solution

well, i have a solution now to my vacation/PTO problem: another surgery.

it's not an urgent surgery, i could really do it whenever i want, next year even or later. this is not even a guarantee that it will fix my pain problems - it will fix my instability problems, and could trickle down to fix my pain problems, but no guarantee on that. but with my health insurance situation and the pain that i live with & instability in my knee (buckling when i walk or go down the stairs), i pretty much need/want to have it done this year. insurance-wise, the hospital is out-of-network. i'm paying a premium this year for premium PPO to have more coverage for out-of-network providers, plus i already hit my out of pocket maximum for the year, so to minimize the amount i'll have to pay, it's got to be this year. if i wait until next year, i'll have to pay for premium PPO coverage for another year, plus i'll have to hit my out-of-pocket maximum again. and i still have money left in my flex account for this year.

so, i'm getting my ACL re-done. i'm doing the first surgery all over again. the doctor is going to cut out my current ACL graft and put in a new one, this time in the right position. honestly, i'm mostly relieved because i thought he was just going to tell me that this is my knee for the rest of my life - i'm more scared of that than another surgery. that's saying a lot, for those who know the hell & pain i went through with the first surgery on my right knee - 10000x more painful than the one i had done on my left knee 8 years ago, but i know this doctor will do a much better job. he's already told me he's going to cut a new scar in me - the incision made for one of the screws from my first sugery is totally in the wrong place, and he can't cut near enough it to make it one scar, so he'll have to make a brand new one. that'll be 10 scars on my right knee.

i need to talk to my boss and then settle on a date, but i think i'll try for early august to take advantage of my PTO maxing and work schedule. this is not like surgeries 2-4, where i can just get away with taking one day of PTO.

the part i'm really not fond of is having to rehab my right knee for the fifth time. rehabbing after surgeries 2, 3, and 4 were not as bad since they were more minor surgeries, but rehabbing from ACL reconstruction again... not looking forward to it. praise God, i can actually benefit from the one input i've had in this company - increasing our physical therapy benefits.