Help me get surgery!

-FOR YOU BROS THAT CLICKED ON THIS-

Hey bros, first of all, big, big, thank you to even checking out this page and for enjoying my art, means a lot to me. I don't expect much support out of this but if you'll be supporting, you deserve to know what's going on.

-WHAT'S GOING ON?-

I recently posted about it on my patreon, but I've been going through something called a Hiatal Hernia for a little over 2 years now, and boy, does it suck beans.

To explain, a Hiatal Hernia is something where your stomach bulges through your diaphragm, into your chest cavity. (see picture)

The severity, and symptoms of this are widely varying, but for me they've become quite devastating and worse over time. It has absolutely wrecked me mentally, as well as leaving me completely physically drained and underweight. I have trouble sleeping, and have little to no energy at all day to day. Eating or sleeping is never enjoyable, and the heat of the summer that has just arrived making this all the more worse. Day to day, I generally am never comfortable.

Here's a few of the symptoms I experience every day.

• Shortness of breath, heart palpitations and arrhythmia
• Pain and discomfort in chest and stomach
• Severe lack of energy, difficulty sleeping
• Lightheadedness, rapid blood pressure changes
• Regurgitation after eating
• Difficulty Swallowing
• Getting full after a few bites of food

On occasion, I will experience Atrial Fibrillation as well, which is quite scary. I do not know if my stomach may be pressing on my heart and lungs or if it is purely a nerve being triggered.

If the hernia gets too large, it can be life threatening.

-THE SURGERY-

To put it simply, they will pull the stomach back down through the diaphragm into the abdominal cavity, where it belongs. Then they will do a couple of things to make sure it does not go back up again.

-FINANCIAL SITUATION/COST OF SURGERY-

Art is my only job, I would understand if you see me negatively because of this, but because of this affliction, I do not have the energy to be able to work a job outside of art. As you can see on my patreon, I make roughly 2k per month give or take, however, I have to pay for my, and my girlfriend's rent. As well as help my mom out with groceries, and pay her dental, internet, and phone, as well as my own. A big problem I have ran into recently, is that patreon had an issue on my last payout on July 1st, ($2,359) and 18 days later, I have yet to see that money, and am currently trying to get it back.

I do not have insurance but I am currently applying for it through government assistance. I called up the surgeon and got a quote for the surgery without insurance, which was $19,000 dollars. With insurance, this cost should go down to roughly 3,800 from what I can tell. I am getting insurance through a program called Medi-Cal, and they are helping assist with making the monthly premiums cheaper, but that's if I get approved.

Secondarily, the surgery itself has to be approved by the insurance company, which is still up in the air.

-THANK YOU-

If you have read to this point, thank you. If you know someone that likes my art, consider letting them know about this page, it would be a huge help. If all goes well, I can maybe live my life a little more comfortably, and continue making art for you.

So yeah, one last thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank you guys.