My name is Christine and I live in Long Beach, CA.  On February 21, 2018, I was rushed to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center fighting for my life after contracting flesh eating bacteria.

While being transferred to the gurney chair from the floor where I had collapsed for the second time that day, the paramedics lost their grip on me and I crashed to the floor, shattering my right ankle, and fracturing a bone in my knee and chipping the bone in my right wrist.

After 2 surgeries in less than 48 hours, the doctor told my husband the infection had spread a lot deeper than they thought, and they were going to switch me to antibiotics as they didn't think surgery would help. When my husband asked them what if the antibiotics didn't work, he was told they didn't know, and they were not sure if they would be able to save me. Fortunately, the antibiotics took, and 2 more surgeries to cut away the majority of my right abdomen and repair my ankle were performed over the next 4 days. Surgery to include skin grafts with skin removed from my left thigh and a modified tummy tuck to cover the wound site up gave way to daily dressing changes which were preceded by 4 units of morphine every 4 hours.  I have no clear recollection from the morning of the 21st through about the 3rd week of March, but I can honestly say I counted down the minutes each and every time waiting for that morphine to be pushed through my IV line.

I spent 2 months in the hospital then was moved to a skilled nursing facility for an additional 2.5 months.  Not only did I have to continue to endure the daily dressing changes, but also had to learn to walk again. While the pain was manageable,  I suffered from dizziness from not sitting up for so long, which made it all so much harder to push through.  Each little victory was cause for celebration; standing for 10 seconds, then 50 seconds, then 2 minutes and then longer each day during physical therapy, then walking 5 feet, then 10 feet, then 20 feet until the doctor was finally satisfied with my progress, and I was discharged on June 25th after practicing with my husband in front of the facility to ensure I could get out of the wheel chair and into the car without issues.

I continued to rehabilitate after returning home with an RN coming daily to change my dressings, and physical and occupational therapy to help me learn how to do every day things around the house. Things slowly got easier, and I was able to take some of the load off of Endaf.  I went from wheel chair to walker to cane to finally being able to walk without any additional equipment except for the large black boot protecting my right ankle.

In November, the orthopaedic surgeon indicated he would be ready to take the rods and screws out of my leg and ankle in a month or so, and we settled on a date of January 9th for the surgery, with a 4-6 week recovery. period.

I had my pre-op  checks, and my blood sugars came back a little higher than normal;  my primary care said that was to be expected with everything I had been through in the last year, but the surgeon was not comfortable with performing the surgery with the higher risk of infection, so it was postponed.

Meanwhile, my medical bills continued to trickle in; thankfully, the insurance through my husband's job picked up a huge portion of the almost $450,000 hospital bill, but the skilled nursing facility ended up with a $100 per day co-pay which left us with $7000 owed to the facility, along with and additional $2000 or so for things like ambulance rides to and from doctor's appointments while in the facility, co-pays for the wheel chair and walker, and other various expenses we did not expect.

I went back for another blood draw near the end of January 2019, and while it was still higher than normal, it was lower than before, so I contacted the surgeon's office to see about rescheduling. You see, California only pays 52 weeks disability, and the end was coming up quickly, but after 3 weeks of calls and emails, the surgeon's office didn't respond, and unfortunately, February 21, 2019 marked 52 weeks for me. I am required to wear the Fred Munster protective boot to avoid the possibility of the hardware breaking inside my bones, and since it's my right foot, I am unable to drive until I can get the hardware out. The caveat to this is, according to the state, I will need to work around 18 months in order to "refill my account" before I would be able to file another disability claim through the state.

I had completed my visits to the wound care clinic a couple of weeks ago as the doctor deemed my wounds completely closed, with new skin grown over the areas which had been laid bare.  Unfortunately, the would reopened last week, so I'm back seeing the surgeon weekly as they try to figure out why the wound won't stay closed.

I have 2 options; file for federal disability benefits and wait out the months for them to kick in (after the normal MO of denial), or I could file for unemployment and look for a job. The fun part about all this is, I can't wait for the federal benefits to kick in, so I would have to get a job, and if I can get a job, I'm not eligible for the benefits.

I have decided to go with the federal option, but here's where I need the assistance; since we don't know how long it will take for the benefits to kick in, I need help trying to pay the regular monthly bills, which, after subtracting my husband's salary, leaves us with a deficit of about $3000 per month.  I know that sounds like a lot, and it's frustrating since I don't know how long I might have to wait for benefits to kick in, so I appreciate any and all amounts to assist me with getting through what I hope is the last major hurdle in my long journey to health.

Once my benefits kick in, I'll be able to reschedule the surgery to remove the hardware, recover, receive physical therapy, and will finally be able to move on and close this chapter of my life.  

Thank you all in advance for reading my story, and for all your thoughts and prayers.