Knee Brace
From gymnastics and horseback riding as a kid, to gardening and hiking as an adult, I don’t sit, except to write. Therefore, losing my ability to walk upset me greatly. Nevertheless, I had no reason to think my inability to walk was more than temporary, until it went on, and on, and on, and I had to teach my cat to ride on my walker. I’m still in my 50′s. I garden. I do yoga. I’m also wearing two-pound knee braces, shopping for light-weight walkers, and buying an extra cane for my car. What’s happening to me?
On a Wednesday, I was in the garden moving small rocks and building a sitting area. I should also mention that I’d just finished a course of a new medicine that kept me pretty close to bedridden with nasty side-effects, in spite of the doctor’s assurances that it didn’t have any. (I still wonder if it also affected me in other ways.) Thursday morning, I noticed my knees seemed a bit stiff as I dressed to go for my annual physical. Then, it seemed slightly difficult to do the toe-to-heel balance test at the doctor’s office. As an avid dancer, I should be able to do that in my sleep. By Friday morning, I had a large swelling on the back of my right knee, which turned out to be a Baker’s cyst. My doctor saw me the same day and immediately sent me to the orthopedic doctor. At this point, my husband was almost carrying me because I had no walker, no braces, no knee bands, and no knees.
The problem started in July. It’s now February of the following year, and I’m still wearing braces, using a walker sometimes, and using the guest bathroom because I can’t get into the master bath shower. Eventually, the orthopedic doctor concluded that it wasn’t bad enough to consider a knee replacement, and that my chances of a successful replacement were less than normal because of autoimmune disease. Next, I paid a visit to my rheumatologist. He agreed with the obvious conclusions that I have bone spurs on the kneecaps and fluid on the joints. However, that does not explain the suddenness, or the severity, or the fact that the problem came on bilaterally (hit both knees at once). We could debate the medical issues all day, but life goes on.
Our oldest cat needs a lot of special care, and I can’t carry her around or chase her down. With a bit of persistence, she learned to ride on the walker seat. Tabbytha looks very cute standing in a four-legged surfing stance as we travel through the house to get her from place to place. On the other hand, her kitty cousins look very inscrutable as they watch. I probably don’t want to know what they think. There are also a host of other things I can do that I’ve never done before.
I learned that my cane makes a dandy push-pull device when attached to the laundry basket, and it’s good exercise for my knees to pull the laundry basket to the laundry room. I can balance a cup of coffee on the seat of the walker and miss every bump in the house too. In addition, I discovered that my braces wash quite well after being subjected to mud when I got on my knees to plant a new tree in my yard, even though hubby had to dig the hole. We even found a new use for the patio stones we were going to give away. Instead of purchasing ramps for our less-than-handicap-friendly older home, we constructed very shallow steps that I could navigate with the walker and eventually with braces or the cane. We just have to make sure the UPS guys don’t take a header on all those little tiny steps!
In the end, I guess I’ll never have an answer to what happened or why. At least, I don’t have one yet. It makes me sad that I can’t travel alone to see my grandchildren when my husband can’t take time off, and I worry about what could happen if my husband became ill because he’s making up the difference on the physical labor side. I also had to give up substitute teaching, which filled in when my writing work was slow or the water heater sprung a leak. But, I’m learning to let go of those things. I’m choosing to look at it as a creative challenge to find ways to do as many of the things I love as possible.
