My turn to ask for prayers

My family is going through a rather rough patch with my husband's health and inability to work. This is rather long and I’m trying to condense it as best I can. It all stems from an on the job injury in April 2007. He was a police officer and injured his leg in a training class, tearing the rectis femoris muscle (one of the quadriceps muscles) in his thigh and the cartilage in the hip joint. The initial diagnosis was a groin strain and remained that for 3 months until an MRI was finally done, at which point the tendons had retracted too far to reattach the muscle. The torn cartilage was found later and the ragged edges were cleaned up.

He now walks with a cane and takes heavy duty pain killers, one of which requires a written prescription each month, no refills. When his leg is tired, the foot tends to droop and drag and he loses positional awareness of his foot. When tired, his leg will also give out on him, causing him to fall. As a result of the way he walks, some pre-existing knee problems have gotten worse. The leg has continued to get worse.

After about a year or so of treatment, he was medically retired as a police officer. The retired pay is certainly welcomed, but not great because he’d been a cop for only 5 years and was a patrolman. The department rehired him as a civilian a few weeks before he was retired as an officer. Unfortunately, sitting upright, walking, and bending are all hard on the leg, because the tear is near the hip joint and the muscle is involved in bending both the hip and the knee. Crouching or stooping are right out.

My husband developed a blood flow problem in the leg, where about 30% of the blood that went into the leg, did not come back out the way it was supposed to. The return vein had a damaged valve. In early August he underwent outpatient surgery to close off the vein. It’s the same surgery for varicose veins, just more invasive because this was a bigger vein than is usually treated. In the closed off vein he developed some blood clots, but our family doctor said they were “surface clots” and not the dangerous kind. The leg is still almost as bad as it was before the surgery and he has been unable to return to work. His boss, co-workers and doctors have all said that anyone else would have quit working a long time ago because of how hard it was on him.

Within a few weeks of the surgery, my husband developed what we and the doctors thought was a respirator infection which did not respond to antibiotics. Since mid to late August, this thing has been getting worse. He was sent to an immunologist. One of the tests was a pulmonary (lung) function test, which came back normal. Not really a surprise, because even during a severe bout of bronchitis, his pulmonary function test were within normal limits. After the test, he had trouble catching his breath and was so out of it that the doctor called an ambulance and sent him to the hospital to be screen for a blood clot in either the lungs (pulmonary embolism [PE]), or possibly heart. A CT scan at the ER did not show any blood clots and they also ruled out heart failure. Later we were told that there could still be a clot that was just too small to see.

Tuesday, my husband saw a cardiologist who says based on the tests he ran and the ones from the ER, he’s sure my husband’s heart is fine, though he is running one more test just to completely rule it out. Based on the symptoms and the test results, he feels it is one of two things, either a series of small PEs over the course of several months, most likely stemming from the vein surgery, or aspiration of acid reflux while he sleeps. My husband does have a problem with acid reflux. Given the time of onset we all believe it is a bunch of small PEs. The doctor scheduled the cardiac test for the 24th. My husband’s appt. with the pulmonologist is the 25th. The cardiologist is forwarding his tentative diagnosis and recommended pulmonary tests to the pulmonologist. Based on what I can find on line, the standard treatment for PEs is anticoagulant therapy (blood thinners).

Right now, I’m just hoping for a solid diagnosis for a condition that is treatable. My husband cannot carry on a long conversation without getting winded. It has crossed both our minds that if this lung thing is not treated effectively soon, he may not survive it. That is a pretty scary thought, and one that I try not to dwell on.

In the mean time, my husband has applied for Social Security Disability, which he had received while off work the first time. SSD does not pay until one has been off work for 6 months and we had to go to court to get what we received. My husband had already returned to work by that point. We’d been told at the time that if he went back to work, but in the next 5 years it became too much, he would be eligible for expedited benefits, where they would start paying immediately and then review his case and make a final determination. The judge my husband went before when he was approved for SSD the fires time offered to make the settlement for an open time period in case he could not return to work, but my husband said he was working and doing okay, so the judge made it for a closed time period. No one told us that would affect our ability to receive expedited benefits. Open time period is eligible for expedited benefits, but not a closed period. A few weeks ago, we received a letter saying that the SS office did not have enough information to make a decision and sent him to a doctor for evaluation. That appt. was yesterday. The doc’s medical opinion does not matter to SS, his job is to run tests and get information. He thinks there is enough for SSD to approve my husband’s case. So that at least is something positive.

