Matt Moss and Family Medical and Bills

Updates at bottom:

I am Rebecca (Matt’s wife), I have started this GoFundMe because we are experiencing something that we had never expected to happen.

Monda, Matt came home around 12:30 for lunch and everything was fine. Took him back to work around 1:30 and as soon as he got out of the car he said he couldn’t see. I asked him “what do you mean you can’t see?”, he said everything was blurry.

he stayed at work and finished his shift, I picked him up a little bit after 4 o’clock and he said his eyes were still bothering him. We came home thought maybe it was allergy related even Pink eye we know it’s going around and it is airborne. He said he wanted to come home and take a shower and wash his face really good and see if that would help. Well, it didn’t help so we did a doctors on demand video call and the doctor on there said maybe it’s allergies, possibly pink eye, I will call in some antibiotic eyedrops and some allergy medicine. He told us that, if for some reason, Matt were to lose his vision completely that we needed to go straight to the ER. Not even 20 minutes after that video call ended he lost his vision, so I took him to the Texas health off of Golden triangle in Alliance. We walked in and I let the lady who is checking us in know that he just all of a sudden lost his vision. They immediately went with stroke protocol. He had a CAT scan that did confirm he was not in the process of having a stroke, nor did he have a stroke, they also ruled out eight tomorrow, and they did lab work to make sure that he was not diabetic. They did everything that they could in the emergency room, and the doctor just said there’s nothing more than I can do, I’m hurting him to match the best thing that I can say is to follow up with his up optometrist. So I called the optometrist the next morning and she said he needed to see an ophthalmologist, so I spent the day Tuesday calling around to different ophthalmologist to see who I can get him into the fastest. I finally get one who said we can get them in this afternoon but we need to know what’s going on so I start telling them everything. They tell me this is a retina issue and gave us the name and phone number of a retina specialist.

I take him Wednesday morning to the retina specialist, and they find a small speck of metal in his right eye embedded right at his people. The doctor gets it out, tells us that there is an infection, and that there is some damage to the cornea and that he needs to see a cornea specialist. So they made an appointment with a cornea specialist for this morning (Thursday) and we go to this appointment and the doctor is completely at a loss. Matt cannot see anything out of either one of his eyes at this point. He said it’s so unusual that he had a foreign object in one eye and that both of his eyes are affected. he has a really bad burning sensation and he’s having pain along with it. The doctor did tell us that his vision has deteriorated. So they did scrape his eye to send it off for a biopsy. He also said APD is present in both eyes which basically means his pupils are not reacting to light. He proceeds to ask if there’s any diseases that one in the family on his mom side or on his dad side. He said there’s obviously something going on and we need to try to get this figured out. There are no eye diseases that run on his mom side of the family, but we did find out that retinal eye disease runs on his dad side of the family in specific Retinistis Pigmentosis. So I immediately called the doctors office back to let them know this and then I did have to get some more information about it from the family member that I found out about it from. When we go back to the doctor in the morning we have a list of questions that we would like to have an answered. As of right now we have absolutely no answers as to what is going on with Matt vision or when it’s going to come back.

Matt and I are both private when it comes to financial issues. It’s not some thing that we like to air to everybody, but this is a situation, where we have absolutely no choice, but to ask for help. Matt is unable to work, and we do not know how long he is going to be out of work. I’m pretty much putting in his PTO for the days that he is missing but he’s almost out of PTO. Each co-pay for his doctor visit is $75 which we have had, a very close friend basically family member help us out with that. We know that the medical bills are going to start to add up. I have put Matt on a medical leave of absence with Walmart. He does have long term and short term disability, but we have to know how long he’s going to be out for that to kick in. He does have a 401(k) that we do plan on doing a hardship withdrawal for medical but that’s gonna take some time and right now we’re needing help that just can’t wait for paperwork to process through.

I know there’s a lot of people out there who are struggling financially and are not able to contribute and we completely and 100% understand. If the only thing that you could do is say a prayer and just keep us and the kids in your thoughts that is appreciated more than anything.

we also have Zelle if you’re not comfortable with GoFundMe.

