Need:** $1235 + food** before* New Years Day*

PAYPAL: Tigerwolf.2@gmail.com

My working on the YCH winner pic and my current commission has been delayed even further. First, by the loss of a very important person in my life - my son, who just happened to be a cat - and now by some medical news.

For those who want to hear more about Ziggy, here is the memorial blog I wrote about losing him: http://www.tygerwolfe.com/tae-farewell-zigacious-amadeus/

This post, however, is more of the medical nature.

Thanks to a pair of absolutely incredible donations from one incredibly generous soul, I was able to get my MRIs and have the information sent to the Disability office. The appeal will be filed in the next couple of weeks, and my hearing will likely be in January. This is all good news, and my Lawyer is optimistic that I'll win the case and be given Disability.

The bad news is what the MRIs showed.

There...IS nerve damage. This damage, caused by the bone spurs in my spine rubbing against the nerves as they branch away FROM the spine and head to my extremities, is the cause of the increasingly periodic numbness in both of my hands.

The short answer is that there's nothing that can be done about this, and I will be losing all feeling and strength in my hands over the next ten years or so, likely. I'm looking at being a semi-paraplegic 40 year old.

Now, I'm losing weight. Losing weight reduces the stress on my spine and the bone spurs, and will ultimately lengthen the amount of time I have with functioning hands. I'm also on hormone replacement therapy, and as my body adjusts to the testosterone, I'm getting stronger muscles and more of a pain tolerance. The up side of this is that it will also contribute to my holding on to the use of my hands as long as possible.

My doctor wants to do a series of tests and scans on my hands and wrists to see if there's also some carpal tunnel going on that's exacerbating the problem. She believes that there IS, and there are some minor surgeries that can help, as well as wrist braces and other options.

All of this is designed to help me keep the use of my hands as long as possible.

The ultimate consequence of this is that I'm going to be slowly losing the ability to do art. I am pressing forward and determined to finish the commissions I currently have, but I can't take any more at this time - my medical situation is taking up too much of my time.

What this means is that, until I get disability, I have no way to work for money to pay important things like rent and utilities. Those bills are due in the first few days of the new year, and I have...I think three dollars left in my Paypal account after the MRIs.

My wife's mother is trying to help as much as possible, but since her father died three years ago and she has her own serious medical problems, we're both struggling very hard. It's especially hard in the middle of the holiday season, when hope is so very close to fading.

New years are supposed to represent new beginnings...I have hope, but...I don't see any way right now to get my rent paid.

My rent is $750, due on the first. My utilities are $85, due on the 4th. Then there are the other misc. bills that add up to another $400 or so, for a total of $1235 to make sure we can keep a roof over our head and get through what is hopefully the last month before I'll get disability and everything will loosen up a bit.

What's worse, the $1235 doesn't include food. We're kind of sponging off of other people we know for that right now. >.< Upside is that it's leading to my losing weight. Downside is that my wife is diabetic and has to watch her diet very closely, so some days she's running on the verge of a low blood sugar collapse due to our erratic eating habits.

Please...I hate so much to beg for help so often, but I need help...Hopefully just this one last time. Anything toward my total will be so incredibly helpful...Please. Please, if you have just five dollars to spare, it will help us so very much.

Thank you all for whatever you can give, no matter how small or how large.

Need:** $1235 + food** before* New Years Day*

PAYPAL: Tigerwolf.2@gmail.com

Please help bring us some hope in this dark time. I know the dawn must be coming soon...because after losing Ziggy, and getting this blow of medical information all within four days, it can't get much darker.

Thank you. All of you. You make a world of difference.