GoFundMe - Medical Expenses Fund for Geoff & Kelli Logsdon

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

It must be incredible to live in a country where the government actually takes care of its citizens! Would love to know what that is like someday. Canada probably even recognizes bipolar as an actual disease, that kills nearly 40% of people who get it, a rate close to diabetes, l believe. But here in the good old US, if ya don't have something that can be seen on an X-ray, ya must not be sick. Currently the only cure for Bipolar is the method of one's own choice, which is how cavalierly we ignore mental illness in this country. It is sickening and deplorable.
And Kevin, Godspeed and get better, and keep us posted. You have been more than generous and helpful to me and Kelli, please take care of your own well-being.
Positive vibes and prayers to you my friend.
Geoff

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Hello everyone,
I hope it is ok if l give this thread another bump in case there is anyone who hasn't seen it and might be willing to come to our aid. Thanks so much!

[Proglodite]

Geoff - You should find a lawyer that will work to get you and Kelli on Disability. Debbie found one that was either pro-bono up front or just a small retainer fee...and they get paid from a percentage of your approval pay-out. The one Debbie found made sure she had all the medical documentation (as I recall, Debbie was denied the first time she tried it on her own). Once the lawyer was involved, it was maybe a year to final approval (but the payout extended back to when she had first applied). --Peter

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Thanks Peter! Yes we have actually tried 3 times to get Kelli on disability. We had a lawyer the last 2 times. At the last one about 3 years ago we did the hearing in front of a judge where l got to speak, they interviewed Kelli at length, and there was a vocational evaluation specialist there who reviewed all of Kelli's medical records. He literally told the judge that if she could sit in a very comfortable chair for 8 hours a day and stare at something, she could get a job.
Our lawyer said that was one of the best hearings he ever had, it was in the bag, etc. He called a couple of days later and said they turned her down.
That, on top of all of her other issues, just deflated and traumatized her-she had to put a lot of work into it too. It was so discouraging and mentally and physically exhausting that l haven't been able to persuade her to put herself through it again. Believe me, l bring it up every so often but it's a conversation that usually ends in tears. But thank you so much for the suggestion. I guess they are bigger hardasses about that here in Georgia which is not much of a surprise, they are about everything else.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

By the way l should mention that she is hunting far and wide for some sort of job she could do at home on Zoom, which she could physically handle. It is such a shame. At full capability she could do anything. She is one of the most intelligent, engaging people l have ever met. So l am praying a miracle will happen there.

[mozo-pg]

Best wishes.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Greg, thank you so much, and thank you again for your kind donation!

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Hello again everyone,
This is honestly not a last-ditch bump in disguise as a plea for any more donations.
This is purely a thank you from the deepest part of my heart to all of you who reached out to help Kelli and me through the most trying time of our lives, and l cannot ever express my gratitude, which will go on into infinity. I dearly hope that l survive this, and can thank each and every one of you with a bear hug and a beer, if you would like one.
I would especially like to thank the person whose idea this was, and started the GFM for us to begin with, Debi Byrd. She not only created the GFM page for us, but has been an invaluable source of moral support for me. I can honestly say without her help and encouragement l may not be typing this right now. If there are such things as angels on earth, she certainly has wings.
And crucially l have to also send thanks and bear hugs and beers to everyone who was kind enough to donate to us last year. I am not on FB, and was in a really bad place...l don't know if it was even possible for me to personally thank anyone back then. So l dearly hope this belated thank you is somehow sufficient.
One last thing l would like to mention, if it matters, is the
changed perspective that horrific adversity has given me. It was just a peripheral thought that l have had, is that many of you reached out to help me because l am part of the PE family, and not because of what sub-genre of prog l like or don't like. And that has had an effect on me, when l read threads on this group now.
It never used to bother me before but now it just makes me sad that people will get on a thread and say something shitty just for the fun of it, or attack someone for their opinion or musical taste.
Not to hop on a soapbox for a moment but if that is the kind of stuff that is in your heart to make you happy, you ought to take a look on the mirror and thank your higher power that you are lucky enough to have the spare time to hang around on here and be "clever", snarky, or just plain rude. Isn't life a little too short for that?
Ok, off the box.
Thank you again, sincerely, to everyone who has been so kind and generous to Kelli and l in this ongoing time of need.
And if you didn't, guess what? I think you are all pretty great too... otherwise you wouldn't be on this group at all.
All my best wishes, and "be excellent to each other", as a couple of wise men once said.
Geoff

