Hello, Petuniafish! Don't be amazed by me. This is the way I've been pretty much since birth—extremely athletic and extremely driven in that respect. When the pain of the knee hits, I just think about all of the other things I've done that hurt, things that I pushed through. And that's what I'm doing now. Yesterday I was down to two Vicodin. Today, I've yet to take one. But I'm substituting ice for Vicodin really. When the pain starts to get intense, I chill the knee. That seems to work for me psychologically if not physically.
As I said, I am on the young side of knee replacement, but waiting was not an option. I was completely bone on bone and slowly cutting activities out of my life. I knew something was wrong when walking the dog for an hour hurt more than it should have. I figured my quality of life was going to slip away from me rather quickly if I didn't get the knee done. And, to be truthful, we will not have insurance for much longer. My husband was laid off after 24 years at his job. Since the knee was ready for replacement now and we have insurance now, I did it now. I think I was lucky in that respect. I did not have the luxury to put off this decision until the pain was unbearable. I knew what needed to be done. The doctor didn't push me to do it now. He did, however, say that it would probably be done sooner rather than later since the knee was already in a bad way. This knee also gives me a new lease on life. I badly injured this knee at 17. I've lived with pain and compromised range of motion since that time. Now I'm told it's possible to straighten my leg for the first time in almost 30 years. I may not be able to reach my goal, but I know I can already straighten it (with the horrible CPM machine) more than I could before the surgery. The possibility of a new, albeit bionic knee is one reason why I can push through this. I've had knee pain pretty much my whole life. Now I may have some pain, but it won't be like the pain I've had for 30 years. Now do you see where my motivation comes from?
I think everyone here is amazing. I found this forum about a week before surgery and it made going into surgery much less intimidating when I was able to read the stories of those who'd already had the operation(s). Anyone who is brave enough to go through with this surgery is, in my eyes, a rock star!!
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