Before you begin - this is a long retrospection, so you may not even want to read it!
You would never know it to look at me now - but I used to be skinny and in shape. That was a LONG time ago. In fact - I used to be as skinny as Mikel (hard as that is to believe). When I was young (eons ago) - I was very active. I loved sports, swimming, dancing - if it was a physical activity - I did and I loved it. When I hit junior high - I started having knee pain. I tried to ignore it (that hasn't changed) - but my parents took me to an orthopedic doctor in Salt Lake City (we didn't have one in St. George way back then). He told me there was some problem there - and to try not to run or jump much. Yea right. So that year (8th) I did track - running the 100 yd dash and also the low hurdles. The next year - same and was a starting guard on the girl's basketball team. I was also taking dance and performing in a local group, and was learning toe ballet. I paid for it all with a lot of pain. The next year - my parents stepped in and said "no more!" Well, I still didn't listen and was trying out for basketball again - until my mom found out and put a stop to it. The following summer - I had my first knee surgery. The following fall - one on the other knee. I continued with some activities - but a lot less - mostly playing on the ward church teams (we did volleyball, basketball, and softball). It wasn't enough - so I tried out for my senior year to be on the school dance drill team. My parents didn't think this would be as hard on me as sports. Well, that fall - another surgery on the same knee as my first. But - I was still able to finish the year on drill team. Life now moves on.
Over the years I have had knee pain - and I have dealt with it and ignored it. I haven't been able to be active doing things I wanted - occassionally would play softball or volleyball on the church women teams when they had them. I tried riding bikes a few times - but the pain was too bad, so quit that. Then, I just got busy with my kids and let my own activities dwindle to nothing (which is obvious). So - it continues to now. The last few months I was once again having a lot of knee pain in my left knee - more than I have had for a while. Of course, I ignored it and just continued on. It got to be where I couldn't wear any shoes with heels at all - and the knee continued to hurt and to swell up - until the swelling never went down. I took ibuprofen, iced it, everything I could think of. My knee got so swollen it wouldn't hardly bend. I finally broke down and made a doctor appointment. (Now - if this had been one of my kids - they would have been to the doctor a long time ago, but it was me). Yesterday was the day for the doctor. I still didn't want to go - but I did. Not good news. After the examinationa and x-rays - he told me I have athritis in my knee - not one, but both knees. I may have also have a miniscus tear in my left knee - and am going to be having an MRI on it. In the meantime, he gave me a shot in my knee to try and help, which it did a little bit. He said that all that I went through as a teenager - was the beginning signs of athritis. The 3 surgeries in high school - were athroscopic in which they cleaned up under my knee caps and this doctor said to help perhaps postpone the later effects of athritis. He said athritis will show up to stay when it wants - and for me it wants to now. So here I am. There are things I can do to help minimize my pain. I can do exercises to strengthen the muscles above my knees. (see - that big weight machine that Doug and Kendall just bought will be put to use - but by me!) I can also do something to try and keep my knee mobile - such as swimming. Then - by losing weight it will take a load off of my knees. I will still have a lot of pain and swelling at times, stairs, hiking, running, biking - wouldn't be easy and would be painful - but what I do will depend on how much pain I can handle. I will probably end up with knee replacements, but hopefully not for a long time. I now understand more of the pain my mom has been dealing with for many years - since she too has athritis in both knees.
I know that other people have things a whole lot worse than me - but I still am feeling sorry for myself at this time, (just give me a day or two to get over that) but am determined to do what I can to minimize the pain as much as possible! Growing old is the pits sometimes!
