Mama drowning in medical bills, please help!

Hi! My name is Michèle Murphy and this Go Fund Me is to help pay for my accumulating medical debt.

You may have looked at photos of me, wondering how I can be sick when I don’t “look” sick. Pictures don’t tell the story, but the hundreds of scars all over my body do. This is my story.

For the past 20 years, I have spent a lot of time explaining why I am the healthiest-looking sick person. I experienced my first unprovoked blood clot, appearing in my right thigh, at the age of 24. It never occurred to me that I could get a blood clot at that age since I did not take contraceptives. Aside from the blood clot, I was diagnosed with progressive vascular disease, with pronounced chronic venous insufficiency located throughout my body. Thus began my first of many vascular surgeries. I began religiously wearing compression stockings with a moderately high level of compression. They were SO ugly, thick tan stockings, but I wore them anyway. (Side note: I began writing to Jobst expressing my frustration with the lack of colorful options for young people like myself. Two years later, they started making black ones, which became my go-to). Post-clot, I had follow-ups with imaging and labs and then, 6 months later, I needed another vascular surgery, this one much more extensive (and painful!), and then 6-9 months after that I had two surgeries, so on and so forth. To date, I have had 21 major vascular surgeries excluding those related to emergency situations with blood clots.

I had a very difficult time getting pregnant despite having elevated estrogen. My husband and I were finally approved to start fertility treatments when I discovered I was pregnant with our first daughter. I was a high-risk pregnancy due to vascular disease and previous history of blood clots with post-thrombotic syndrome.

I had my second unprovoked blood clot followed shortly by a catastrophic placental abruption almost resulting in death for both me and my very tiny, very sick preemie. She was born at 34 works with a placenta that was black and completely full of blood clots. My abdominal cavity was suctioned out due to all of the blood clots. To back up, at 32 weeks I felt like something was wrong. I didn’t know what, I just knew that things were off. The attending physician at the hospital told me that I was just being an anxious first-time mother and everything was fine. Only it actually wasn’t. The pathology of the placenta at 34 weeks showed that the abruption had occurred at 32 weeks and my daughter had be lacking adequate oxygen and nutrients as a result. Rather than bleeding out, which is what typically happens, my body didn’t bleed, it simply clotted like crazy. A wonderful hematologist from the practice across from the hospital came to speak with me about running genetic tests and other labs and said he would follow-up once results arrived.

3 weeks later, I learned that I have 3 blood clotting disorders, that completed a genetic trifecta (3 blood clotting disorders + vascular disease + too much estrogen) putting me at extremely high-risk for blood clots and other problems in the future. My team of doctors, yes, by now I had a team with whom I had regular visits and who worked together on treatment plans, decided to hold-off on using continuous anti-coagulants except for the 6 week post-delivery period I was in.

I was referred to a perinatologist to discuss having more children. He agreed to work with my team on identifying measures that would control for some of the risks I have. Almost 12 months later, I got pregnant again. I immediately began taking 2x daily subcutaneous Lovenox injections and started wearing my pregnancy compression tights (those are the very hardest things to get on!) rather than my knee-high compression stockings to help with blood flow. When I went for my first ultrasound at 6 weeks, everything looked good. Then I went for another at 11 weeks for testing and evaluation of the placenta, which looked good. Then, I started having spotting at 13 weeks and at almost 14 weeks we had lost our baby. It was devastating. I stopped bleeding the next day. My doctor ordered labs and beta-testing and we discovered that my pregnancy hormones were climbing every three days when I got tested, and then finally, an ultrasound showed that we had another baby that had been hiding in my uterus very high up, close to where the fallopian tube is. Knowing we had another baby helped some of the pain from losing its twin. And then 16 weeks came and we lost this baby. So we lost two babies in just over two weeks. I had the very worst cramping in my life and couldn’t even stand up. I wasn’t bleeding. I had a temp of 104. I was sent to the ER where I had emergency surgery to remove what was left of our baby as well as an ovary and a Fallopian tube. My abdomen was full of blood clots and I was septic. I was also an emotional mess and in a hurry to get back to baby-making. I NEEDED a baby.

This was my first episode with sepsis. Little did I know that would hardly be my last. My doctors went back to the drawing board to see if they could find a connection to my identified trifecta and results that hadn’t been accounted for. I had another vascular surgery and then tried to get pregnant again.

It happened immediately and the new drug cocktail I was on was working. We were over the moon and so excited to meet our rainbow baby. Given my history, I had weekly appointments with imaging and labs and things were moving right along. That is, until 33.5 weeks when I felt the tell-tale labor pains. I was evaluated and prescribed bed rest, the most boring activity imaginable, where I proceeded to wait until the baby arrived. I continued to have weekly checks and I delivered a healthy baby girl at 39 weeks during the first snow storm of the season. I continued my Lovenox injections for 8 weeks post-delivery without incident.

Fast-forward through more surgery and then, I got pregnant again. My cocktail was slightly modified, and I was older and considered to be even more high-risk. I had weekly appointments with labs, and besides the 24/7 all-day sickness, my pregnancy was totally uneventful. I delivered a healthy baby girl at 39 weeks after one push and a 2.5 hour labor. We were in love! And so relieved everything had gone off without incident. We had already decided we wanted a 4th baby, we would just wait to get started.

