Can I just say that attempting to work and being unable to perform those jobs can work in his favor? Although if he has work restrictions from a doc stating he can't sit for more than two hours, they'll have to find a job that fits within those restrictions. Also, what happens at 2 hours? Is that the max for the day? Or after a 5 minute stretching break can he resume another 2 hours at a desk?

How the work restrictions are written are Very important. Docs make assumptions that this stuff is obvious, and aren't used to their proclamations being questioned. They figure if a patient has their support on a disability claim, that's enough. It isn't. Has your husband gone through functional capacity testing and a doc supplied a report? A certain amount and type of surgeries does not equate instant approval.

With a college degree, is your husband capable of working PT at the SGA level? ($1020 per month last time I looked) because that's the standard SS will consider.

The standards are lowered again when he turns 55, but, this might mean he's forced into changing his onset date and will lose many months of backpay. Depending on the LTDI, this might have little to no impact on his monthly amount, so it might make more sense to start a new claim when he hits 55 instead of waiting for an ALJ date. Of course, the LTDI will have an opinion on this...