Erics Heart Surgery and Recovery

In summer 2011, my stepmother had a Hysterectomy due to endometriosis. She requested both ovaries be removed due to the severe issues they were causing her. After much hesitation and many attempts to talk her into removing only one ovary, her doctor’s agreed to remove both. After the surgery my stepmother was in great pain for about four months, to the point that she could hardly get out of bed. She went back to the doctor with her symptoms and realized that the doctors had deceptively only removed one ovary. She had the surgery again to remove the other ovary and again had many complications and much pain. Thinking it was due to increased amounts of scar tissue resulting from the need for an additional surgery, she did not go back to the doctor for a while, as her medical bills were already large. After a few more months she was again in great pain and was regularly running a very high fever. Upon returning to the doctor she discovered that during the second surgery, the doctors had cut her ureter (the tube connecting the kidney to the bladder). This resulted in kidney damage from the outflow of urine from the kidney to the bladder being blocked. Additionally, the poisonous contents were slowly being leaked to the rest of her body, causing a serious abdominal infection. My stepmother had to have a third surgery to correct this. She is still having complications and pain from all the surgery’s and the original surgery center will no longer see her to fix their mistakes as they view her a “liability”. She is forced to make a five hour trip downstate to the closest available doctor about once a month.

My father and stepmother have an eight year old son. My father had to take time off work to take care of my stepmother and my little brother. His boss terminated his employment after only two weeks of scheduled time off as he said that he could not wait for my father to be able to return to work. My father found other employment and tried to work as much as he could. While all this was going on, my father was having heart problems. His doctor advised him that he was not allowed to work due to his health condition. My family had no form of assistance, disability, food stamps etc… to support them, so my father had no choice but to work regardless of his doctor’s orders.

My father had a heart attack in the fall of 2012 (his first week back at work). He has been doing everything in his power to improve his health and his heart is still only working at about 15% of its potential. He is having heart surgery on July 31, 2013 to have a defibrillator implanted at his doctor’s insistence. His doctor has forbidden him from returning to work indefinitely. During all of the health problems and chaos my family has endured, they have fallen into financial ruin. Their house has been repossessed and is in the process of being auctioned off. They are still in the house for now. Once someone purchases it they will have to leave. My father has nowhere to take the family and has no money to pay rent. They are unsure of what will happen and this is causing my little brother to suffer in school. It is also causing a lot of stress on my father, which is making his heart condition worse.

My sister is twenty five and I am twenty three, neither of us lives at home anymore. It is difficult for us to give him much financial assistance because we are both putting ourselves through school. We also help our mother out sometimes as she is disabled. She was in a car wreck when I was five years old that crushed the bones in her legs and feet. She had the bones reconstructed with metal and bolts however, she has limited range of motion and great pain that doesn’t allow her to stand or walk more than fifteen minutes at a time.

I have looked into local programs for temporary assistance to no avail. Donations would be used to help pay medical bills, utilities, food, and school costs for my little brother. Any assistance is much needed and greatly appreciated. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. It is truly a blessing to have so many compassionate people in the world today.