See that adorkable guy up there? His name is Josh. He’s my fiancé. This photo is from just about 6 years ago, when we first started dating.
Almost two weeks ago, he was rushed to the hospital after not feeling well. We went in for what we thought was just a nasty acid reflux thing or maybe the flu, to find out he had an alarmingly abnormal EKG for someone his age. He was in a state of heart failure. A couple hours later, while in the ICU, we find out that he is diagnosed with dialed cariomyopathy. This is basically a fancy way of saying that he has an enlarged heart that is pumping at 10% the normal strength of a human heart. This is something usually the elderly experience.
We spent almost an entire week in the hospital, split between the cardiac ICU and regular Cardiac floor. During that time, countless tests were done to find out the hows and whys. But in the end, the cause isn’t important. His heart is damaged and may never be back to normal.
In the end, if we hadn’t gone in when we did, I could have lost him.
I’m a prideful and independent woman. I usually hate asking for help. But after having everything change in the blink of an eye, I’ve realized that some things are more important, like keeping my fiancé healthy and alive so I can call him husband and so that we can have a future together.
The problem is that he is uninsured; he makes a breath too much to qualify for Medicaid in our state, but not enough to afford the insurance at his job. They won’t have open enrollment again until November. Obamacare is confusing and will take us some time to figure out, to see if he can even afford that.
We haven’t gotten all the medical bills yet, but the few we have gotten show that he will owe hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.
And there are still so many tests to be done. Appointments to make. And an entirely new low-sodium diet to figure out and manage.
We were literally scraping by on meager paychecks and eating ramen, frozen pizza, and spaghettios. He can’t have any of that anymore. We need to purchase appliances so that we can make home-cooked meals. Everything will need to be made from scratch; from bread, to sauces, to almost everything in-between. Living on a food budget of $60 a week between the two of us will be next to impossible now. At least until we can adjust and manage.
So please. If you have it in your heart to donate, any amount would be greatly appreciated. Even if it’s just $1. To donate, go here and click on the handy dandy donate button in the description section.
Josh and I are fighters, but we will need support to keep the fight alive. To keep him alive.
