Support Tyler's Journey to Hand Recovery

Hi, my name is Tyler Underwood

To start, I... don't really enjoy the idea of asking people for help, let alone folks who don't know me. But I guess this is one of those times where I just sort of need to suck it up and swallow my pride.

Summary: A trilogy of issues (Carpal Tunnel, Trigger Finger, and Raynaud's Disease) have rendered my hands in a state constant pain and discomfort and unable to function properly, which has cost me my employment. They can be fixed, but recovery will take time. I am seeking assistance with bills and medical costs until I am able to recover.

I'm 34 years old, from Oklahoma, graduated college back in 2011, and went on to begin a career in culinary arts. It was something I enjoyed, but as I'm sure most would understand, it didn't quite pay the bills, so after the better part of a decade, I moved on to find whatever I could to bring in more money. I went on to work at OnCue for a while, since it paid much better than food service, before finally landing a career opportunity I couldn't pass up: the United States Postal Service. It offered everything from a significant pay increase to great benefits and the prospect of retirement. It's a stressful job, and required a really extensive background check to even be considered, but it was entirely worth it.

Unfortunately, as I was settling in to this new position, I noticed a problem that was originally very mild start to creep in and become exacerbated rather quickly - my hands. Having worked with a knife since the age of 15, I anticipated that I was dealing with some issues like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but what began a while ago as occasional tingling and discomfort turned into constant waves of numbness and pain, sometimes to such an extent that I would be jolted awake by a sensation in my forearm radiating into my hand that felt like a combination of someone stabbing and setting them on fire.

As my symptoms continued to progress, my hands became stiff and my fingers and thumbs began painfully locking up. As I'm sure one can imagine, that began to severely impact my ability to perform my duties, casing my mail, marking and handling important and often fragile packages, and ultimately operating the vehicle I used to deliver important mail to people on a daily basis (6 days a week, up to 14 hours a day at times). I found myself frequently dropping letters as I would attempt to put it into people's mailboxes, forcing me to stop my vehicle and recover it to put it in the box properly. While a lot of mail constitutes junk mail, much of it is important, and in both cases, it constitutes a federal crime to interfere with that delivery process, so leaving it on the ground or not chasing it as the wind attempts to take it was a massive no-no.

I reached out to co-workers, family, and friends about what I should do, given my circumstances. Obviously I needed to see a doctor, but with my only day off being Sunday, that became impossible, and with the Post Office being short-staffed across the country, requesting time off on work days was equally impossible. I was repeatedly warned that if I didn't figure it out, then the damage being caused might not be repairable. So, like anybody else needing to pay bills now, I continued to work, expecting that biding my time and doing my job would ultimately give me what I needed, and over time, things became more difficult. I was leaving the office and finishing my routes later and later, and eventually, things reached a fever pitch.

Things reached a point where I found myself unable to even hold mail to case it. With the constant pain and my fingers locking up and my wrists unable to maneuver, it was simply not possible. I couldn't keep from dropping at my case, I couldn't handle packages, and I certainly wasn't going to be able to drive the truck. My manager noticed my hands had been swelling, that I was having issues, was leaving and returning from my routes later, and -ultimately- this cost me my job.

The silver lining is that I finally was able to get to a doctor. The bad news is that I'm now out of work. The good news is that this is treatable, but bad news is that I am unable to generate income to cover bills until this is fixed.

I was formally diagnosed with a litany of issues:

So my goal here is to get the surgery needed to resolve the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both hands, knowing it will put me entirely out of commission for a couple of months, but is necessary to put me back in a situation where I am able to once again take care of myself.

I hate the fact that I feel helpless, and I hate the pressure this puts on other people close to me. I hate not being able to help out more than I am able, and I hate the depression this causes me. Most importantly, I hate having to ask others for help. Despite my circumstances, I do not meet the criteria for disability or unemployment, my medical insurance is expiring, my partner already has a lot of pressure on their plate, finances are tight, and my family is dealing with the responsibility of taking care of their own finances, plus taking care of my grandparents.

So, here I am, asking complete strangers, and it honestly doesn't feel too great, especially when there are so many others out there dealing with far bigger issues compared to my own. But again, I have to swallow my pride and do what needs to me done so that I can do what I need to do to help the people that matter most to me. There's not much I can do without the functionality of my hands. I'm ready to jump on resolving this issue, but I need a little help to do it.

Will you please help me?

Donations will be used to cover bills and medical expenses