Punk Rock Shoulder Surgery Survival

Hi.

See this guy?

That's my husband, Christian.

He's fairly well known around town for playing in a punk rock band & riding around on a scooter.  Some people remember when he worked for the City of Houston with a giant mohawk.  Pretty much if you've been inside of the Loop for any amount of time over the last 30 years, chances are you've seen him. 

In 2003, he offically retired from the City, & taught guitar lessons on the side to supplement his pension. But when I was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, he not only took care of me through all of the surgery, chemo, & complications, but he also went back to work full time in order to keep the bills from piling up too high.  And on top of all that, he kept his band together.  He's a pretty amazing guy, if I might say so.


But now it's my turn to take care of him.  And in order to do that, we need some help.

This is an MRI image of Christian's right shoulder. The circle shows where the muscle is that's supposed to be attached to his shoulder, but isn't.  It's due to a combination of bone spurs, years of hard work, carrying around guitars & amps, and his age.  Beleive it or not, he's actually over 60.  At any rate, the orthopedic specialist says that if he does not perform the surgery required to repair it by the end of January, it'll be beyond his ability to fix the damage to Christian's shoulder at all. 

The kicker is that even though the surgery is an outpatient procedure, the recovery period is 6 - 9 months.  And even if everything goes perfectly, he will not be able to go to work for at least 90 days. What's worse for him, he won't be able to pick up a guitar, either. 

In preparation for all of this, we've cut down on our expenses as much as we can.  But no matter how far down we whittle away at our budget, we still can't make ends meet without his income.  It's just that simple. Besides paying his share of the basics, he helps me to pay my monthly health insurance premiums- as well as the financing on both of our scooters.  So, here we are. Asking for help.

 Christian's surgery is on Monday, January 30th.  We're hoping that he'll be back to work in the beginning of May; of course we'll keep you all in the loop.  If we're lucky, when this is all over, Christian can set up a show & express his thanks via his music. But in the meantime, please accept our gratitude. The generosity of others is always a humbling and beautiful thing.

We appriate you taking the time to read this.

And the Lucky puppy does, too.