Bad Joint!
Posted on March 23, 2025 by
Starting March 3, it has been a wicked three weeks, with Karen on a walker post total knee replacement surgery, it has been tough, but our guests have been graciously wonderful and understanding! Prior to surgery, Karen wrote a little poem in preparation for this surgery. Below is a photo prior to surgery showing how knock knee-ed she had become.
The poem…
I know I am not the only one; nor the first
To have this worry and trepidation; feeling cursed!
Others have decided and planned – how to be off the grid,
And determine who, when, and where –
But more importantly – who could be a good nurse?
Strengthening in advance
Collecting the equipment
Lab work and Pre-op appointments
Baggy pants and button shirt shipments!
Is it genetics or overuse that leads to bad joints?
After cortisone quits working
The couplings continue to disappoint.
Something foreign to be implanted
Be it shoulder, ankle, hip, or knee
And weeks of rehab that follows
Before we can even drive free. Yikes!
But it’s happening. It is decided.
Soon will be the day!
There will be cuts, stitches, limping, and even tears, dare I say.
But once it is over, everyone says “it’s great!”
But until that time, I worry, and fret – but have arisen to accept my fate.
Karen DeBord, Feb. 2025
Reflection
Now that there has been some time, I can advise others that the first two weeks are brutal, then the light starts to shine. I need to be bending my knee to 90 degrees soon and am probably at about 70 degrees. I am still using a walker for stability but hope to graduate to a cane next week.
As far as who makes a good “nurse,” Jack has been a top notch caregiver, fetching things, propping me, lifting my leg when I can’t and such. At first your leg feels as if it weighs literally, a ton! Now after three week, maybe only 200 pounds. Side sleeping is still out of the question and I must admit that I sleep in a chair for most of the night when I can no longer shift around comfortably in the bed any more.
But we have kept up. And we look forward to our Spring guests! Ask to see the scar!
Thank you to our family, friends, and guests who have stepped up, been understanding and cared enough to say so! On with the Physical Therapy so I can be singing with the SML Boomer Band this spring!