Some of you are aware that my daughter has been struggling stomach issues for quite awhile. She finally got into see a GI who scheduled an exploratory colonoscopy and endoscopy based on blood test results. We went in last Tuesday expecting to get some answers regarding Crohn's or Celiac. Instead, the dr. saw what he suspected might be a tumor in her stomach, and ordered a CT Scan which landed us in the hospital for a four day, three night stay. She underwent not just a CT Scan but a blood transfusion, a MRI, and ultrasound endoscopy where she had deep biopsies done as well two stints placed in her liver ducts. The good news is that she doesn't have cancer. The bad news is that we don't know what's going on so we have more testing next week.

Here's where I need to ask for help. Last month, my oldest child lost his partner unexpectedly. This resulted in me taking five work days off in order to be with him, and to go to Maine to get my mom to help us out. I then had to take four days off to be in the hospital with my daughter. I am going to miss another day next week for testing, and no doubt will have other days we need to be at the dr's coming up while we try to piece together what we need to get my kid healthy again. The problem is that I had already used my sick days for my surgery in October.

My paycheck is going to be docked for the days I have missed, and part of that docking means I will have to pay out of pocket for our health insurance. This is a month of pay at this point, and my family just can't afford to recoup that lost, and we definitely can't afford to not have health insurance.

In addition, there will be copays and cost for the visit as well as the testing done. And of course money I didn't really have was spent during the stay (things like keeping Jude feed, extra gas for the other beasties to visit Rowena, etc).

Any help would be appreciated. I am working on a side job with the district but it won't be enough to fully fund what I have lost.