October News

OH BOY, DESPERATE AGAIN: Need Help with October Mortgage $1206.99
Please send using paypal or to P O Box 8472, Covington WA 98042

Hi everyone, I'm so sorry I haven't given an update sooner. Things have been a bit crazy. I started back to work part time, very part time. I started back at 4 hours a day - the first week was really, really rough. I've had to learn what I can and cannot do, mostly cannot. I used to be able to run around the office like a crazy woman on a mission, usually because I was under huge deadlines, but now I have to walk very slowly. There is so much more visual stimulation there than I ever imagined. I have two monitors at work and I usually flip screens back and forth, I scroll through pages really fast, not anymore. I have to move everything very slowly. I ride the train to work, I used to be able to do my quiet time and bible study on the train riding forwards or backwards. Now, I have to ride forwards and just sit there. This is all good stuff for me to learn, my boundaries of what I can't do. It helps me to evaluate how far I've come in my recovery.

My second week of work was better, also at 4 hours a day. Nothing really substantial to talk about there. I was just working with what I had learned. This past week I worked 6 hours a day. I have caught a cold, I think from being around all of these people and my immune system being down. But I still made it through my 6 hour days. There has been a problem with the lighting in the office. I can't have light, so they moved my cube to try and accomodate me, but they put me across from someone who's eyes don't dilate so she has to have a ton of light. They've asked me to just deal with it, if I can. Yesterday I was at the optometrist to get darkened glasses to help me with the lights. My vision is perfectly fine in every way so now I'm not sure if insurance will pay for the glasses and work definitely won't reimburse me. Remember, I work for the government. This next week I'm going to try 8 hour days.

So my dilemma, my dog became extremely ill two days ago. I came home and she was in a pool of blood from her rectum. I get to go pick her up today, but the bill is at least $1,000.00. She was extremely dehydrated and her calcium levels are through the roof, which means cancer. She has continued to bleed but now I just got the call that she can come home. We've decided not to treat the cancer but to just try and keep her comfortable. Well, that money that I had been working so hard at saving for the mortgage is going to her vet bill. This is why I need help, so please if you feel compelled - every little bit helps! Again, you can send to P O Box 8472 Covington, WA 98042 or by donating using paypal.

Thank you so much to the following people for their continued support:

Theresa Ranft (Sister in Christ)
Erin Peinado (Cousin's Girlfriend)

Thank you to everyone for all of your help, your kindness, your generosity and your understanding.

Blessings to you all,

Tiffany

September Recovery Update

STILL NEED:
$11,105.66
or
$1,105.66 (September)

August Mortgage has been paid, need September and possibly October, plus medical bills.

You can help me by donating at paypal or mailing your payment to P O Box 8472 Covington WA, 98042. Otherwise to use paypal click the button below:

Hi everyone, I'm so sorry for my delay in writing - I've been so busy getting well, doing my exercises and writing back to everyone who has soooooo graciously helped me!!! To date, I have received $2028.72 WooooHooooo!!!!!! Thank you sooooo much! I still need $1105.66 to make my September mortgage. Anything beyond that figure will start going to my medical bills, unless if I need October covered as well, of which I'm racking those up pretty well now too. YIKES! I'm amazed and overwhelmed at everyone's generosity. A gentleman (Swami) has even helped all the way from India, my goodness. You have all been wonderful to talk to and get to know. I'm forever grateful and at a loss for words!

So, to give you an update on my recovery. Somehow all of a sudden last Saturday I took a 180 degree turn. This was a turn for the better. I don't know what happened but all of a sudden everything clicked. Things were not looking up before that. I was put on epilepsy medicine, they think my brain is too busy, which causes everything to tighten up around my blood vessels, which causes migraines, which affects my central nervous system, which affects my spinning and all of the other symptoms I have had. I was also in the hospital for a test of my heart. There was concern that I had a hole in my heart. The technician who did the test said he didn't see anything although I get the true results on Monday. My therapist retested me and I tested normal in everything (PRAISE GOD), when just back on 8/14 I was still very abnormal. So, I see my other doctor on Thursday and I'm hoping he will let me return to work on September 18th at least part time. I don't know how it happened that all of a sudden I woke up and felt tremendously better, the spins are mild, the migraines are mild everything is just clicking along. Actually I know what it is.....it's the prayers from all of you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I have to admit I'm a bit scared. I'm scared to go back to work and do too much, as I usually do, and end up right back where I started. I need to be very cautious and go slow to not allow myself to get worked up about things and to take breaks. This will be very hard for me because I'm not that type of person. I'm a do-er or a person you can come to if you need something done and you need it done now. So, this will be my struggle. I've found out that my first paycheck will not be until October 20th and it will be half of what I'm used to because of being on part time so that's going to hurt. Again, my mortgage is $1567.19/month and I still need $1105.66 for September, I might need help again for October.