In the mean time, my husband has cashed out his IRA from a previous job, where he worked for a couple of years. The IRA had taken a hit from the current financial market, but at least had grown a bit from a few years ago. It is almost gone. We’ll be okay, but tight for a few months, after that finances will go downhill quickly. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it’s approved soon.

Oh, b2. So sorry to hear about this struggle. Prayers and healing thoughts being sent.

Prayers that things work out for you soon and that the doctors can give a clear diagnosis as to the problem and a resolution to get him better soon!!

Praying for hubby and the rest of the family too! I am sure his SSD will be approved and hopefully it will be with expedited payments! I know you are also anxious for some kind of diagnosis, so I am praying for that as well! Remember your SS family is here for you anytime you need us. :big hug:

Prayers for all of you for a speedy diagnosis and for the SSD to come through.

My prayers are for you and your husband. Hope things get better..chin up

Prayers are being sent for you and your husband Hang in there and know that we care BIG HUGS

Oh, b2curious, my heartfelt thoughts & prayers are with you & your family. Just know you are not alone -- so many of us struggle in this economy just to survive while loved ones suffer. We are here for YOU!

Oh honey i am so sorry. Of course you have my support prayers and love. I've had a blood clot that moved it my leg so I know how scary this can be for both of you. I am REALLY surprised noone has put the man on coumadin as a "prevantative" measure or at least low dose asprin. I'd bring that up at his next appt's better safe than sick.

Love, light, prayers and healing energies to you both!
Xoxo
Dawn

b2, prayers are going up for your hubby and family. I'm so sorry that he has been going through this for so long.

So sorry for all that you and your hubby have been through. I hope and pray that he gets some diagnosis and relief. Prayers for you all.

Thank you all for your kind words and support. We're both holding up pretty well, emotionally through all of this. I often refer to myself as "an incurable optimist, because nothing has been able to keep me down for long. My husband is having a harder time staying positive, but seems to be drawing some optimism from me. I'm pretty sure that we will have a better idea of what is going on next week.

@Jammers, it's too late for expidited benefits, as his last day at work was Aug 2nd. At this point, we'll start getting benefits as soon as he is approved.
@ Dawn, I agree. Though I think the only reason that he's not on a low dose blood thinner is that until Tuesday, blood clots had been mostly ruled out. As for bringing it up at his next appt...Tuesday he has the cardiac test, then Wednesday he sees the pulminologist. I will suggest that he brings it up with the pulminologist. He was on asprin for a while, in September/October, because of the "surface clots" in the leg.

how did it go at the doctors go? Continued prayers love, light and healing energy going your way!
Xoxo
Dawn

I am not happy with the pulmonologist right now. When he saw my husband, David, last Wednesday, David was having a good day. He barely got winded talking to the doc and wasn't coughing too badly. The pulmonologist decided that chronic pulmonary embolism (PE) was unlikely for two reasons. 1. With chronic PE the jugular vein should been enlarged or show increased pressure. 2. The echocardiogram should show strain on the right side of the heart. We did not have the official results of the echo at the appt; just the info the technician did not see anything major. At the appt., the pulmonologist informed us that the most common cause of coughing is sinus drainage, put him on a nasal antihistamine and nasal steroid, and said he'd wait for the results of the echo before making a decision. The echocardiogram results were in late Thursday. It was clean - nothing wrong with David's heart. So someone from the pulmonologist called David and said that the doc would see him in 4 months.

