Support Jorge's Recovery and Medical Bills

My name is Nelly Posada, wife of Jorge Posada. For as long as I have known my husband he has always been a strong and hard working man. Never one to miss work or complain about anything that ailed him. Who knew that would change in a matter of days.

Jorge had been experiencing lower back pain for quite some time now, but around the second week of May 2024 it got worse. He went to work on Friday May 24th and came home like usual. On Saturday May 25th, 2024 he was in severe pain, to the point of not being able to lift his legs let alone hold himself up. After doing the best I could to get him in the car he asked me to drive him to the nearest emergency room. Once at the emergency room after a brief consult, the E.R. doctor sent him for a CT scan and some lab work. The scans showed he had lumbar stenosis. The doctor was very concerned and was not wanting to let him leave without an evaluation of the neurosurgeon. However, it being Memorial Day weekend, he wasn’t sure there would be one available. Sure enough, there wasn’t one who could see him at that location. He called around to the other Memorial Hermann Hospitals and found an available neuro that would see him. He made arrangements for transport and got him a room as soon as he arrived. He was transferred to Memorial Hermann Southwest. There they did an MRI and that showed his L2 and L3 were decompressed which was pushing up on a nerve causing severe pain.

His surgery was scheduled for May 29th. They did multiple blood tests, EKG’s, and had him connected to a heart monitoring machine. The EKG showed a few irregularities, but good enough to undergo surgery. After a 3 hour surgery, he was well on to recovery. They did a final set of labs, Xray’s and EKG’s before discharge. He went home May 31st. We were home for the weekend thinking all was well. However, on Monday June 3rd we got a call from the cardiologist requesting Jorge to come back, due to some abnormalities on the EKG reading and he was not able to view them until after he was released. He asked Jorge to come back to have a heart cath done to rule out any issues. I took him into the emergency room on June the 4th. (3 days after being discharged from back surgery.) He was admitted so they could perform the heart cath. After that the cardiologist wanted to review the findings with the heart surgeon. There was 2 routes to go, (heart stent or open heart surgery.) They found 90-95% of his major arteries had severe blockage. Open heart surgery was the only option. Prior to the surgery there were numerous tests done daily. (blood drawn every 4 hours along with a continuous heart monitor. His surgery was set for the day after his 54th birthday. (Heck of a way to celebrate!)

His surgery took 6 ½ hours. He was sent to the CVICU for recovery to begin. The first night was scary, he was in immense pain and not able to breathe that well. He almost choked on his own spit. Second day was no better. He went into tachycardia and was in and out of consciousness. They administered a magnesium sulfate drip and after a few minutes he regained consciousness. Things started to get better after that. Meanwhile, still having 4 chest tubes and all kinds of IV’s coming out of every inch of his body.(or so it seemed!) He was able to sit up for long periods of time and was walking around with physical therapy. The day before they moved him out of CVICU they removed almost all the tubes they had in him. (chest tubes, neck IV’s and urine cath.) He spent 4 days in ICU and was discharged a couple of days after.

We applied for Short term disability but ran into issues. The FML and the Short term paperwork was not going through to The Hartford. The only income at this point was my own. I was using paid time off and leave of absence to be able to help care for him. He was finally approved for the short term disability and will hopefully return to work in September 2024, Depending on his overall recovery.

Needless to say, the mounting medical bills are overwhelming; we are struggling to make ends meet and cover basic needs. We are reaching out to our friends, family, and the community for help in raising funds for Jorge’s medical bills and other costs due to the lost wages from these unfortunate and unexpected events that he went through. Any donation, no matter the size will make a great difference. Thank you for your kindness and compassion.

Thank you from the Posada Family!