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Hello friends, hope all is well. Kevin J, if you are out there I hope your lithotripsy went well and you have gotten all of the sandbox out!
I wanted to tell anyone who is interested that l have finally started digging out all my CDs and music memorabilia (everything is in a small room packed packed in boxes)and starting to post it on eBay. All the proceeds will go towards taking care of Kelli. So far l have up some echolyn As The World T-shirts (lots more echolyn shirts on the way including for the 1st album and Suffocating), a possibly one-of-a-kind handmade-by-band Deluxe Edition of Sleepytime Gorilla's "Grand Opening..." made in an edition of "maybe 25" per Nils Frykdahl, an English Trick Of The Tail tour jacket from 1976, all 4 of the Accordo dei Contrari CDs, a horribly rare CD copy of 'Bla Vardag' by Atlas (one of my top 5 Swedish albums), some sealed Dreadnaught CDs, books by Andy Powell and Richard McPhail, and a few other things. I am just getting started and hope to add things every couple of days as l run across them. My eBay handle is "khloverstock".
I have a mountain of things to put up for sale. Rush, Marillion (Fish-era), Zappa, Yes, etc concert programs, the aforementioned echolyn shirts along with Nektar, Dr. Nerve, Rush, Spock's Beard, Roots Of Consciousness,Landberk (!), etc. 95% of my shirts were never worn. Vintage posters out the wazoo up to and including original promo posters for PG's first solo album, The Wall, Giant's Playing The Fool(!), a couple of wall-sized Marillion posters, Smallcreep's Day (!), and so on. I can't even find pictures of most of them. Also tons of vinyl but l will have to get good at shipping it.
Anyway, l will list things as l come across them and time permits. Lots of cool stuff for a good cause. Thank you and bless all of you who sent us donations...they would still be a huge help too, of course.
I won't post any more here about things l list for sale, the PE moderators have been more than kind to let me keep this thread here! Thanks again to you all!
Geoff

[moecurlythanu]

^ You might want to provide a link for your ebay page. I used site map>Find a member>khloverstock and came up with bupkiss.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Thanks! I will try to figure out how to do that. I never know how to do anything until l figure it out for the first time, no matter how simple.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Is this it? https://ebay.com/usr/khloverstock

[moecurlythanu]

^ Yep, that's got it. Thanks.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Thank YOU for the very wise suggestion!

[Farpoint Kevin]

Geoff, thanks for the good thoughts! I survived and have been passing various sized stones ever since (this thing was BIG…about 18 mm!). Hopefully it will all be gone soon.
Still saying prayers for you and Kelli, and hoping things start looking up for you two very soon. Hopefully once I get my procedure paid off I might be able to help out a little more.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Hi Kevin,
Glad you made it through! And still passing stones up to a few days ago? And an 18mm? Yow. Ow. I know very well the pain you have gone through! It is indescribable...it has to be experienced.
That is so nice of you to continue thinking of and praying for Kelli and me. Any donations to our GFM are still sorely needed and appreciated, but l can't expect for people to keep reaching into their pockets for us. Having said that, if you are able to, it would be a wonderful thing! Thank you for even considering the possibility!
All the best to you, my friend! Hope you are back to 100% soon!

[Flightwave]

Bumping to make sure our buddy Geoff is doing okay!

