December 27: Looking back over 2013: "The Year of the Knee"

I find that I am feeling very retrospective at this point. It's almost the end of 2013, and I have spent a year preparing for, having and recuperating from knee surgery. Here's my year in brief: 

• January: my left knee was so painful: it would catch and lock, then pop and hurt. I didn't know what could be done about it.
• February: saw my long-time orthopedist. His x-ray showed loose bits of bone and cartilage in the joint. He recommended physical therapy. After 1 session, I wondered how exercises could change the catching/locking/sharp pains.
• March: Found Dr. Gilbert. He tells me I am a good candidate for Partial Knee Replacement with Mako-Plasty surgery. I do my research.
• April 15: Tax day, and the day my left knee was fixed
• May: I suffer a set-back as the bottom stitch in the incision festers and infects.
• June: Back to all my normal activities. My leg gets stronger every day. I start noticing that the right knee hurts….ALL the time.
• July-Sept: Left knee gets better, right knee gets worse. In July I am finally able to stand sitting in the car long enough to go to visit my mom: a 3 hour trip. In October, we travel north for our annual Fall Holy Day observance: 8 hours driving the first day, 4 the second. My leg feels wonderful.
• October: My right knee has begun to make me nervous driving. I am worried about pain preventing me from stepping on the brake in an emergency. At my 6-month checkup I discuss it with Dr. Gilbert. Result: another repair.
• November: Surgery to repair my right knee.
• December: I am almost back to myself again. I still have some pain due to swelling that is within the joint. I don't quite have full flexibility back, but I will. The happiest thing is that it is healing, getting stronger daily. I will go back to my normal active schedule in January, Zumba Gold, Line dancing, gardening, playing flute, and best of all--running up and down stairs.

It has been quite a year! I hope that I will never need a full knee replacement in either knee. You see, the partial knee replacement assumes that the other half of the knee will stay strong because the knee is back in alignment. There is always the chance that the other side will deteriorate, and a full knee replacement will be needed. I hope if it does, I will get a good 10 years out of my partials!