Knee Surgery Recovery Survival Fund

This is really hard for me to do. I'm not someone to ever ask for, or accept, help and I most definitely never ask for money from anyone, but I'm left with nowhere else to really turn to. My name is Megan and for the last almost 3 years I have been dealing with constant knee pain. It started innocently enough, only hurting every once in awhile, but it quickly grew to a never ending pain that was imposible to get rid of. Due to lack of health insurance from 2010-2015, I wasn't really able to do anything about it. I went to see an orthopedic surgeon in February of 2015. He was, to say the least, a dick. After my first exam and x-rays he told me that it was impossible for me to be feeling the pain that I was describing in both of my knees. "It just doesn't work that way and you're too young to have knee pain", he insisted, but he ordered me to get MRIs anyway. When the results came back all they found were possible meniscus tears which my surgeon quickly assured me were mistakes on the scan because they didn't match my symptoms. I kept pushing. I knew something wasn't right with my knees. He offered to perform surgery to open up my knee and "take a look around", but told me he really didn't expect to find anything. May 20th 2015 I had my first surgery on my right knee. When I woke up I was greeted by my surgeon who almost shouted, "You won't believe it! We actually found something wrong!" I had a condition called Hoffas Syndrome where the fat pads in my knees were being pinched and it was determined to be the cause of my pain, so he cut out the swollen parts and closed me up. August 19th 2015 I had the same surgery performed on my left knee. Unfortunately, I was still in pain. All through recovery and at every post surgery check up I was told that it would just resolve itself now and it would get better on its own. I had nothing to worry about and physical therapy wouldn't be needed. November 2015, still in pain and still frustrated I decided to get a second opinion. I saw an orthopedic specialist who suggested physical therapy and referred me to Twin Cities Pain Clinic to help with the pain in the meantime. When I called TCPC I was told the soonest available appointment wasn't until May 20th 2016. I took it and set up an appointment with North Memorial Pain Center so I'd have some relief until May. The doctor and nurse practitioner at North Memorial refused to listen to anything I had to say, insisting I get an MRI of my spine and putting me on a slew of different muscle relaxers and meds for nerve pain. While this was happening I was making little to no progress in physical therapy due to the amount of pain I was in. They had a very difficult time doing any exercises involving my knees and suggested I speak with my pain clinic about getting my pain better under control. When I did this my NP at North Memorial responded saying she refused to give me any narcotics and that I needed to just push through the pain because "Haven't you ever heard the phrase pain is beauty!?". I will never forget that day, or her face when she said that, or how she immediately left the room when I started crying. I never went back to that clinic, or the physical therapist. I had given up. After all, no one would listen to me. No one believed my pain and no one could figure out why I was in pain. Being young (26) didn't help matters either. I was always seen as a drug seeker. I was willing to try ANYTHING to get rid of the pain, narcotic or not. Unfortunately for me, the only thing that helped the pain was Percocet. Every doctor would ask "has anything helped the pain?" And the minute I said Percocet you could just see their attitude change. It was this huge tension in the room. In March of 2016 I decided to try again, this time with MAPS pain clinic, as my mom had recently gotten a job there and she said they could help me. At first it seemed like I may have a chance. They seemed to know exactly what was wrong and they ordered me to get these injections and start pool therapy and I would be all better! The injections were called Euflexxa and it was 3 separate injections that I would have to get a week apart in both knees. They were awful. I left almost in tears and could barely walk afterwards. When I told them about the pain at my second injection they said that it was impossible for the injections to cause pain and that they've never had a complaint before, but that the second injection should hurt less. It didnt. It hurt more. The physical therapy I was doing during this was leaving me bed ridden for days afterwards, so my NP told me to stop until my pain was under control. Finally after the final injection they gave me a couple of Percocets, but seemed very wary about doing so. When I met with my NP a couple weeks later with no change in pain she hounded me about physical therapy and when I explained that I was still in pain she told me that they weren't going to help me with pain because medication wasn't part of my program and the injections should have helped my osteoarthritis. This was the first time they had said anything about osteoarthritis, which I 100% do not have. Every doctor I had seen prior to MAPS always commented about how great my joints were and how they didn't see even a slight hint of arthritis. MAPS was "treating me" for a condition I didn't have which meant they were giving me injections I didn't need! My NP then suggested I get set up for their nerve ablation procedure. I was unsure, but she was very pushy. When I was called to make my appointment I declined because I wanted a second opinion first. May 20th 2016 I finally got to see a doctor at TCPC. Stephanie, my NP, was unbelievably caring. She listened to everything I said and didn't even flinch when I told her Percocet had been the only thing to help my pain. When Dr Will came in the room he immediately said "oh, never mind, nerve ablation would be a bad idea for her. She doesn't even have arthritis." I was told they would gladly help me with my pain after I passed a drug test and requested I get new MRIs and a second opinion as they were unable to determine the cause of my pain. June 27th 2016: My MRIs were back and I met with Dr Klapach at Sports and Orthopedic Specialists. It turns out that my kneecaps sit too high which is apparently common in women. She said that I have done every route of treatment she would have suggested which means the only solution left is surgery. This surgery is no walk in the park. It's an in-patient surgery in which she will be cutting open my knee and moving my patellar tendon down. The recovery time for this procedure is 4-12 weeks non-weight bearing depending on healing, but closer to 12 and she would like to do it as soon as possible. First on my left knee (the worse of the two) and then if it's successful she wants to do it on my right knee once my left is fully healed. I'm a server. Being unable to walk for 3 months means being unable to work for at least 3 months, if not longer depending on recovery and apparently you can't get disability if the time out of work is under a year. 3 months of my bills plus food, necessities for my kitty, etc, is roughly $5,500. I'm currently picking up as many shifts as possible at work and looking for a second job, but if I were to get the surgery 3 months from now I'd need to make about $900 a week in order to pay my bills during those months plus save up enough money for 3 months of not working and that just isn't plausible. So that's where you come in. I'm asking for a donation of anything you are able to give. Even $1. Literally anything helps. Without the surgery I'm left being stuck in constant pain. I've run out of any other option and I would be forever grateful for the help. Thank you so much. It is truly appreciated beyond words. Sincerely, Megan