I’d like to Introduce myself..

Let me introduce myself and tell you my story.

I'm Michelle L. I currently live in Mobile, Alabama. I have suffered chronic bronchitis for years. Was diagnosed with COPD. I don't remember exactly when. Last 4 years, I guess. I was a smoker for 16 years. I quit cold turkey 31 years ago, but the damage was done. I was the owner of a small trucking company, I was a car hauler, running coast to coast. Late July 2020, I caught Covid. It's was not a bad case, but I still had it. About 2 weeks later, I was cleared, and while in Mississippi, 2 weeks later, I was in a horrific car crash. Kid ran a red light and t-boned me in the driver’s door. I had to be cut out of the car. I suffered 3 pelvic fractures, lower back was fractured, and ribs on the left side fractured. I started my fight for Disability in November 2020. After 3 years, numerous Dr's appts, many denials, I finally got my appt with the judge. That was Sept 2023. I finally was approved due to my COPD. Jan- March 2024, I kept getting sick, with what my Pulmonologist thought was a bad case of bronchitis, 2 rounds of antibiotics, then 3 rounds of Levaquin and prednisone still not better, so had a bronc done. It came back showing Strep. But nothing else. March 28th that day started out as any other, but as the day went on, it was getting harder and harder to breathe. About 8PM, I called for an ambulance. I live alone. They showed up. Loaded me into the ambulance, and we went to the freestanding ER. Friday night, not going to sit for hours in the big hospital waiting to be seen. At the Freestanding er, they took 4 blood cultures, lots of blood, and within an hour, I was being transferred to the big hospital where I spent the next 12 days. I was poked so many times that I looked like someone had severely beaten me. I met with all kinds of Dr's, had several tele visits with the infectious disease Dr. I was asked if I had recently travelled to California, specifically the Valley. They were thinking Valley fever, but no. Had another bronc and samples were sent to Pensacola, Florida, and then to a testing lab in Texas. It was diagnosed after about 9 days in the hospital as Aspergillosis. WHAT... WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? I'd never heard of such. When explained that it's a common fungi, lives in the air, it's everywhere and doesn't typically affect a person with a healthy immune system. Ok, so how did I get it? I started reading about it. It lives in the soil and decaying matter such as grass and leaf litter. Ya'll, the light bulb went off. The house I was in, I had lived there for 6 years. No issues, that is until... the house next door, vacant for years was so overgrown you could hardly see the house. The owner had someone come in and clear the land, removing shrubs, small trees, and pretty much mulching everything. Then, to top it off about 1/8 mile down the road, the lot was being cleared from 1 road over to the next to build town homes. I got a double whammy with the fungi being released into the air. I've also had 2 sputum cultures done. 1 came back with Stemotrophomonas. ( another what the hell is that) now more antibiotics... This last culture, 9/15/24 showed mould, so it's being sent off to Texas to find out exactly what kind.
Ya'll. I'm sorry this is so long, but I wanted to share my journey.

God bless you all. Michelle