UPDATE:

Matt does not have Retintis Pigmantosis, thank the Lord! The doctor put a contact lense with no prescription strength in his right eye to work as a band aide to see if it helps the hole that was left from the spec of metal that was imbedded close up. Still no definitive answers. We go back Monday afternoon for the results of the culture.

Update 10/9/23

Matt saw the cornea specialist this afternoon. The hole that was in his eye has closed up, but left a divet in his right eye. The infection in both eyes has cleared up but we are still doing antibiotic eye drops 4 times a day and lubricating eye drops. Culture came back clear of bacteria. He still does not have vision in right eye and is still experiencing eye pain in it, left eye he can see if something is right in front of him but it’s still very blurry, from a distance he can’t see out of left eye. Cornea specialist still doesn’t know why he has the vision loss in both eyes and wants him to come back on Wednesday. I am calling first thing in the morning to see if I can get him into a neurologist to rule out anything neurological

10/13/23

We still do not have answers as to what is causing Matt’s vision loss. This Monday will be 2 weeks since this started. He saw a cardiologist (Thursday 10/12/23 and we are waiting to be scheduled for an echocardiogram and to have his carotid artery checked for any blockages. He also has an appointment with the Retina Specialist again (Wednesday 10/19/23) to have due inserted to check and see if there’s any blockages in the arteries/veins around his eyes. They will also be checking to see if there’s a possible blood clot/plaque behind his cornea. He is back to having the burning and eye pain like it was when this started. Still doing antibiotic eye drops and lubricating eye drops.  His vision in his right eye is still 100% blurry and now the vision in his left eye is starting to go in and out. He’s having a hard time keeping his eyes open cause of the pain. 

Update 10/19/2023:

Matt saw the cornea specialist on Monday 10/16/2023 and the infection in his eyes is completely gone. I had made an appointment with the retina specialist because he was still having a lot of discomfort in his right eye complaining that he still felt like there was something in it. The specialist did eye scans and there wasn’t anything showing that we needed to be concerned about. She did say he has scar tissue on his right eye and recommended a lubricating eye gel to help with that. Still NO EXPLANATION OF THE SUDDEN VISION LOSS! So with all of this going on with Matt’s vision loss he starts experiencing chest discomfort. When I say this vision loss is a blessing in disguise I really and truly mean that. Matt would have not paid any attention to it like he is now. He would have kept working and pushing thru because that’s just who he is. He is currently seeing a Cardiologist and has had 2 ER visits (Saturday 10/14 and Wednesday 10/18). We are waiting to get a Cardio Stress Echocardiogram and carotid artery ultrasound scheduled. We do know there’s something going on with his heart, his heart rate drops in the low 40’s and he has been having pressure on his chest and a squeezing feeling, loss of appetite and headaches and being dizzy. We are literally back at square one with no answers. We recieved an email yesterday that his medical leave of absence and short term disability at Walmart has been closed out as of 10/11/2023. Now I have to start all over to get it reopened. So as of right now we will not have any income coming in until that gets straightened out. All documents from the doctors have been submitted so we are not understanding why they closed it out and said he can return to work, cause clearly he can not return to work. We have had quite a few people bringing prepared meals or having food delivered along with groceries and donations. So far the donations have been paying the co pays for the doctor visits. We are still trying to access his 401K for a medical hardship loan (but that takes time and quite a bit of paperwork), we’re also checking in on the critical illness insurance that he has on our family and his accident insurance to see if those will cover any of this. It’s a slow process for everything. Any help is greatly appreciated and thoughts and prayers are appreciated as well. Thank you to anyone who has made a donation or is thinking about making a donation and for prepared meals/groceries. 

