Hi y’all! Parker here - my health unfortunately has declined to the point that I had to take short term disability leave. I have been on leave since January 22nd, and have not received any pay since March 4th. Despite 4+ medical visits per week (on average) during that time, my diagnosis has changed several times, and I do not yet have a clear plan of care. I initially hoped to return to work after 3-4 weeks of leave, but my return date keeps being delayed.

As some of you know, I became very ill with COVID in the first wave of the pandemic and never got better. Beginning in March 2020, I experienced non-stop fatigue, shortness of breath (both on exertion and at rest), chest pain, tachycardia, and brain fog. My symptoms have grown significantly worse over time. I made the decision to go on disability leave after my breathlessness worsened to the point that I could not say enough words in a row to be a therapist!

Over the past 7 weeks of disability leave, NYU-Langone's specialty pulmonary hypertension clinic has been able to rule out the possibility that I might have CTEPH (more context on this in my CaringBridge). Unfortunately, this means I have accumulated thousands of dollars of medical debt already with no treatment plan. I am thankful to have job security for now, but I need support paying rent and medical bills while I (hopefully) become less of a medical mystery and am able to recover some of my functioning!

I’m no longer able to take my dog on walks, and I spend 99% of my time lying in bed or sitting on our couch. On a good day, I can cook a quick meal, OR sit at my desk and sew for ~30 minutes, OR host a visitor for an hour or two. My very patient and kind boyfriend Ben has been holding down the fort in so many ways (walking the dog, running all our errands, and doing almost all our cooking and cleaning), but he is a PhD student and that stipend simply is not cutting it re: medical bills :')

I appreciate any financial and social support that our community is able to provide! I am hopeful that my care team will find a treatment plan soon that will allow me to regain functioning and return to doing the work and other activities that are so meaningful to me <3