Then there is my lovely dog, Bijou. I just have to show you this photo because it has to be the saddest thing on earth. He ended up in the vet yesterday with his throat swelling shut. His ear is completely swollen and they couldn't see in it to find out what is going on. In addition to his ear he has a bacteria infection on his skin so he itches all over the place and has littls scabs everwhere. His ear is a disaster, his neck is swollen, he has to take Benadryl, ear drops, antibiotics, get a bath every 3 days and go back next week. At that time they will see if they are going to put him under anesthesia to look in his ear, YIKES! I just hate anesthesia! So, if it isn't one thing - it's another. Poor guy - he can't figure out how to get around.

I know I'm leaving stuff out and I'm sorry. I still have a problem with my memory - I'm extremely forgetful from this injury, not to mention my brain still can't process words very quickly, I can't formulate thoughts into words and I'm having a hard time with my vocabulary but I will be discussing that with my doctor's this week. Hopefully it will go away with time and I can be back to 100% so I can do all of the things I wanted to do this summer. I was going to enter my first Triathlon (okay, a sprint), I have ridden horses all my life and I haven't been able to do that, I was going to do a lot of biking, hiking, camping, etc., but I couldn't do any. I was on a path of losing weight and feeling good, now I've gained - no, I won't tell you how much.

So, my amazing group of supporters who have been extremely kind to me are:

Erik Olnon (cousin)
Carmele Cummins (Sister in Christ)
Gergory Dyal
Mark Steffan
Lynda Kamaras (Sister in Christ, Freda Curry is her mom)
Kathy Pujat - twice
Tanya Oshatz - Great Friend
Bonnie T Hale
Janet Denby-Stewart
John Downey
Peggy Baat
Pauline Le - Good Friend (and great at manicures & pedicures in Covington, WA)
Partick Karcher
Amber Nightingale (Friend of my friend Consuelo Flores)
Charlene Anderson (Consuelo's sister)
Quenten Smith (Friend and old co-worker)
Peli, friend of UncleShag (check out his website @ www.uncleshag.com)
Sundee Bourret
Carmen Sraddha Williams (Swami from India)
Alan Heubert (Secretary for Swami)
Jack Van Voast
Kathy Pujat - again
Stacey Luce (Sister in Christ)
Robert Hume
Andrea Sanders (Cousin)
Annie Luchs
Mike & Melanie Ford, and 46 other Christians (Brother & Sister in Christ)
Becky Jack (Sister in Christ)
Douglas Rice
Pamela Ellington (Related to Stew Ellington)
Joe & Zena Rosinski (Good friends & Brother and Sister in Christ)
Marjory Zubia (Grandma)
Mariel Olnon (Aunt)
Brian Woods (Brother who has a great website, www.podomatic.com)
Anandi Cornell (Friend of Stew Ellington)

You are all so amazing and I thank you from the depths of my soul. I could not have made my August payment without your grace! You are all in my thoughts and prayers!

Much love,

Tiffany

Recovery Update

WANTED:
13,000 people to donate $1.00, or 6,500 people to donate $2.00, or 2,600 people to donate $5.00.

You can help me by donating at paypalor by sending check, cash or money order to P O Box 8472, Covington WA 98042. Otherwise to donate using PayPal click the button below:

Hi all, so first off I was asked for some verification that I'm truly ill and going through all of this mess. I had hoped to post the FMLA paperwork completed by my doctor but work hasn't faxed it to me yet. So, I hope this will do. It is my newest exercise given to me this past monday. Working with a ball, lifting it from the ground and setting it back down again with my eyes on it and then off of it. Then throwing it in the air. All of this is to create visual stimulation to get me used to it. I have many other exercises that are posted all over my house but I didn't think you were all really interested in seeing those.

So, my team of doctor's are: Dr. Hoistad who specializes in Otology/Neurotology & Skull Base Surgery, Dr. May Neuro-Opthalmology, Dr. Sylvia Lucas UW Neuro Headache, Julie Grove Vestibular Rehabilitation and Cynthia Jacox Psychologist. Julie is my therapist that gives me the exercises. I'm seeing Dr. Lucas tomorrow to see if my migraines have any impact on my recovery.

