Kasey S has been a longtime customer, supporter, and cheerleader for my company. I met her through another customer, and I was just inspired by her strength. She was part of my reason for launching the CBD line.
My small company has been lucky enough so survive and thrive through this bonkers year, and we wanted to pay it forward to help Kasey THRIVE.
I asked Kasey to talk to me about what she's going through.
Tell me a little about how this came about.
This accident happened on county line road(worth/Dougherty) in 2011. I survived but have lived in severe pain since. Luckily, now there is a light at that intersection so hopefully, no one else has to go through what I survived and live with everyday.
One of the hardest things that came with the wreck and adjusting to my new life of pain and procedures was having to give up my dream of serving in the Army. I was in the military(while in school) and loved it. I wanted to serve my country and while I was able to for a few years I was forced into being medically discharged after my condition only continued to get worse. I look back on that time and know that I missed out on a career I loved and relationships I’ll never get back. My day to day looks a lot different from before but I’m adjusting to it.
I have monthly procedures and medications to help with managing my pain, but right before the quarantine I was hit by someone running a stop sign again! Yeah, I know bad luck, but during this wreck my battery to my spinal cord stimulator (which helps with daily pain) was damaged and now has to be replaced.
What’s the treatment plan?
I had surgery in May but am now looking at 2-3 more procedures. Part one is doing the nerve block to make sure we have the right nerves that are causing the additional neuropathic pain, and then part two is going in and doing what’s called RFA (radio frequency ablation) which is just a fancy way of saying they go in and burn the nerves. This is one way to get nerves to stop sending the distress signals for my brain to say “hey something wrong” because that the worst part of chronic pain is even though your brain knows it’s an injury that can’t be repaired it still sends pain signals all day everyday. We will have to do this and trigger point injections regularly.
What advice can you give to anyone else dealing with chronic pain?
If you have chronic pain know you’re not alone. For years I saw a doctor who made me feel like I was crazy. If you feel like a doctor isn’t helping you or listening, find one who does. I finally found a doctor who listens and not only listens to me but actually cares. I feel like it’s not talked about how male doctors dismiss women in pain but it’s especially higher for women of color. Don’t stop fighting for yourself! I’ve been dealing with this for 9 years next week and I wish I could go back and shake myself for questioning myself and my sanity before a doctor who wouldn’t listen.
What helps you cope with the chronic pain?
Honestly, CBD helps me so much. I take prescription medication as well but that combined with CBD works well for me. The oil from WUW is one of my go to products everyday and a lotion a friend found helps a lot with dee muscular pain that my medications can’t seem to cover. I also have a spinal cord stimulator (basically a permanent tens unit) that helps me.
How has the pandemic affected you/your treatment?
My doctor has been really good, but dealing with my insurance and trying to schedule a hearing for disability has been so stressful. I have been waiting 2 years for this hearing, it was suppose to be in March and hopefully it will be before the end of September. But just the way the government was happy to put all SS and disability applicants on hold for 5 months was very frustrating. My appointments were being done by phone but we had issues with prescriptions being wrong or not getting to my pharmacy because of certain laws that require some prescriptions to be delivered in person. On top of that a few of my prescriptions were randomly “not medically necessary” and replaced with much more intense medications with worse side effects but they are cheaper and they don’t care about what helps, just what’s cheap.
It’s been a lot mentally and emotionally trying to fight for the level of care that I need to live during a pandemic.
If you would like to donate directly to Kasey's Fundraiser, you can find it here.