Hello friends,
I have been experiencing mysterious abdominal pain since January. I was told by my doctor that it was trapped gas. When probiotics, fiber, and an increase in my water intake didn’t solve the problem, I was told that it must be ovarian cysts. I had an external and internal ultrasound done. Everything came back textbook and normal and was told to try an easily digestible diet. My pain lessened but was still present. It didn’t matter what I ate, there was always pain afterwards. Sometimes it was so severe that my paranoia took over and I was convinced that my gut would burst at any given moment. While all of this was going on, I heard news about my estranged mother: She had recently had a colonoscopy and they found precancerous polyps. Her mother had died of colon cancer. I was 100% convinced at this point that it had to be my colon (This is where, for the sake of transparency, I admit that I am somewhat of a hypochondriac). I begged my doctor for a colonoscopy but she suggested that I continue with the probiotics and get serious about a bland diet. I had already eliminated gluten & dairy as a precaution. The bland diet put a tight restriction on what I could eat and I was basically living off of scrambled eggs, bananas, steamed vegetables, and low-fat yogurt. I’ve lost 16 lbs since all of this started; partly because of the change of diet and partly because I was so afraid of eating that I barely ate at all. She also suggested we do a CT scan.
My insurance denied the request for a CT scan.
So my doctor suggested that we do an abdominal ultrasound.
I cried during the ultrasound. The pressure of the wand was too much. I was in so much pain. Later that day, I got a call from my doctor. I had gallstones and my gallbladder needs to be surgically removed.
Although it is a fairly common and simple procedure, I will be out of work for a week. That paired with multiple copays, diagnosis and procedure bills for what my insurance wouldn’t cover, and the fact that I missed so much work because of the pain and the appointments, I am incredibly financially insecure. So much so, that I don’t even have enough to pay for my surgical consultation co-pay as well as this month’s insurance bill.
I am coming to you, desperate, for help. I am selling these original paintings to help with my medical bills. Please help if you can. Even just reblogging this is a huge help.
If you are interested in any of these pieces, they’re available here.
Thank you for your time and have a beautiful day.
<3 Ambird
If you want to help out financially without dropping a lot of cash on an original painting, you can donate any amount to www.PayPal.me/ambird
If you include your address, you’ll get a special thank you in the mail 💖
