Mark's Medical Out-of-Work Fund
On April 24th, I was taken by ambulance to the emergency room with an apparent bowel obstruction. I was placed under observation, and the situation resolved without hospital admittance.
On April 26th, I returned to the ER with an apparent bowel obstruction. I was admitted to the hospital and was placed under careful scrutiny; the food and drink I took in were closely monitored, and the blockage appeared to pass. I was discharged.
On April 28th, I returned to the ER with an apparent bowel blockage. I was admitted to the hospital and immediately prepped for exploratory surgery. They were able to complete the procedure laparascopically; they discovered no herniation or other obvious physical reason for obstruction, but did discover widespread inflammation and numerous adhesions/lesions in the area of the bowel past the heavily bloated sections. Trimming these adhesions immediately reduced bloating symptoms. I was in care for another day, closely observed, but quickly discharged -- laparoscopic procedures have significantly quicker healing periods! I was very pleased.
On April 30th, I returned to the ER with an apparent bowel blockage. No fucking around this time -- they were going to be opening me up from tip to stern, and it was going to be happening right away. With my innards fully exposed, they were able to locate significantly more adhesions in the regions preceeding the apparent blockage location, and further signs of significant inflammation around my small intestine and stomach. Clearing all these out took a few hours, but had the same result as before. They stitched me up and I began the very slow recovery process I am now on. 5 days later, I have been discharged from the hospital.
Hi. My name is Mark, and the story above is a brief synopsis of recent-but-not-uncommon events in my life. This campaign exists to assist me and my wife with taking care of life's basic necessities while I am out-of-work recovering from the maximally-invasive procedure discussed above.
Our goal for the campaign is $3,000. The objectives for this money are manifold:
• Continue to maintain a basic existence while I am out-of-work for the next 8-12 weeks. This includes covering expenses such as rent ($560/month), utilities ($370/month), existing debt (~$438/month), and life itself for us and our two cats ($∞/month).
(Charlie and Flea express the feline equivalent of gratitude that your generosity will continue to keep them adequately kibbled.)
• Put money away for a move to northwest Arkansas to be closer to family. We are utterly isolated here in the Pacific Northwest, and multiple troublesome situations such as this very one have driven home (ha!) how vast our lack of social and emotional support has become. As of this posting, a U-Haul-brand 10-foot truck with a tow dolly will run us just shy of $1,000, which doesn't include 2,500 miles of gasoline and three days worth of cheap amenities.
• Other, very specific objectives, as outlined using the "reward levels" system in a Kickstarter-like fashion; you can, if you have the means and the will, take care of any specific objective outright, but anything raised beyond the $3,000 mark will be used for the following: To pay my Medicare premiums (it really says something about the economics of American healthcare that I qualify for and somehow simultaneously can't afford the closest thing to universal healthcare we have); to pay off a personal debt; to pay off credit card debt; to pay off student loan debt; to establish a home in Arkansas, including rental deposit and acquisition of a bed and couch; to pay for Flea (cat on the right in picture above) to have elective surgery to remove his floppy, barely-attached sixth toes from his feet before an accident rips them off; to make life, through your profound generosity, a bit easier for us. (It has not been easy.) All specific objectives will be confirmed to have been used for their explicit purpose via posted receipt.
The Big Picture
This is already incredibly long, so I'll try to be succinct: My name is Mark (as mentioned); I'm 34 years old, married, living in Washington state. I work for a nationwide charitable organization devoted to medical research and assistance. I am disabled, having ankylosing spondylitis and syringomyelia (god help me if I also have Crohn's, but this latest intestinal disaster could be a sign). Since I am employed, I do not draw a monthly stipend, but I do have Medicare, as well as insurance through my employer. Medicare isn't free, and you'll see from the rewards list on the right that I'm having trouble paying the premiums on it. I need to go to the Washington department of human services and argue about reducing or eliminating these premiums. (I didn't have to so much as lift a finger for Oregon to do this for me when I lived there. How can this even be a state matter?! I digress,) I have had two surgeries on my neck to correct the syringomyelia, one in 2008 and the other in 2013; they worked reasonably well, as I am not jittery all the time. I had gastric bypass in 2015, hernia repair in 2016 (featuring another bowel blockage -- learn all about that on this Imgur post!), and this surgery 5 days ago. I have a disabled parking placard I'm self-conscious about using because of the invisible nature of my disabilities. I am generally upbeat, but feel incredibly broken after these recent events, and need a good deal of mental and emotional recovery time -- so it's handy in that regard that I'm on medical leave for the next several weeks. I'm paranoid about losing my job, but that seems incredibly unlikely to the point of impossible. I just hope I'm not bored while I'm recovering.
My wife is 30, gave me the Luvdisc plushie seen in the feature photo, and the absolute love of my life. She does not work, as she has narcolepsy with cataplexy, and it's pretty hard finding even menial work that can adjust to accommodate that. Needless to say, she also does not drive. After a significant wait, she will be having her own disability hearing before a magistrate at the end of June, and we are confident in a favorable decision. We will each breathe a bit easier after that; our care and day-to-day lives will be less stressful. I am incredibly thankful to have her in my life; despite our unfortunate situations, it is hard to be sad with someone by my side so loving and understanding as she is. We already had tons in common, but, for what it's worth, I suppose being broken in various ways lets us care for each other even more.
Our lease is up the first of July, and our intent is to move to northwest Arkansas, putting us in the vicinity of multiple good doctors, and a large network of friends and family all within mere minutes of each other. Being alone out here has only driven home how hard our lives are, and we no longer think we can make it on our own.
Questions
Q. $3,000 doesn't seem like enough to cover three months of everything you mentioned above.
A. It isn't, but while I won't stop anybody from helping beyond $3,000, it is enough for us to do what we need. While I am out of work, I did have the foresight to enroll in a short-term and long-term disability insurance program which covers 60% of my income while out-of-work for covered reasons. So, I am broke, but I'm not completely out of funds.
Q. $3,000 is too much!
A. Okay.
Q. How do I know you are who you say you are and are suffering what you say you are suffering and know my money is going towards what you say it's going towards?
A. GFM doesn't really make that easy. And I don't need to go giving away a lot of personally identifiable information. But, if anything gets earmarked for a specific purpose, I will amend this post with receipts detailing the transactions in question. If you donate and would like your funds earmarked for a specific purpose, I can provide emailed copies of the same. If you want to verify any detail above, no matter how miniscule, contact me as to what you want and we can work it out. Some stuff, like certain diagnoses, might take awhile, as I don't think I have that medical documentation on-hand anymore. Things like bills are much easier to verify, and scans of those are easy to obfuscate and provide.
In the meantime, here are some things I have the info on to verify right away:
• My Medicare bill -- overdue, now, but hey, emergency surgery.
• My student loan debt -- some of you may recognize the name of the agency currently administering this.
• More to come or by request.
Q. Sorry shit sucks.
A. I know, dude. Thanks.