Struggling to Prevent Homelessness
Donation protected
Hello, my name is Donna Versace. I had a large 9mm disk herniation in Feb. 2011 which resulted in a back surgery June 2011. The surgery failed and left me with epidural fibrosis (scar tissue) to my S1 nerve root. Since the surgery I have had tailbone pain with moderate to severe pain sitting or driving a car. I tried my best with working afterwards going in and out of work when my body could no longer take the severe anxiety and daily chronic pain. I had to quit my job at the bank after 18 years there and apply for SSDI. I went for 4 years of unemployement and 4 denials even though I had an attorney. I did not have the filing fee to take my case to federal level so I forced myself to apply for a work at home job. I was desparate, hoping that I could pull it off since I wasn't required to drive a car or sit in a chair. In order to perform the job I had buy a sit/stand desk and zero gravity recliner and put pillows underneath me and behind me since I was in a laying/reclined position and too far away from the desk to reach the keyboard and mouse. Since I have neuropathy and allodynia (meaning I cannot tolerate the feel of any clothing) in my entire tailbone, sacrum, left buttock area, I had to lay in a somewhat twisted position with my shorts pulled down to avoid clothing touching the area of allodynia. As weeks passed by my pain kept getting worse, many times the pain was so severe I was crying hysterically while getting my computer booted up to get ready for my job. I have cognitive issues and had a hard time between that and the physical pain making it hard to concentrate to do my job and research through the given materials needed to help the customers calling in for help so I spent alot of time reaching out to the managers on duty to help me even though we had already received a warning email about not doing that and to look for answers on our own. I sent emails to my team leader asking to have my hours reduced but they required ADA paperwork to be filled out. I went to 2 different doctors trying to get this paperwork filled out but since they were new doctors (I just moved back here to my hometown and having problems finding a doctor to treat me regularly) so they refused to fill out the paperwork. I was getting near the end of my rope taking mass doses of pain meds just to get through my shift, having to send emails for not being able to work or having to leave my shift early. I finally was no longer able to handle working full time and I wasn't going to be able to get my hours reduced so I had to quit and apply for SSDI all over again.
Since I was already drug through the mud by SSA the last time for 4 years I have lost everything along the way. I exhausted the last of my IRA funds in 2015, then had to cash in my life insurance policy to have that to survive off of while I was still waiting on my disability case. The only thing I had left to sell was my house so I sold that last year and moved back to my hometown to be near my son. I moved into a rental house with my son but sadly things went sour in a little over 4 months, we had a bad argument and he threw the keys at me, screamed at me walking out and leaving me with a rental house to pay $1,050 a month all by myself with no job, no way to pay. I had to quickly put an ad in Craigslist to find as many roommates as I could fit in the house just to have money to pay the rent. While me and my son made amends, our relationship is still rocky and I am not allowed to talk about my health, my disabilities, or my financial situation with him. I was able to find a small cheaper apartment that one of my roommates was willing to move in with me to share the rent and utilities but unfortunately what I have left from selling my house will not last while I am waiting on a new disability claim. I am not delusional enough to think I will not get by without having to get to the hearing level again with my disability claim.
I am trying to manage what money I have left and budgeting a certain amount per month to pay for my part of the rent and electric bill, my car insurance, internet and phone. Eventually I will have to shut off internet and phone and just keep the free cell phone I have. I am hoping that will not be too soon because I will need access to the internet to check on the status of any donations and transfer them to my bank account. I am fortunate enough to be receiving food stamps or else I would become homeless much sooner by having to pay for my food.
To go a bit deeper into my health conditions, about a year after the failed back surgery I was given a prescription for Ciprofloxacin for a UTI during a visit to the ER. I had been having symptoms of UTI but missed the appointment with my PCP due to having to go the the ER so I asked the ER doctor if they could test me while there. The Ciprofloxacin brought on more pain and damage to my already damaged spine as I was met with chronic systemic illnesses and health issues. I now have tendon pain in multiple areas of my body with very limited use of both hands, pain in the joints of multiples areas of my body, peripheral neuropathy and allodynia (pain from light touch of anything and a neurosurgeon has suggested possible RSD/CRPS), chronic insomnia, multiple chemical sensitivites (which means I cannot tolerate chemicals in any form such as cleaning products, beauty products, perfumes & colognes), hypersensitive to sounds and noises, zero tolerance for any stress, SI joint dysfunction and severe tailbone pain (I have to either stand to eat my food now or sit and practically inhale the food quickly because sitting is painful and driving is excruciating).
