So David has had a bum knee for many years now. He injured it playing Soccer in college and it has never fully healed. A few weeks ago he re-injured it pretty bad and has been struggling with a very painful knee since then. He finally gave in and went to the Orthopedist (a $250 visit) and had an MRI (an $800 MRI) which revealed that he has a torn ACL, a torn meniscus and some cartilage damage. He was advised by the doctor to have some pretty major surgery, but in the mean-time he has to wear a brace (an $800 brace). Needless to say we have spent a small fortune getting to this point and he hasn't even had his surgery yet. being that David is an independent contractor we have to provide for his Health Insurance out of pocket. We have a good Blue Options policy, but our deductable is $2500. Yeesh!! So far we are about half way into the deductible and I am sure that the surgery will put us well over the $2500 mark. I really feel like this year we have had many unforeseen financial challenges and thankfully we have had money in savings to cover all of them. The bad news is that it is not helping our standings in the competition towards the $10,000 prize. Hopefully we can round out the year without any other surprises and replenish our savings as much as possible. You know what they say... two steps forward and one limp back!