Help Phil Recover from Hospital and Medical bills

A Survival Story, Hello, my name is Phil. As I began writing this, it occurred to me that this almost sounds like a fictional story. I am in my 70s. I have been involved in real estate and custom home building for several years.

What happened: In the middle of last January, I began to experience some lower back pain. Within two days, it turned into severe pain. I decided to get to the hospital while I could still drive. That began a three-month hospital stay that I am just getting out of now. It began with a week in ICU. I had been diagnosed with septic abscesses in my spine with numerous blood clots. My entire body was on fire with pain.

The doctors decided to transfer me to a neurological surgical hospital for spine surgery. When I was prepped for the transfer, I had apparently been given an accidental overdose of pain meds by two different nurses for the move. I wound up flat lining in the ambulance. Fortunately, one of the ENT’s recognized the overdose symptoms and gave me Narcan to get me going again.

After about 10 days it was decided that I should be treated with antibiotics rather than surgery and I was transferred back to the original hospital.

Shortly after the transfer, I started having breathing problem. They found that my heart and lungs were surrounded with fluid. I had developed pneumonia, and my heart had started atrial fibrillation. My legs and arms had swollen to almost double in size.

I have now finished 11 weeks in the hospital and rehab. I was discharged on March 25th. And I am at home with rehab continuing. I have not been employed for going on four months and will not be employable for another 2-3 month as I am recovering from the pain and to not have to use a cane. I have used up all of my money reserves and am facing large co-pays for my prescriptions as well as living expenses.

I am using the time to search for employment. It galls me to the core to be asking for money. I have always been a self-sufficient person, but my back is up against the wall with time being my biggest obstacle.

Update: I am now a week out of the hospital. I can move around slowly and do short little walks although with pain. The issue is getting winded with exercise. I must keep it up to help it improve. I posted two additional photos. The main one is the way I spent my first 7 weeks in the hospital, on my back. I had too much pain to move.

The Rehab people worked to help me get my legs over the bed and try to stand. The second photo is the first time I was able to stand up and take a few steps, hence the smile.

I got my first out-of-hospital shock on Friday. My GP doctor had renewed my prescription for Eliquis, a heart med. The copay was $800, which I couldn’t afford to pay. I am sure I will be getting hit with several more. So, my pucker factor is increasing daily. My cardiologist's practice is working to reduce or eliminate the large copay. When I went through my mail, I have almost $15,000 total in deductibles and expenses so far with the different doctors. That will continue to grow with more appointments over the next couple of months. I have several medications that need to be refilled, and they all have co-pays as well.

I sincerely appreciate your help to get me over this financial hump so I can get back to work.