My name is Crystal and I am 37 years old. I got married to my husband on 11/11/11. On Sept. 30, 2005, I was in a severe car accident where the teenager was on his phone and told the cop, “I saw the light was red but I didn’t see anyone crossing the intersection.” I instantly broke C5-C6 and L4-S5 and in total I have had 8 spinal surgeries. I am in severe pain in my neck and back. I have neuropathy (loss of feeling) in both my legs and arms. I have physical therapy for my legs because it’s hard to walk and balance.
On January 17, 2020, I had a cardiac arrest. My husband woke up on time and (noticed I wasn’t breathing) so he called 911 and started chest compressions. The firefighters are across the street and came pounding on the door. Within 45 seconds- 1 minute, I had CPR and a shock and off to the hospital. I was in a coma for 2 weeks and in the hospital for a month. On June 17, 2020, I got an ICD implant. It has gone off about 6 times at night.
I also have something that causes me to die of extremely low blood pressure to drop dangerously low. It’s called POTS (Posterior Orthostatic TATECARDEA Syndrome) and the lowest my BP was once was 35/20. That caused me to go to ICU. I also have CVS (Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome) which is a brain/stomach disorder that stress causes the brain to send throw-up signals to my stomach which causes nonstop vomiting for weeks to months. This will cause severe dehydration and all my electrolights to drop and can cause another cardiac arrest.
I also lost 131 pounds (274 pounds-144 pounds). I have a lot of excess skin that needs to be removed. It’s baggy, it hurts, and gets infected easily). I meet with my gastric sleeve doctor to get a referral.