I hope all will go well with the surgery. Keep us updated when that will take place.
Rob On 12/7/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 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 > > > > -- Powered by NewOrleansEmail.Com http://neworleansemail.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ [CMLHope] A support group of http://cmlhope.com ------------------------------------------------- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CMLHope" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CMLHope -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
