This is really hard for me to do but I’m in an extremely difficult spot and basically have no other choice than to ask for help.
3 weeks ago, I developed a 103.5 degree fever, vomiting and became delirious. I couldn’t tell the doctor my name, age or anything. I was admitted to the ICU at Jefferson Hospital and they did an emergency spinal tap in the ER. Luckily, the spinal tap did not indicate meningitis but I was put on strong antibiotics and was in the ICU for a week. Unfortunately, I experienced pretty severe complications from the spinal tap including a lumbar headache, neck ache and back ache for over a week and a half. When that subsided the dizziness started lasted for 30 mins at a time and could only be controlled by lying down. Jefferson never warned me about the dizziness and cleared me to work.
On my very first day back working, I passed out from the dizziness onto the sidewalk and fractured my fibula. The pieces were completely misaligned and rubbing against one another. I still continued to work with this injury for another week, walking miles every day for my job until I was physically unable to anymore. I initially thought it was a bad sprain since I could limp but it just kept getting worse and worse. One night I developed severe chills and the pain was excruciating. I ended up calling the ambulance and they admitted me immediately and told me I would need surgery the next day.
I had even more bad luck when the EKG they performed showed that I had a heart murmur so my surgery was delayed while they ran more tests. Eventually I was cleared for surgery and although it went well, the recovery has been brutal. The surgeon had to put in multiple pins and a metal plate. Initially I was recovering as well as could be expected. I was discharged 4 days post surgery and while being transferred out of the hospital, the transport nurse hit my newly operated on ankle into the metal elevator door with force. The pain was excruciating and it seemed to stall my recovery as I had been progressing well prior to that.
I was only home for 4 hours max when I began having chest pains and shortness of breath which is a bad sign post surgery. I had to take yet another ambulance ride back to the hospital and right away they realized I had a pulmonary embolism in my lung which required another hospital stay. I am going to have to be on blood thinners for 6 months. They also confirmed that my ankle was retraumatized from the elevator incident but lucky wouldn’t require another surgery.
I’m trying to be strong but it feels like I have been through hell and back this past month. I will be unable to work for 8 weeks minimum, have no unemployment as I am self employed as a photographer (who supplemented with UberEats) and have little to no savings to cover my medical bills, regular bills and other general living expenses. My family is not really in the position to help as they are struggling financially themselves. I feel so ashamed to ask for help but I have so much stress, depression and anxiety about how I’m going to manage all this. I will require physical therapy and occupational therapy as well for a long time. I truly never thought something like this would happen to me.
I know there are a lot of people who are struggling right now and need help. But if you can spare anything to help my recovery from surgery and my financial obligations while this is occurring I would be more than grateful. I can offer free photoshoots when I recover or we can work something else out if you would prefer. Please share this, thanks so much.
