Sorry to hear about the injury. Understand working on a car with pain.

I'm the type who replaces everything when I hear a noise and then forget it for another 100k+ miles. From what I've read on here the upper wishbones never* go bad. I replaced ours anyway. It's everything else that goes. If you are looking to start with the easy and cheap, start with the sway bar links as you said. Have a look at the foam "washer" that goes on top of the strut. When it wears out it will let the strut top contact the tower and make a racket. That's what prompted replacing all of the below for us.

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2005 X5 4.4i Build 04/05 Maintenance/Build Log
Nav, Pano, Sport (Purchased 06/14 w/ 109,000 miles) (Sold 8/15 w/121,000 miles)

2006 X5 4.8is Build 11/05 Maintenance/Build Log
Nav, DSP, Pano, Running Boards, OEM Tow Hitch, Cold Weather Pckg (Purchased 08/15 w/ 90,500 miles)

2010 X5 35d Build 02/10
Nav, HiFi, 6 DVD, Sports Pckg, Cold Weather Pckg, HUD, CAS, Running Boards, Leather Dash, PDC, Pano (Purchased 03/17 w/ 136,120 miles)