I’m Kelly, an almost-40 year old Jersey transplant living in Arizona for the last 5+ years. I and my ride-or-die, a 9.5 year old Great Dane named Ella, have a great life here in our adopted home. I like to joke that if you’d told me even six years ago that not only would I be living in the desert, but that I would LOVE it, I would have laughed in your face! But it’s true. We live in a great city, in a wonderful community, and we love every minute of it.
I debated making this account because, as those of you who know me can attest, I am hyper independent and I hate asking for help. But I keep reminding myself that when other people ask for help, I don’t judge them, I feel empathy and, if it’s in my power to do so, I try to help. So it’s in that spirit that I’m coming here to ask for help myself.
I’ll go into detail later, but now, here are the highlights:
- In 2022, I got COVID for the first and only time. It turned into Long COVID, which caused several complications to both my physical and mental health. I went from walking/hiking 5 miles a day to barely being able to do a lap around my apartment building. Also, the heart palpitations and shortness of breath kept my body in constant fight-or-flight mode, triggering my preexisting PTSD and anxiety disorders, resulting in numerous, unprompted panic attacks every day, even while I was sleeping.
- In February 2023, on the advice of three of my medical providers, I went out on disability. AZ doesn’t have state disability benefits, so I had to file a claim through my private disability insurance, which only pays 2/3 of my salary.
- In April 2023, I met with a Long COVID specialist, with whom I continue to treat to this day. He prescribed a ton of medications and supplements, in addition to the numerous medications I had been prescribed before seeing him. For most of 2023 & 2024, my medications and dosages were changed every few weeks, just trying to find a combination that would actually help.
- Over the next several months of 2023, I was also diagnosed with hyperparathyroidism and sent for a surgical consult. The surgeon agreed that surgery was necessary, but she ordered more tests first, which took another 4-6 weeks. At the time, several of my doctors believed/hoped that a number of the “weird” symptoms I’d been experiencing were attributed to hyperparathyroidism, not Long COVID, and that those symptoms would be resolved with the surgery. If they were, it would mean a significant reduction in the number of daily meds I was taking.
- The parathyroid surgery in November 2023 was successful, but those other symptoms did not resolve, as they were from the Long COVID after all. The trial-and-error continued for my medications.
- Over the course of 2024, I continued seeing a number of specialists and undergoing a ton of treatments and tests. Later that year, we finally settled on a medication combination that seemed to be helping, though not completely.
- A few months later, I was diagnosed with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), which is not uncommon in Long COVID patients. Basically, POTS means that I don’t make enough blood and my blood pressure is too low. That means that I’m prone to weakness, shortness of breath, and fainting spells. The Long COVID doc put me on a high sodium diet and added and adjusted my medications, but we were still struggling to get that condition under control. I was passing out 3-5 times a week and couldn’t do any activities (like gardening, which I love) that involved bending or lifting.
- At this point, I started training my dog to do some service work for me. She was already well trained before all this, so she has taken to these new commands quite well. She already walked right beside me (heel), but now she has learned to slow down on command. She will also stop on a dime and stand still until I give her the release command. While she’s stopped, I can steady myself on her or even use her to lower myself to the ground if I can’t stay upright. We’ve also been doing some off-leash training where I can tell her to go home from anywhere in the neighborhood. (The second step to that behavior is going to be to get help by ringing my neighbor’s doorbell, but we’re not quite there yet, ha.) We’ve also trained so she can provide Deep Pressure Therapy by lying on my legs to help increase circulation when I need it.
- In January 2025, I was in a particularly bad car accident in which the other driver ran a red light and hit my passenger side at about 40 MPH, totaling my car and injuring me pretty severely. Thankfully, she stayed and took responsibility when the police arrived. But I’ve been dealing with the physical repercussions ever since. My total injury count to date is over 15, including: 2 sprained and 2 torn ligaments in my ankle; a knee injury that’s still being evaluated; at least 4-6 new slipped/herniated discs in my spine and several preexisting disc injuries that were made worse; damage to my pancreas, diaphragm, and rib cage; a possible torn rotator cuff (just got approval for the MRI later this week so we’ll know for sure).
- I can go into more detail below, but the damage to my pancreas made several preexisting conditions a lot worse, including POTS. Because of the POTS complication, I had to start going to the hospital twice a week to receive IV fluids because I was simply unable to consume enough salt and water to offset the blood volume/pressure issues I was experiencing.
- For more than a year now, I’ve been averaging about seven medical appointments per week, which take up a huge chunk of my time.
- In May 2025, the insurance company handling my disability claim decided to close the claim, which I believe was a fraudulent decision. I appealed it twice, but the insurance company, not a neutral third party, is the one who decides whether or not to reopen my claim, so of course they’re going to uphold their own decision, despite being provided with literally thousands of pages of documentation. I did some a complaint with the CA Department of Insurance (they’re the ones with jurisdiction), but basically, they don’t have any authority to make insurance companies do anything. All they do is investigate whether the insurance company does anything wrong, but the results of the investigation are kept confidential, so they couldn’t even tell me that. So I’m looking into legal recourse, but as of right, I haven’t had any income since May 2025.
- As of a few months ago, I have drained my savings, investment accounts, and even retirement accounts. I’ve applied for social security disability, but they are severely backlogged.
- Since October, I’ve been reaching out to any and every government and nonprofit organization for assistance, but they’ve all been saying the same thing: They have no funding available. I did, thankfully, receive assistance last month from a church in Jersey where I used to teach.
At this point, I’m very far behind on rent, utilities, and most of my bills. I need to pay my property management company about $6,000 by the end of this month (Saturday) in order to remain in my apartment. Otherwise, I will lose the home where I’ve lived for over five years, which is perfectly set up to meet my needs as I navigate these medical issues.
I’ve been looking into other housing options, but because I am not currently working or receiving a steady income, I can’t qualify for a lease anywhere else.
I made this account in the hopes that I can come up with enough money to keep my home and bring my rent and utility accounts current while I try to navigate returning to work in a vastly different capacity than when I left.
Again, I tried to be as succinct as possible just to get this posted, but I can provide more detail if anyone wants it.
Thank you all so much for taking the time to read all this. I appreciate you all.