Hi there, and I am sooo sorry to hear about your husbands problems. I also have some messed up disks, and have all the shooting pains, numbness, muscle loss etc.
I say go for it!! Better to start soon as possible cause the waiting game is the hardest part of the whole process. It took me 5 years to finally get approved even with all the doctor letters, but I think it was because of my education, and job I had. I was the marketing director for a casino, so they thought they could say there was lots of jobs I could do, but finally they couldnt.
When applying make sure you put down the date of his disability as starting when he stopped working instead of the date you apply. If you are denied a couple times and have to go before the ALJ, the judge could set the onset date to the date you put down. This way he will be payed back all they way back to that date, and possibly be able to get the medicare right away if it takes over the 2 year wait we are made to wait for the medicare to kick in.
I hope everything works out well for you two