A status report on my knee: The official diagnosis is degenerative joint disease, AKA osteoarthritis. The left knee is losing cartilage in the joint between the bones.
I’ve been referred to the Physical Therapy division in the VA hospital. They are the ones who will decide what comes next. The known options range between “not much” to a wheelchair to knee replacement. I won’t know until I see them for my initial visit next month. Yeah, they’ve got quite a case load. They have to justify everything they do with me based on some kind of medical necessity, with tons of rules.
What’s it like for me right now? The joint is load sensitive. Early in the morning, it’s not too bad. As the day wears on, it starts hurting more. If I use a cane, it does help the knee, but then it hurts my arthritic hands and shoulders. I have to switch sides a lot, even though the therapists say that’s not the right way to do it. They don’t live with my discomfort.
Wearing compression braces can help, but then the braces are made from really crappy materials these days, and they start to relax too much after a few hours. When we go to the grocery store, I typically opt for their powered scooters, but the ones at Walmart are in pitiful shape. I’d really much rather have my own wheelchair.
I used one extensively for a few years back in the late 1990s when my right knee was the problem. If the VA doesn’t issue me one, I’ll buy it myself. If it starts to hurt too much between now and my first visit, I may do that anyway. They cost is about the same as bikes; the good ones are pretty expensive.
Any wheelchair I get also must have the leg extenders because part of the problem is that I have to keep my knees relatively straight when resting. You would be surprised how many “accommodations” don’t accommodate leg extensions on wheel chairs. They put in lots of sharp turns with no room for me to make the corner. I ran into that the last time.
I can ride my bike some for now. I have to avoid hills, so the course needs to be pretty flat. Because my “new” car is now drivable, I can take my bike out to some interesting places where there are flat bikeways. There aren’t many. I need to figure out a way to attach my cane to my bike.
No more rides around Draper Lake. No more rides into the north hills along the Deep Fork Valley here in Oklahoma County. No more hiking. That is, unless they do a knee replacement. Either way, it’s all low-impact from here on out.
I’m still performing a wake-up workout that helps to maintain muscle mass and joint movement. It also keeps my metabolism high. In other words, I’m already doing pretty much the kind of physical activity that a physical therapist would recommend for this condition. The one likely avenue of conflict is that I’ve always been a powerlifter/bodybuilder, and being physically large is just me. The literature is heavy on losing weight, but that won’t happen. I’ve never been this trim in my whole life, but I’ve also never been this big.
So I’m 5’10” and weigh about 250 pounds. My chest is at least 48″ with arms about 16″ and everything else is that big to match, including the unusually wide pelvic girdle. I have a very wide frame all the way up and down. Getting lighter really isn’t an option because I use those muscles a lot.
We’ll see how all of this goes.
