-Update 2: Recovering well!-

Hello everyone! I've just completed Mary Free Bed's Pain Program with spectacular results. It was three months of PT and OT. Most of my injuries are in an amazing place (still in OT for my hands but an enormous amount of progress has been made). Also, my mental health is in the best place it's been... maybe ever, and I have all of you, and the amazing medical team at MFB, to thank for it.

I'm looking for a job at the moment that doesn't involve too much repetitive fine motor tasks (like data entry) or significant heavy lifting. If you know of anything, please let me know.

Again, thank you.

-Update: Help is still needed-

The money donated has been tremendously helpful. Thank you for your kindness and support. I am doing my best to honor the donations by working as hard as I can to recover. The money has mostly gone to pay for groceries and rent while I heal, but it has also helped me afford some medical treatments and therapy that were not covered by insurance.

I wouldn’t have survived to this point without your help.

Here’s a quick update on the current situation:

First, the injuries to my hands are still significant. I’ve completed two more rounds of physical therapy with little progress. I’m still working with a specialist, but at the moment I’m still too injured to work.

Last year I was severely mauled by a rottweiler. I survived with serious injuries to my leg and (again) both hands. I’m still recovering from the physical injuries but, more significantly, my PTSD diagnosis has gotten a lot worse. Our roommate (whose dog it was) then moved out without telling us, stranding us in a much worse financial situation.

The retraumatization, on top of everything we were already dealing with, spiraled into the worst mental health crisis of my life. Since the mauling I’ve had to seek inpatient mental health services five times, and multiple outpatient programs. I’m unsure how to articulate how dark things got after the mauling, or how frustrating the backslide has been. To the friends that were - and continue to be - there for me, you saved my life.

I’m doing my best to get better. I’m currently seeing a PTSD specialist three times a week and a psychiatrist every other week, and I’m making progress. There’s also talk of other therapies I can try to heal my hands.

Our financial situation is desperate. The application process for disability has been a nightmare, and at the moment we cannot pay for essentials like rent, utilities, groceries, and car insurance on our own. Allie has been covering a lot, but we really need help right now.

I'm looking for a job that won't make things worse, but also very worried that even if I find something, it'll just mean I loose my current insurance and ability to continue getting the therapy that's actually working right now. We need help buying the time required to make this incremental improvement amount to something stable.

The money donated has gotten me to this point, but I still need help if you're able.

With love and gratitude,

Neil

-Origional Post -

For the last few years my job was typing medical scripts for pharmacies during the pandemic. As you can imagine the volume of scripts (particularly vaccines) was enormous, and in the fall of 2021 I was diagnosed with significant repetitive stress injuries in both hands.

Under medical advice I took two months off of work to rest and begin occupational therapy, with no improvement. At that point I was making so little on medical disability (through work) that I couldn’t afford to pay rent.

Since then I have tried other jobs that are less intense on my hands, every manner of brace and sling, hot and cold therapy, speech to text programs, medications, yoga, meditation, stretching, diets, etc. The injuries in my hands continue to cramp and flare up with even the smallest movements; typing a single sentence, gripping a steering wheel or going to the bathroom causes a massive jolt of pain. This has been ongoing for almost a year and already cost me two jobs.

I’ve seen a hand specialist, hand surgeon and neurologist. They’re telling me that if I want to heal, it will likely take a year of rest to get the full function of my hands back, and if another round of occupational therapy fails, I’ll require surgery.

This is in the wake of being diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia, an incredibly painful nerve disorder affecting the face. The combined stress of these two conditions has really taken a toll on my life.

I’ve tried everything else I can think of but my doctors are very clear: to get my life back is going to require me to be out of work for a long time. The money raised here will go to paying for living expenses and medical treatment while I recover.

I also struggle with a difficult mental health diagnosis from an abusive childhood. The loss of function in my hands has been destabilizing not only to my career, but to my life in general. The most viable treatment is Dialectical Behavior Therapy, which also takes about a year to complete. If I’m able to take the time off to heal my hands, I plan to use some of the money to pay for mental health treatment and trauma counseling.

Any help is deeply appreciated.