Get Nate Walking Again Medical Fund

Event No. 1 January 5th 2017, went to the doctors for extreme pain in my lower right leg. Was immediately sent for an ultrasound and discovered there was a blood clot behind my right knee and was immediate admitted to the ER to be prepped for surgery. During prep the pain became even more intense in my calf and the doctors had to perform a fasciotomy (slicing both sides of my calve open) to relieve the pressure from the excessive swelling. The pain was so intense I blacked out and only remember bits and pieces of what happened before they sedated me and performed the fasciotomy. While I was sedated they went in through my femoral artery to retrieve the blood clot or blockage from behind my knee. After removing what was determined to be a blood clot the doctors and nurses had a hard time controlling the bleeding at entry point for this procedure which was in my groin area. They worked on controlling and stopping the bleeding for two and a half hours. I was very lucky to not need a blood transfusion. I woke to them unwrapping my leg and began to freak out and panic having no idea what traumatic events had happened while I was out. I found out that they had sliced open both sides of my calve and that that they worked for two hours to stop the bleeding. I was panicked and frantic and all I could think to do was take pictures of my leg. I was in shock. I spent the next 11 days in the hospital recovering and trying to wrap my head around what had happened. All I could think about was what and why it happened. I also began to stress about how I was going to manage to get back to my life as it was before or would that even happen…. I stressed about how long it was going to take to heal, how long I would on crutches, how much longer would I be out of work and if I was going to be able to get back to a normal life. I returned home and began to deal with the onset of extreme nerve pain and damage due to the compartment syndrome (extreme swelling of my leg). I had multiple follow up appointments with specialists but none could really help with the pain. They gave me gabapentin, Percocet and oxycontin but it did nothing for hyper intense pain. I struggled doing daily tasks and relied heavily on my Dad and one of my friends. Not being able to return to work I started falling behind on my existing bills while new medical bills came in. I did have three months of short term disability but that did not supplement my entire income. I was also helping my friend that was taking care of me. The doctor released me to go back to work starting April 19th 2017. I was very lucky that my company held my job for me. I am extremely grateful to them. My pain was at a tolerable level returning to work. I was still on crutches and struggled to do my job efficiently. Event No. 2 My pain was tolerable and seeming to get better slowly. I saw a nerve specialist at the beginning of September that gave me 2 sympathetic nerve blocks one week apart. A week after the second injection I started getting nerve and tendon pain in my foot. The pain continued to get worse and I had an extreme pain episode while I was at work. I took the rest of the day off and then called in the next two days and the following week. I had an ultrasound done for an existing appointment and they immediately admitted me to the hospital. They found another clot this one was above my knee and they found a collapsed vein in my right leg. I was moved from the Brighton Hospital to University of Colorado by ambulance. They gave me more blood thinners to break up the clot and so the veins in my leg didn’t have to work as hard. The blood flow was so bad that I was having to discuss the possibility of amputation of above the knee if the surgery to replace my vein did not work or if the surgery fails at any point in time, this could be 5 minutes after surgery or it could be 5 years. Amputation is still a strong possibility at this point. I am looking to be out of work 2-3 months, possibly longer. I am in the process of filing for long term disability insurance but again it will not cover all of my lost wages. I also do not know for sure that the insurance company will except my claim. I don’t have a reason to believe that they won’t but not everything is guaranteed. Family, friends, acquaintances and strangers, I need this money to cover my everyday expenses that the disability insurance won’t cover. I currently have about $13,000 in medical bills from the 11 days that I was in the hospital in January. I have now been in the hospital 9 days and am looking at least another week depending on how well my healing goes, pain management and that there are no setbacks. I also currently have medical bills from specialists that are out of network. I know that I have a long road for recovery and will need to see additional specialist, follow ups, physical therapy, copays, prescriptions, continuous blood work and ultrasounds. I am hoping to raise to $5,000 to replace my lost wages to pay my regular monthly bills. Current update as of Tuesday October 2nd, 2018... So, the bypass surgery I had received isn't doing as well as hoped. A day before I was to have surgery on my foot and toes ultrasound found blood clots again, and the stints weren't doing well, once again landing me in the hospital for 4 days cancelling that surgery in the process. After vein surgery, putting in a couple more stints and what not, Doc told me plainly, my foot isn't getting enough blood flow to heal from another surgery and that it's time to let it go we've tried what we could. As you can imagine it was a rush of emotions. Not only was it my dominant side leg but also I'm such an active person. So after much waiting and red tape to get through, the date is finally set. Thursday October 18th, 2018, I'm scheduled for my below the knee amputation... Has me quite anxious and nervous about it, but I know it's has to get done either way. Been doing tons and tons of research on the procedure, looking at prosthetics across the net, talking with other people about it, and many other things. I think I've pretty much mentally prepared myself as much as possible. I'm staying positive and even been coming up with so many inventive ideas on custom prosthetics I'm gonna make for myself. Halloween is gonna be on a whole other level for me now, for fun of course LOLOL. I will be posting another update and some pics after my leg departs this realm of existence and at home starting the healing process, and also when healed beginning the process for my 1st prosthetic. About 3-6 weeks healing time, then prosthetic and physical therapy to start and hoping to be back to work soon after. I tell ya, the past 2yrs have been no vacation and quite difficult and painful, I can't wait to get the pain relief I need and get back to being able to walk (correctly) and back to being somewhat normal and more active again. I thank you so much the people who have helped already and also a future very grateful Thank You to anybody else willing to help some. Be careful with your health, and Love You All. Future updates to come...