When Bad Knees Happen to Good People

 Fifty-eight, and life is great!  Today is my 58^th birthday.  That’s right, I’m a Cinco deMayo baby (though I never heard of that holiday until I was in college).  I can’t believe I am actually that old.  My young brain has a hard time coming to terms with that fact.  That’s really close to 60, and you only have to be 35 to be over the hill.  Where does that put me?  Down in the gully, some might say.  My friend (and famous "older" fashion model), Cindy Joseph likes to turn the "over the hill" thinking upside down.  She talks about aging being more of a "V" shape than a ^ shape.  We are just hitting our stride at midlife, and it only goes up from there.

I agree with her, at least in my mind.  Unfortunately while my mind may not know I’m getting old, my body sure does.  Apparently I inherited my mother’s arthritis.  It’s in my knees.  Every once in a while I feel it, but not often.  I’ve learned that about once or twice a year I have to go to the doctor to get a series of Synvesk injections.  It’s amazing how well that stuff works.  In fact, the last time I noticed any knee pain was over 18 months ago.  That is, until last Wednesday.  I banged my knee cap really hard on the metal drawer handle of my desk at work.  Hard enough to bring tears to my eyes, and to bring all life to a screeching halt for a few minutes while I regained my composure.  My boss suggested I ice it for a while, but when I finally felt like it didn't hurt so bad, I just went on about my business.  The next day my knee was stiff, a bit bruised looking, and definitely painful when I touched it or tried to stand on it.  The doctor looked at my x-rays and said I had developed bursitis from the inflamed arthritis, and that the desk drawer injury ruptured a bursa sac, which meant painful inflammation resulted.  He said I would probably want to consider knee replacement surgery sometime in the next few years.  I had heard knee replacement surgery is like getting your youth back.  So I told the doctor I’m ready for it, when the time comes.  The doctor ordered me to stay off my feet for the next three days.  That was hard, but it gave me time to think.  Seems like replacing old body parts is part of my life now. 

Last month I met with a Lasik Surgeon to see if I might be a candidate for that.  I’ve been wearing reading glasses since I turned 48, so you’d think I’d be used to them by now.  But I hate them.  It is a pain to balance reading glasses AND sunglasses on your head, and trying to read the medication bottles in the middle of the night, without your glasses on is downright dangerous.  So, I decided to look into Lasik.  Turns out I AM a candidate, but given my lens shape and my family history of cataracts, the surgery might have to be redone and/or I’d need cataract surgery in 6-10 years.  He said I'd probably still need reading glasses, and getting rid of them was the whole point. He said I could have a lens replacement surgery done, and it would guarantee I wouldn’t develop cataracts later.   I probably wouldn't need reading glasses either. The only catch was, I’d have to learn to live with mono-vision lenses, which meant I’d use my right eye for distance and my left eye for reading and close vision.  Some people's brains just couldn't handle that. He had me do a 2-week trial of contacts that work that way, to see if I could handle it.  I had no problem, and truly loved the freedom of no more glasses.  And since they were the type of contacts you slept in and left in for up to 30 days, they were no hassle at all.  Well, until the second week, when I found my eyes drying out and itching often.  I really wanted the surgery, but the $6,000 price tag was out of my network.  So I told the doctor I needed time to think about it.  He said I could continue to wear the contacts, but he would suggest I get a new prescription (not just a trial) and get a new pair of contacts.  My insurance company said I couldn’t get a new eye exam covered until September, so I decided to try to wait it out. About a week later I agreed that the 30-day limit for the sleep-in contact should, in fact, be changed to 2-weeks.  I went back to wearing glasses since then. . .at least for now.

So, like many other “old” ladies, I have bad knees and bad eyes.  Oh yea, and bad teeth too.  Actually, I don’t have my own teeth anymore.  I had a full mouth of implants put in about 7 years ago.  I guess all the radiation treatment I undertook in my late 20’s for thyroid cancer did a number on the bone structure that held my teeth in place.  I started losing teeth quickly, until it was getting embarrassing.  I remember going to work with a blackened (dying) tooth in the front of my mouth, thinking it was the worst thing in the world.  Wrong.  A big gap, where the dead tooth had been, proved to be worse.  It was quite an ordeal, but I have beautiful teeth that are completely disease free now.  I love it!

Okay.  I got glasses at age 40, new teeth at age 50.  I’ll probably get new eyes (lenses anyways) at age 60, and new knees at age 70.  Anything else?  Last year I decided to try wearing hair extensions, and that was fun.  But my hair is thinning, and you have to have hair to extend, so I don’t think that’s a long-term answer.  It’s also not in my (income) network any more.   I know a lot of old folks are having hip replacement surgery too, these days.  My dad fell on his 90^th birthday and had to have surgery.  I think I’ll follow his suite and wait until I’m 90.

So how do I really feel about all this?  I say, isn't it great that we live in an age where we can buy replacement parts to extend the warranties on our old bodies?  Our parents and grandparents didn't have all these options.  Nor did they have good (and very affordable) insurance like I am privileged to have, thanks the US Navy (and my late husband’s military service).  So, even if the technology was there, the resources were not.

I just feel really blessed to be this age.  As part of the ‘Boomer Generation,” I know I am in good company.  The marketing companies, healthcare institutions, travel/recreation fields, and even social media are clamoring for our business.  We are the generation in power, no matter what our children think.  Power on fellow boomers.  Power on.

And if any of my fellow boomers are starting the second acts of their lives alone, like me. . . I raise my wine glass to toast us.  Cheers! May we always see the rainbows and possibilities. I am looking forward to experiencing some more “second firsts.”  Everything is new, now that I am doing it as a single woman. I told you already about my second first job interview.  This weekend I’ll experience my second first solo camping trip. (The first one was in a tent, many years ago.  This one will be in an RV).  Next will come my second first solo (fine) dinner out.  (Haven’t gone to a nice restaurant alone in 30 years).  Soon I’ll go to my second first movie.  Maybe next year I’ll take my second first trip out of the country.  But first I’ll have to take my second first weight loss journey. (We won’t talk about how many times I did that before my new single life.)  And yes, eventually I’ll venture out to take my second first date with a man.  What an adventure.  Everything old is new again (and it isn't just our teeth, eyes, knees and hips).