Tom's Hip Replacement

Tom is finally getting his hip replaced. Any of you who know my husband knows that he is an extremely hard-working and stoic man. He has been dealing with chronic pain from his hip which has caused issues with his back for YEARS. He can no longer enjoy the most basic aspects of life. His mobility is so limited, and his pain is so great that his quality of life has been destroyed. Yet through it all, he continues to work 60+ hours a week, six days a week. And then on his one day off, he still tries to do things around the house, and he still tries to do things outside the house so that I could have some type of enjoyment of life. But it’s not enjoyable because I can see how much pain he’s in. It has taken probably three years to finally get the doctor to agree that he needs a hip replacement. Despite the pain, and despite the x-rays, and despite all of the evidence that his hip is destroyed, they kept telling him that he was too young, and he would have to wait. That surgery is finally scheduled for July 26. We are grateful and excited, but we are scared. He will be out of work completely for a minimum of eight weeks. Once he goes back to work, it will be on a modified schedule and on modified duty for probably another 6 to 8 weeks. This means a complete loss of income and then partial income for probably 12 weeks. As he has base pay, commission and overtime every single week, this is going to cause a substantial financial hit. While his job does offer good benefits, in terms of health insurance and retirement accounts, etc., very little is offered in terms of time off. He gets 5 PTO days per year. Yes. FIVE. Life doesn’t stop. Expenses will continue to come even while he’s not working. He’s going to have physical therapy and probably occupational therapy. Those all come with co-pays. He may need nursing care. We don’t know what that will cost, and I am CERTAIN there will be out of pocket costs for us even with the insurance. I know that Tom is concerned enough about all of this to try to delay this surgery. This CANNOT happen. It mortifies me to do this. I feel like a failure asking for help. I just want my husband to have a good quality of life again. He is such a giving and caring man. He deserves to have his life back. I don’t want him worrying and rushing his recovery because he is concerned about money and getting back to work. Please consider donating or sharing. Thank you.