Winter Cold Moon
Final visit to my surgeon today. X-rays of the new knee will be taken. This whole process has been much harder than I imagined, though I admit my imagination didn’t have much information.
Was it worth it? The next few weeks will give a certain answer. Going back to the decision to have the surgery answers this question from another perspective. The only direction for my arthritic knee, 90% of its cartilage gone and bone spurs asserting themselves, was to get worse. Since it made hiking and working out difficult, the future for an active life did not look positive. In that regard even pain cessation and stabilization of the joint would be success. I’m hoping, and seeing, that the end result will be more, letting me back into workouts and hikes. So, unless something unforeseen asserts itself, the answer will be yes, it was worth it.
Would I recommend it? Not without making the recovery process clear. A month plus a little is a long time to be medicated and in pain. Healing, too, requires physical therapy which exacerbates, initially and for some time, the pain and the need for strong drugs. This is not an easy choice unless you really want fewer restrictions on your activity level. I did.
The aging process offers many character building opportunities. This has been one of them.
I admire your determination to make the plunge and have your knee replaced. I hope with recovery time you will be completely ambulatory soon… I have a right knee that would very much like to leave the leg it is attached to and have recomendations that it should be operated on with new parts inserted. I have decided that at my age I will live with it as it is. By the time I recovered, I probably would be too old to appreciate it. …Good luck in your healing…. Tom
It was not an easy choice, even at 69. I could have continued with my bum knee. I could get around, though often inelegantly; but, the grandkids and my exercise routine needed a better leg. So, I did it. Travel, too, was a factor. Walking any distance had become a chore and that really puts a crimp in seeing the sites.
Knowing what I know now I believe I would still make the same decision, though I would have to consider the choice more carefully than I did. Going through the recovery in my mid-80’s? I’d probably choose against it, too.