When she was a week old, I became so sick that I was falling down, couldn’t even hold her, had excruciating back pain, high temp over 104, and I had to go to the ER. There was much dispute about what could possibly be wrong and my doctor was called at home, met me at her clinic when I left the hospital, did more labs, an exam, and prescribed an antibiotic. She told me to call in 8 hours. By then, my left leg was swollen to 4-5 times the size of my right and was purple, and I was sicker than ever. I went back to the ER and this time, the attending physician said he would not discharge me without knowing what was wrong. I had lots of imaging of various sorts. There was obviously a blood clot, but where did it start and where did it end? After a coincidental look by an unrelated radiologist,a different kind of imaging was ordered and it was discovered that I had one solid blood clot that went from my ankle up into the interior and exterior iliacs, through my inferior vena cava, and into my left lung. Bam! DVTs and a PE. And… I was in septic shock and rapidly deteriorating. I had countless vascular and interventional radiology procedures. They tried to suck the clots out, melt the clots out, combination of both. I had an IVC filter put in, four stents, a bypass, thromblytics, and an ambulance transfer to another hospital with more capability to handle my situation. And, I was fighting sepsis with 2 kinds of bacteria present. Sitting blood clots become septic, sepsis causes blood clots, the cycle is fast and vicious and almost always fatal. My husband and mom brought my newborn to lay on me as much as possible to bond. I feel awful saying that I don’t remember much of that time except for periodically being semi-conscious and screaming for my baby. My other daughters couldn’t visit because the hospital staff believed it would be too traumatic for them to see me hooked up to multiple machines including a respirator. One day, the doctors told my husband that the end was near. It was his worst nightmare. The next day, an IR doctor who had worked on me previously, sat down with my husband with an idea. He wanted to re-try thrombolytics with different formularies. He consulted the literature and discovered that 63 other women in the world had presented with similar issues postpartum related to blood clotting disorders. This doctor contacted the treating physicians for those women and came up with some ideas. My husband agreed to move ahead because I was definitely going to die otherwise. I got a new port with new extremity catheters. The first formulary was a bust almost immediately. The second showed promise after 4 hours but by 12 I had deteriorated again. The third was marginally better. There were no more options. Later that day, my daughters came to say goodbye. My husband stayed with the baby and me that night during which that same IR doctor came in and suggested putting all of the thrombolytics together as a last hurrah. So my husband agreed. The doctor said it would make me very very sick and seemingly dead but it was worth trying. He agreed to do it for 3 days. During that time nothing changed. My husband begged to keep it running. Day 4 no change. Day 5 no change and they turned it off and waited. Day 6 I jolted awake and started screaming and the machines started beeping and voila! I was back. It was a VERY long, very arduous recovery afterwards. I had to relearn to walk and was so weak I could hardly keep my eyes open for more than an hour at a time. Day after day after day it got a little better. I had so many tests and medications and blood products and imaging and surgeries, it was all a blur. But I had my baby, and once I got moved to critical care my other girls got to come and see me every day. The doctors said there would never be another baby, it was too risky. At that point, I didn’t care, I was just so grateful to be alive and have my husband and 3 precious little girls.

I wasn’t out of the clear, if you can believe that. Shortly after being released from the hospital, I had to go back in for another case of sepsis. 2 months after that, I was back in for sepsis again. 3 months after that I had a venogram. 3 months after that I had another while I was back in the hospital for sepsis. 1 year later I had emergency surgery due to blood stasis and the beginnings of some clots. I found myself with 42 platinum coils rocking my abdomen. And I underwent a litany of immunology testing discovering that I had developed hypogammaglobulinemia, the reason I could no longer even fight off a simple cold by myself. I was also diagnosed with a severe case of post-thrombolytic syndrome and PTSD from medical trauma. I needed several vascular surgeries as well due to the natural progression of my disease plus all of the damage caused by the blood clots.

It’s been about 10 years since I almost left my family. Since then, I’ve had some close calls, but nothing has gotten me yet! I’ve been in and out of the hospital for multiple infections, sepsis, cellulitis, venous stasis, phlebitis, thrombectomies and phlebectomies, arterial embolizations, and post-procedural healing issues. I spend one day every 4 weeks receiving IVIG infusion therapy to help combat cooties. 4 weeks is definitely my sweet spot, as 5 weeks leaves me sick and 6 weeks puts me in the hospital. I’ve also had a hysterectomy (yahoo!) leaving my one ovary in place. I’ve unfortunately developed neuropathies, bilateral SI and Facet joint disease, and degenerative disc disease in L3-L4, L4-L5, L5-S1. I’ve had multiple injections, procedures, and surgeries as a result. Recent imaging showed that a few of my vertebra are showing signs of poor blood supply, which is thought to be caused by my vascular disease. After almost 10 years on Coumadin with Lovenox bridging, I am on Eliquis, meaning no more INR problems and no more INR checks.

I spend my life making appointments, attending appointments, fighting to get my own medical records, sitting on hold, fighting with insurance, resting, trying to make the most of the good days I have, and not beating myself down for the bad ones. It’s all so exhausting. I have given up the facade of pretending that I am ok, and that everything is ok, when it’s the furthest thing from the truth.

I am unable to work. My long-term disability insurance ended and I am in the appeal process for social security disability (they claim I am not old enough). Given that I was the higher wage-earner in my home, my loss of income has been DETRIMENTAL to our family, to say the least. I owe more than $50k in medical-related expenses, the number which keeps growing, and as a result, I am also behind on a number of household bills.

My ask is for any assistance in reducing my medical expenditures. My diseases are cumulative and progressive in nature, and as time goes on, I will have more, and more expensive medical needs. I never envisioned this for my life, and it’s taken me a long time to accept that this is the hand I have been dealt. The best thing that I can do, is wake each day with gratitude for my family and friends and the independent living skills I still have.

Please help me, help my family, to ease this burden. No amount is too little. Thank you so much!

As time goes on, I will post updates about progress, health and financial. Thanks again for thinking of us!

Michèle Murphy