I've decided to create a blog to help me with living with osteoarthritis. Please bear with me as I figure out how to work this blogging out!!
I'm 32 years old and have had problems with my knees since I was 12 years old. I have had numerous operations over the years with the most recent being a bilateral arthroscopy on 2nd March. I had been told previously that I need knee replacements but this would not be possible due to my age. After the surgery the consultant came to see me and advised that my only option would be bilateral full knee replacements. Needless to say I was and am still gutted. I have 3 wonderful children, Harry is 5 nearly 6 and twins George and Amelia are 4.
I can only walk using elbow crutches and take co-codamol and tramadol for the pain. Due to my asthma I am unable to take diclofenic.
We are now venturing into the world of blue badge and disability freedom pass applications. DLA enquiries and weighing up the options of knee replacements and finding out what 'help' there is out there for someone with osteoarthritis who doesn't fit the text book definition.
I've got some snazzy crutches in different colours! If you need to use walking aids then why not have some snazzy or pretty one! Switch Sticks are great and brighten up what are dowdy walking aids. I'll post a pic when I get a decent one!
One way of getting through the pain is to have something to look forward. I set little goals to look forward to. We have just enjoyed a very blustery weekend visiting family in Scarborough, celebrating my Grandma's 80th Birthday, my mums and my aunts birthday. I baked cakes for the celebrations. Baking is a great stress relief and I bake sitting down so I don't get into too much pain standing as I can only stand for a limited time.
I was a bit apprehensive about people seeing with on my sticks, I know my parents knew and had seen me on them before and friends and family down here in Essex know but Grandma hadn't seen me and neither had some other member's of the family. I get a bit tired of explaining I have the OA and find myself avoiding situations where I may have to explain myself. It was all good though. I was great to be back in Yorkshire with my family. The kids loved it and I have to give a huge amount of thanks to my beloved husband Paul for driving the 5 hours there and 5 hours back. What a star!
Next thing for me to look forward to is a start a new job on Wednesday. I am hoping it will be a more 'me' job. If I am happy in my job then hopefully that positivity will pull through in my battle against the OA. I also have a family holiday to Crete to look forward to. This will be our first family holiday abroad as a family an the first with my limited mobility. We have arranged assistance at the airport so fingers crossed all will be well and we will have some wonderful adventures!
Well done with everything so far.
ReplyDeleteKat x
it was a good friend I met via FB and Walk the Walk charity who told me about snazzy sticks and crutches. she has been an inspiration as she has RA and is a wonderful support, thank you Cara xxx Catherine x
ReplyDeleteI used to work in orthopaedics and while it was unusual to do joint replacements in a younger person it wasn't unknown. The youngest I knew was a man in his early twenties. It is a question of weighing up the benefits of improved mobility now against the possibilty of the joints failing later in life. My view is that, if you can have the operations now, go ahead while you still have good muscles to support the joints and will recover quicker. New techniques may come in that enable something to be done later. And even when the new joints give up what have you lost, other than being back where you started?
ReplyDeleteIf you don't have them replaced think seriously about using a wheelchair for distances. It isn't "giving up" as some people seem to think. It can widen your horizons, enabling you to do things that you otherwise would miss out on. I have a 23 year old daughter who takes this view. She doesn't have arthritis, but Ehler-Danlos, but the effects can be similar, with a lot of joint pain.
Catherine a great read indeed! I can so understand the pain! I'm 43 and have had OA for 8 years now. It used to run my life but I've got it back thanks to a lot of help from friends and family. xx
ReplyDeletePaul Moore
thank you all for your lovely comments x
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great post, only now catching up with all my "bookmarked" blogs, articles of interest posted by others, what a memory I have these days? I too at almost 52 feel very old before my time, having been shocked to have to have hip replacement at age 48 due to awful Osteoarthritis, that was diguised by having Fibromyalgia!!
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