UPDATE 7/31/2026: just got off the phone with the pharmacy I use, insurance denied 2 topicals that could have potentially helped with pain:

Lidocaine Ointment: $994

Diclofenac Gel: $3,000 for 5 tubes and the pharmacy doesn’t even carry this cause it’s so expensive… 

I became an amputee 12 years ago in October after a chemical burn from the ankle down on my right leg.

Dealt with the burn for about a year, which led to the first surgery, costing me the 3rd and 4th toes along with the joints attached to them.

That seemed to last about a year, and then suddenly I started getting fever and chills. I walked into the emergency room with a 104-degree fever. I got admitted to the hospital, where an orthopedic surgeon told me, “You can keep your leg and maybe not wake up tomorrow, or you can amputate and lead a long life.” I told him right there, without hesitation, “Schedule the surgery as soon as possible!” Both he and my mom thought I would want to think on it, but having 3 kids to try and survive for, so at least I’d know they’d be taken care of if I was breathing, was the only way I could look at things! The surgery got scheduled that night for the next day. I don’t know that I have ever actually thought about it or gotten any sort of closure on losing my right leg below the knee, but life has always been about adjusting for me.

The first surgery and all of the rehab put me in debt over $133,000. The second one was well over $230,000, including staying in the hospital for multiple weeks. About 3 and a half years ago, I was prescribed an ankle-foot orthotic (AFO) that did severe damage to my left foot.

This resulted in having to go to the doctor weekly, sometimes having to have a PICC line inserted, so I could infuse my own antibiotic IVs at home.

In October of 2025, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) was started to be used to heal diabetic wounds. For the first few times, it was covered, then for a while, this administration decided that it would not be covered. Thing is, it was actually working. I didn’t think it would be smart to stop something that had made my wounds heal by upwards of about 50%, when nothing else had been working. I don’t have a choice but to beg and plead with family members and friends to try to get my foot healed. The other issue becoming an amputee caused, the orthopedic surgeon made sure I understood, was that in 10 years, I would need hip replacement surgery. I thought it would only be the hip that had the amputation and I used a prosthetic leg on. Boy, was I wrong! I currently show to have almost zero cartilage in either hip socket. I get injections into both hips every 6 weeks and on the outside for hip bursitis every other 6 weeks. Neither are currently working due to the lack of cartilage for the steroid injections to bind to. The way I see it, I'd have to wait about 8 months to a year to have the first hip replacement surgery. Until that can happen, I'm not going to be able to walk very much anymore. Part of the reason for setting this up is to try and get an electric wheelchair to use until the surgeries can happen. The other reasons are to try and get caught up on bills, pay back said friends and family, and be able to live stress-free for a little while.