I suppose along the way, I'll venture off the subject and tell you things about myself or my children or my dogs. I don't expect anyone to really be interested in this unless you know me or love me. I live in Virginia and both of my kids live in Los Angeles. They are both successful adults. My son is 29 years old, and his name is Jeff and my daughter is 26 years old and her name is Jenny. I'm sure I will refer to both of them a lot as time goes on.
I think writing a blog is very helpful, not just right now, but years from now, if I have something to look back and and read then I can remember it all and I won't have false memories of how it was. We all do that. No one ever remembers everything about any experience that they have. And if 2 people have the exact same experience, neither one of them will remember it exactly the same.
When I was younger, I kept a diary. I would go back and read it and relive a lot of happy memories and it would help me remember some of the bad times that I had actually forgotten.
I think it is good to remember everything.
I am 64 years old now. I have a wonderful and loving husband and I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world. I am a positive thinker and try to find good in just about everything that happens to me. I've had plenty of bad things to happen but somehow, I always found a silver lining.
When I had a 2 year old, and was pregnant with my daughter, my mother lived with me and my husband. She was bed ridden and quite feeble. I loved my mother truly and deeply and I thought she was the best mother ever. But at that time in my life, I was overwhelmed with caring for her and my young family. I knew I couldn't continue taking care of her. I knew she was going to have to go live somewhere else. She could have gone to live with my brother or one of my sisters, they all wanted her. But she saw the burden she had become for me and didn't want that. Luckily, my niece and her husband (her granddaughter) owned several nursing homes in Alabama. We were living in Virginia at the time and it just seemed like the right solution because my niece said mom could live there free and keep her pension checks. It was truly a blessing. However, it was a very sad time too...because I felt like I was letting my dear mother down. She was incontentent and completely bed ridden and I knew I had no choice. She agreed to the move but I knew I would always feel badly about it. So, I decided to start keeping a diary of my every day experiences taking care of her. I did this faithfully for about 3 months before she left. I started it when I was about 6 months along with Jenny. We had all decided that mom would stay until the baby was born. My sister, Bonnie, came to stay with us the last month of my pregnancy, and during that first month of Jenny's life. She would accompany my mother to Alabama and the nursing home. She was a Godsend for me.
Every time I would miss my mother, I would go to Diary and read what I had written, and remember how hard it was on a day to day basis. I am ashamed of some of the things I wrote because I was so frustrated with trying to do it all. But reading that Diary made me know for sure that I had done the only thing I could do. I'm so happy that I kept that Diary. I haven't seen it in years, but I know it is somewhere around here. I don't need to read it anymore. My mom lived for another 2 years and 8 months at the nursing home. I went to see her every 3 months and talked to her on the telephone just about every day. I knew she was in the best place for her. But to this day, I miss her.
So, back to present day. I have had problems with my feet and legs since July 4, 1972 when I was in a very bad automobile accident. Both of my ankles were crushed. I won't go into any of the boring details now (maybe later). Suffice it to say, that I spent the next 4 years in and out of the hospital with numerous surgeries and bad legs. I didn't lose the ability to walk, but I've always been in pain. It was mostly my ankles. My last surgery on my ankles was one in 1999 and the other one in 2001. They were both fused because of the very painful arthritis, caused by the accident. The surgeries relieved a lot of the pain, but I still don't have great ankles.
I suppose it was because of the stress on my knees, who knows, but shortly after this my knees started bothering me and it has steadily gotten worse and worse. Now I am at the point where I can't walk more than a few yards without both knees stiffening and causing pain. I use a walker or wheelchair most of the time. Finally, 2 years ago, I went to the orthopedic surgeon with cries for help. He referred me to a pain management clinic. I have been seen by them for the past 2 years. I have been taking NSAID's of all kinds. I have had steroid injections which did absolutely nothing and I have had 4 courses of Synvisc. This is also a knee injection that is done 3 times over a 3 week period every 6 months. They inject this thick slimy gunk in my knee joint to replace lost cartilage. This gave me a lot of nightly relief but really hasn't helped with my walking. Finally, last month I returned to the same orthopedic surgeon and he said it is time for the bilateral knee replacement. Both knees at the same time. Since them I have been reading all that I can find on what to expect and the rehabilitation process. I'm ready for this surgery.
hey we need some before pics of your knees so we can compare them to the robot versions when you get 'em done.
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