I was retested last week and although I have improved some I'm still way below normal. I have to tell you, you should see what people have to go through to get tested. Here, I'll give you an example: You are standing on a platform that moves individually for each foot, you are in a harness that is bolted to the ceiling (in case you fall), you are facing a box that is three sided (actually you are pretty much standing in it), there is a monitor in front of you and the box is painted in mountains and clouds. Back in 1990 it was a styrofoam box with colored polka dots all over it. The researchers decided the clouds and mountains were more soothing. So, the test...they move the box back and forth at you and they move the platform and somehow you are miraculously suppose to stand up. The platform moves from 20% - 200%, currently I'm at 20%. So the challenge is to keep yourself in this square on the monitor with your eyes open and then closed. I throw up every time. This tests many things regarding the body, about visual stimulation, audible stimulation, vestibular stimulation (inner ear) and so on. I have improved in my vestibular stimulation and that is good. If I hadn't then I could be in for that nasty brain surgery from Dr. Hoistad. I'm still praying that won't happen.

I am able to gauge my recovery a little bit. In the beginning I was not be able to drive, watch the television, listen to anything, walk without holding on to something, read, pretty much anything. All I did was sleep. Laying down was the only place where my spinning would subside just a little bit. But now, I can drive up to about 10 minutes. I'm able to walk into the grocery stores and hang on to the cart for stability. I'm able to walk confidently into Church until the welcome table (about 10 steps inside the first set of doors), then I spin and need help to my seat. I can stand for one song but then I have to sit down. I feel as if I need to test myself with the visual stimulation because I won't know if I'm improving or not, so I try to go out into the world but I don't go further than 10 minutes from home so I can get back quickly, if I need to. Anyway, needless to say, this is all improvement and that is good!

That is an update on me medically to date. A funny thing, I don't have a little ball to do my exercises with so I went looking for one with a driver. I went to four places to try and find one, isn't that crazy. I think it's ironic because I don't do well in big stores (ie grocery stores) with lots of visual stimulation and yet I had to go to four of them to try and find this ball. Why is it so hard to find something when you need it?

Moving on to my supporters and the wonderful people who have donated to my cause. I am eternally grateful to all of you, you have helped me not worry (did I mention I'm not supposed to be under any stress?), you have helped me to make my mortgage payment for August (almost), you have also restored my faith in humanity and your encouraging words help ease my mind about putting myself out there for the world to see.

In just a little over 24 hours you have all donated $632.00, that's amazing and beyond my wildest dreams. I never knew this could be possible and I thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart. The following are friends, family, Church members, friends of friends and so on:

Brian Woods (my brother)
Ian Duggan (his friend)
Richard Mulcahey (Uncle Shag's Friend)
Bob Kershner (my brother in Christ)
Charlie, aka Uncle Shag (my new found friend in Christ)
Sandra Hallet (sister in Christ)
Erin Peinado (cousins girlfriend and friend)
Shelly Toscano (podcaster at podomatic.com and friend of Brian)
Darius Contractor (podcaster, friend of Brian)
Stew Ellington
Felicia Beppu (Friend of Brian)
Astrid Alex (My bro's awesome girlfriend and friend of mine)
Dana Townsey
Ronald Cantoni
Laura Salva
Patrick Mahoney (friend of Stew Ellington)
Jameson Penn
April Barci
Lori Duncan (Good friend and sister in Christ)
Leopoldo Delgadillo
Greg Fulton ( Brother in Christ)
Stephanie Edwards (Sister in Christ)
Margarite Woods (mom)
Freda Curry

If it wasn't for all of you I would not be where I am today and I ever so grateful. Normally I would never have let my guard down and somehow thought I could figure this all out on my own, which I wasn't. But I was in Church a few weeks back and there was a service about "Joy in Submission". Brad talked about being humble and letting go of our pride, submit to God and he will bless you abundantly. I did and here you all are. May God bless all of you today and everyday.

Forever touched,

Tiffany

Feed Bijou and Rescue Tiffany

WANTED:
13,000 people to donate $1.00, or 6,500 people to donate $2.00, or 2,600 people to donate $5.00.

You can help me by donating at paypal or by sending a check or cash to P O Box 8472, Covington WA 98042. To use PayPal click the button below:

My name is Tiffany and I need help with my mortgage and utilities due to a rare illness, in fact my doctors call me an enigma. I’m hoping for help with two months mortgage payments and $10K in medical debt. I need this help because I have been out of work due to this rare illness and am not getting any income. You can help me by donating at paypal. To donate click the button below:

I can’t believe it’s come to this but it has, so here goes my story.

