Tammi Penn

Welcome to my CaringBridge website. I'm using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. I appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting. This is taking a big hit against my pride because I hate feeling like being a burden to others. 
As many of you know I had surgery the end of Sept 2016 called a Pannicullectomy to remove excess skin from extensive weight loss after my gastric bypass surgery in June 2014. It was a necessary surgery that needed to be done as it was causing major skin issues, trouble walking & overall pain. During the surgery they found an unexpected umbilical hernia that also needed to be repaired. A total of 16.4 lbs of skin was removed during surgery. This was a major surgery where I was cut from 1 side of abdomen to the other & they had to put in 4 drains. Unfortunately 2 of the drains caused tunneling which in turn made my surgeon have to cut 2 areas of my incision open a few days after the staples were removed & ever since I had to pack both wounds 2 times a day which is painful & impossible to do on my own.  Thankfully I have had help from my family & a few friends with my dressing changes & at 1 point 1 was going to local medical facility for my morning dressing change. 
I was only expecting to be off work 4-6 weeks but it has now turned into 6 months. I was getting short term disability which was 60% of my pay but was still not close enough to cover living expenses, medical bills ect. My parents have helped as much as possible but I know it's been hard for them too. I've had many emotional ups & downs and I feel awful the way I've treated people at times. 
Right now however I have no income at all coming in as my case is being reviewed for long term disability & until a decision is made disability is not extending out my payments since mid Feb. Which has caused major added stress. I hate feeling like a burden to everyone & there are many days I regret doing the surgery but I know that if I didn't do it things would have just gotten progressively worse. 
The surgery has also brought up other medical issues to were I'm being treated for a on going headache issue to where an MRI was done in Jan. by neurology & now on anti seizure/headache meds,  was also continually tired after several tests it was decided that iron infusions were needed & until next follow ip in april i wont know if will need to do again right away or in 8 to 12 months but this will be for the rest of my life, also had an MRI for lower back due to on going back/leg pain where was diagnosed w/dissicated disc disease, osteoarthritis & hemangeoma but the Dr is still trying to figure out a treatment plan & most recently an ultrasound was done for stomach issues to check liver & gallbladder, along with several blood test but won't know results till Thursday this week.  All of this has taken a major toll on me to where I'm dealing w/extreme depression, anxiety disorder & panic attacks. Which is hard to admit & ask for help.  Any help would be greatly appreciated to go towards medical bills, living expenses & travel expenses for follow up medical appts.
Prayers are even more appreciated than monetary.
Thank you all for your Love & Support!!