Let me pass along a warning to any of you younger than 50 – enjoy how your body feels now, because the years ahead will more than likely see your body beginning to fall apart. Twenty years past that age, I’m learning to appreciate how I used to feel. The aches and pains tend to sneak up on you a little at a time. Things start to wear out.
For me, it’s mostly on my left side. X-rays prove I need a knee replacement, as arthritis has taken over that joint – being hit by a car probably didn’t help matters, and probably accelerated the wearing out.
At first, the pain wasn’t unbearable, and I started getting injections, rotating between steroids and gel injections. When injections started, I asked the Physician’s Assistant (PA) when I should plan for the replacement, and I was told, “Oh, you’ll know.” I told her I was feeling apprehensive about the surgery because I felt it was more of an elective surgery since I could still function.
She told me she did a lot of research into different surgeons before she applied for jobs, and she felt very lucky to be working with the surgeon I would be scheduling the surgery with. She said the doctor she works with is very, very good and very fussy about doing a perfect job with each patient. That made me feel more comfortable, but I still wasn’t ready.
A couple of months ago, I started noticing the injections weren’t working as well as they did when I first started receiving them. The relief I felt wasn’t as complete, and it lasted a shorter time.
Since October through April is the busiest time of year for my part-time job, I figured I’d make plans to have my knee replaced in April or May. I talked to my PA and told her my thoughts. She told me that it is a good time of year since the “snowbirds” tend to leave around then, and scheduling would be easier.
Then a wrench got thrown into my plan. Nothing to do with me or my body, and I learned what I know from a newsfeed. What I learned was that an orthopedic surgeon working at the clinic I went to was arrested for shoplifting at a local Costco. This surgeon had put two expensive bottles of wine inside a bag he was going to purchase, went through the self-checkout, and didn’t ring up the wine. That surgeon was my surgeon. I couldn’t believe what I was reading, and then it was on television news as well. It left me feeling like I might not be able to trust this doctor, and that I needed to choose another surgeon.
I’m sure there are other good doctors here – there are a lot of older people living all around this area, and we all have things wearing out and needing repair, so finding another surgeon shouldn’t be difficult. I’ll start that process in November when I go in for my next round of injections and ask my PA her thoughts on the current events.
While you’re younger, take good care of your body, and enjoy the things you can do before things start changing. There are a lot of things I just won’t do anymore. One of them is climbing up a ladder to get on top of my home’s roof – those days are over.
Have A Good Week!
