Mom's Emergency Medical Fund
Donation protected
My mother and her developmentally disabled sister live with me in an apartment, here in Arizona. Since we moved here 2 years ago, she has had issues with minor abscesses, but they went away on their own.
This one didn't.
It was on her lower back, to the left of her spine. She got a fever of 102.5F (lasting 5 days, only dipping down to about 101F with tylenol), and could only lay down, and try to drink fluids. She couldn't eat at all, and it nausiated her just to smell food. She was hoping it would go away on its own, as usual, with the applciation of tripple antibiotic cream, so we put off going into the ER, as she has no insurance, and makes only about $140 over what is needed to qualify for ACCHS.
After 5 days of this, and after consulting some friends of ours with ties to the medical field, we made our trip into the ER. They took one look at it, and admitted her immediately, concerned about the symptoms, and the proximity to the spine.
After taking our last $350 as a deposit, they lightly numbed the area around the abscess, and started lancing it with a knife. The ER Doctor estimated that it would be about the size of a golf ball, but after 30 minutes of lancing and draining it (via squeezing), all while my poor mom was shrieking in pain from this, he estimated it was actually closer to the size of an orange or tennis ball.
They checked her white blood cell count, and as it was elevated, they admitted her overnight as well, telling us that if we had waiting even another day or 2, that it would have become extremely severe, and implied that it may have even been too late.
Upon checking the lanced abscess the next day, they found it had started to refill with puss, despite all the anitbiotics being pumped in. At which point, the scheduled surgery.
Now, it is cleaned out, and everyone is much more comfortable, however, the wound care department has advised that it needs daily changing, and 10 days of expensive antibiotics that don't come in a generic form.
They also would normally send us home with a wound vac (currently attached while at the hospital), and schedule home wound care nurses to come change the bandages, however, without insurance, they can't get approval for either of those from the Hospital.
After 2 years of struggle in Arizona (forced to move here after my mom lost her dream house of 19 years in California) we thought we were starting to get ahead, and get on our feet, when I lost my job at the beginning of October. I found a new job, and started a few days ago, but it pays much less than what I made before, and we were already struggling before this medical crisis. The $350 that they took as a deposit was all budgeted for food and gas, and we literally had no extra money.
We are desparate and don't know where to turn. We had to discuss whetehr we even wanted to do this, as we don't feel comfortable asking for donations.
We don't even have money for food this week, let alone antibiotics. We would appreciate any amount you can contribute.
This one didn't.
It was on her lower back, to the left of her spine. She got a fever of 102.5F (lasting 5 days, only dipping down to about 101F with tylenol), and could only lay down, and try to drink fluids. She couldn't eat at all, and it nausiated her just to smell food. She was hoping it would go away on its own, as usual, with the applciation of tripple antibiotic cream, so we put off going into the ER, as she has no insurance, and makes only about $140 over what is needed to qualify for ACCHS.
After 5 days of this, and after consulting some friends of ours with ties to the medical field, we made our trip into the ER. They took one look at it, and admitted her immediately, concerned about the symptoms, and the proximity to the spine.
After taking our last $350 as a deposit, they lightly numbed the area around the abscess, and started lancing it with a knife. The ER Doctor estimated that it would be about the size of a golf ball, but after 30 minutes of lancing and draining it (via squeezing), all while my poor mom was shrieking in pain from this, he estimated it was actually closer to the size of an orange or tennis ball.
They checked her white blood cell count, and as it was elevated, they admitted her overnight as well, telling us that if we had waiting even another day or 2, that it would have become extremely severe, and implied that it may have even been too late.
Upon checking the lanced abscess the next day, they found it had started to refill with puss, despite all the anitbiotics being pumped in. At which point, the scheduled surgery.
Now, it is cleaned out, and everyone is much more comfortable, however, the wound care department has advised that it needs daily changing, and 10 days of expensive antibiotics that don't come in a generic form.
They also would normally send us home with a wound vac (currently attached while at the hospital), and schedule home wound care nurses to come change the bandages, however, without insurance, they can't get approval for either of those from the Hospital.
After 2 years of struggle in Arizona (forced to move here after my mom lost her dream house of 19 years in California) we thought we were starting to get ahead, and get on our feet, when I lost my job at the beginning of October. I found a new job, and started a few days ago, but it pays much less than what I made before, and we were already struggling before this medical crisis. The $350 that they took as a deposit was all budgeted for food and gas, and we literally had no extra money.
We are desparate and don't know where to turn. We had to discuss whetehr we even wanted to do this, as we don't feel comfortable asking for donations.
We don't even have money for food this week, let alone antibiotics. We would appreciate any amount you can contribute.
Organizer
Austin Paul
Organizer
Gilbert, AZ
