What to do when you are at the end of your rope

Posted by jferg01 @jferg01, 3 hours ago

I’m really struggling right now. My story is kind of long and complicated, so I’ll just give you the highlights: in 2020 I was diagnosed with POTS, dealt with a lot for about 6 months, then got life back on track, and then things went crazy in 2022. They accidentally put a hole in my small intestines while doing an endoscopy in October of 2022. I had emergency surgery, and was in the hospital for 2 weeks, got recovered, got cleared to go back to work, and was back to work for 1 WEEK, when I went down, paralyzed, and was diagnosed with Guillian Barre Syndrome. I spent 5 weeks in the hospital getting multiple treatments, and then 3 weeks in Rehav learning to walk again. While in the hospital, I got multiple severe utis, a bleeding esophageal ulcer, and went into an “adrenal crisis.” Since then, I have had multiple surgeries to remove kidnet stones, I’ve had a muscle stimulator put in my back, I’ve had my thyroid removed, I’ve had part of my colon removed and a colostomy placed. I am also on several meds and battle with hypoglycemia. I started going to Mayo in April of 2024, because I was in what I refers to as a constant game of “specialist hot potato,” where one specialist would send me to a different specialist, and so on. A lot of doctors and no real relief or solutions. So I started going to Mayo, and they have been an enormous help, until recently. Over the last 2 months or so, I’ve been dealing with debilitating abdominal pain and nausea. My PCP order an xray, which was abnormal, but not really specific. My pcp asked me to reach out to my surgeon at Mayo, and I did, and they just told me to contact a different specialist, who told me to contact a different specialist. So now i feel like I’m back in this game of specialist roulette, while getting no help, except it is much more costly now, since I live about 600 miles from Mayo, and have traveled there about a dozen times in 2 years (and will be going up there again in January). Don’t get me wrong, I have gotten some EXCELLENT care at Mayo, and they have gotten me leaps and bounds ahead of where I was, and I have an AMAZING PCP here at home who does her absolute best to take care of me, and an amazing job that has been more then accommodating through all I’ve been through, but, i am just so frosted and don’t know where to turn or what to do anymore. If the best medical system in the country can’t help me, who can?

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Oh my God… you must feel like Jobe. My heart goes out to you; what a series of nightmares! When I read your question about being at the end of your rope and not knowing what to do I thought of old cliches: tie a knot and hang on or let go. Of course it’s not that easy… those sorts of suggestions sound reasonable but have never worked for me.

Even though my situation can’t compare to the horror of yours, I feel like I have become a science project. I have clear cell carcinoma for which there is no cure. After the routine brachytherapy, radiation, and chemotherapy, and radical hysterectomy… the worst of my misery started when they accidentally poked a hole in the wrong place and from that day forward neuropathy has ruined my life. They claim that it had nothing to do with cutting the wrong thing during surgery (even though all the stabbing pains and numbness started the day after surgery. They said that it was chemotherapy related. This is nonsense. I had finished the chemo and radiation two months before the surgery with no neuropathy issues.

Anyway, I wish you every speck of happiness and comfort that you can find. Thank you for sharing your story. Hang in there. It seems like distraction helps me sometimes.

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