Wednesday, May 30, 2012

New day new problems

<p>Having a really bad day.&nbsp; On hold almost 3 hours with Medicare.&nbsp; OMG. Really.&nbsp; Got nothing accomplished.&nbsp; When will it all end. Then my occupational therapist wants to cut me loose due to insurance problems.&nbsp; What's next.&nbsp;&nbsp; This mess has been going on since July. 2010. NOW. they want me to notify all Drs hospitals Rehabilitation centers and anastisialagists and so on and so on and so on to tell them to resubmit them in 60 days to see if they will pay them. I have. 2.8 million in medical bills.&nbsp; My prescriptions aren't covered and are very expensive my dr takes cash only.&nbsp; I feel like I'm doing what it takes to get better. But every time i turn around IM being knocked down.&nbsp; Sometimes i just don't want to go on......


Tuesday, May 29, 2012

fighting for my life Victoria corrente




July of 2010 I took a fall and though nothing of it, a few days later my hands began to tingle and go numb. I went to the emergency room where they informed me it was the medication I was currently on and I needed to be switched. I did that, but a few days later I went numb from my elbows down. I went back to the emergency room where they informed me I should make an appointment with my primary care physician, but I had made an appointment with my primary care physician who, by the way, couldn’t see me for 2 weeks. A few days later I went numb from my shoulder down. I had no use of my arms by this point. I went back to the emergency room where they did a cat scan and found nothing and dismissed me. I went straight to another hospital where I told them I was a threat to myself because I wanted to kill myself because I had no use of my arms, that way the hospital had to baker act me and hold me for 72 hours, so I could finally make them listen, and once I was admitted they could finally test me to see what was wrong. They poked me with needles and different objects to see if I could feel, then they did blood work, then another cat scan. Next thing I know I’m being rushed into emergency surgery, but by this time I was numb all the way down to my waist and because my hands were numb I couldn’t sign for the surgery so they recorded my oral acceptance. When the surgeon came in, I was surprised to find that it was the surgeon who had operated on my neck in 1995; he told me I had an abscess on my spine from c2 to c4. The surgery from 1995 was from c4 to c7; I took a tumble down the stairs and broke my neck so they put a titanium plate on my spine in that spot. Back to the present, the surgeon then informed me he had to clean out the abscess to save my life. The next thing I knew I woke up in the ICU with tubes down my throat, tied down to the bed, a huge brace on my neck and all I could here in whispers was, “We don’t know if she’s going to make it”. At that moment I made a decision about whether I wanted to live or die, I chose to live. Thirty days later, I woke up, I was in an induced coma and had pneumonia and was paralyzed. They told me at this point that I would be paralyzed for the rest of my life. I remember thinking in my head, “No, you have the wrong person”. They took the tubes out, and I could finally breathe. So I was transferred to a room and at this point they came in and talked to me about the procedure where they informed me I would were a neck brace for the rest of my life. Then they told me I would be put in a nursing home /rehabilitation center. I was transferred there immediately. I laid there every day staring down at my feet telling them to move. Every day for 6 months. Then suddenly, my right foot started to move, it was a miracle. At this point they transferred me to the rehab side of the facility, where they would come in everyday, and move my body parts for me. I started to move more; my feet to my knees to my hips, and then my right arm flew up one day, scared me too! I screamed, “MY ARM”! So then we started working my upper body. After many appointments with the surgeon they decided to take out the old plates and because my vertebrae had collapsed from c2 to c4 they needed to restore that too. So I went in for surgery again, but when they took out the old plate they found more abscesses and the plate was corroded, they had to stop to clean the infections so my surgery was never finished. I went back to rehabilitation. After 12 weeks of toxic antibiotics to clean out the infection, I was sent home to get strong enough to continue the previous surgery to repair my spine. After many many months of waiting and having my surgery postponed and rescheduled and postponed and rescheduled, and pain and suffering and rehab and therapy and disappointment and depression, I finally stood up on my own, and that was a miracle, and then surprise surprise, my surgery was scheduled. On march 21 2012, I went in for surgery, a plate was to be put on the base of my skull, with a rod descending past c1 down to t2. They used stem cells, and growth hormones to straighten the spine and unblock the fluid. All this meant I would never turn my head from side to side again. I would have to wear a full body harness, which I was fitted for and harnessed to, that could not be removed at all for 3 to 5 months. The surgery had left me numb, and so it began again.  After surgery they transferred me once again to another rehab facility, where I stayed until about a week ago, I’m now home in a new surrounding, not equipped for me, I can’t afford my medication or my equipment or even the co-pay for my doctor, let alone a ride to get there. I have physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, nurses, and CNA’s who each visit me twice a week for an hour. I really need around the clock care, but my insurance won’t cover it. My husband was in a car accident on his way to visit me once, where he injured his back, as a passenger, he has a fracture and two herniated disks and is waiting for surgery, he was my main caregiver. I have a daughter who is now 16 and I’ve missed 2 of her birthdays, and many more of the new and exciting things she experienced in starting high school.
I’m ready to heal, I’m ready to get over this and start living the best that I can, but I can’t do that without help. I need more medical care, I need simple things like an extended hairbrush so I can at least brush my own hair, but all the money I would use for things like this goes into keeping my daughter fed and protected, I barely eat so that she’ll have food. I’m asking for help, in this day and age, insurance can only cover so much, and anyone who is disabled under 50 is shit out of luck. I don’t want to lose my home, or my family, or my life, but these things are all at risk. Every day is like a roulette game, what I can give up so we have a home, what I can give up so my daughter can eat, what I can give up to relieve my husband’s anxiety, what I can give up so I can manage my pain. I have been stripped bare and left with barely anything.
I’ll try and provide weekly updates, but any little thing you can do will help. I have set up this PayPal account to accept donations to go towards the medical necessities I need to live on a daily basis. Just the minimum will do, I’m just looking to get by. Please open up your heart and give what you can. This is very difficult for me to ask because I have always worked for what I wanted, I never asked for anything.

Here is where you can donate