I’ve Fallen, and I can’t get up!”The life of a procrastinator, of a TKR.
Okay, well, the time has come. All my 2 years of walking, walking, walking like crazy in France, and even climbing mountains, has come to an end. Oh, I’ll walk again, but I can’t do it without TKR, or , TOTAL KNEE REPLACEMENT. In BOTH knees. I’ve had this bone on bone, no cartilage left, no miniscus even, no cushioning for over 5 years now. I’ve put it off, and procrastinated, and had the knee shots for as long as I can in two or more countries. I’ve worn huge braces under my clothes around the knees which were bulky, hot and a bigger pain than walking without them. I’ve grimaced my way through metro stairs, been picked up at Terminal 1 by a van in Paris to Terminal 2A to catch my other flight to having the wheelchair guy stay with me the entire time never expecting so much as a euro for his trouble. I have made people wait while I climbed into a bus, fallen on the beach coming out of the big blue water and – yes, “I’ve fallen and couldn’t get up”, having waves hit me so hard it knocked my bathing suit totally OFF my body in front of hundreds of onlookers. I’ve had a little girl of 5 hold out her hand to me to help me get up from a low chair at the shore and I had to tell her “Thank you honey, but that’s not gonna work.” (love ya just the same though). I’ve been knocked knee’d and taken a job at a upscale department store with no one knowing the difficulty as I climbed ladders and stayed constantly moving for 7 hours at a time. My husband has fixed countless dinners for me and started my soaking baths too many times to count. Oh, and we carried 500 pounds of luggage from the South of France, up and down 6 sets of stairs at 4 different train stations and onto a ship without actually collapsing from the weight or suffering a heart attack. A miracle in itself.
It is just time to get the ‘ole knees replaced.
If I didn’t – my life would be slowly reduced to less than I’m doing now. Stairs are already a killer, and most of the time I take one at a time. If I remained the way I was, my sedentary life would be a slow demise to something that I’ve never been before. Still. I’d be sitting a lot more than standing, sitting more than walking, my dog would suffer, cause I can’t walk him. I would suffer. I would gain a 100 pounds. My posture, my hips, my body would kind of atrophy into itself. It would not be pretty. Thus, I go and do what I’ve tried not to do for so very long. Both knees done. One next month, the other the month after. A total of 3 months or more of rehabilitation. Errrrggggg. Lots of physical therapy. Lots of exercises. Lots of pain. And then after? Well, I will celebrate by climbing the top fo the Garlaban in Aubagne, France, one more time. (I hope) That’s my goal. Wish me luck If you pray – do that for me ??
a day in the life of an adventuresome couple; not your average AARP Seniors
Letters from Marseille 