Eventually I will have to start selling all of my belongings, my furniture, maybe hold onto my bed so I have something to lay on. I just don't know what else I can do to support myself while waiting on my disability claim. I spend all day on a website watching videos, doing surveys to gain enough points to make a few bucks but the videos keep timing out and it takes forever to get the points to make money. I tried registering on a website to sell the pictures I used to take when I was into photography but my pictures were rejected because they are not suitable. As you can see, I really am trying all kinds of avenues and I'm not just some lazy good for nothing loser laying around with my hand out expecting charity. I really am trying but keep having one deadend after another and it's hard doing all of this with the pain I have.
I would appreciate any donations possible just so I can have a way to keep my head above water. I have already calculated what money I have left and how much I am spending a month at bare minimal and my money will be all gone within about a year. The average wait time for a hearing here where I live is 20 months. I have nowhere to go, both my parents are deceased and as explained above my son will not help or support me in this and just yells at me if I even bring up my situation. Below is a link to my news story that was aired back in April of last year to give you an idea of what is happening with me in refernce to the damage from the Ciprofloxacin along with a link from the latest black box warning added by the FDA.
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm500143.htm
http://www.wsoctv.com/videos/news/some-blame-certain-antibiotics-for-devastating/vDQypd/
Since I was already drug through the mud by SSA the last time for 4 years I have lost everything along the way. I exhausted the last of my IRA funds in 2015, then had to cash in my life insurance policy to have that to survive off of while I was still waiting on my disability case. The only thing I had left to sell was my house so I sold that last year and moved back to my hometown to be near my son. I moved into a rental house with my son but sadly things went sour in a little over 4 months, we had a bad argument and he threw the keys at me, screamed at me walking out and leaving me with a rental house to pay $1,050 a month all by myself with no job, no way to pay. I had to quickly put an ad in Craigslist to find as many roommates as I could fit in the house just to have money to pay the rent. While me and my son made amends, our relationship is still rocky and I am not allowed to talk about my health, my disabilities, or my financial situation with him. I was able to find a small cheaper apartment that one of my roommates was willing to move in with me to share the rent and utilities but unfortunately what I have left from selling my house will not last while I am waiting on a new disability claim. I am not delusional enough to think I will not get by without having to get to the hearing level again with my disability claim.
I am trying to manage what money I have left and budgeting a certain amount per month to pay for my part of the rent and electric bill, my car insurance, internet and phone. Eventually I will have to shut off internet and phone and just keep the free cell phone I have. I am hoping that will not be too soon because I will need access to the internet to check on the status of any donations and transfer them to my bank account. I am fortunate enough to be receiving food stamps or else I would become homeless much sooner by having to pay for my food.
To go a bit deeper into my health conditions, about a year after the failed back surgery I was given a prescription for Ciprofloxacin for a UTI during a visit to the ER. I had been having symptoms of UTI but missed the appointment with my PCP due to having to go the the ER so I asked the ER doctor if they could test me while there. The Ciprofloxacin brought on more pain and damage to my already damaged spine as I was met with chronic systemic illnesses and health issues. I now have tendon pain in multiple areas of my body with very limited use of both hands, pain in the joints of multiples areas of my body, peripheral neuropathy and allodynia (pain from light touch of anything and a neurosurgeon has suggested possible RSD/CRPS), chronic insomnia, multiple chemical sensitivites (which means I cannot tolerate chemicals in any form such as cleaning products, beauty products, perfumes & colognes), hypersensitive to sounds and noises, zero tolerance for any stress, SI joint dysfunction and severe tailbone pain (I have to either stand to eat my food now or sit and practically inhale the food quickly because sitting is painful and driving is excruciating).
Eventually I will have to start selling all of my belongings, my furniture, maybe hold onto my bed so I have something to lay on. I just don't know what else I can do to support myself while waiting on my disability claim. I spend all day on a website watching videos, doing surveys to gain enough points to make a few bucks but the videos keep timing out and it takes forever to get the points to make money. I tried registering on a website to sell the pictures I used to take when I was into photography but my pictures were rejected because they are not suitable. As you can see, I really am trying all kinds of avenues and I'm not just some lazy good for nothing loser laying around with my hand out expecting charity. I really am trying but keep having one deadend after another and it's hard doing all of this with the pain I have.
I would appreciate any donations possible just so I can have a way to keep my head above water. I have already calculated what money I have left and how much I am spending a month at bare minimal and my money will be all gone within about a year. The average wait time for a hearing here where I live is 20 months. I have nowhere to go, both my parents are deceased and as explained above my son will not help or support me in this and just yells at me if I even bring up my situation. Below is a link to my news story that was aired back in April of last year to give you an idea of what is happening with me in refernce to the damage from the Ciprofloxacin along with a link from the latest black box warning added by the FDA.
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm500143.htm
http://www.wsoctv.com/videos/news/some-blame-certain-antibiotics-for-devastating/vDQypd/
Organizer
Donna Versace
Organizer
Roanoke, VA
