In December 2009, I was involved in a rollover accident where black ice decided to take my vehicle and skate with it.  I ended up dangling from my seat secured by my seat belt, and of course the only way out is to undo, so then I crumpled to the roof of my little SUV.  Didn’t really sustain any major injuries (or so I thought) just some cuts and bruises.  However, in the front floorboard of vehicle were two things that could have easily killed me, a heavy toolbox and my bowling bag with a 14 lb bowling ball inside.  There was no indication at the time whether I was struck by these but later in the following year it could have been possible.

At the end of February 2010, winter’s ice decided that it enjoyed my skating routine and wanted an encore, so as I headed out the door of my home, my feet made contact with the ice on the step and my butt was close to hitting the ground, a quick thinking of grabbing onto the porch railing seemed like a good idea.  My right arm and shoulder would take a hit and hyper-extend saving me from impact.

The double-one and a half-twist and shout combination I performed with disastrous results has now caused me excruciating pain in my neck and upper back, as well as in arm and shoulder sending me immediately to my doctor’s office, only my doctor wasn’t in that day but a stand by was…he addressed the pain in my arm as the results of what Tennis Elbow was, without any x-rays.  He just assumed that was what it was.   My skating routines were flawed by incorporating a game of Tennis in the mix….his assumption and me believing him could have been my demise.

Acting upon this pain I was feeling as it was getting worse and going up into my neck, I demanded my future wife to take me to the emergency room, to which ended up scaring the crap out of me when a neurosurgeon said to me, if I had fallen or had gotten in a rear end collision, the damage to my neck would result in me being paralyzed.  He was glad that I followed up on my pain and not taken the Tennis Elbow diagnoses seriously, because from the rollover and slip off porch, I damaged my spinal cord and vertebrae.   To make a long story short, I needed surgery.   In April of that same year, I lay on an operation table while slipping away to la-la land and received Cervical Spine with Fusion surgery to repair the damaged vertebrae and inserting a titanium plate and six screws into my neck and I haven’t been the same since.

(April 2010)

My surgeries were not over, the next two years, I kept having issues with the nerves in my right arm to the tips of my fingers.  Doctor was concerned about the numbness in my fingers and thought maybe a surgery to my right hand similar to Carpal Tunnel would help.

(July 2010)

It didn’t.

A year has passed…no relief from the nerve pain, the healing took forever from surgeries the prior year.

I was sent to specialists to determine the underlying causes of the nerve pain, and after having a very painful nerve test, there was a focus on my elbow.  No, not the first diagnoses of Tennis elbow, but of the Funny Bone kind, only there was noting funny about it at all. The nerve in your elbow is not protected, the reason why it sends tears to your eyes and expletive words to come from deep within to come out the mouth with no remorse at all.   It’s not funny at all.  For me, the pain that I was feeling was like constantly hitting that “Funny Bone” over and over.  So the surgeon, who performed my previous surgery did an Ulnar Nerve Reposition procedure, where he shaved a piece of my elbow to reposition the nerve into a channel, to protect it.  The result worked but the stitchery was ugly.

(April 2011)

Ahead to 2015, the nerves are still compromised, my right hand is pretty much useless, I get hand cramps that are so painful they bring tears, my way of life has changed drastically.   My love for bowling and softball has been taken away, I am so weak, I can’t lift my bowling ball no longer, even a child’s ball is too heavy.  I used to be creative artistically: painting mailboxes, murals, canvases, little odds n ends for friends and family such as below.

(a little addition to a watering can)

Not only am I not healing like I should have, as I am getting older, I will be 50 next year, other things are coming into play…my eyesight.  Was told I have a slight cataract and may need bi-focals and I broke a tooth a bit ago and it’s throbbing with pain….so hear is where my post will take a turn…there is no skating involved, there is me and my health.

After my Cervical Spine surgery, my life changed, working was complicated and I ended up being disabled, my hand is pretty much dead, there is no feeling in it, I can’t even feel the keys to type this blog.  So upon being disabled I immediately qualify for Medicare and Medicaid, and since I have hardly any income I also receive food assistance.  So here I am, trying to make it in this world as some kind of positive impact, my health needs are being placed on back burners because recently…I found out that even though I have Medicaid, it doesn’t cover my eye doctor and dentist, because some where along the lines of sort of working, at least trying since my spine surgery, I fell in a gap to where I made just a little too much to qualify for full coverage and only get “medically needy” coverage.   I am covered for hospital and drug costs via Medicare but for my head health like my teeth and eyes are not.  Apparently, when all this healthcare reform was happening, I was not notified that I needed to apply for supplemental insurances like CHIP or HMO.

On top of all that, during this health insurance shift, my primary care doctor here in Florida, dropped me.  So now I do not have any kind of doctor at all.  My hope for a healthy future doesn’t lie within the hands of a doctor but some political figure like this jerk, our governor:

(Prick…did I say that?…Scott)

From an article on Huffington Post 05/09/2015:

The governor says he shouldn’t be forced to expand the same program he supported two years ago, even if the financial terms are now much better for Florida: With its current Medicaid population, Florida pays 40 percent of the bill and the federal government pays 60 percent. Under Medicaid expansion, the feds will pay the entire bill at first, and 90 percent thereafter.

An AP reporter asked the governor a tough question Thursday (May 7, 2015) after Scott returned empty-handed from Washington, where he had tried to persuade Obama’s Health and Human Services secretary to extend the grant even without a Medicaid deal.

“Two years ago you did come out in favor of expansion,” the reporter asked. “Can explain to me — were you lying back then — or has something changed, other than an election, between now and then to get you to change your position?”

“Let’s remember what I said back then. It was the day that we were able to get our waivers done,” Scott responded.

(“There are 800,000 Floridians who are not being included in our health care system. It is unfair and it’s inhumane. And it’s illogical…we’re refusing free money,” (U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, joined two Democratic Florida legislators in blasting Gov. Rick Scott and state House Republican leaders for refusing to accept $2.8 billion in federal Medicaid money.) “What’s illogical to me is that Gov. Scott just was in Washington, D.C., basically begging the federal government to write a check to pay for uncompensated care in Florida hospitals. That’s federal money that he wanted. And yet, on the other hand, he’s turning down much more money that would go to the health care of 800,000 more Floridians and keep many of them out of hospitals and give them preventive care,” Frankel said. “The state legislature needs to come together and accept this Medicaid expansion money.”)

So, in my personal quest for finding a primary care doctor, I have now fallen out of the network as to where before I could go to someone who accepted my insurance.

I didn’t chose to be disabled, it wasn’t my fault, if the surgeon had done his job and fixed me, I wouldn’t be here ranting but since I am disabled and in need of medical attention, and being diverted I am going to rant…it is my American right too…

Last time I checked, I was still human, but it seems like not being able to have the same results as others more well off than me, humility is more how I feel.   A country I call home, has failed to maintain the strength it once had and we who live within it, the everyday American person, are being taken advantage of.

Do I have to lose my eye sight because of a cataract?

I am but one person out of billions…just one person, being overlooked because I am out-of-network with countless doctors and healthcare professionals who could restore my vision and fix my broken tooth.  It shouldn’t have to be this way, it never was this hard before and I am sure it’s only going to get worse before it gets better.

Will I get better? I hope so….I may have to take my health issues into my own hands:

(this is reality…this is Hell)

Ice dancing is in my past..but then if hell freezes over…looks like I better brush up on my skating techniques. Because if Florida’s governor, doesn’t care about my health, who will?