Terry was still doing poorly from all over body pain after Thankgiving. He has had xrays on his elbows & ankles and nothing significant. Xrays & MRI on his knees did show that he had no cartiledge left & our family doc was amazed that Terry was able to be upright especially considering his health & weight. So, now he is contemplating knee replacement surgery. Terry has met his out of pocket deductible, and considering that we are in catastrophic medical debt, we are pushing hard to get one of his knees replaced by the end of the year. Both equally hurt & we think we have decided to do his right knee since that is used to drive & his job is dependent on his ability to drive a school bus. We are having to contact most of Terry's docs for them all to sign off on that Terry is healthy enough to have the procedure. And while the surgeon is not sympathetic, he has a great staff who is willing to go to some effort to see if the surgery can get scheduled by the end of the year. Otherwise, we would need to save most of next year to even make the down payment for the hospital since it will be considered elective & not qualify for the charity help. It is a scary decision....Terry is only 47, so too young to have it done....yet the surgeon is concerned about quality of life issues......and if Terry is already using wheelchairs to do things like grocery shopping, he thinks that Terry might only have 1 or 2 more years where he could continue to push his knees as they are now. And if Terry is not upright, that would eliminate most jobs he could work. Now, there are lots of factors....Terry's weight has dropped from his Feb hospital stay from 350 to now 318 pounds....and before he was diagnosed held at around 275 pounds for many years. The issue on both sides of surgery, is that he should lose weight regardless, but with bad knees Terry is not willing to walk more than just out to his car or back and forth for a moment. With one bad knee & one replaced....will his rehab be better...hmmm...... Yet, if the knees aren't done, will he continue to lose muscle mass in strength in his legs. as you can see, no easy answers....awaiting all OK's from docs which we don't forsee any hitches. Terry does have to do a stress/arterial/ and rest test next week & I am sure until those results come back, they won't schedule the surgery till then. please lift him up that all the cogs will fit into place if it is meant to be!!! There are always misgivings, but our oncology nurse didn't feel that Terry's leukemia is as big a factor as the surgeon was concerned about if all other health issues are addressed at the same time. will update after the 15th when the heart tests are completed more stress is all we needed...but from what we are told the hospital bill alone will be $18 to $30,000.....so eek!!!! This also means that we will probably still be unable to go back to traditional housing since the $$ we had hoped to save up for a down payment will now have to go towards the 2nd knee. not even contemplating the 6 weeks to 3 months that Terry will be off work. Lora
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