I depend on my legs. That right knee has sampled a lot of soil. I have read when your wheels fall off which means you quit walking, the average person lives 10 years.
I finally decided I have to be able to walk better to do what I want to do. The MRI showed I still have a good knee with lots of "junk" under the kneecap. There is so much it hides the meniscus tear so you couldn't tell how bad it is unless you scoped it.
I went to Dr. Brain S. Cohen at Chillicothe 5 years ago for a shoulder tear. I found out it also was in decent shape and was not bad enough to replace or operate on. Dr. Cohen is well known for shoulder repairs, I suppose knee repairs pays the bills.
I was referred to his associate Dr. Aaron Roberts for therapy. Dr. Roberts has done well for me, keeping me going without surgery. This time the joint got so bad I felt I had to do something. I talked myself out of it at least 5 times. Planting time is a bad time, it's not really that bad, every excuse in the book, I used. When I prayed about it and saw the purple cross in the sky Sunday morning I knew everything was going to be OK.
Turning your life over to the care of God is no easy thing for me. We went to church and we prayed hard but how well can you know your Creator? Not so well some days I find. Two years ago I got so sick I was willing to give up but that wasn't the answer either so I started praying the Rosary. Mother Mary sends my prayers right to the heart of her son. That is really worked for me.
I was thrilled they told me to be at the hospital at 6:40 AM this morning. Less time to worry and less time to fast, LOL. I soon remembered the first time I met the surgeon Dr. Cohen. We waited 3 hours to talk to him 3 minutes. I was so mad and tired we didn't have a good talk. We had dinner at the wrong hour and got to sleep by midnight that night.
We sat there an hour this morning and finally they took me in. The staff promptly got me ready for the surgery and he was able to start at 8:40. By 9:40 I was ready to walk out on my own!
I know, it was only a scope, 3 holes and clean out the crud and make evaluations for the future. But it's my knee, and it has carried my rear end around for 63 years! You read how many are worse after surgery than before. All the ratings I read said he was a brilliant surgeon, trained at Sinai in New York City and has so many patients here you can barely get in to see him.
The only thing I didn't like was he did not come in to tell me what he found. I have to got back May 2 to find out. I know he didn't hurt anything though and I think a lot of pain is going to be gone. I am walking quite well for 3 holes in my knee.
Chasing Cecilia Parker in third grade and hitting it on the edge of a concrete sidewalk started a lot of this mess. That, and the fact my Winkle right leg is shorter than my left.
Oh well, I survived. Let's see what the coming weeks bring.
Ed
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