Hi, my name is Madi!

In Mid-November, I started experiencing extreme, debilitating low back pain. I could hardly get up to go to the bathroom by myself and it was hard to even get dressed or get out of bed. After getting an MRI, my doctors were shocked, asking me if I had been in a car accident/any sort of recent trauma from the damage they were seeing on the images. I had a torn ligament, a severely herniated disc, and spinal stenosis. The herniated disc and spinal stenosis are putting so much pressure on my spinal cord and nerves that in late November, I began to start feeling numbness and even worse pain that radiated down my legs. On December 7th I went to the ER because I had no feeling in my entire right leg and lost motor function/strength. I was sent away with pain meds and a referral to go see a spinal surgeon. Immediately the next day I scheduled two appointments with Neurosurgeons so that they could evaluate my injury and give me an idea of how to make all of this go away. Both scheduled me a month out which put me mid to late January before I would even be seen. While waiting I had three epidurals and went 3x a week to get steroid/muscle relaxing injections, but neither of them worked. After I waited over a month to get into a spinal surgeon to find some answers, they told me back surgery was needed but I would need new scans and images to confirm the type of surgery. It took me three weeks to get in for an MRI and another week to finally see my surgeon for the results. February 22nd I met with my surgeon and he said that surgery was needed immediately to prevent any more nerve damage and was astounded by the amount of time I had spent in this much pain. He asked me if I was ready for all of my pain to go away and told me that my surgery would be in two days. So here I am, tomorrow, having this surgery that I’ve been waiting since November to have and to say I am relieved is an understatement. I was in tears when he told me that news because shortly after I have surgery and heal/recover for about 4-6 weeks I should be able to feel my leg again for the first time in three months, I should be able to wake up pain-free, I should be able to put my socks on, I should be able to finally take my dog on a walk, and so much more.

Because of my surgery and recovery, I will need to take time off work which means I will have no source of income. My insurance doesn't cover the full extent of the surgical bill and I will also require additional therapy services for the healing process which means I will need some help. This is why I am reaching out to you. If you know me then you know that I am not the type to ask for help or money from anyone, but because this has been such a difficult time for me I feel as though this is the right time and place to do so. I appreciate any help that you are willing to give! Even if it’s just a text or phone call to see how I’m doing on this journey.