On May 15th, my dad tripped and fell on top of his foot as he left his house for work that morning. He then proceeded to go to work for half a day and decided to leave because the pain was unbearable. When he got home, he gave me a call and asked if I could take him to the ER when my boyfriend got off work. That time would have been 9 pm, so I called my mom and asked if she could come watch the kiddos so I could take him to the hospital. We made it to the hospital, and they did all the tests and X-rays. Still, at this time, my dad was limping on his foot to get up and down. He was in a wheelchair otherwise, but to get to the bed or bathroom, he was using his foot. The doctor came in and told us he had broken his fibular bone and would need a splint and crutches and then to follow up with orthopedics. So they got his splint done and then they went to get crutches. As some may know, my dad is no little man. So the crutches he needed, they did not have, and he would need to talk to a caseworker to try and get some, but the caseworkers were gone for the night, and the ER doesn't release him without crutches, so he has to stay the night in the ER until morning.

May 16 - My dad called me and said the caseworkers can't find any crutches and basically said you have to figure it out, but you can't leave until you have some support because you cannot walk on your leg. I called every medical supply store all over Roanoke, and no one had these crutches. We could have ordered them, but the delivery time was days away, and we didn't want my dad to have to pay for them since he's on charity care due to insurance being too costly at his job. So they said to him, we have a walker that you can purchase if you would like, but it would be $100 that you will have to pay. At that point, I decided it's time for me to take this into my own hands and try to figure this out for my dad. Since nowhere had these crutches and the hospital was trying to make him purchase a walker that wouldn't even do the same for my dad, I called the orthopedic office and explained his story. They offered to see him that day around 2, and they had a walker that would work for him, so I took that appointment and went up to the ER ready to fight for my dad. I told them they need to discharge him so we can go to the other doctor's office since they are willing to help. They acted like they had done an act of God getting him that $100 walker and were very rude about how they dealt with this discharge. But nevertheless, they let us leave to make it to his appointment. We go to the orthopedic office, and they completely changed everything. My dad needs surgery. This break is not a break that can heal on its own, and then they also told my dad that since he is a diabetic and he has neuropathy, he is more likely to use his leg, and he CAN NOT use it at all because he can't feel it and can make it worse by putting any pressure on it, so he will need to be admitted and stay at the hospital until surgery, and it's very likely he will need to be in a rehab facility for 6 weeks after to let his leg heal like it needs to. They also said that the ER should have admitted him immediately with his medical issues. So at this point, we were both in shock. The next two to two and a half months have changed… We then head back to the ER because we have to go through the ER again to be admitted. Protocol requirements. So another long wait in the ER to be admitted on the orthopedic floor as we wait for an unscheduled surgery to happen. It's just up in the air if and when they can get him in over the weekend.

May 17 - Because of surgery, they told my dad no food after midnight the day prior with the possibility of his surgery happening on the 17th. We get till about lunchtime, and they tell us he won't be getting his surgery that day. So he eats dinner and then again no food after midnight in hopes the surgery happens on the 18th.

May 18 - We are waiting to see if he'll make the cut that day for surgery. Roughly after 5 pm, they tell him they can't fit him in, we will do it tomorrow. When we asked them from the start if they could just schedule it for Monday.

May 19 - They did his surgery, finally. He's doing well. Everything went good. He's now got a few pieces of metal in his leg, and he's on his road to recovery.

So with all that being said, we are now worried about his finances. He will be out of work for at least 6 weeks, and unfortunately, bills don't stop. If you can help, we will appreciate it so much. I just don't want my dad to have to worry or struggle while he's trying to get better.

Thank you all in advance.