Haleigh's Medical + Living Expenses

On August 12, while getting ready to leave the house, I accidentally tripped and fell fracturing my ankle on both sides as well as dislocating my talus bone.  My husband had to call an ambulance to come to my apartment and transport me to the emergency room where they did multiple x-rays, gave me several doses of pain medication and anti-nausea medication.  They also had to set the bones in my leg twice to be able to put it in a splint before sending me home.

The day after, I went back to the emergency room because the splint was too tight and I was still having severe pain and I didn't feel as though the pain medication they prescribed was helping.  Once I arrived, they did another x-ray, loosened the ace bandages around my splint, and gave me a different prescription before sending me on my way.

On August 16th I had my first appointment with an orthopedic surgeon at which point he removed the splint to reveal that I had numerous fracture blisters covering my foot.  He left them as is, telling me I would need to come in for a weekly appointment for them to remove my cast and check the status of the blisters and the swelling.


In the week between that appointment and the following appointment, I noticed that one of the blisters began to grow outside of my cast and hang over my toes, and two days before my appointment it began to drain.


When I arrived at my next appointment on August 23rd, he removed the cast to reveal that my fracture blisters had become increasingly large and that I had developed a skin infection called cellulitis.  (The blister on the back of my ankle is so bad that it's eaten away some of the flesh.)

The doctor told me that it was going to take weeks for this to heal, and they can't do surgery until they heal because the chance of infection would be extremely high and if I got an infection, the chance of my losing my foot would be very high as well.

All of the options this orthopedic doctor wanted to explore weren't possible due to the severity of my condition, so he prescribed me an antibiotic for the cellulitis and recasted my leg.


The next day, I called to ask a question about my cast, and they informed me that from now on the doctor I was seeing would like to transfer me to a trauma ortho surgeon, and to call and make an appointment with him.

I called to make my appointment, but the soonest he was available is September 1st, as he is only in the office on Thursday.

My first emergency room visit was $4,829.13.  The second emergency room visit was $2,569.89.  I do have insurance, but there is a high deductible, followed by a high out of pocket maximum, so a lot of my bills are going to need to be paid out of pocket.

I am going to be unable to work until after my blisters heal, I receive surgery, and I am cleared to be able to drive again.  In the mean time, we are having to survive on only Scotty's income which isn't even enough to be able to pay our rent or any of our bills, let alone the hospital bills, ambulance bill, as well as my weekly doctor visits and my pain medication that I am unable to go without as the pain is excruciating since the ankle is not repaired.

I haven't received the bills for my original orthopedic doctor yet, but I know the trauma orthopedic doctor will cost even more than the previous one.

A prescription of 50 pills of my pain medication that I take every four hours costs $75 even with insurance.  A bottle lasts me just over a week. 

Despite all of this, I still want to puruse my dreams of being a teacher, so I will have to call a transportation company to be able to drive me to my classes at USF on Wednesday and Thursday as my husband's work schedule has just changed and he will no longer be able to take me, so I know that's going to be expensive as well.

On top of the medical bills, we are still responsible for paying rent ($930), electricty (around $100), cable ($41, we have a contract,) car insurance (we are working on lowering this since I cannot drive), credit card payments ($275) as well as being able to buy groceries, and put gas in Scotty's car.  I'd also like to be able to provide gas money to any of my classmates that are able to help assist with rides to my internship on Tuesdays.

We would not ask for assistance if it wasn't absolutely necessary.  We don't know what else to do, and we will be eternally grateful for any assistance, no matter how small.

If you would feel more comfortable commissioning me to crochet something for you, or having Scotty do some basic electrical service or general labor, please feel free to message us about that and if it's within our abilities, and within our physical and emotional limitations, we will do so!

Or, if you would feel more comfortable sending us money through PayPal or a personal check, please contact me through Facebook message, and I will give you the information you need! 

Another option would be if you'd be interested in purchasing anything from me as an Origami Owl designer, I get a commission on anything you purchase as long as you use my link.  You can order from here: http://haleighdykes.origamiowl.com

I plan to post updates to here after each doctor's visit to keep everyone in the loop.

$20,000 is an estimation because while my medical bills may not cost that much once we reach our out of pocket, but with the rest of our bills and stuff we may need more than this.  But again we will be grateful for anything you are able to give.

Thank you ahead of time for your donation!  God bless!