You ever get up and try to convince yourself to have a gung-ho positive attitude against your usual disposition? I tried to think of a good mantra-ish statement like “every day is a new day” and my twisted mind remolded it into: you’re alive whether you want to be or not. Might as well try to make it the least amount of miserable you can. That’s what happens when you’re not a morning person.
The orthopedic appointment wasn’t that bad, all things considered. In short, no surgery can fix anything. Whenever I need surgery, it’ll be a full knee replacement, and we’re not there yet. The tendon is completely separated and there’s no fixing it. It’s completely useless. First option will be go back to PT (pain and torture) and strengthen all the supporting muscles to reduce pain and suffering. Next option if/when it gets super bad is cortisone injections, which usually calm things downhopefully for 6+ months. The more injections you get, the less effective they eventually become. They also offer PRP – platelet rich plasma injections, though insurance doesn’t cover that, so it’d be on my own bill. They believe there’s decent evidence it can promote healing (of whatever is left) and provide relief up to a year.
On a good note, they said there are no activities I need to avoid based on this evidence. Listen to the pain and take it easy and use home remedies as needed (rest, ice, wrap, whatever). I don’t have to be paranoid that doing something I don’t perceive as painful will cause more irreparable damage that I have no idea I’m causing. Hey, maybe I can get in super duper shape and go hiking again. They didn’t say I couldn’t. Several years ago when someone first diagnosed me with arthritis, they said stay away from hiking and inclines. While I wasn’t in great shape then either, that took away a lot of possible motivation. I’m not a runner; never will be. But I could convince myself to hike up the incline and sweat and toil away knowing it builds muscles and endurance for hiking, which I loved. Come on, people, you have to give me incentive of something. The idea: "maybe you won’t be as painful and miserable someday" doesn’t cut it for me. Well, not 10 years ago, anyway. Today might be a different story. That’s how we arrived at the mantra to make one’s existence the least amount of miserable as possible. Wow, how my dreams have changed, huh.
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