Help Megan Fix Her Body
Donation protected
Edit 11/5/18:
oral surgery progresses apace, slowly. However found out that I need to have all four impacted wisdom teeth removed instead of just the one, adding $1,500 to my needs. Help still very appreciated.
Friends: a call to arms!
If you've been following me on Facebook, you probably know that Summer 2018 hasn't exactly gone as planned in Megan-land. The extremely short version of the story is:
I had a huge dental infection at the beginning of 4th of July week during which time my dentist was closed and I had a nearly impossible time getting care. My insurance is terrible, fourth of July week was TERRIBLE - 3 dentists, an oral surgeon, 2 emergency rooms, 1 ambulance ride and an endodontist later I managed to get an appropriate antibiotic and painkiller prescription. The infection is gone, but I have yet to have the dental work because a.) it is very very expensive (I need a wisdom tooth extraction, a molar extraction, a root canal, and a crown - and those are only the major things) and b.) after that first couple weeks of dealing with the infection my body kind of... gave up? I think at least part of it was trauma response because the pain of this infection was the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life and I had an oral surgeon throw me bodily out of their office and threaten to call the cops on me while I was howling in pain, begging for help, and begging them to call an ambulance... but in addition to anxiety and intense depression, I also started experiencing a lot of physical symptoms including stabbing, random widespread body pain, difficulty staying asleep, severe night sweats, difficulty focusing, eye pain and headaches, difficulty with light and sound, dizziness/vertigo, as well as a few others. I'd been dealing with all of these things for years but I had never noticed them happen all at once in a giant rush before - the word 'flare' sprang to mind, so I connected some dots and did some googling, and it looked like there may be an underlying issue, and the stress of the dental event caused a flare of it. Fast forward, I 'm currently working with a doctor who beginning to evaluate me for autoimmune disease- in particular I had a very high positive in a blood test that can be indicative of Lupus. It took a long time to get this far, and there is still farther to go, since this kind of diagnostic process is basically a long process of ruling stuff out.
In the midst of all of this, I have been on leave from work because of.. you know, not being well enough to work, and the leave ended up not being approved since the out-sourced company that deals with medical leave for my now former employer needed a firm diagnosis, which my doctor did not yet have for specifically what was going on yet, so she cited my PTSD, which is an old diagnosis. Autoimmune diseases can take a REALLY long time to diagnose. It also took me a long time to connect the dots re: why I might be feeling so poorly and my insurance is super limited, so accessing care was a very big barrier for awhile there. I received a little less than $300 sick pay - about a week's worth of my salary before commission which was the bulk of my pay for this job. Beyond that, I have been surviving on the generosity of loved ones for about 2 months. Now I've lost my job and my source of income is officially gone.
This is where you come in!
I need help. I need help fixing my teeth, I need help paying rent until I get a new job, I need help FINDING a new job, I need help eating for the next month or so, and most especially I need help not letting myself slip into the extreme stress caused by survival mode - because my health will disintegrate and it will create the familiar trap of not being well enough to work for the resources I need to care for myself in order to be well enough to work. I need to stay focused on handling my health and getting on my feet again. Once I get set up with a new insurance I'll need help paying co-pays to see various doctors to continue this diagnostic process, get my mental health under control, and also get some chiropractic care I've needed desperately since the spring but haven't been able to afford (rotated vertebrae and rib subluxation). I need an MRI and possibly physical therapy for the knee I blew out a full month ago, which may or may not be covered by whatever insurance I manage to get and will at least cost copays.
I'm just.. I'm really overwhelmed, all, and my bank account is pretty much empty.
The quote for my dental work after the discount granted by the in house insurance at my dentist is a little over $3,000 dollars. I don't have rent or bills together for September yet. I lost my income. My hospital bills can probably be adjusted since I lost my job but before that they come to a little over $4,000 and I don't know what's going to happen.
If you are able to help or to share with someone who can, I would be so grateful.
