Physical therapy for Nichole's arms
Donation protected
Your generous donation will go towards the costs of CORA Physical Therapy twice a week as recommended, any at home therapy equipment they think I need, and the Uber expenses for going there (until I'm able to drive again), as well as the related doctor expenses to continue physical therapy (in Florida you can only see a physical therapist 10 times before you need a physician to sign off on it).
After I'm done with physical therapy and am all fixed up, any remaining money will go to paying off my outstanding medical debt with Brandon Healthplex.
All told, I have been out of commission, including being out of work, for over a year and a half with this injury. The sooner I can get the physical therapy and other things done, the sooner I can get back to working and regain my life.
About Me
My name is Nichole, I'm from Brandon, Florida and I'm soon to be 27 years old. I used to work at Walmart before my injury stocking and unloading trucks. I was enrolled with Penn Foster in a pharmacy technician program and had to drop out to free up money for physical therapy, but look forward to re-enrolling once my arms are fixed.
My ultimate goal in life is to become a proper pharmacist and be a mom by adopting children and providing them a safe and loving home.
My hobbies include running, drawing, and playing video games, in particular fighting games, as well as watching UFC.
I was on hormone replacement therapy a short time prior to my injury but stopped shortly after for both concerns regarding the musculature in my arm while healing and financial reasons, but am hopefully to return to it once my life is back in order.
The backstory
Last year, I had injured myself working for Walmart as a CAP2 associate. My job duties at the time included unloading trucks, pulling extremely large pallets with half-broken pallet jacks, and stocking the chemical aisles. This also included lifting up to 50 lbs over my head in other areas frequently. On April 17th, 2019, I had showed up for work and found that I could no longer lift either of my arms.
I went on a leave of absence at that point and saw two doctors, Dr. Aguilla at an urgent care clinic back in April that year and Dr. Haughey at Brandon Healthplex in May. The first, Dr. Aguilla, had initially diagnosed me with tendonitis in my shoulders, but couldn't be sure without MRIs. Dr. Haughey had strictly scolded me that I'm lucky I can move my arms at all and that I can never work in that type of field ever again.
I eventually had to leave Walmart, because I couldn't stay on LOA without having MRIs done and at the time I wasn't able to afford them and the doctors I went to said that I had no claim to worker's comp because there was no specific incident that caused it, despite them saying it was almost certainly a repetitive stress injury caused by the work I was doing.
Since that initial injury, I have struggled to heal from it due to a lack of personal help. I lived with my older sibling, but I only really saw them half an hour before they left work. Besides that, I was on my own for transportation, cooking, buying groceries, cleaning, all of which is extremely taxing and makes it hard to recover when both of your arms are injured and I had re-injured myself in the process back in July, 2019.
Things finally started to change this year when my mom came to stay with us a few months to help out, finally allowing my arms the time to rest that they desperately needed to recover from the injury.
Now the battle is against atrophy and de-conditioning.
The Action
Since the injury we have tried to self-treat in several different ways, but met with failure each and every time.
However, on Friday, October 14th, 2020 I had met with CORA Physical Therapy to be assessed and evaluated for if physical therapy can help me and I'm extremely happy to say that they do believe they can help me. After digging around in my arms and putting me through a large number of tests, they feel confident that I am no longer injured, just extremely weak and need reconditioning.
I had my first day of physical therapy yesterday, October 13th and I can say that I truly believe what they say and that they will be able to finally help me. As of right now I can only lift 2lbs in each arm, but they worked me like a horse regardless and I'm sure that if I stick with it, I can have my life back again.
Parting words
I just want to thank anyone who can donate or even takes the time to read my story, it has been a hard and long road and I am truly desperate to just return to a more normal lifestyle. I thank everyone who may be able to help or spread the word, stay safe and take care.
Nichole
After I'm done with physical therapy and am all fixed up, any remaining money will go to paying off my outstanding medical debt with Brandon Healthplex.
All told, I have been out of commission, including being out of work, for over a year and a half with this injury. The sooner I can get the physical therapy and other things done, the sooner I can get back to working and regain my life.
About Me
My name is Nichole, I'm from Brandon, Florida and I'm soon to be 27 years old. I used to work at Walmart before my injury stocking and unloading trucks. I was enrolled with Penn Foster in a pharmacy technician program and had to drop out to free up money for physical therapy, but look forward to re-enrolling once my arms are fixed.
My ultimate goal in life is to become a proper pharmacist and be a mom by adopting children and providing them a safe and loving home.
My hobbies include running, drawing, and playing video games, in particular fighting games, as well as watching UFC.
I was on hormone replacement therapy a short time prior to my injury but stopped shortly after for both concerns regarding the musculature in my arm while healing and financial reasons, but am hopefully to return to it once my life is back in order.
The backstory
Last year, I had injured myself working for Walmart as a CAP2 associate. My job duties at the time included unloading trucks, pulling extremely large pallets with half-broken pallet jacks, and stocking the chemical aisles. This also included lifting up to 50 lbs over my head in other areas frequently. On April 17th, 2019, I had showed up for work and found that I could no longer lift either of my arms.
I went on a leave of absence at that point and saw two doctors, Dr. Aguilla at an urgent care clinic back in April that year and Dr. Haughey at Brandon Healthplex in May. The first, Dr. Aguilla, had initially diagnosed me with tendonitis in my shoulders, but couldn't be sure without MRIs. Dr. Haughey had strictly scolded me that I'm lucky I can move my arms at all and that I can never work in that type of field ever again.
I eventually had to leave Walmart, because I couldn't stay on LOA without having MRIs done and at the time I wasn't able to afford them and the doctors I went to said that I had no claim to worker's comp because there was no specific incident that caused it, despite them saying it was almost certainly a repetitive stress injury caused by the work I was doing.
Since that initial injury, I have struggled to heal from it due to a lack of personal help. I lived with my older sibling, but I only really saw them half an hour before they left work. Besides that, I was on my own for transportation, cooking, buying groceries, cleaning, all of which is extremely taxing and makes it hard to recover when both of your arms are injured and I had re-injured myself in the process back in July, 2019.
Things finally started to change this year when my mom came to stay with us a few months to help out, finally allowing my arms the time to rest that they desperately needed to recover from the injury.
Now the battle is against atrophy and de-conditioning.
The Action
Since the injury we have tried to self-treat in several different ways, but met with failure each and every time.
However, on Friday, October 14th, 2020 I had met with CORA Physical Therapy to be assessed and evaluated for if physical therapy can help me and I'm extremely happy to say that they do believe they can help me. After digging around in my arms and putting me through a large number of tests, they feel confident that I am no longer injured, just extremely weak and need reconditioning.
I had my first day of physical therapy yesterday, October 13th and I can say that I truly believe what they say and that they will be able to finally help me. As of right now I can only lift 2lbs in each arm, but they worked me like a horse regardless and I'm sure that if I stick with it, I can have my life back again.
Parting words
I just want to thank anyone who can donate or even takes the time to read my story, it has been a hard and long road and I am truly desperate to just return to a more normal lifestyle. I thank everyone who may be able to help or spread the word, stay safe and take care.
Nichole
Organiser
Nichole DellaRosa
Organiser
Brandon, FL