10/25/23

Matt saw a new cardiologist Monday afternoon. Things are going to move rather quickly over the next couple of weeks. The cardiologists did a thorough exam. He thinks that Matt could possibly have a blocked artery in his left leg. Because Matt has had this issue with having chest pains and he’s also experienced leg pain and had his leg go completely numb and go out from underneath them where he has fallen on multiple occasions because of it. He also told us that if that is what’s going on because it has gone undetected and untreated, there is a higher risk of a heart issue. Mats going to have an echocardiogram on 10/31 at medical city in Fort Worth. The doctor wanted to do the echocardiogram at the hospital, he wants to see how the heart is pumping and if it’s pumping properly. He’s scheduled for 11/14 for his stress test which will be done on a treadmill and that will be at the doctors office and then on 11/17. He is scheduled to have the carotid artery ultrasound and the ultrasound on both of his lower extremities, which is his legs with a follow up visit to go over all results on 11/27. If there is anything popping up that needs immediate attention, we will be notified immediately and given further instructions. 

We also touched on the vision loss. Cardiologist said there is absolutely no reason other than a neurological reason for him to lose his vision. He said you do not just suddenly lose your vision and have complete blindness in one eye and vision loss in the other, for a small speck of metal or even a foreign object. Matt did get referred to a neurologist, and from what I hear she’s a really good neurologist and she’s down in Fort Worth and it medical city Fort Worth. She is in network with our insurance, so I am calling this morning to see how fast I can get him into her.

We’re still trying to get things squared away in a financial aspect. Matt has not gotten paid through his short term disability, we’re still trying to get that pushed through. We have a couple of different avenues that we’re trying to use that he pays for. So we’re hoping that those are going to be some thing that we can utilize to help out with the medical bills and the bills here at home. As of right now we do not have the money to pay our rent, car payment, phone, bills, and Internet along with the water bill. Pretty much everything that we’ve had has been put towards doctor bills or ER visits or buying groceries and putting gas in the car to be able to go to these doctors appointments and the ER’s. 

10/29/23

On Friday 10/27 I had to call an ambulance for Matt. He was having a sharp piercing pain underneath his left arm pit area, his left forearm was numb and tingly and he was also having a sharp piercing pain behind his left knee. We had been monitoring his blood pressure for the last couple of days. At one point his blood pressure was 130/87. Then it would go back down to 114/72. The second number is a normal blood pressure for him even when he’s stressed out. So keeping a very close eye on the blood pressure was gonna be very important. So a little bit after 9 o’clock he started complaining to me of the pain under the left arm pit behind his knee and how his left forearm was numb and tingly and I made the decision to call for an ambulance. While he was in the ambulance, his blood pressure was 158/87. Paramedic did come back up to tell me that to give me some peace of mind and for the kids that he was not currently having a heart attack. But that he did have symptoms. So they get him to the hospital and it took me about 45 minutes to get there because I was trying to get the kids taken care of with his mom. So I get to the hospital and the nurse comes in and she was drawing blood for lab work to check his troponin levels. Dr. briefly popped his head in and then took off, then he popped his head back in and starts to take off and I go out there and say hey I need to talk to you I need to know what’s going on with my husband. So then he comes into the room and I start talking to him and asking him all the questions. I start from 10/2 when he just suddenly lost his vision and told him everything. Hadn’t confirmed that he was mumbling more than what he normally with Number when he was talking to somebody, right before I picked him up, he had one side of his face droops, and was having some slurred speech. Well, nothing really got done to speak of but the ER doctor did say he was most likely going to be admitted to the hospital that he was trying to get a hold of his cardiologist or whoever was on call for him. I was at the hospital until 6 o’clock in the morning and I finally had to come home because a person with epilepsy has to have sleep and I was going on 24 hours of no sleep. So I know it is imperative that I come home and try to get a couple hours asleep. I had so much adrenaline rushing through me that I had to force the two hours asleep that I did manage to get and then it was back to action. I pick the kids up from his moms bring them home. Keeping in touch with Matt by calling him and texting to see if there’s any new updates. No updates nothing has been said to him so I start trying to call up there to talk to the nurse to see if she can give me an update, I get no answer. So I call the cardiologists and leave a message for whoever is on call.  Scotty and Gillian, our old is in his fiancé came in because we were supposed to do something for their birthdays with her Monday, 10/30.  So they come to the house and stay with the kids so I can go up there and find out what’s going on. On my way up there. The cardiologist that’s on call is in his room so Matt calls me and I’m able to talk to him and I told him everything again. He proceeds to tell me that he’s doing the echocardiogram while he’s admitted to the hospital, they’re also gonna do a bubble test to see if he possibly has a hole in his heart. He did say if there is a hole in his heart, that he could possibly be at a greater risk for stroke because of that, and even the heart attack. He did say that he presented symptoms of a stroke on 10/2, and that from Friday night he did have symptoms of a heart attack but the EKG in the lab work or not showing that he had a heart attack. But he also stressed. It does not mean he did not have one. So the echocardiogram is really going to be the key to show us if his heart is pumping properly. He also said that he was going to , do a Neuro consult and have a MRI with and without contrast so we can find out if he had a stroke back on 10/2. We had the echocardiogram scheduled for Tuesday morning, and then 11/14 was his schedules, cardiac stress test that is most likely going to be done while he’s admitted to the hospital, and then 11/17, he was supposed to have the carotid artery ultrasound, and the ultrasound of the arteries in his legs I am assuming those are going to be done while he’s admitted as well. They did do an ultrasound of his left knee area all the way up to the Groin and did ashore me. There was no sign of a blood clot, which we were extremely relieved to hear. We know that he will not be released from the hospital until his actual cardiologist comes and sees him. When is that going to be, the cardiologist is back on Monday is he going to come and do the echocardiogram himself and monitor the testing that is going to be done or is it gonna be done by someone else and then he reviews it and then comes in and talks to Matt. Those are questions that I am going to ask when I get to the hospital today. He is currently on the cardiovascular floor at medical city in Fort Worth. Just want to say thank you again to all of you that have already donated and anyone that is donating in the future. I try to keep updating as much as I can sometimes it’s not as easy to do it on a daily basis or every other day. But I will keep everybody updated once I have answers from these test which we are hoping to get answers. Short term disability we’re still waiting because now we have the cardiologist who is signing off on everything and the investigator for his short term disability needs more information about his job title, which I am going to get that First thing tomorrow morning and drop it off to the doctors office when I go to the hospital tomorrow. 

