Rudy Apodaca's Road to Recovery

A story of endurance and Persistence from my brother, Rudy Apodaca:
On December 7 I fell and broke four ribs in half, punctured my left lung, and tore abdominal muscles and chest wall tissue. It was the worst experience of my life. After two nights at Saint Davids hospital, I spent the next six weeks sitting in my chair avoiding the horrible pain of standing or doing almost anything at all.

I was a highly active person that turned into an immediate cripple. That’s OK I would heal. Give it 6 to 8 weeks and my ribs will be fine. I did what they told me to do. I sat in my chair and waited. I finally went to the doctor in late January because my ribs were still “clicking” and constantly moving and irritating one another perpetuating my pain and even making it worse. The doctor said “they’ll heal, there is nothing I can do”. “You can try wrapping them if you’d like”. I left the doctor perplexed, depressed, and discouraged.

How will the broken sections heal if they are constantly moving with each deep breath or movement? But I said to myself, give it time, remain inactive, and “they’ll heal”. Stay positive! But my pain didn’t get better and the broken sections continued to constantly rub against one another, so I scheduled another appointment/X-ray in February with a different doctor. The X-ray showed the same thing - still broken. The gap between my ribs was pretty much the same as the night of the accident on Dec 7.

I had never really thought that much about my rib cage, but I learned that the rib cage is considered the “helmet” of the body. It does the amazing job of protecting ALL of are precious and fragile organs. Hmm...So Doc scheduled a follow up X-ray in six weeks. Surely they would be healed by then! That was 12 weeks after the injury. Due to the pandemic I canceled the March 2020 x-ray appointment to stay home as the fear of Corona virus set in.

Covid 19 disrupted everyone’s life like never before. Even though covid was ruining the way of life for all my fellow citizens around the world , my life was getting a little bit better as the torn muscles and tissue were healing and I could start to do some small activities. As of March 10, I had spent 3 months in my own isolation and healing time at home. Due to the Corona virus my industry of live music goes away indefinitely. The world shuts down as I’m finally ready to get back to work at The Oasis doing sound for bands. Yet my ribs were still clicking against one another irritating the nerves and causing a continuous dull pain that would sometimes be a sharp pain.

It was at this point in time I began contemplating that “maybe you are going to be this way for the rest of your life”. It was a thought that felt horrible. My loved ones and friends encouraged me, “no no, you are going to heal, don’t think that !” So I moved on with that notion in mind, I WILL HEAL! Yet pessimism was still lurking deep down in my soul. I felt destroyed. No more runs. No more push ups, no more pull ups, no more sit-ups. No more doing the things I loved to do to keep my body “in shape” mentally and physically.

So despite my aches and pains, due to the covid stay at home order, I got busy around my house doing things I had the time and ability to do. I was busy and hurting every day. The harder I worked, the more it hurt. So I had another X-ray on June 2, 2020....Still broken and not even close to bonding. Ok I thought, this is it, this is my life from here on, accept it, focus on what health you have. So many people have it worse than you. And that is true. Still, I was heartbroken. My helmet (rib cage) is broken and will never be the same. If I fall someday my unstable chest wall may cause my ribs to puncture my lung again, my heart, or who knows.

Even though my muscles and tissue was healing I would remain a compromised body. No jet skis, no skiing, no sparring, no biking.... With this reality, my wife Jill, who is becoming a nurse practitioner, hunkered down and did some research. She discovered a procedure called “rib fixation” or “rib plating”. I couldn’t find doctor in Austin that was experienced or even aware that such a procedure existed! Rib Fixation is a procedure which is done by a thoracic surgeon using metal plates screwed into “non unionized” ribs to hold them together so that they can heal properly. It has been around for 10 years! Uhhhh... geez... hmmm....

So the next day I researched the internet for “rib fixation” and found only one doctor that had extensive experience with this procedure. He is Dr. Min Kim Thoracic Surgeon Houston Methodist Hospital. The doctors I had seen, including Saint David’s Hospital (The hospital that I had been taken to the night of my injury) had no clue such a procedure even existed. Well I didn’t have insurance and scheduled a self pay tele-health appointment to discuss my situation with Dr Kim. It was pretty cut and dry, he said if they’re still moving and shifting, they will never heal.

Okay I thought I’ve got to get this surgery or live this way forever. Since I don’t have insurance and am self pay, I get a 50% reduction on the cost of the surgery. Yay! I was told maybe $50,000-$60,000 dollars for the hospital cost. Okay, so 50% of that is something I can possibly raise, borrow, or save. My wonderful parents said they would help too! Love them so much BTW. Always been there for me. I call the surgeons office to obtain the CPT codes to get an estimate from Houston Methodist as to the cost of the surgery. The financial lady I spoke with was very nice and promptly called me back with the cost. I was excited to start figuring out how I was going to get this thing paid for and improve my quality of life. So she said the hospital fee, not including the surgeon fee which I would have to pay directly, would be $289,400.00 and with the self pay discount of 50% I would need to pay $144,700.00 up front to have the surgery. Uhh... ok this is my life for now, no way that surgery is gonna happen anytime soon... All of the sudden it became clear that I could forget about it for now, maybe hope for a rich future and a fix down the road.

Then I tried one last thing. Most hospitals have a charity that you can apply for if you can’t afford the cost. So I called Houston Methodist hospital and asked about how to apply for the charity assistance. I spoke with a women named Bridget in the finance department and she told me where on the website to go to find the charity financial assistance program and apply. Then she started to ask about my circumstance and showed great sympathy for my situation. She asked me for my email address and said that she would send me the application directly. She then asked me to return the application to her directly and she will fast track it to the right person with the charity finance program. This review process for the charity usually takes 4 to 6 weeks for them to determine whether you qualify.

I wasn’t really happy about turning over six months of bank records to anyone, but I was desperate. I’d been living with broken ribs for 7&1/2 months. So the next day I gathered all the necessary documents and emailed them to Bridget. I got a call the next day that I had been approved! I still have to pay a small percentage of the hospital fee but not up front. They will let me make low payments over time.

I scheduled the surgery and it went great! The Houston Methodist staff has been excellent, every single one of them. My ribs are not rubbing and clicking anymore and can now heal properly. God bless all the wonderful people in the medical profession who help all the sick and injured people of the world. I am so thankful, you changed my life. Health is the greatest wealth. Thanks so much to all my loving family who have been there any time I needed them during this long and hard road. God Bless you all.

 
 From Cindy:  We are so grateful for the endurance and persistence Rudy demonstrated during this very dark and low time in his life. Feeling like you are literally 'broken' is an awful place to be in life and Rudy has inspired so many people including his entire family with his resilience,  positive attitude, and loving nature no matter what was he was going through.  We are blessed beyond measure in our family and hope his story has been able to inspire anyone who is experiencing long suffering and hardship. May endurance and persistence with God's loving grace be in you as well. 

A few of you asked about making donations for Rudy's expenses and so we thought a GFM account to benefit him directly with these expenses was a great way to help him through this chapter of his life. If you feel called to do so, please feel free to help and if not, your prayers for a speedy recovery and a little normalcy back in his life is just as good. Thank you and May God's Blessings be upon you all.