I was a very active 60-year-old, running a dog training club. My dogs competed in dog obedience competitions.  I have had a grooming business for about 40 years. I am a very stubborn, hardheaded person who has a lot of pride. I loved working on my house- remodeling it and making all the men in my neighborhood jealous. I kept my yard neat and landscaped. I am not rich, but I am not poor. I could pay all my bills and continue to afford my hobbies. I have had my clients for 20 years and have watched their dogs grow from puppies to seniors. I have watched my client’s children grow from babies to having babies of their own.

I am a law-abiding citizen that believes in God. When they came out with the vaccine for Covid, a lot of my elderly clients had taken the vaccine. They kept asking me if I was going to get vaccinated. I was scared because of my arthritis but decided to go ahead and get the jab to protect my elderly clients. These clients are friends more than they are clients, I have known them forever. I went through a drive-thru (vaccination site) in Bisbee, it was like a cattle call. The young lady, about 18 years old, asked me if this was my first shot. I said, “yes ma’am, it is.” She handed me a piece of paper and told me to drive up to the next station. The nurse was standing there with a needle in her hand. I asked her if this shot would affect my rheumatoid. She laughed and said, “No it does not, do not worry about it”. The nurse stabbed me in the arm and handed me another piece of paper. She told me I needed to come back in one month to get my second shot.

About 2 weeks later my back was really bothering me.  I have never had back problems before. I was tired and just slid down onto the floor like I have done a million times before. When I tried to get up, I could not and passed out. Thankfully, the dog bed was close by, and I fell over on it. For two full days I tried to move just 4ft to reach my phone. After two days, I reached my phone and called my neighbor. She helped me up off the floor let my poor dogs out. My neighbor asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital. I said no, I wanted to just sit there and thought I would be fine. I called my breeder and told her I could not take care of the dogs now. I asked if she could come pick them up. She came the next day along with a helper. When she saw me, she was shocked.  She told me to get in the car.  She was taking me to the hospital. I told her I did not want to go to the hospital in town and to please take me to the one in Tucson.

I sat in the emergency room from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. They finally got me a room. I started having seizures. I was totally paralyzed and could not move for the first five days in hospital. They gave me morphine to control the seizures. I had multiple CT scans of my heart and upper chest area. The doctor finally told me that I had the onset of rapid congestive heart failure with fraction ejection. The rheumatologist told me they found a mass on my lung. They biopsied it and told me it was just scar tissue from valley fever. They also said I had medically induced diabetes and that I needed insulin.

I told my doctor that I needed to get my second dose of the vaccine. He put his head down, shuffled his feet, and told me if I took another covid shot, it would kill me. I realized that all of this was from the vaccine. It was a lot to take and digest.

I slowly started to improve and was able to walk to the bathroom and walk around the nurses stand. The doctor wanted me to go into in-house physical therapy in Tucson but there were no beds available. So, I asked him if I could walk up five steps could I go home. He told me only if I had an in-home physical therapist. I worked extremely hard to get up those five steps and was able to go home eleven days after I was admitted. When I got home there was no physical therapist. I called a physical therapist and she said there was no request form from the doctor. I called the doctor and he said there was a request form, so I assume the therapist just blew me off.

I had to pay for a therapist out of pocket and I worked with him for over six weeks. I was able to get enough strength in my legs to start back to work. I missed my dogs.

I have been struggling for over a year to try to keep my grooming business alive, working through pains that are unbelievable. I had to give up training and competitions. I also cannot work on my house or yard anymore either.

Every time I turned around the doctors had more bad news for me. When I got out of the hospital, I saw a cardiologist. He told me my congestive heart failure is not as bad as I thought. I told the cardiologist that I was having a tough time breathing. He looked down at me and told me that it is because I was sitting too much.

My rheumatologist put me on Humira and Leflunomide. I found out that my inflammation levels were very elevated, but the rheumatologist told me not to blame it on the vaccine.

My legs and feet are getting worse, and it feels like spiders crawling up my legs. However, I am off the walker, but I am still on a cane.

I was referred to a neurologist and he told me I did not have any neuropathy and to see him next year.

I told my rheumatologist what the neurologist said. I have so much pain in my feet and legs. She said he did not say you had no neuropathy, he said you had very little neuropathy… that is even more frustrating to me.

In January of 2022, I injured my leg on a kennel door. I had to go back to the emergency room in Tucson. I tore a ligament in my leg and now I am in more constant pain.

The pain management specialist he said that he was going to work on my spine for the next 6 months trying to get me out of pain so at this time I have been to him twice for nerve block in my sciatic nerve one time for nerve blocks in my L3 L4 and L5 and he’s working on deadening them to burn them I’m a little bit scared of this but I’ve already been through hell and if I make it through the other side I’ll be amazed

I have been doing a lot of studying about my conditions. The doctor thinks I may have ganglionitis now.

I am now working with a psychotherapist for PTSD.

Lord only knows what is next for me.

I used to have the world by the tail but now I have no quality of life. I am praying to God that my disability will kick in soon. I often wonder if I am going to be in a wheelchair or dead before long. I do not ask for my life back. I just ask that doctors learn something from my experience and that they will be able to help somebody else. I hope that I am not crippled for the rest of my life.