HISTORY:

Back in 1990 I was in a terrible car accident and suffered a lot of damage to my inner ear--my internal balancing system. The doctors wanted to do surgery, but the risks were so great that I chose not to. (One of the risks was that I would have to live at the same elevation for the rest of my life; I was 24 and not ready to end up like that.) They told me without surgery I would get used to everyday life, and I have had a normal life, for the most part until recently.

In January of 2006 I was in Costa Rica as a missionary when I became extremely ill. I was spinning, sweating, had horrible migraines, couldn’t get my focus, my eyes kept rolling into the back of my head. I didn’t know which way was up, couldn’t formulate words, my blood pressure had dropped to 70/45 or something crazy like that and I was throwing up all over the place. The first three days of the trip I didn’t teach and I don’t remember a thing. By the last day we were there I was finally feeling a little bit better. I came home and went to my doctor who thought I had a stroke but thankfully did not, phew! Ever since then I have been spinning mildly, like when I get off the elevator at work I might spin for a second or so and then it goes away.

It has increasingly become more pronounced in my day-to-day activities. On July 5th, I went to work, got off the elevator and couldn’t walk. I had to get help to my desk and by 10:00 I had to go home. I’ve seen a specialist and I have a rare illness with no medical name. My central nervous system shut down, my brain can no longer recognize the signals it is getting from my body to keep me standing upright and not spinning. Basically, I’m a baby trying to learn how to walk again. I focus so much on my walking (I used to be an amazing multi-tasker) that I forget to breathe because my brain can’t process doing the two things at once anymore. Any visual or audible stimulation makes me spin horribly. Therefore, I have been stuck at home since July 5th, not able to go to work, not able to drive, and not getting any income.

CURRENT TREATMENT:

So, now what is being done about it? My doctors, three specialists, have put me into Vestibular Rehabilitation therapy. I can’t take any medication because that would mask my symptoms and not allow me to get better during therapy. I have a ton of exercises I have to do three times a day and it’s mostly standing by myself, no support and doing eye exercises to get used to visual stimulation. Basically I have to retrain my brain.

My doctors have listed me as disabled but are hopeful that I’ll be able to go back to work in September. If I’m not significantly improved by September, I could be going in for brain surgery.

WHAT DO I NEED:

So, why am I writing to you? Well, like most folks, I have a mortgage and utilities and I live paycheck to paycheck. But now I’m not receiving any paychecks. Even though I’m listed as disabled, Social Security and the State both don’t consider anyone disabled until they are off of work for 1 year. I don’t have any credit card debt, just $10K in medical bills (from a previous surgery without insurance). I work for the government, and I love my job. I have great benefits but they aren’t all that helpful when people need help financially. I have long-term disability but that won’t take effect until I’m off work for 120 days. You can help me by donating at paypal. To donate click the button below:

I have friends who will and have brought me meals and groceries but I’m extremely concerned about my mortgage payment. I have worked very hard to get it caught up and now I fear that I will get behind (and have no way to get caught back up) or worse yet lose my house. I have been in this house since 1993. I have kept it through a divorce and I don’t want to lose it now. I just want to make my mortgage payments for August and September (maybe October), which is $1567.19/month and help with the $10K medical debt I have incurred from my previous brain surgery. I tried calling my mortgage company to see if I could work anything out with them and they can't work out any payment arrangements until I'm late, and I’m trying to avoid that.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

So, to help all I need is 13,000 people with $1.00 or 6500 people with $2.00; or 2600 people with $5.00 and I could pay the two months of mortgage and my $10K in medical bills, and so on and so on and so on…. You can help me by donating at paypal. To donate click the button below:

I know and understand this is completely unconventional but I know other people have had to be in a similar situation. I’m a very normal person, who is kind-hearted and always giving. I know there are others out there like me. I’ve included a picture of my dog because he’s so cute, and hey – he needs food too.

Any help or comments are greatly appreciated. If anyone reading this has experienced the same type of illness I have, I’d be happy to hear about how you have gotten over it or if you need any encouragement from me, please write to tiffanyp55@comcast.net. Please help me keep my house and pay medical bills. You can help me by donating at paypal. To donate click the button below:

Thank you so much to everyone, I know this is long I appreciate your time, your donations, your help and I value your input! Many blessings to you all, Tiffany