Save Whit’s Leg! #WhithasGrit

Whitney Lavender is organizing this fundraiser.

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Well, here we are again.... Last year I had the first of the series of surgeries to repair the nerves in my residual limb (which I call Leglet). I have been left with several large neuromas following my amputation in 2020 that cause an indescribable amount of pain in addition to the pain of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (the most painful condition known to mankind & also dubbed the suicide disease - yes, it's that bad). This second surgery will address the nerves on the top side of my leg. One being the femoral nerve, which is one of the largest nerve trunks in your body, and the others addressing the sensation of the skin on the leg. I currently cannot have anything touching a good portion of the end of Leglet. Not clothes, sheets, blankets, NOTHING. So I am hopeful that addressing that nerve may be a game changer as far as the sensitization goes. This is also supposed to help the bone crushing phantom limb pain that is constant, never ceasing.

Knowing that this surgery will remedy a good portion of the unnecessary pain I experience in Leglet gives me so much hope! (And hope is not something you see a lot of when living with this disease.) ...but we are in the same position as last year. The surgeon (which is the only one anywhere near me in TX that can help) only operates out of one hospital. That hospital is not in network with my insurance company. :(

So I got the phone call this afternoon that this surgery will cost $15,000 which is my out of network deductible and out of pocket. $15,000!!!!! I cannot wrap my head around the medical costs that I have taken on since 2017 when all of this began. With CRPS, Multiple Sclerosis, Ehlers Danlos, and a Chiari Malformation - it just never stops, and I know that it never will as long as I live. This system is broken, but I won't go off on that tangent.

In addition to this horrific pain in Leglet, this beast of a disease we call CRPS has spread to my other leg. It has spread quickly...quicker than I could even wrap my head around it. So the entire lower portion of my body feels like it has been set on fire. I tell people it feels as if my limbs are in a bucket of lava while being wrapped in barb wire that I can't free myself from.

I'm exhausted. Completely, totally, and utterly exhausted. Living with this nonstop pain 24/7/365 more than tries you. I lean on my faith, my friends, and my family to help limp along every day. But I'm still exhausted.

This surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday, January 12th in Houston. It will be about a 4 hour surgery hoping things go as planned (which was not the case last year). But the HOPE that comes with relief after the healing process gives me something to look forward to. HOPE! HOPE is not something that comes around a lot in my world, but I always hold out for it.

So right now I need to HOPE that we can raise the $15,000 that the hospital is requiring or the surgery will be canceled and the HOPE will go away with it.

All that know me well, know that I absolutely hate asking for help. I always want to figure it out on my own. ...but I am learning that it's okay to ask for help. I have been through hell and back a million times over with all of this & I am in need of help. So I am humbly asking for that help. Any dollar amount makes a difference. Any share makes a difference. God has a plan with all of this and I am entrusting that He will do what He sees fit here.