Years of Pain... One Shot at Relief (with your help)

Hey y'all,

I'm Willow. How you doin'? Hope everything is going well with you. Me? I'm here and never thought I would be. Hard times and all that. See, I’ve been dealing with chronic pain for decades. I woke up sick one morning in the early aughts and never got better. Instead, the ailments started stacking up. I've been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, Hashimoto's, arthritis, asthma, COPD, and a few other things that make everyday life blah.

I’m not currently working, but I'm not on disability. They denied it last time because it's been too long since I worked full-time. But the truth is, holding down a job is simply beyond me. Most days, I deal with fatigue, pain, brain fog, and that's simply not conducive to working. I just wanted to put that out there.

Here's the thing, I'm in pain every day. Sometimes it's manageable, but other times it's debilitating. I also struggle with anxiety, PTSD, and bipolar (but this won't help with bipolar). Everything I have is moderate... but stack them up, and they're just nothing but brain fog, fatigue, and frustration.

Anyway, my doctor recommended something called a Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB). He's sure it'll help. This is a type of nerve block injection that’s shown promise in treating chronic pain, as well as mental health issues like PTSD and anxiety.

If it works for me, it would be absolutely life changing. I might even get a part-time job or something. Who knows? The sky is the limit.

As it stands, most days I'm all: I cannot brain, I haz the dumbz. Thinking is optional, and if I get froggy and try to do something wild, like wash the dishes or vacuum... well, that's gonna take up all my energy. But it's gotta be done, right? Going out grocery shopping or hanging with friends can take me days to recover.

This is not how normal people function. I know, I used to be normal-ish. ^_^

So, why am I here asking for help? Well, our insurance doesn't cover injections. Like, any injection. Which would explain why they didn't cover the shingles shot my doctor recommended -- I didn't get them. Too expensive. >_< And the cost for this treatment is significant. The shots average roughly $500 dollars each, including doctor visits, and I might need up to four before it works. That's roughly $2K that I don't have in my back pocket right now.

And the last year has been extremely stressful for us. See the pets in the picture? They were all alive just over a year ago. Now only Brandy (the bigger pup sitting on the floor) is with us. Brandy is 15 and feeling her age. So yeah... it's been a year.

Right now, my husband Doug is between jobs (since November, it's a tough market right now). This totally does not help with... anything. It's stressful for everyone. But he's doing everything he can to keep us afloat. We've already maxed the credit card and are dipping into our savings. We probably have a couple of months before we really need to worry about paying the bills.

My mother-in-law has been an angel in this dark time, but we can't lean on her forever, y'all.

I hate just sitting here, stuck in my own body, unable to think clearly or contribute. My biggest hope is that this treatment helps me feel well enough to not be completely disabled anymore. And having less pain and anxiety will let me work part-time, get out in the world, and feel like myself again.

If you can donate, share, or even just send good thoughts our way, it would mean the world to us. Every dollar raised will go directly toward:

The SGB treatments

Related doctor visits

Any additional medical expenses if more injections are needed

If we raise more than we need, the extra will help us cover essential bills while we get back on our feet.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Willow