Light at the end of the tunnel!

[SweetSecret]

A few weeks ago I was awarded a small scholarship ($125) to pay for the TESC application and transcripts to be sent over. I applied and was accepted, although I still haven't received the check to send over my transcripts. I am hopeful though, and that was the first speck of light.

Now, a year and a half after my knee injury which left me unable to work (dancing), unable to collect unemployment, and unable to get disability... I FINALLY got the MRI I needed. This is really the light at the end of the tunnel! The first local hospital I had gone to had blown off my complaint when I said I seriously thought I had a meniscus tear. I was seen by a P.A., not even a doctor. The P.A. sent me for an x-ray (which the meniscus tears don't show up on) and said it was simply arthritis. Then the hospital sent me an outrageously expensive bill, which I couldn't pay since I couldn't work. I tried working with their credit department, but finally gave up frustrated after meeting with them 4x in person. Anyhow, being out of work for a year and a half has been miserable for me in every way possible. Without the evidence of major injury, I couldn't even get help finding other work through the Dept of Vocational Rehabilitation... particularly when DVR requested my medical records and the hospital came back then saying it was just a sprained knee.

With ObamaCare kicking in, I was finally able to get an MRI this week at one of the other hospitals, and just as I suspected... it's a meniscus tear. I feel like I've had a huge weight lifted off my shoulders! I'm still not sure if I'll be able to get temporary disability until I can have surgery, but even after it looks like I won't be able to work for awhile. I'll at least be able to get help with job placement through DVR now though.

I think by the time all is said and done with surgery, I'll have been out of work for over 2 years, and endured a over a year and a half of chronic pain. I'm so out of shape now that I really couldn't earn what I used to, and I've lost pretty much my entire professional network because people think I've retired. At this point getting well-paying work through agents would prove difficult because I couldn't really exercise, and I haven't kept my professional credits up to date.

I'm seriously considering speaking to a lawyer to see if I might be able to take the hospital to court for medical malpractice/negligence, since it turned out that I was correct about what the problem was, and they should have provided me the MRI that I asked for upfront. Has anyone else gone through a medical malpractice case? I'm just wondering what the outcome was. How much do the lawyers normally want if paid on a contingency fee? What did your awarded amount cover? How much of your award ended up going towards taxes? I think the first hospital has no right to charge me for an x-ray when I told them I needed an MRI, so I'd like that charge dropped at the very least. but feel like I should be able to get a significant sum, especially since leaving it torn for a year and a half could have made it worse. Plus, since the type of tear I have will require me to probably be in a leg brace for a few months and go through physical therapy, this might be an ideal time for me to take any financial compensation and put it back into finishing my education. If I can get enough though, I think it would also be a good time to start the social enterprise dinner theatre I've been considering. I've actually been working on the business plans for a year.

Thanks for hearing me out! I'm just in a much better mood than I have been for months! Being in constant pain with everyone thinking I was just being dramatic/"imagining the pain" was making me very crabby. I did watch a video of a girl who was told she had the same type of meniscus tear, then went through surgery only to find out it was her patella causing her pain, so I may have the MRI's looked at by a second physician. Given that it's been a year and a half, I'm pretty sure I'll need to have the surgery. I'll be so glad to have the pain gone though! I just needed to voice all of this, and have my own little celebration!

:hurray: