My GoFundMe And Why It Exists

There’s a full on post that I will be updating as the doctors visits and bills pile up, hence the need for this GoFundMe. The short of it, I’ve been an amputee for 12 years and had a chemical burn that covered my foot and above my ankle. A year later, that cost me my third and fourth toes along with multiple joints they were attached to. A year after that, an orthopedic surgeon gave me a choice, “you an amputate your foot and lead a potentially long life or you can keep your leg and you might not wake up tomorrow.” I have three kids. They didn’t ask to be born. To me, it wasn’t much of a choice. My response to the surgeon, “can you schedule the surgery tomorrow or as soon as you possibly can?” His face was pure shock. “Are you sure you want to make such a quick decision?” I explained, verbatim what I just typed out prior, about having kids and them not asking to be born. My oldest son lived with me and my two younger kids lived with their mother. The surgery happens the next morning, right leg below-the-knee amputee is part of my life, becoming an amputee.

The next step in the process after becoming an amputee is going the same orthopedic surgeon’s office so he can check my leg and also remove the staples from my surgery. In that same appointment, the surgeon lets me know, “if you so choose to walk again, with the assistance of a prosthesis, you will need hip replacement in about 10 years.” We are now 14 years post op, literally THIS WEEK! But what I didn’t realize is that walking with a prosthetic leg changes your gait and now, it’s not my right hip (the one I walk with my prosthetic leg on), it’s both hips. There is zero cartilage left in either hip. I’ve been getting steroid injections every few weeks, the locations alternate from between my legs and into my hips under x-ray, to side of upper hips. One of the doctors I’ve been going to, the one that actually prescribes my prosthetic legs and sets up therapies has prescribed meds, Lidocaine and Diclofenac Sodium (prescription strength Voltaren). The latter is not covered by insurance and both were not covered 3 1/2 months ago. The prescriptions combined cost over $3,276 for a 90-day supply. I’ve also been told to absolutely limit the amount of steps I take in a day to which they prescribed an electric wheelchair. The bigger one weighs over 600 pounds! The cost of that is $16,419.45! A smaller, mobile version, that’s foldable and fits in a car, that costs between $4,500-$5,500. Insurance only recently decided to cover the Lidocaine. Picking up 2 very small tubes cost $90 and the Diclofenac Sodium cost $151 out of pocket, due to insurance saying they were not FDA approved for use of hip pain. The next thing on the agenda is to try and get in to see a pain management specialist. Those injections I mentioned earlier, don’t work anymore. Matter of a fact, they stopped working after about the second time I was injected. They have side effects, like raising blood sugar, make you want to eat more, insomnia (I already don’t sleep and I’m typing this out at 6am CST).

Becoming an amputee is actually a LOT of the reason that NothingButGeek.com exists! I’ve played video games most of my 47 years of life. From ColecoVision, to Atari (and the 2600), to Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, GameBoy, Game Gear, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 (the backwards compatible one!), PlayStation 4 and now, the PlayStation 5. I mostly write on NothingButGeek from a gaming laptop that can play PC games as well. Now, I don’t have an Xbox system of my own, but there is one in the house… And we don’t have to mention arcade games, which, maybe since age 4 or 5, gimme a roll of quarters ($10) and I was good enough to keep myself busy ALL DAY LONG! My kids experienced this level of video game geekdom when I took them to Vegas in 2017. I had an Incredible Hulk Avengers cup that had about $200 worth of quarters in it, from paying with cash, the quarters would go in said cup. I took about $5 worth of quarters and played Galaga and Ms. Pac-Man. On Galaga, I made it to level 61… These young kids JUST DON’T KNOW!!! The other parts to NothingButGeek include Movies and TV Shows, Comics, Books, Sports, Music, Technology and there will also be a place to talk about BOOTLEG SNACKS somewhere! Especially if there’s stuff they are bringing back from all of OUR childhood! All my life, I’ve been a “let’s go to the movies AT THE THEATER” kind of person, a movie experience is INCOMPLETE without popcorn and a soda. VHS Tapes, DVD’s, Blu-Ray’s (and HD discs) were worn out, cause I grew up spending a lot of time alone.

You can check out my GoFundMe by clicking HERE