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Hi Flightwave, that is very kind of you to ask, and l apologize for my "radio silence" as things are not going so well as of late. My wife has been experiencing some cognitive difficulties the past couple of months which we have not been able to afford to address. But we finally got her into a neurologist who, after all of the cognition tests, suspects that she may have early onset dementia, at 47. He wants her to get an MRI asap, and of course they need a ton of cash up front, almost $800. My boss has been kind enough to let me work a bunch of overtime which is taxing my own physical abilities, and hampering my efforts to spend time trying to locate stuff to list on ebay at exorbitant prices. I have some other additional challenges going on that l'd rather not go into. And l just figured out my 14 year old cat is deaf, which would not be a big deal except she has taken up the habit of hanging out in my bathroom and yowling like Mike Patton at all hours of the night, which is something that deaf cats apparently enjoy because of the resonance. Not conducive to a good night's sleep.
I appreciate so much your checking up on me, and l am sorry l have not responded sooner...it is just embarrassing and wearying to only have lousy news to send out...as l say it tends to make you silent and isolated. Everyone gets sick of an Eeyore after awhile.
So the cherry on top of all of that is both my wife and myself are both having a spiritual crisis as well...we both are starting to feel abandoned by God and the universe and are having trouble seeing the point to carrying on. Obviously we have no choice but every day is filled with frustration, pain, stress, exhaustion, and fear.
I dearly hope that everyone who selflessly pitched into help us knows that they did not do so in vain! We were at a critical point where her living situation was in serious peril, and you all saved us from that along with covering the costs of several doctor visits, and l can never be thankful enough. Working overtime and trying to get stuff up on ebay is almost enough for us to squeak by but her cognitive issues are becoming a huge concern. She can't think of, or mixes up words...she calls her glasses "scissors", for example, transposes letters and numbers when she writes them down, puts things in the oven and forgets about them, and has just started forgetting conversations. She is getting food stamps and is working with a job agency, but she can't learn new tasks, she forgets everything she learned the day before. She is confident she can do some kind of social work which is what her degree is in and it is ingrained knowledge, but they are having trouble finding something for her in that arena at the moment, so l am in a constant scramble to pay for two households. It is starting to feel like a race to the bottom between us, to see which one of us is going to give out (or give up) first.
So please, any spare moment that anyone has to offer a prayer or two would be most appreciated, but l don't think anyone is listening any more.
Love you all, and thank you for everything.
Geoff

[Proglodite]

I know where Geoff is coming from. I have been through (and still going through) many of the things he's having to deal with. I was lucky - my wife pursued Disability benefits early on and we had a lawyer who guided us successfully through the whole process. But Disability does not come anywhere close to replacing a middle class income. We had quite a few dark years, until, ironically, my business started dong so poorly that my wife actually qualified for Medicaid benefits for her medicines and stays in the hospital and rehabilitation. I'm making ends meet at the moment, but an expensive summer (root canals and some hefty vet bills for two of our cats) has landed me back on a month-to-month basis. Still - my situation is miles better than what Geoff is going through.

I've contributed a little to Geoff's fund, but it's just a drop in the bucket and doesn't even come close to paying him minimum wage for the six weekends he gave me helping ProgDay run smoothly. I wish I could offer some solutions, but as generous as the prog community is, it's no where near big enough for someone in Geoff's circumstances. [And location - I'm sure his rural Georgia location has greatly hindered the type and quality of assistance he can get from the local/state government.]

--Peter

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Thank you for the thoughts and kind words, Peter. I wish that neither of us were in this horrible position. I wish there was something l could do to help you! It was so kind of you to send us a donation when you and Debbie are in such dire circumstances also. It meant a lot. All the donations we received meant the world to me, as will any we might receive in the future. My PE family has literally helped us to survive.
I am sorry I can't send you and Debbie anything but good thoughts and prayers, but you can be sure l am doing that. Take care my friend.