Michael & Lee Sales medical fund
Donation protected
Monday
May 15, 2017
Hello Everyone we know on facebook. As some of you may have seen a recent facebook post I did a few days ago, I experienced pronounced loss of vision in my right eye while at work on April 29th.
I was seen in the E.R. and informed at the time by the on-call doctor that after an initial exam that it was possible I was facing permanent loss of eyesight in that eye. Since that hospital facility lacked the type of equipment required to get a better read on my situation he referred me to an eye specialist that agreed to open up his office on a Saturday afternoon in order to examine me. We were told to go straight there, no stopping at home first or going anywhere else on the way to his office. That meant time was of the essence and it certainly got our attention.
It was Dr. Weidman’s assessment since my eye cavity was so full of blood he was unable to even see my retina. He performed an ultrasound and determined that I did have several tears in the retina. I was given the option to wait it out for up to six months to see if the blood cleared on its own or I could opt for surgery. After two weeks of adopting the wait and see approach I agreed to have the surgery. By choosing not to wait it meant I could return to work sooner and stem the loss of not having household income.
I underwent the surgery on May 11 and my sight has been restored to its previous 20/40. We are both very grateful to have been referred to such a wonderful surgeon in Dr. Weidman.
I would say you can’t put a price on having your sight, but apparently the medical community can! I was trying for a little humor there. So that means the bills have started to arrive in the mailbox. It never takes long does it?
I spent approximately three hours at the hospital as an outpatient. The cost just for those few hours comes in around $14,000. The surgeon fees are separate as well as the E.R. visit charge and a separate charge for the E.R. doctor that I saw for just around one hour. So for those two separate charges that is hovering around the $1,600 amount. The charge for when Dr. Weidman opened his office on that Saturday is nearly $900. It is estimated his surgical fee is going to be around $2,500.
So if you are still with me this is all adding up to quite a substantial amount of medical bills. We have applied through the hospital’s financial counseling department for a Charity Application. If we qualify we could be eligible for a 40 discount of just the hospital charge. I wrote a letter to make a case for ourselves. Part of the letter included that in December 2015 when Michael was diagnosed with blood clots in his legs that had moved to his lungs we had incurred a $19,000 hospital charge that we are still in the midst of paying off. Due to Michael’s diagnosis he is no longer able to work and is now receiving Social Security benefits. I have appealed to have the monthly $328 payment lowered so we could make room for this new bill.
So between my $800 to $900 earnings a month and what Michael’s disability is, we are able to meet our monthly household obligations but this new series of medical charges is really putting is in a tough bind.
So this is why we have decided to go public and fund a www.gofundme.com page. We are reluctant to do this but pride cannot get in the way of us being able to make sure we can stay in our home with our beloved cats. Whom I am sure would just love to know all of their names. So here we go, Patches, yes she is a Calico, Petey, yes a female, KC, short for kitty cat, Mister Doggee Boy, because I have always wanted to have a dog but couldn’t because we have nervous Nellie cats and finally Finley, our west coast addition.
I am not sure how to end this request for donations on our behalf other than to say THANK YOU all very much in advance for anything you feel comfortable about contributing to the cause. Plus the aforementioned cats say meowy much too.
Regards,
Michael & Lee Sales
May 15, 2017
Hello Everyone we know on facebook. As some of you may have seen a recent facebook post I did a few days ago, I experienced pronounced loss of vision in my right eye while at work on April 29th.
I was seen in the E.R. and informed at the time by the on-call doctor that after an initial exam that it was possible I was facing permanent loss of eyesight in that eye. Since that hospital facility lacked the type of equipment required to get a better read on my situation he referred me to an eye specialist that agreed to open up his office on a Saturday afternoon in order to examine me. We were told to go straight there, no stopping at home first or going anywhere else on the way to his office. That meant time was of the essence and it certainly got our attention.
It was Dr. Weidman’s assessment since my eye cavity was so full of blood he was unable to even see my retina. He performed an ultrasound and determined that I did have several tears in the retina. I was given the option to wait it out for up to six months to see if the blood cleared on its own or I could opt for surgery. After two weeks of adopting the wait and see approach I agreed to have the surgery. By choosing not to wait it meant I could return to work sooner and stem the loss of not having household income.
I underwent the surgery on May 11 and my sight has been restored to its previous 20/40. We are both very grateful to have been referred to such a wonderful surgeon in Dr. Weidman.
I would say you can’t put a price on having your sight, but apparently the medical community can! I was trying for a little humor there. So that means the bills have started to arrive in the mailbox. It never takes long does it?
I spent approximately three hours at the hospital as an outpatient. The cost just for those few hours comes in around $14,000. The surgeon fees are separate as well as the E.R. visit charge and a separate charge for the E.R. doctor that I saw for just around one hour. So for those two separate charges that is hovering around the $1,600 amount. The charge for when Dr. Weidman opened his office on that Saturday is nearly $900. It is estimated his surgical fee is going to be around $2,500.
So if you are still with me this is all adding up to quite a substantial amount of medical bills. We have applied through the hospital’s financial counseling department for a Charity Application. If we qualify we could be eligible for a 40 discount of just the hospital charge. I wrote a letter to make a case for ourselves. Part of the letter included that in December 2015 when Michael was diagnosed with blood clots in his legs that had moved to his lungs we had incurred a $19,000 hospital charge that we are still in the midst of paying off. Due to Michael’s diagnosis he is no longer able to work and is now receiving Social Security benefits. I have appealed to have the monthly $328 payment lowered so we could make room for this new bill.
So between my $800 to $900 earnings a month and what Michael’s disability is, we are able to meet our monthly household obligations but this new series of medical charges is really putting is in a tough bind.
So this is why we have decided to go public and fund a www.gofundme.com page. We are reluctant to do this but pride cannot get in the way of us being able to make sure we can stay in our home with our beloved cats. Whom I am sure would just love to know all of their names. So here we go, Patches, yes she is a Calico, Petey, yes a female, KC, short for kitty cat, Mister Doggee Boy, because I have always wanted to have a dog but couldn’t because we have nervous Nellie cats and finally Finley, our west coast addition.
I am not sure how to end this request for donations on our behalf other than to say THANK YOU all very much in advance for anything you feel comfortable about contributing to the cause. Plus the aforementioned cats say meowy much too.
Regards,
Michael & Lee Sales
Organizer
Mike Sales
Organizer
Charlotte, NC
