Disabled Former Consultant Seeks Help For Debt Relief And New Livelihood
by Frank Carlton
A fellow worker who roomed with me noticed that something was wrong with me and rushed me down the street to the emergency room at S.E. Alabama Medical Center. They determined that I had a blockage that needed to be removed immediately. The procedure was a successful one and I returned to the job shortly afterward. The assignment I had been working on was a very difficult one because of undercurrents in the business and their bank. Things were going on that were questionable, and less than honest. This added pressure of the work began to show on my medical history quickly. I was also diabetic and had a back disorder (disc). Luckily they did not continue the contract past its expiration date of December 9, 1999. I returned to Anderson and my health began to disintegrate. I was still battling my A-Fib (heart) and my diabetes, but now my back began to get involved. I could do nothing, which, for me, is terrible. I tried working pick-up jobs but simply couldn't perform. I would say that at this point I entered serious depression. My wife, who is a nurse, stood by me all the way. I had just gone from a six-figure income to zero. It was determined that I would have to have surgery to repair the herniated disc. I had already had this surgery several years before. The surgery proceeded but as an offshoot of post surgery treatment, the neurosurgeon discovered that I had a detached piece of vertebrae floating in my spinal area. This was a dangerous situation indeed and we went to surgery immediately on December 24, 2001 to repair it. Now my heart began to cause problems again and my cardiologist insisted on another heart cath. It came back a mess and I discovered that I really had major problems now. I was fortunate that I had access to one of the top heart surgeons in the SE. He performed an incredible 6-way bypass surgery that was successful. When I went to intensive care, another demon appeared. One of the drugs commonly used in open-heart surgery is amiodarone, which I had specifically instructed them not to administer to me. (Very Dangerous). It happened anyway and this turned my lungs into sponges. To this date I believe I am the only person to survive a 70% lung saturation. I would later go back and have 6 MORE stents placed in my arteries. Next I got home and had a staff infection from the area where they had harvested vessels. I spent a few more days at the hospital. Next my routine blood work turned up another fire alarm. I went back to the emergency room and became the first patient to walk into a hospital with a potassium reading of 1.6 when 2.0 is almost always fatal. No records could be found at the SC School of Medicine. I checked into the hospital and began to receive the 48 units of potassium I had to have. Then a blister appeared on my left foot. I nursed it along with regular MD visits. After three months, it became apparent that it would not heal and I had to face amputation. It was back to the hospital for surgery, which seemed to go well. Wrong. I took a blood thinner and there had been a mix-up of some kind about cutting back until after the surgery. Three days after the amputation of the lower leg, Rehab came by my room to see if I could stand on the good leg. I could, but the cap stapled over my amputation simply fell off in the floor. I lost two pints of blood immediately and had to be rushed back for emergency surgery (amputation) above the knee. I got home and my blood panel looked wrong so I dropped in at the hospital for more blood transfusions. They started at 9 AM and continued throughout the day. I don't know how many I had, but it was a lot. At this point I was in Rehab and struggling with the insurance company over a prosthesis. We settled on the model I wanted in less than two years. Somewhere in here the IRS insisted that I owed them some incredible amount because I had failed to file those last two years. It looks like this could go away soon. We need practically everything. My SS disability is $1600 per month and my wife's income is close to that. She carries me under her health policy so that I can afford that $1280 per month for drugs. We live in a doublewide mobile home in the country and it is not handicap construction. We do not have a paved drive (gravel) or carport, which makes bad weather a real problem. Our home not being handicap friendly has contributed to many falls, some resulting in broken bones. We have lost almost everything we owned, including our house and property on Broadway Lake, and three almost-new cars. We owe so many smaller bills and our credit is zilch. We received news today that my wife is going to have to have a hip replacement. There is quite obviously no way we can make it on my small income. We desperately need a small efficient handicap friendly house, hopefully with a small shed so that I might go back to woodworking and earn some money for the endless hospital and Doctor's bills, along with my drug co-pays. I think we have about had it and pray for help from any quarter. If anyone can point us in the direction of any form of assistance, we would much appreciate it. William Frank Carlton
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