Hi friends,

(vulnerable share ahead)

I don't talk about this much, but for my whole life I've lived with chronic pain.

When I was a child, my knees hurt, as a teen, my feet hurt, and as an adult, my back has been hurting for 10 years. I've been in and out of physical therapy for most of my adult life. My physical therapist speculates that my chronic pain is caused by my nervous system being dysregulated.

In 2023, I went to the emergency room because my neck pain was shooting down into other parts of my body and my doctor was concerned I was having a mini stroke. They found it was multiple pinched nerves in my spine.

For my back, I'm getting physical therapy, an mri, xray, and spinal corticosteroid injections.

In 2023, I had a vestibulectomy surgery for pelvic pain. For my recovery, I was on bed rest for two months and underwent months of internal pelvic floor physical therapy. It has improved the pain significantly but not completely.

Before I got the vestibulectomy surgery, UCSF told me it would be covered by my insurance, but I ended up being charged thousands for it and I'm still paying it off.

I recently flew to see a specialist surgeon in San Diego who recommends I get a second surgery, pelvic floor botox, and more physical therapy.

All of my medical bills have added up and caused me financial stress.

My birthday is coming up on October 10th! What I'm asking for my birthday this year is donations to help pay for my medical bills.

If you would like, I would love your support, whether it be a donation, words of affirmation, asking me how my back is feeling, or offering to drive (because driving is my biggest pain trigger!).

Thank you so much for reading this. I'm deeply grateful for your care and support. <3

Love,

Jas

(the pic on here is me blissed out high on whatever drug they gave me right before the anesthesia hit haha)