Is that a gorgeous smile or what? That’s my wife, Kate. I adore her. This picture was taken at a birthday dinner we for her had at Musso & Frank’s Grill in the heart of Hollywood a few years ago and pre-COVID during happier times. Musso & Frank’s has become a birthday tradition for us since i introduced her to that iconic restaurant in the pre-COVID days. I am so looking forward to her getting strong enough that we can go back and celebrate not only her belated birthday, but also her healing.

Kate is currently experiencing some major medical challenges. It began with a diagnosis of follicular lymphoma. Thankfully, this was caught early and it’s not an aggressive form of lymphoma. And she has a world renowned oncologist from UCLA overseeing her treatment. However shortly after beginning her treatment regimen, she suffered a fall, which resulted in a fractured shoulder, compounded by a bowel blockage and multiple infections which have slowed her recovery. The fact that she’s been essentially bedridden for several months. has led her oncologist to put her lymphoma treatment on pause out of a concern that the meds she wants Kate to use may cause an increased risk of a DVT, blood clot in the leg.

She’s been in either regular hospital or skilled nursing facility since mid-May. The sad news is that she's currently in her third skilled nursing facility since this drama began and this one is a step down, sharing a room with three other women, one of whom constantly moans in her sleep. But we had to transfer her there because of Medicare and Medi-Cal coverage restrictions.

She was resuming extensive physical and occupational therapy and making progress. Then a new medical challenge arose.

The latest chapter in this drama began on December 14 when she suffered a fall while attempting to move from a wheelchair to her bed without any help. She fractured her femur and had surgery to repair the damage. Fortunately she didn’t need a full hip replacement, only a steel rod implanted in her thigh. But it’s still major surgery and is likely to take weeks, if not months of intense physical therapy to restore her mobility.

While her femur is healing nicely, she still has major mobility issues. She’s a bit gun shy about getting out of a wheelchair because of the fall that caused your injury. I took her to the orthopedic surgeon recently for a postop check up, and thankfully the skilled nursing facility has a policy of sending a nurse along with her on these medical appointments. This gentleman was strong enough to be able to literally lift her up out of the wheelchair and put her in the backseat of the Uber That we used to take her to the doctor.

Needless to say, this is still a very long process of healing. What's further challenging us is the fact that her otherwise excellent Medicare Advantage policy from UCLA puts a cap on how many days they'll pay for her to be in a skilled nursing facility and she's already past that.

We've gotten her signed up for a Medi-Cal "share of cost" program. But that's almost $3,000 a month which is more than her Social Security payments are. And because I’ve been out of work for a couple of months, we rely on her Social Security to cover the rent for our apartment. And sadly, the last red check bounced.

Meanwhile the bills are piling up and Medicare won't cover all of her expenses, including a big chunk of her cancer treatment and the extended stay in a rehab hospital needed to rebuild her mobility. We just don't have the resources to cover the out of pocket expenses. So I'm seeking help to cover her mounting co-pays.

in addition to dealing with Kathleen‘s care and housing needs, because of all of these emergencies that have sprung up, not the least of which was having my brakes go out as I was beginning a Friday night Uber run, with no money to pay for a brake job, I was four months behind on payments and had my car repossessed. So I have not been able to make any money with my survival gig of driving Uber. No car.

The good news is that her hip surgery went well and the physical and occupational therapists at the SNF are working her hard to rebuild her mobility. The better news is that in her most recent blood work, her numbers were good, according to her oncologist, especially her red and white blood cell counts. However the PET scan has been delayed for a while. But we still need to come up with almost $3000 a month to cover her Medi-Cal she of cost contribution.

So the quest continues to get her care paid for. I am grateful for all donations.

Thank you for your generosity and support.