<3
Megan
oral surgery progresses apace, slowly. However found out that I need to have all four impacted wisdom teeth removed instead of just the one, adding $1,500 to my needs. Help still very appreciated.
Friends: a call to arms!
If you've been following me on Facebook, you probably know that Summer 2018 hasn't exactly gone as planned in Megan-land. The extremely short version of the story is:
I had a huge dental infection at the beginning of 4th of July week during which time my dentist was closed and I had a nearly impossible time getting care. My insurance is terrible, fourth of July week was TERRIBLE - 3 dentists, an oral surgeon, 2 emergency rooms, 1 ambulance ride and an endodontist later I managed to get an appropriate antibiotic and painkiller prescription. The infection is gone, but I have yet to have the dental work because a.) it is very very expensive (I need a wisdom tooth extraction, a molar extraction, a root canal, and a crown - and those are only the major things) and b.) after that first couple weeks of dealing with the infection my body kind of... gave up? I think at least part of it was trauma response because the pain of this infection was the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life and I had an oral surgeon throw me bodily out of their office and threaten to call the cops on me while I was howling in pain, begging for help, and begging them to call an ambulance... but in addition to anxiety and intense depression, I also started experiencing a lot of physical symptoms including stabbing, random widespread body pain, difficulty staying asleep, severe night sweats, difficulty focusing, eye pain and headaches, difficulty with light and sound, dizziness/vertigo, as well as a few others. I'd been dealing with all of these things for years but I had never noticed them happen all at once in a giant rush before - the word 'flare' sprang to mind, so I connected some dots and did some googling, and it looked like there may be an underlying issue, and the stress of the dental event caused a flare of it. Fast forward, I 'm currently working with a doctor who beginning to evaluate me for autoimmune disease- in particular I had a very high positive in a blood test that can be indicative of Lupus. It took a long time to get this far, and there is still farther to go, since this kind of diagnostic process is basically a long process of ruling stuff out.
In the midst of all of this, I have been on leave from work because of.. you know, not being well enough to work, and the leave ended up not being approved since the out-sourced company that deals with medical leave for my now former employer needed a firm diagnosis, which my doctor did not yet have for specifically what was going on yet, so she cited my PTSD, which is an old diagnosis. Autoimmune diseases can take a REALLY long time to diagnose. It also took me a long time to connect the dots re: why I might be feeling so poorly and my insurance is super limited, so accessing care was a very big barrier for awhile there. I received a little less than $300 sick pay - about a week's worth of my salary before commission which was the bulk of my pay for this job. Beyond that, I have been surviving on the generosity of loved ones for about 2 months. Now I've lost my job and my source of income is officially gone.
This is where you come in!
I need help. I need help fixing my teeth, I need help paying rent until I get a new job, I need help FINDING a new job, I need help eating for the next month or so, and most especially I need help not letting myself slip into the extreme stress caused by survival mode - because my health will disintegrate and it will create the familiar trap of not being well enough to work for the resources I need to care for myself in order to be well enough to work. I need to stay focused on handling my health and getting on my feet again. Once I get set up with a new insurance I'll need help paying co-pays to see various doctors to continue this diagnostic process, get my mental health under control, and also get some chiropractic care I've needed desperately since the spring but haven't been able to afford (rotated vertebrae and rib subluxation). I need an MRI and possibly physical therapy for the knee I blew out a full month ago, which may or may not be covered by whatever insurance I manage to get and will at least cost copays.
I'm just.. I'm really overwhelmed, all, and my bank account is pretty much empty.
The quote for my dental work after the discount granted by the in house insurance at my dentist is a little over $3,000 dollars. I don't have rent or bills together for September yet. I lost my income. My hospital bills can probably be adjusted since I lost my job but before that they come to a little over $4,000 and I don't know what's going to happen.
If you are able to help or to share with someone who can, I would be so grateful.
<3
Megan
Organizer
Megan Elizabeth
Organizer
New York, NY
