I really don't like having to ask people too help me with money, but I guess I am stuck. I have been having some health issues over the last month or so that are a little concerning. I lost my health insurance after the first of the year due to the changes Matt Bevin has made to Kentucky’s medicaid system, so I have not been able to see a doctor during that time, and as a result, it has been several months since I have been able to get refills for the medicines I normally take. I am supposed to take medications for lupus and for high blood pressure, and lately, my blood pressure has been running very high (today it is 235/124), and I have been having some kind of bad symptoms that indicate I should probably at least try to go to a doctor (soon) and get put back on my blood pressure mediation. I feel okay if I am just sitting or lying down--I start feeling short of breath when I get up and walk around too much and I have a lot of pain in my legs from the swelling.
The problem is not paying for the blood pressure medicine, provided they put me back on lisinopril, which is very cheap--it is paying for the doctor visit. I am going to try to hold off on taking the lupus medicine if I can--the generic version of plaquenil runs around $200 a month. They told me at my family doctor's office it would cost at least $300-$400, maybe more, depending on what all labs they decide to run. My regular doctor will not see me without doing at least some labs, since I have not had certain tests I that I usually have done on a regular basis to monitor the lupus since last year..
There is one of those low cost, sliding scale health clinics in Richmond where I could get seen at a more reasonable cost to get refills on my medicines, but it will take about three months to get in there--the soonest appointment I could get is in early November. I don't think I can wait three months considering the way I have been feeling.
I have also had to miss some work as a result of this--some of the spells I have had with shortness of breath and swelling in my legs have made it very difficult to do my job—not to mention driving there and back. I have so far lost about a week of wages, but my boss is cool. He said if I needed to I could take some more days off. But I don't have paid sick days--this just means I won't get fired if I have to miss a week of work.
So I need to come up with some money so I can get in there and get seen. I am not going to have enough money to spare, due to having to miss work, to pay for this when I get paid on Friday--every penny I have will have to go for things like rent and the electric bill, so not paying those is not an option. I could possibly take out a payday loan, but if I end up off work for several more days, I am afraid I won't have enough to pay it off when it comes due. I don't want to end up owing a huge emergency room bill either if I can help it. With all the other expenses we have right now, there's no way I could afford another couple of thousand of dollars in debts.
So if I can at least raise around $500 to cover the doctor visit, that would help tremendously. It would also be extremely helpful if I could raise at least part of the money I have lost due to not being able to go to work so i don't get behind on bills. I need to be able to get back to work so I can make money to support my kids. I had my daughter set up a Go Fund Me campaign you can access here—www.gofundme.com/… In addition, my daughter can accept paypal payments on my behalf—anything sent to paypal is available to us instantly. Her paypal address is hotaruhana2 at gmail.com.
Thank all of you for any help with this situation you might be able to give.