The Ugly Ortho Truth

    My legs  always used to be straight, and I walked quite a bit, with no problems. But there came a time when that was no longer true, and every step was painful; standing for any length of time became excruciating. I tried to downplay and even ignore it, for a variety of reasons. One reason was that nobody likes to hear complaints, and another reason was that my insurance was not  established, as I was considered a part-time employee, even after a number of years. We were hired on a year to year basis.  And I also feared a painful and lengthy recovery.

   I tried to hide my affliction, trying not to show my limitations as I walked down school stairways; I tried to wait until there was nobody in sight. Our annual convention in Syracuse would often have our hotel room floors away  from the instructional areas and the meeting rooms. It was a painful walk. One time I took a faulty elevator to my 3rd floor room, needing to lessen the painful walking.

  At the time I owned several pairs of striped pants or jeans which I got rid of because the stripes were "crooked when worn." And even on the hottest days in summer I would not wear shorts, ashamed of my now crooked legs. I guess I was reaching a breaking point but didn't want to admit it or accept what the consequences would be.

   One Thanksgiving I was preparing dinner and my son was home. He was in the kitchen and said it bothered HIM to see me trying to walk, even the distance in the kitchen. I realized that if I wanted to keep my mobility I would need to do something. I'd found that if I wanted to walk across the yard to the shed, the pain made it not worth the trip.

  That fall, 2012, Joanne and I had done our usual meal deliveries to each election district, and a woman at one of the sites was displaying how well her new knees worked. She said  she had been in a wheelchair prior to her knee replacements; now she actually skipped around the room. She owed it all to her surgeon, Dr. Conguista.

  I decided to call him to see if he could help me. His decision was that I needed total knee replacements, that I was not too old, or too heavy, and he said he would "straighten my leg."  That was more than I had hoped. I scheduled the surgery right away, saying I didn't need to think it over. That May, after my work year was over, I had a TKR on my right leg. And later the same on the left. My legs have been straight and pain-free ever since. (I was clearing out old papers and forms and found these pictures. What a mess.)    Pics are After and Before.