exclusively toward helping OUR MUSIC SCHOOL. I will figure out my medical bills on my own. That's my problem, and mine alone. Sorry, not sorry. For those unfamiliar with the vibe:

THE MED SITCH

I randomly had chest pain and trouble breathing for a few days. Luckily I eventually went to the ER, because by the time I finally got checked out I had literally almost died. They said my lung was so badly collapsed with so much intra-thoracic air pressure built up that I almost certainly would not have survived the night. Weird, right? Yeah. So they stick a tube in my chest, which sucked (literally lol), hurt like hell, they take it out, send me on my way.... and then a few days later the lung collapses a second time. So we have to re-open the hole in my chest and start the painful process again. Because life on "Easy Mode" is boring. Gotta add some razzle dazzle to spice things up.

Then I got transported via Wee-Woo Wagon to the main facility where they "Yeeted out the Blebs" (scientific term, Google it if you don't believe me) and also performed a mechanical pleurodesis. These are fancy ways of saying they popped some lung bubbles and glued my breathers to my thoracic cavity so it physically can't collapse again. They sewed me up and sent me home with hella drugs and literally said "we hope we never see you again". And after wandering the hospital halls bare-assed like the senile old man I am, who can blame them? I cause problems wherever I go.

I can't sit still and have tried a few times to go back to teaching, but they've resulted in some recovery setbacks. I'm quickly coming to terms with just how long this healing process is going to take. I am still not yet ready to resume my standard 8- and 10- hr days teaching. But I am definitely getting better.

THE DOLLA HOLLA

We had needed, for a VERY LONG TIME, a larger vehicle to haul our trailer and bring out the full production rig to produce the caliber of events that our music school is known for hosting. At the same time, we desperately needed a new studio space for our bands to rehearse in because it was severely impacting the lessons in every other room due to volume. We've had kids on a waitlist for as long as a year, simply because we don't have the space for them. After a fundraiser attempt that sorta fell pretty far short of what we needed (but for which I am still very grateful!!!), I made some terrifying moves: we got the truck to haul the rig, and we got the studio to house the kiddos. I took out two *massive* loans to help us take the next steps that we really had no choice but to take.

So spring and summer were supposed to be challenging months for us, but I had planned ahead by booking an ungodly amount of extra gigs to help cover these massive new expenses until the room started filling up and was able to help cover the monthly payments on the loans. I'm pretty dumb about a lot of things, but I'd like to think that I understand addition and subtraction. Unfortunately I had figured out the math, but hadn't figured out the nature of the universe which is chaotic and unpredictable, and sometimes likes to be like "oooooh you thought you figured things out? My dog. Check this out!"

THE VIBE

I called both banks and explained the situation, but neither have any sympathy or remorse for the fact that I was out of commission for over a month, and - although I'm fighting as hard as I can - likely a substantially reduced working capacity for the next month or two. I'm still moving agonizingly slow, and kinda going a little crazy over it. But I'll live. Probably.

So here's where we're at: the exclusive intent behind this fundraiser is to help cover expenses associated with the colossal cost of our new studio space and the truck to haul our rig, and ONLY until I can get back to the nonstop psychotic schedule that probably put me in the hospital in the first place lol.

The truck is a business vehicle in the school LLC name, and is exclusively used for business; it is not a personal vehicle. For tax purposes, I can't even drive it to Publix! The studio is already installed, and students will begin rehearsing and recording in it next week. It will also house our various summer camps, and will serve as a space for all kiddos to write / record / release their original music on all streaming platforms. We currently have several artists with releases scheduled for this month and beyond, and with this new space - combined with our growing list of scholarship sponsors - we hope to exponentially increase recordings and releases. It's all really awesome stuff, and there really isn't anywhere else nearby doing anything remotely resembling any of this. I used to feel bad saying that publicly, but it's just a cold hard fact.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I'm an asshole. I don't like this. And the second we've raised enough to just kinda help out a little bit, I'm shutting this thing down. I will make just one post about this and then I don't want to talk about it again. I feel like everyone is struggling in these chaotic and wildly uncertain times, and asking for help is deeply insensitive and actually quite selfish.

Yeah, this whole experience sucked harder than most things I've had to endure in life, and they happened at THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. TIME!!!!! I mean, I didn't cry when I thought I was gonna die, but I did when I got those first school bills from the hospital bed and realized how bad things were about to get. And I haven't even mentioned the actual hospital bills, which will probably be about what the two school loans are.

But as rough as all this is, I know so many people who have it harder, and who won't get the help and support they need. And I did, and do, have an absolutely fantastic support system! My fantastic fiance MLE, badass Lieutenant Mr. Whiskers, the whole squad of teachers here who have stepped up and subbed for me and held down the school while I was out, and my Mom and Dad and brother and all my family, and the little brats and kiddos at the school, and friends and Fam who have offered everything - I really am blessed beyond comprehension.

And real talk: that's exactly why I wasn't stressing when I legit thought I was gonna die. I say this with gratitude, not hubris: I have lived, and am living, the absolute best life I could have ever hoped to have lived. I'm forever grateful for every minute of it, even if it ends before I want it to. But as long as I'm here, me and the homies are gonna do dope work to ensure that future generations of badasses continue to maintain and grow this beautiful music community we got here.

Thanks so much for reading entirely too many words.

Love,

Chris