08/30/2022
As my photography friends know by now that I have not been posting much in the last year or two on my page. This will explain why and what I have been up to. If you would share this it would be appreciated. I thank you and wish you all the best!
https://gofund.me/30505cdf
On December 29, 2020, at about 8 AM, I was having coffee on my front porch when I became nauseated and began to throw up blood. After throwing up 3 times, I called a friend for help, and he took me to the emergency room at the hospital.
I was taken to surgery and was given transfusions to keep me alive while they operated. They also intubated my upper gastrointestinal tract to keep me from drowning from the hemorrhaging of my esophagus. My brother was notified that I should be out of surgery and in a room after 3 to 4 hours.
Things did not go as planned, and I slipped into a totally non-responsive coma. I suffered acute respiratory failure several times while in the coma. They had to intubate me each time and put me on a ventilator. On day 5 of being in a coma, they began to do brain scans to see if my brain was still functioning, and it appeared to be. I began to wake up on day 6.
I did not know where I was, what year it was, or how to use a cell phone. I had to learn to walk again and feed myself. I thought I was still in California (I live in Mississippi now and had for 3 years), and my depth perception was all off, and I would spill drinks and food down my hospital gown. They (the nurses) eventually had to feed me.
After another 5 days or so of working with physical therapists and receiving fluids through six (6) drips running full-time, I was released to my brother's care. I eventually figured out how to walk, go to the grocery, get in and out of bed, and simply get out of a chair. I fell a lot during this learning process.
I was told that most people do not survive this type of emergency operation and either bleed to death internally or drown due to the lungs filling up with blood and cutting off the air. I have told a few people about this, but not many. I am still having trouble and numerous trips (12 to 15 in 2021) to the hospital emergency room. My doctors told me that working stress was causing problems with my survival until a liver transplant could be performed. I took a non-paid medical leave from work.
I was referred to the University Medical Center for a liver transplant evaluation. I was accepted into their program. I was told that without a transplant, I will die. They stated that many people die on the waiting list for a new organ and there are no guarantees. My insurance company removed the University Medical Center from their provider list on April 2022, and my transplant status was changed to "on hold" until I had insurance to cover the cost of the surgery.
I have secured new insurance that will go into effect September 1, 2022, but at a cost. I will have to pay around $12,000 in the next 5 months to cover deductibles. I will also have to pay for in home care after the surgery 24 hours a day for between 3 weeks and 3 months. This will be a huge expense that I don't readily have available to me. That is why I have started this Go Fund Me page to try to cover some of my medical expenses. If you can help I would appreciate it and if not just keep me in your thoughts. Any amount will help.
I am sharing this so you know that you should hug your loved ones because you never know when it will be your last hug. Be thankful for what you have and be sensitive to the needs of others. Always tell a nurse how special they are because they really do have angel wings hidden beneath their work clothes.
I will probably remove some of this as I sometimes share too much. Be well, be thankful, be humble.
https://gofund.me/30505cdf
