Encouraging things

Hey folks! I hope everyone is doing well, and patiently waiting for Chicago winter to turn into REAL Chicago spring.

Thank you everyone for all of the encouragement you gave me over last week. It was a tough week to hear a possible prognosis, but that shock was necessary for me, I think, and there’s a long way to go in this journey. I’ve been praying to accept the possibilities of some difficult limits, while at the same time we’re looking into and planning 2nd/3rd opinions to UW-Madison and Chicago hospitals.

I started therapy this week! – Wed. and Fri. It was anxiously exciting to start moving the toes and the ankle – SLOWLY. I guess a lot of time just needs to be spent on rubbing and mobilizing the toes to get them back into commission. And of course my leg muscles are really atrophied. All those years being called “pencil-legs,” and now it’s basically accurate – at least on the left side. I have a lot of hope for what we can accomplish, and I already see improvements in how much (little, but real) movement I have.

I received another bunch of insurance statements today. There has been SO many shockingly high bills that they have paid, so much to be thankful for. Today finally brought the statement for the first 3 weeks in the hospital, from late Oct. / early Nov. The $175,000 bill was discounted by $40,000, and the insurance covered ALL of the remaining $135,000. So thanks be to God for THAT! I need to focus on that – although the statements for 2 of the many surgeries by my main surgeon just came today, from late Oct… The insurance is trying to only pay less than half on virtually all of those and ask me to pay around $12,000. The appeal has been started, but please pray that the insurance will move and cover these costs, especially since both the surgeon group and the insurance claim that they are paying according to the same Medicare fee schedule.

Well, I’m TOTALLY looking forward to my first “real” shower tonight, without any plastic bags taped to my leg. I get to cleanse my foot and see how the skin graft REALLY looks. Hopefully the doctor resisted writing “Dr. W was here,” or anything really, on my foot.

Another thanks to God, I’ve been able to drive since I got my storm-trooper boot on last week… although not in my stick-shift Honda. That’s a LITTLE too much action for my booted foot. So, I’m really looking forward to driving up and seeing everyone at church, hopefully a week from today, on Mar. 8. I’ll be back in the burbs at my sister’s for those 2 weeks and eager to catch up with a lot of you and hear what’s going on in YOUR lives. Hopefully lots of excitement, not involving hospitals. (Sorry Dina.) THANK YOU for your prayers for these things, and for your pointful encouragements to keep my eyes on our Sovereign God whose plans are higher than all of ours.

Love and peace in Christ,
Todd