Help for medical reasons

Fundraiser by Karen Heaney : Medical help for Alley

Well, where to start. I guess at the beginning...

I have worked since I was 14 years old and finally got my dream job after going back to school and getting my CCA diploma. Right after I finished school I soon got a job working on an Alzheimer's unit in a nursing home. The residents I took care of were in the late stages of Alzheimer's and needed full care. I loved my job and felt very fulfilled in helping my residents. I worked fulltime and a lot of the time we worked understaffed and overworked. One day while working with a resident I had a very bad fall. A resident that had a very long oxygen tub (80 feet management said that was fine for her to have and they did not have another). I thought it was an accident waiting to happen and I was right. It happened to me. While I was in the resident's bathroom, she moved it to the center of the room, so when I came out one foot went under it and the other went on top of it. I went flying. I hurt my back really bad and also banged my head. I went to the hospital and they told me I hurt my lower back and it had something to do with my discs. I went on workers compensation. I went to physio and found it helped a bit but the pain did not go away. Dealing with Workers Compensation was a nightmare. I had to deal with late checks, numerous threats and being treated like I did this on purpose. I felt I had no choice but to go back to work due to the late checks and the bills not being paid on time and the fact that I was alone with nobody to depend on except them. So I went back to work but went on nights due to my back not being able to take the stress of working days. I did that for two years and I just could not take it anymore. I was in pain all the time and even walking caused pain. I had to leave my job.

After leaving work I applied for workers compensation and I was denied and denied and denied. During this time I fell into a deep depression. I had a terrible doctor, my savings were almost gone and I just wanted to get my back fixed so I could get back to work. With the depression that kept getting worse and worse, I went to Mental Health. I was a mess, my life did a complete turnaround. I went to Mental Health for about a few months and even they realized how bad my doctor was when she did not even respond to their letters. I just felt defeated at that time. With the depression and the feeling of no control, I thought I was at the end of my rope. At that time I was diagnosed with bipolar, PTSD (from past) and severe depression. Just when I thought things could not get any worse they did.
I am a strong person and have been on my own since I have been 14 so I have had a hard life but so have a lot of other people out there. I found that made me stronger in dealing with a lot of the above things coming at me. What they did then was put me on a pile of pills and I talked to someone twice a week. I did find a new doctor with the help of Mental Health. My new doctor was caring and very thorough. I did a number of tests and from the injury, I suffered from the accident at work, which damaged discs had gotten worse and also arthritis has set in. I then was told I would never work again. I cannot work in any industry due to the fact I cannot sit for long and I cannot stand for long. I cannot lift over 5 lbs and to walk any distance is not only hard but if I walk too far because my legs give out and I end up falling.

After being denied Workers Compensation and being forced to live off (790.00) half of what I would get on a two-week check for a month, along with the depression getting worse and worse, I tried to end the pain, the anger and the emptiness I felt. I took over 250 valiums. Someone got worried when they did not hear from me that knew how depressed I was and the way I was talking and knew my state called the police to do a check on me. When they found me I had no pulse. I woke up 4 days later on a breathing ventilator since I could not breathe on my own. I am still fighting today to see the positive in my life. I could not understand "why me". Why if I got hurt at work why couldn' i get the help I needed for what I thought was there for.

So that is a bit about what I have gone through. I have battled now for 7 years. I have had my car taken from me and have almost lost everything I had.

I would like to look into surgery to see if I can have some kind of life. I cannot do this due to not being able to get to specialist appointments. I already missed a pain clinic appointment that took two years to get due to not having reliable transportation.

At this point, I have no form of transportation to get me back and forth important appointments. I live in the country 25kms to town and specialist appointments are a lot further than that away. I don't have a car anymore and there are no bus services that run where I live. I can't afford a car for that matter I can't even afford to buy oil this winter that is how bad it has gotten I have tried to get help with transportation and there are no volunteers for our area.

I just need a bit of help, enough time to breath without the steady stress and worry. I want to have the medical and mental help that I need to have the best possible life, in my condition, can have.

Thank you for reading my story.