Disability

[PatrioticRN]

I was born with multiple congenital birth defects; 1)Hemifacial Microsomia, 2)Deaf in left ear, & no cartilage in the ear as well, 3)Multiple Congenital Spinal Cord Disorders, with the spinal cord deformities causing me to have 7 or 8 spinal surgeries. I forget my actual diagnoses, but the defect doesn't begin to show symptoms until your mid-fourties. A little over 4 years ago (I was 45), I woke up with a crick in my neck. I waited a couple of days, but it didn't get any better. So, I went to a Chiropractor for the first time in my life. Luckily, he had x-rays taken before trying to adjust my neck. He asked me, after looking at my x-rays, when did I have a cervical fusion. Well, I had never had a cervical fusion, nor any trouble with my spine. I had a 3 level auto-fusion from C3-C6, he advised me to go to a Neurosurgeon. Thankfully, I am a perioperative nurse, and I'd had opportunities to work with a tremendous Neurosurgeon. I made an appointment with him, he sent me for a CT & an MRI; the news wasn't good, I had the auto-fusion and it was compressing several nerves, and had multiple osteophytes too. All in all, over the last four years, I've had other congenital spinal anomalies found, after they started to keep me in severe pain. In  the last four years, I've had 4 ACDF's, 1 minimally-invasive posterior procedure to put a couple of screws in my cervical spine. After that, I was still in pain, but it was tolerable. During these four years, I worked 2 jobs, 7 days/week. About a year and a half ago, my left buttock & posterior thigh started to keep me in awful pain. After waiting as long as I possibly could, I went back to my Neurosurgeon, and I had nerves that were pinched off at L5-S1. He scheduled me for a minimally-invasive procedure to remove the degenerative disc, and put in cadaverbone & screws. No problem, right? Wrong!! He had to try the minimally-invasive procedure on both sides of my lumbar region. He couldn't perform the minimally-invasive procedure, due to finding bilateral congenital conjoined nerve roots. After getting my wife to sign a new consent for procedure, I had to have an anterior lumbar fusion L5-S1. I was in the hospital for 5 days, and I remember nothing about my stay. Three months later, on January 5, 2021, I had to have a PCDF C2-T2. Last week, I underwent a trial lumbar spinal cord stimulator, and for the first time in four years, I didn't have 3 of my 4 extremities in pain. I made up my mind to proceed with a permanent SCS, after I have a trial cervical SCS to see if it gives me relief as well. Meanwhile, while I've been out of work since September 10, 2020, I've decided to pursue my RN to BSN. Of course, I didn't qualify for FAFSA, because of my last years income. As a male nurse, a scholarship/or grant is very hard to find. Having drained all of our savings due to medical bills, I can't afford to pay out of pocket. I've been approved for a few student loans, but the last four years has killed my credit. Every loan I've been approved for, they're wanting me to pay double the amount of my loan. I've been advised by my Neurosurgeon to apply for total and permanent disability, but I refuse to accept that as my fate. My plan of acquiring my BSN, was the opportunity to work remotely from home, or become a legal nurse consultant to provide for my family. If anyone, that reads this post, knows a way or a loophole to achieve my goal of getting my BSN, please feel free to reach out to me with any information that may be of help to me. My sincere apologies for such a long post, but my hope is that a peer would have some knowledge of a way for me to turn. You can contact me at [email protected]. Thank you all, and may God bless each and everyone of you.