A little help goes a long way

Hello everyone,

I'm sorry to do this but, I have no where else to turn. As my friends and family know I have had a bit of a rough go the last 8 months. A total 5 surgery/procedures done. Almost 2 months spent in the hospital. 2 weeks in ICU. 6-8 weeks of PT/OT and home health care. 6 weeks of 24/7 O2.

I just wanted to give a little synopsis and timeline of all that has occurred. My diagnoses are as follows.

8-23-2021: Deep Vein thrombosis of my common iliac vein of my left leg with acute clotting.

8-23-2021: Chronic May Thurnerd syndrome in my left pelvis. With chornic clotting in my common iliac vein. As well as acute clotting in common femoral vein

11-19-2021: Acute Diverticulitis of descending sigmoid colon, with bowel perforation. Which lead to septic shock. Ending with me having an ostomy placed on my left colon.

12-03-2021: Plural pneumonia.

12-19-2021: Covid-19 pneumonia.

Here is a list of procedures I have had done resulting from my diagnoses.

Carlsbad Medical Center: Lysis Catheter in left leg. It requires for you to sit up with your leg extended straight for 24 hours.

UNM Trauma Center: Second Lysis Catheter in left leg. First one did not take.

UNM Trauma Center: Wired clot removal of common iliac vein.

UNM Trauma Center: Stent placement in common iliac vein in left pelvis.

Carlsbad Medical Center: Colectomy of Sigmoid colon with removal of 1 foot of colon. Surgery was done traditionally, so 14 inch incision of lower abdomen.

Carlsbad Medical Center: Placement of Ostomy on left side of abdomen.

Artesia Medical Center: Breathing treatments. Placed on 24/7 O2 @5L.

So as you can see I have had my fair share of fun times in the last 7-8 months. But that August to December stretch was very very tough. I could tell you so many things that Carlsbad medical center did wrong but that's not what this fundraiser is about. The one thing that really upset at that place was during my PT in having to learn how to walk again they left me alone and let me fall. That was very painful and demoralizing. I'm not in my 70's. I shouldn't be falling. It really made me feel fragile and frail.

During October I was feeling better and trying to recover. I went down to our little river area went for a walk and on my return home I blacked out and wrecked my pickup on the rocks at lower Tansill dam.

I had originally moved to Carlsbad at the end of August to help care for my elderly father. We went 37 years without talking to each other. My father had a really bad drinking problem when I was younger and the years just eroded away. But in May of 2020 I was encouraged by my then wife Dyann to reestablish our relationship when I found out he had quit drinking. We did a lot of work to repair the relationship so in August of 2021 when he really needed help I was happy to come do so. My Dad had many many diagnoses including 2 different forms of stage 4 cancer. Diabetes. AFib. Chronic low blood pressure. And heart disease.

In taking care of my father as much as I could his clear winning ailment was the severe necropsy of his left foot. In his final months he had 2 toes removed and the rest died and started to fall off. He was in constant pain and suffering the last 6 months of his life. I was trying to get healthy and watching him die at the same time. It was very hard. I was dealing with so much trauma from our entire relationship that it just sort of made me numb. Very stressful. My father passed away peacefully at his home of 40 years on February 4th. He had just turned 73.

So as we come up to current time, I'm at a point where sadly I have not been able to work for the last 8 months as my health has been so poor. The worst part about the blood clots besides them being by far my deadliest diagnosis, is the Dr. Has informed me that I will not be able to return to my career of professional truck driving. So now I'm in the shadows of 50 with no career to return to. I'm in poor health and am going to have to figure out a new career to boot.

All of these events have lead to some major depression in my life and I have had to go on medication for it. I already have to take a bag of M&M's worth of pills every day. I guess a couple more can't hurt. Everyone knows my history of suicide attempts. But it's funny, given the option to actually die during all of this has only shown me how bad I really want to live. I'm fighting all of this with everything I have and come hell or high water I plan on making a full recovery. I will beat this.

A LOT of things have happened to me in a short time. Besides my father's passing the hardest thing that I have been left with in all of this is the damn colostomy bag. That thing is a total life ruiner! I have to do so much to care for it. It has reduced my showering to 2 times a week if I'm lucky. Water ruins the adhesive. The adhesive causes my skin to constantly itch and sting. Sometimes without warning it will rupture and I'll be covered in my own feces. It makes me not want to go anywhere because I am afraid people will be able to smell me. I have no control over it. It goes when it wants. It has a really good knack for farting during quiet time at church. I have gone 3 days without it producing a thing and I've had to empty it 6 times in one day before. It makes it almost impossible to work or have a normal life. I don't dare travel without supplies. It has been a huge adjustment to say the very least!!!

Finally, I will close with the whole reason for this fundraiser. I'm broke! And when I say broke I mean broke. I have gone through my savings. I have emptied my IRA. I have borrowed against my 401-K. I've sold everything but my truck, my camper, and my ass!! I'm usually the one giving charity and now I'm the one who really needs a little. If you know me you know that I love to work for anything I get. I don't know that I have ever asked anyone outside my immediate family for help before. My mother and my ex-wife are the only reasons I'm not completely homeless now. This last 8 months have I not only not been able to work but, I have a nice shiny new half a million dollars in medical bills. I have been given Medicaid and $250 a month in food stamps. The state said that I only qualify for $268 a month in cash support which is heading into month 7 without an approval. I have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into taxes and I can't get any help from the government...

I'm not asking for much from anyone. But if everyone could help me a little hopefully I can get back to good health, get back on my feet and get back to work. If I can get healthy enough they will reverse my colostomy bag and I can get a normal job. I know this takes one step at a time and I promise each of you I am really really trying!!!!!

If you can help thank you so much. If you can't please just keep praying for me and my family. Thank you so much for taking the time and I love you all!!!!

Jason~~