Five years ago, in January of 2019, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease and several accompanying co-infections. The following October (of 2020), I resigned from my full-time medical assistant job of almost 2 years, as the pain and various other daily medical symptoms I was experiencing had become too great to continue working.

In September of 2021, I was denied social security disability benefits for the first time. My case has been denied twice now, and the hearing itself has been rescheduled 3 separate times. I had a hearing last month - September of 2024 - at which I provided, with no exaggeration, over 2000 pages of medical documentation to which the judge said did not support or say in clear writing why I was unable to work/be employed.

In May of 2022, I was prescribed a medically necessary wheelchair and permanent handicap placard for my car. In the past four years, I have been under the care of 14-16 different doctors and specialists and have consistently had 2-5 doctor's appointments every week. I’ve been diagnosed with over 17 individual physical anomalies, including a herniated L5S1 compressing the S1 nerve root, a herniated C5C6 compressing the C6 nerve root, with degenerative disc disease and stenosis at both herniated disc locations. In addition to those, I simultaneously had a labral tear in my right hip and mild dysplasia of the right hip - which combined created a partially dislocated hip that I was walking on, undiagnosed, for at least 2 years before I had confirmative diagnostic imaging done.

Because of my age, the spine specialists I have been seen by will not perform corrective surgery, and they have offered no alternative option beyond physical therapy (which I go to twice a week and have been since February of 2022). Unfortunately, pain relief medication cannot be prescribed either due to its inefficient ability to provide relief. I found that out in June of 2022 when I went to the emergency room after having been in pain so badly for three days that I could hardly speak/breathe. The pain did not gradually increase in those three days; it started bad and did not subside or improve after three days had passed. As per emergency room protocol, I was given I.V. pain medication, which did not touch my pain at all. The doctors discovered the reason traditional pain medication did not work was because it was acute nerve pain. I was given an I.V.-only antipsychotic medication in an attempt to “break the pain cycle.” I returned to the emergency room to repeat this situation two more times in 2022.

To add to these, I have also been diagnosed with a migraine condition requiring nerve blocks on a biweekly/monthly basis. The migraines bring with them severe light and sound sensitivity and extreme nausea. When I was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2019, I was also diagnosed with Celiac disease and over 20 different food allergies/intolerances. Due to these conditions and others not mentioned here, our cost of living has skyrocketed due to medical and highly restrictive/specialized dietary needs. While the military covers the medical expenses via medical insurance coverage, they do not cover specific/individual dietary requirements nor (to the best of my knowledge) mobility/quality of life aids such as my two canes, a shower chair, ice packs/heating pads, stability/supportive braces, etc.

Having been out of work for four years and living on an individual, enlisted active duty paycheck, things have become extremely difficult to keep up with financially. The severity of which is exacerbated by the fact that we are currently living in Southern California and have been since December of 2017 and will remain here another two years at least. Thankfully, we were able to move into base housing last February, and we also sold our Jeep in April of 2022 (one year after purchasing it) for a Honda Fit, all in an attempt to cut costs and expenses any/everywhere we could. We have exhausted all expense-reducing ideas, our combined savings, credit/loan options, and all other avenues before deciding to try setting this up. I feel we have done our best to keep our heads afloat for as long as possible, but we have reached the end of that rope. Any help is greatly appreciated. If you’re unable to help, please share the link throughout social media. I appreciate you taking the time to read this and hear out our situation. Much love. Thank you.