Mom's Covid Recovery Fund

On Jan 27th 2021, I received news that my Mom was admitted into the hospital for Covid 19 in Bandung, Indonesia.

What followed was a long weeks of treatment, including 2 weeks in ICU and 4 weeks in isolation Covid ward.

I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone. Catching Covid is one thing, but having your loved ones going through it is even worse. On her 3rd day in ICU, she came so close that we spoke to her via video call to say goodbye. As she is 70 years old, the doctors didn't have a good prognosis. However, God still takes care of her and she pulled through. I am grateful for that, and also for the hospital staff in Bandung. 

Unfortunately, my Mom has pre existing condition including past stroke and epilepsy. As expected, Covid made her condition worse. 

As of today, she is back home, Covid free. But her other conditions still need to be treated. She's on a lot of medication and needs to have physical therapy, since she was idle in bed for 6 weeks now. The hospital bill, even though it's covered partly by the government, still adds up, even with the difference in currency (US dollars compared to Indonesian Rupiah).

As part of her recovery, Mom needs full time carer, medications (pre and post Covid) and physical therapy.  This cost would be going for a while since her recovery is very slow.

My Dad had been trying to hold the fort together in Bandung, as I am not able to go back to Indonesia due to border close. Having not worked since the pandemic started, he had exhausted all of his savings (pension fund) to cover some of the cost.

I have been sending some money to help with all the big costs. I'm lucky that I still have a bit of online teaching which allows me to send money home. However, with no gigs, the income isn't enough to match the spending. On top of that, we have to save some money to go back to Australia sometime in the future. If you have been following the news, stranded Australian citizens have to fork out tens of thousands of dollars to be able to fly home.

After thinking long and hard, I decided to swallow my pride and ask for help. Those of you who know me well, I'm not the type of person who asks for help until it's long overdue. 

I have calculated that her recovery cost will be somewhere between USD 1000 to 1300 a month. The breakdown would be as follows:
Medication (for stroke recovery) $500
Physical therapy $200
Doctors visit $200 
Full time carer $250

To give an idea on how big the cost is, the average salary in Indonesia is around USD $800 a month.

We're hoping that after 3 months, she will make a better recovery and that would bring the cost down. 

From the bottom of my heart, I thank you so much for your help, even just sharing this would help a lot.

Stay safe and stay well.

Wendy.