Hi, there! Trey here. That picture you see above was actually taken within the last year and a half, but definitely NOT after April of this year. Here's why...

 

In April, I was hospitalized with some sort of heart trouble. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't calm down, I couldn't do much of anything. They finally got my blood pressure stabilized (never a laughing matter in my family), So in May and June and July, they ran tests on my blood pressure, on my heart, and gradually they focused on my liver. My bookkeeping clients were aware, and trying to cut some slack, but it was getting dicey, and that was BEFORE July. But I had been getting unemployment benefits as a self-employed person during the pandemic, so I was even then able to pay bills and do the basics, if nothing extravagant. And since I worked every election the Board of Elections had, I could count on that money at the end of the year. I had done the primary with no problem.

 

Then in July, tests started coming back with answers they could understand. The reasons my platelets clumped? Cirrhosis -- not that I drink. Part of it is hereditary, and the rest seemed to be my diet. Both my younger sister and I had the same liver problems as pre-natals and neo-natals --Mom was AB- and Dad A+. I know enough of human genetics to know that's a bad combo, so we were now looking at getting me in shape for a liver transplant.

 

BUT... their were the two lesions the ultrasound showed, and which turned out to indeed be cancerous. More tests, more blood draws, and then attempts at treatments with chemo and radiation. My hope would be that I could get back on a normal schedule in August and September. The cancer diagnosis wrecked that, and the resulting medications are playing havoc with my systems. And the unemployment benefits went away, because Republicans refused to vote for something they desperately want you to think lazy people take advantage of instead of "hard-working" people like them.

 

My largest client dropped me last week. They said they couldn't wait anymore. I had to cancel a meeting with my one remaining client this week because a cardio stress test got me hospitalized for a catheterization, which they then couldn't do, because my platelets were clumping, and then they counted them another way, and I had to spend a night again there. And now, the Board of Elections messed up their paperwork and didn't schedule me, because though the staff at the polling place loves having me (who doesn't want a bookkeeper making sure ballot recorded matches ballots issued? Cyber Ninjas, and that's about it), they said I had missed training (I took every class they sent me to)and I'm not scheduled any of the polling dates now, except for the general itself.

 

I have, despite working and planning and meeting my obligations, NO MONEY. I am down to three rides on a half-price MetroCard, I am about to lose my phone service and wireless, and my credit card is maxed out and has been. I need, by my count, $2500 to catch my bills up and clear my card. And it's not going away unless I can find a job. Turns out 61-year-old bookkeepers who have had, and will have more, medical visits are not in great demand. But, as the folks at Sinai keep telling me, one thing at a time. Fix the cancer, get the liver, and then go on from there.

 

My problem is that the wolves aren't baying at my door -- they came in through a hole I didn't know was there and are going to disembowel me in short order. I'm known as a guy who thinks humor is the only thing that can cut trouble down to a size where you can talk to it. But I'm out of jokes and the trouble is still growing. Please help how you can?