Help Julie Save Her Dog and Mother, and Keep Her Home

Hi, I'm Julie, and I need some help, please. This is a condensed version of why I am begging for help.

I had my right leg amputated below the knee on May 23, 2024. I am trying to save my dog (Sampson), I am attempting to bring my mother home to take care of her again as I promised her 7 years ago, manage to stay in our apartment, and avoid having my left leg amputated in the next month. I have so much chaos going on, I would laugh, but it really isn't funny anymore. The hits have been awful.

In March, I had a wound an inch in diameter on the back of my right ankle that was infected. My Achilles tendon was exposed. I ignored that discomfort until my dog Sampson showed interest in it. I took myself to the Urgent Care that night. An X-ray showed the bone in my ankle was infected. I was referred to Wound Care and my PCP, as my A1C was 13.9. My first of 6 appointments with the Wound Care doctor was on April 1st, and he didn't listen to me AT ALL over the next 6 visits, finally referred me to Palliative Care, and thought I was going to die. My visit with my PCP was on April 2. At that point, my A1C was 10.8. My son, Michael (a Sergeant in the US Army), was expected to arrive in a change of duty station 30-day break on May 20th. I explained to the WC doctor that because I am the SOLE caretaker for my mother (77 y/o, with End Stage COPD, Emphysema, and Oxygen Deprivation Dementia) I could NOT be admitted to the hospital. I could go to any test, X-ray, or scan after my son got here. No one could care for my mother. After my son arrived on May 20th, I could be admitted. Not until then. At that point, I could NOT leave my mother for more than 4 hours at a time. He told me there had to be a family member, friend, or neighbor. No. There is NO ONE else. Since I was 20 years old, I've done nothing else but take care of my family.

Mike pulled up early, in the early afternoon of May 18th. An hour later, he had me at the Emergency Department of the hospital. I was admitted that night, with MRSA, Gangrene, and I was Septic. 2 more days, I probably would have been dead. Surgeons debrided my ankle the next day, Sunday, May 19th. I was left with the front of my ankle and the bone. That's all, folks. On Thursday, May 23rd, I became a Below The Knee amputee. Michael offered to request a Compassionate Reassignment so he could stay in Columbia and help me. On Thursday evening, May 30th, I signed myself out of the hospital. My Momma would cry and beg me every day to come home and take care of her. I had told the doctor that morning I was going home that evening. I missed and needed my dog, Sampson, and Momma needed me to care for her. I walked into a pile of dishes in the sink. No one had done anything for 3 or 4 days. I cleaned the kitchen. Then went to bed. The next almost 3 months went well. Mike took me to doctor's appointments, helped when Momma's demands got to be too much. Momma is bladder and bowel incontinent, so I had to be very careful with my open wounds (Stump and a wound on my left foot) not to get infected due to her lack of hygiene. Mike broke up with his girlfriend in Virginia and began seeing a woman (Savannah) that lived in the same apartment building. Things began to change. He started drinking, telling me what a terrible burden I was. All I needed was for Mike to walk Sampson a few times a day, vacuum once a week, put the day's trash out, and pick up the mail. Mike started accusing me of using his money (we HAD a joint USAA account) to gamble with, not letting him have free time to spend with Savannah. Then he told me he wasn't having me living with him when he bought a house. He also spent a LOT of money on her. Since May 18th, I've been paying almost all the rent, utilities, and all the costs of running a home by taking Title Loans on my formerly paid-off car. On Monday, September 30th, Mike transferred the $2000 (the rent money I had in that joint account). On Wednesday, October 1st, Mike had received his Do It Yourself move of 10K. That was transferred out of our joint account within 30 minutes, then he closed the joint account. Leaving me with about $137 cash and some pocket lint. My apartment complex doesn't take pocket lint for rent that's due. My son has done this to the mother that has bailed him out all his life, for a woman he has known for less than 2 months. My biggest concern is what he will do when he figures out how he's been taken, and what he has done to me. I can help him get up off the bottom floor. I cannot save him if his threats of killing me and/or himself come true. I'm going to have an MRI at 8 am this morning, October 9th, and get the results tomorrow to see if my LEFT leg has to be amputated within a week. I can live with being an amputee, adjust, and live a good life, keeping my promises to family to take care of them until I die. I want my dog to have the best life possible, and continue to be the companion to me that he has been for the 6 1/2 years of his life. I promised Mom when I moved back in with her 7 years ago that I would never put her in a home. I CAN'T TAKE CARE OF ANYONE RIGHT NOW, AND IT IS BREAKING MY HEART. I also don't want to lose generations worth of furniture, none of which is valuable, but means the world to me because of it being made by my grandfather, or maybe my grandmother used that same flour sifter when she baked. Please. Please help me keep my promise to bring my mother home so I can take care of her for the rest of her life, make sure my dog is safe (I may have to give him up or have him put down if I have to be hospitalized for my left foot), keep a roof over our heads, a vehicle to go to doctor's appointments, and hope that I don't lose my son to suicide when he figures out what he has done to me. I believe this has all happened to me because I am strong and determined enough to rise to the challenges of my life, and hopefully I can let other amputees know that they can also live well with challenges, instead of seeing an amputation as a disability, or a handicap. For me, losing my right leg wasn't even a speed bump, it is simply a pebble in the road of my life. I just need enough time to heal, then I can go back to work, and keep my promises.

Thank you for anything you can do to help me, and my loved ones.