Help Phil Recover from Hospital and Medical bills

Hello, my name is Phil. As I began writing this, it occurs to me that this almost sounds like a m. movie script. I am a businessman and have been involved in real estate and custom home building for several years. I am still somewhat frazzled by what has happened to me this year.

In the middle of January, I began to experience some lower back pain. Within two days, it turned into severe pain. I decided to get to the hospital while I could still drive. That began a three-month hospital stay that I am just getting over now. It began with a week in ICU. I had been diagnosed with septic abscesses in my spine with numerous blood clots. My entire body was on fire with pain.

The doctors decided to transfer me to a neurological surgical hospital for spine surgery. When I was prepped for the transfer, I had apparently been given an accidental overdose of pain meds by two different nurses. The result was, I wound up flat lining in the ambulance. Fortunately, one of the EMT’s recognized the overdose symptoms and gave me Narcan to get me going again.

After about 10 days at the neurological hospital, it was decided that I should be treated with antibiotics rather than surgery and I was transferred back to the original hospital.

Shortly after the transfer, I started having breathing problems. There is nothing scarier than not being able to get any air when you breathe in. They found that my heart and lungs were surrounded with fluid. I had developed pneumonia, and my heart had started atrial fibrillation. My legs and arms had swollen to almost double in size.

I have now finished 12 weeks in the hospital and rehab was discharged. I finished the home rehab and am at home, I am still on oxygen. I have not been employed for seven months and will not be employable for another 3 to 4 months as I am recovering the use of my legs and from the continuing pain, to not use a cane to get around and to get my balance back. My doctors have all cautioned me that it may take 6 to 12 months to recover based on how sick I was. I have used up all of my money reserves and am facing large co-pays for my prescriptions as well as living expenses.

I am using the time to search for employment. It galls me to the core to be asking for money. I have always been a self-sufficient person, but my back is up against the wall with time being my biggest obstacle. Fortunately, I do have my old job waiting for me and I have been going in for a couple of hours per day. My legs still don’t work well enough to be able to be functionable for very long but they are improving every day.

Update: I can move around slowly and do short little walks, although with pain. The issue is getting winded with exercise. I must keep it up to help it improve. I posted two additional photos. The main one is the way I spent my first 7 weeks in the hospital, on my back. I had too much pain to move.

The Rehab people worked to help me get my legs over the bed and trying to stand. The second photo is the first time I was able to stand up and take a few steps, hence the smile.

I got my first out of the hospital shock a couple of weeks ago. My GP doctor had renewed my prescription for Eliquis, a heart med that I must have. The copay was $800 for a month’s supply which I couldn’t pay. I am sure I will be getting hit with several more. So, my pucker factor is increasing daily. My cardiologist practice is working to get the large copay reduced or paid for. When I went through my mail I have almost $2,300 total in additional deductibles to pay so far for meds with more coming from doctor office visits to different doctors. That will continue to grow with more appointments over the next couple of months. I have several meds that need to be refilled, and they all have co-pays as well. The most serious one is Eliquis. I must take it twice a day for my heart issue.

Your donation will help me tremendously to get some of the pressure off me so I can become productive again. I sincerely appreciate your help to get me over this financial hump so I can get back to work. Last year I started spending time on a horse rescue ranch and really enjoyed being around them. Hopefully I can begin helping there again before the year is out.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Anything you can do will be greatly appreciated and will definitely help.