Four months?!?!?!? You have got to be kidding me! The way things are going, he won't last 4 months! As for the diagnosis of sinus drainage - as allergy sufferers, we're pretty familiar with the whole sinus drainage thing. We recognize it when it's going on and know how to treat it. It that had been the problem, if we'd somehow missed it, surely the family doc, or the immunologist, who is also David's allergist, would have picked up on that. David protested the 4 month thing and was told to give it 2 weeks for the meds to have time to work and if he wasn't feeling better to call back at that time. At that time we discussed whether to wait 2 weeks and call the pulmonologist or call our family doctor. David's vote was for calling the family doctor, which he did not do until today. He has an appt. in the morning.

Last night was a really bad night; I darn near called the ambulance for David. He been feeling really bad and had gone to our room to lie down and maybe watch some TV. I was working on getting supper done and normal evening stuff, when he used one of the home phone handsets to page the others (it's a cordless phone with 4 handsets, you can use one to page the others and talk to someone in the house on them). My oldest answered and told me "Dad needs you." When I got back to our room, he was laying on the floor near the door (his leg may have collapsed under him) coughing really bad and gasping for air between bouts of coughing. He managed to get out that he needed his inhaler, so I raced out front and got it. While I was gone, he coughed hard enough to vomit a bit, all liquid and inhaled some of it, we don't know if any of it got to his lungs or not. Had the coughing not calmed down a lot, pretty quickly, I would have called the ambulance. Even half an hour later, I was still considering taking him to the ER, and I'm not one to run to the ER over minor issues.

When David finally called our family doctor around mid-day, they would have seen him right away, but he did not have transportation. He has an appointment first thing in the morning. His parents are driving him.

In the mean time, for SSD, he has an appt with occupational therapy Thursday, and on Tuesday, we have about a 140 mile round trip to take him for x-rays. Makes no sense to me, but if we don't go, they will likely deny the claim. They are paying mileage.

I'm so sorry , B2, that sounds awful. I hope you can get some more helpful answers, beginning with the dr. visit in the morning!

Barb, we may just have to try The Mayo Clinic. I do know that coughing can be a symptom of a cardiac problem. It was the main observable symptom of my father-in-law's congestive heart failure several years ago. Our biggest problem is that all of David's tests are coming back normal. The pulmonary function test, the CT of the heart and lungs, the blood gas test (as far as I know), the EKG, the echocardiogram, whatever test the cardiologist did the day of the appt. Everything is coming back normal! Every doctor, except the pulmonologist, has taken the seriously. The pulmonologist basically lew us off.

Oh b2! I'm so sorry to hear that the pulmonologist is being such a butt!! Which one are you using? Definately go see a 2nd one because this one apparently doesn't have a clue. I'll check with my family to see if they have any recommendations for a pulmonologist around here.

I sure hope that David gets a diagnosis soon. My husband went through a bout of sharp chest pains and all of his tests came back normal. The drs determined it was angina (which means that they don't know) and told him to take it easy. Now, he has an allergy to a mulitude of things but we can't pin-point the severest one that is causing his throat to just close up on him with no warning. He now has to carry around an eppie pen at all times.

I think he saw Dr. Kendrick at a clinic in St. Vincent's North.

Is your husband seeing an allergist? You'd think that some allergy testing would be able to narrow down the list of potential causes of anaphylaxis (it could be more than one thing). I'm sure you already know this, but keep on top of the expiration date on the epi pen. Epi pens are one of the few medications which quickly becomes less effective after it's expiration date. It also should not be kept in the car because extreme heat can make it less effective as well. (My last allergist had me carry one on the days I get my allergy shots, just in case. He moved and my new allergist has not mentioned it and I keep forgetting to ask about it.)

He was, but his allergist moved or something and he hasn't been going to one recently that I'm aware of. The previous allergist gave us a list of several things that he was allergic too, but because there's not a common factor in all of the instances where that happened, we can't pinpoint it. It happened one time at home and several times while he was fishing.

He kept trying to hint to me that it was something at home. I caught on to what he was doind and blatantly asked him if he was trying to say something without saying it and told him that he better remember where most of the episodes occured b/c it sure wasn't in my house. He thought about it for a minute and realized that more episodes occured at his fishing spot and quickly said "Nope. I"m not trying to say anything." Smart move on his part...