Steve's Medical Fund
Donation protected
Hi everyone. This is a picture of my father-in-law and mother-in-law, Steve and JanetPena. First of all, I have to say, I am a very lucky person to be able to call him that. If you have ever met Steve, chances are that you left with a smile on your face. He is one of the funniest, nicest, and hardworking people I have ever met in my whole life. 
Steve is always working, and doing something for someone else. There has been countless times where he has put in hard work for someone, and charging them little or nothing at all, because he loves to help people out. He is always giving his lunch money to people out on the corner, that way they won't go hungry.
Steve is awesome at his work and absolutely loves his job, so he decided that it was time to go out and try to get his own business back and running again. Business was going good and starting to pick up.
Wednesday night, Steve noticed a bump on that back of his elbow. He put some Benadryl cream on it thinking that it was a bug bite, and went to work Thursday. By the time he got home that evening, he felt horrible, his arm was red and swollen from the middle of his upper arm to the middle of his lower arm, and he felt awful.
Thursday evening, he went to the emergencyroom, there they told him he was running a temperature of 102... They ended up giving him a round of IV antibiotics; a bag of saline threw the IV, and sent him home with a prescription for antibiotics to take by mouth at home. His feverhadn't gone down, labs were never drawn, and his pain was never controlled, but he was still discharged.
By Friday night, the swelling and redness went from his shoulder all the way to his hand, got to the point where he lost feeling in his hand. He still felt awful, and was still running a temperature. So, back to the emergency room he went. This time they were a little more thorough, and did lab work... Which his white blood cell count came back in the 19,000s.... SKYHIGH!!! Therefore, he was admitted to the hospital, because he had an infection in his arm.
The next morning, an infection control doctor, and an orthopedic doctor came in to see him. The decided that he needed to have an emergency surgery to drain his arm and clean out the infection, that way it wouldn't continue to spread. By 1pm on Saturday, he was in the operating room.
Immediately after waking up,Steve felt relief from the pain of his arm, even though he had just had surgery. The doctors kept him on IV antibiotics (3 different antibiotics a day!!!), and needed to keep him in the hospital until all of the fluid drained from his arm. Which, on Tuesday evening, he was finally released to go home!
BUT.... Steve has a long ways to go to recover.
He has an open wound on his arm, and his doctors do not want him working for 4-6 more weeks.... Well that’s great when you aren't trying to start your own business and have sick time and/or vacation time..... So while Steve is out recovering, he has no source of income.
AND.... Just starting out in his own business, he hasn't been able to get his own health insurance yet. So in this whole nightmare, a bill of 2 emergency room visits, a hospitalist, an infection control doctor, an orthopedic doctor, operating room time, numerous labs, tons of medications, x-rays, pathology report fees, 5 days’ worth of being in the hospital etc.... is to be expected.
I know Steve and Janet would both do anything for anyone... They also would not be the ones to ask for help when they are in need…..SO, in their time of need I would like to make this page to help them so Steve can fully recover, get back on his feet, and they won't have to stress over any financial burden. Please help in any way that you can.
Thank you!!
Steve is always working, and doing something for someone else. There has been countless times where he has put in hard work for someone, and charging them little or nothing at all, because he loves to help people out. He is always giving his lunch money to people out on the corner, that way they won't go hungry.
Steve is awesome at his work and absolutely loves his job, so he decided that it was time to go out and try to get his own business back and running again. Business was going good and starting to pick up.
Wednesday night, Steve noticed a bump on that back of his elbow. He put some Benadryl cream on it thinking that it was a bug bite, and went to work Thursday. By the time he got home that evening, he felt horrible, his arm was red and swollen from the middle of his upper arm to the middle of his lower arm, and he felt awful.
Thursday evening, he went to the emergencyroom, there they told him he was running a temperature of 102... They ended up giving him a round of IV antibiotics; a bag of saline threw the IV, and sent him home with a prescription for antibiotics to take by mouth at home. His feverhadn't gone down, labs were never drawn, and his pain was never controlled, but he was still discharged.
By Friday night, the swelling and redness went from his shoulder all the way to his hand, got to the point where he lost feeling in his hand. He still felt awful, and was still running a temperature. So, back to the emergency room he went. This time they were a little more thorough, and did lab work... Which his white blood cell count came back in the 19,000s.... SKYHIGH!!! Therefore, he was admitted to the hospital, because he had an infection in his arm.
The next morning, an infection control doctor, and an orthopedic doctor came in to see him. The decided that he needed to have an emergency surgery to drain his arm and clean out the infection, that way it wouldn't continue to spread. By 1pm on Saturday, he was in the operating room.
Immediately after waking up,Steve felt relief from the pain of his arm, even though he had just had surgery. The doctors kept him on IV antibiotics (3 different antibiotics a day!!!), and needed to keep him in the hospital until all of the fluid drained from his arm. Which, on Tuesday evening, he was finally released to go home!
BUT.... Steve has a long ways to go to recover.
He has an open wound on his arm, and his doctors do not want him working for 4-6 more weeks.... Well that’s great when you aren't trying to start your own business and have sick time and/or vacation time..... So while Steve is out recovering, he has no source of income.
AND.... Just starting out in his own business, he hasn't been able to get his own health insurance yet. So in this whole nightmare, a bill of 2 emergency room visits, a hospitalist, an infection control doctor, an orthopedic doctor, operating room time, numerous labs, tons of medications, x-rays, pathology report fees, 5 days’ worth of being in the hospital etc.... is to be expected.
I know Steve and Janet would both do anything for anyone... They also would not be the ones to ask for help when they are in need…..SO, in their time of need I would like to make this page to help them so Steve can fully recover, get back on his feet, and they won't have to stress over any financial burden. Please help in any way that you can.
Thank you!!
Organizer
Brittany Pena
Organizer
Pueblo, CO