11/6/2023

Matt had the test on his heart that ruled out a heart attack. He also had a heart catherization on Tuesday 10/31/23 and the Cardiologist said he did not have any blockages in the arteries in his heart. That was the news we where praying for. He was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon and has still continued having the chest pains. On Friday 11/3/23 I did have to call the Cardiologist because his right hand swelled up along with his fingers and his hand and fingers started turning purple and cold to the touch. They instructed me to take him back to the hospital ER where he had the heart catherization procedure (they went thru his right wrist). They immediately did an ultrasound and we found out he had developed a blood clot in the vein. So he was given heparin thru the IV and told he would be admitted for a couple of days. The same internal medicine doctor was on call so he came in and saw Matt again. He talked with the ER doctor, the Cardiologist who Matt was seeing while admitted to the hospital and his regular cardiologist and they all agreed that he could be treated outpatient. The ER doctor said he would be on blood thinners from hear on out since he had developed this clot. We where extremely grateful that it wasn’t in an artery. He still has an appointment with his regular Cardiologist for the carotid artery ultrasound and an ultrasound for the arteries in his legs the end of this month. Neurologist appointment for his vision loss is on 11/29/23. He can see but is unable to read anything. Everything is blurry. I have reached out to the cardiologist this morning because his hand is still swelling and by the end of the day it’s turning a purplish color. Haven’t heard back yet. If I don’t get any kind of answer and it gets like it did again last night then I will have no choice but to take him back to the ER. His right hand is completely numb at this point. Still trying to get his short term disability to kick in. I don’t get why it’s taking so long. Everything that needs to be submitted has been submitted. At this point our rent and non of our bills have been paid. I have filed for emergency food stamps, I’m also trying to get utility assistance. We have talked with our landlords (but they’re worried about us falling behind in rent) and then the car payment I have talked with corporate for that. Any help is really appreciated.