Shelby's Surgery & Unpaid Leave Hardship

Hi friends, most of you know me, but my name is Shelby and I am a dog mom and an emergency room nurse.

About a month ago, I injured my knee and ended up in the ER (the LAST place I wanted to be on my night off, LOL). I followed up with Ortho, and they thought I had experienced patellar subluxation, which is a dislocated kneecap. I followed ortho’s rules and thought I was on the mend. I was overly ready to get back to work, but my knee just never felt right.

A couple weeks later, once again, I heard a huge pop and my knee gave out on me. The pain was tremendous. The worst pain I have ever felt. I called ortho immediately and let them know what was going on, and then was sent for an MRI. The MRI finally gave me the answer; a torn ACL and probable torn meniscus. (They won’t know about the meniscus until they are in there, because there was too much fluid on it to truly visualize on the MRI. But because of that much fluid, they assume that it is torn as well.)

I am scheduled to have surgery on 1/28 and will be starting physical therapy a few days after that.

I am making this, as my financial options are running out. I am currently on unpaid leave. I have been out of work for a month already, and I am expected to be out for another 6-8 (or more) weeks after surgery. The timeframe my ortho Dr gave me was 3 months to get my knee back into the shape it needs to be to resume my ER nursing role.

I have looked into other options such as withdrawing my 401k (I do not qualify for that), but nothing is working out.

I am unsure the amount I will have to pay for the surgery, and I will be doing physical therapy 2-3 times a week for the foreseeable future, which also is a cost.

Any help you all can lend would mean the world to me!! I hesitated to make this, and I still don’t know if I deserve to ask for help. I know other people are in more need than me, and I know times are really really tough out there right now for everyone.

If you can’t donate, sharing this would be fantastic.

I love you all, and I appreciate you very very much! ❤️❤️❤️