OUCH!!!

About a month ago, I was out walking the dog when something exploded in my right knee. I hobbled home, took two Aleve, and put up my feet. I’m accustomed to regular aches and pains of arthritis, but this wasn’t like that. It was rather as if every time I took a step, someone was using a garden saw to cut off my leg.

Now, I’ve always been somewhat stalwart. After all, I went into the hospital and dropped off two babies as if they were late for work, one with no anesthetic at all. The knee pain wasn’t as intense as a labor pain that goes away after a while, produces a child as a reward, and doesn’t come back unless you invite it.

This was intermittent, sometimes lasting for hours, and sometimes for only a few minutes. I hate going to the doctor’s office, so after three days, I called her and asked for a referral to my orthopedic guy.

The last time I saw him, a few years ago, he wanted to take me to surgery and replace the joint. I asked for alternatives, and he gave me a shot in each knee, some kind of cortisone, which, of course, doesn’t in and of itself make you gain weight, it simply makes you think you’re starving to death. Those shots were good for two years.

The referral came in the same day I requested it, but I couldn’t get in to see ortho-guy for two more weeks. Oh, joy!

I thought maybe I could help myself by looking at my diet. I went online and learned I should avoid potatoes, tomatoes, pasta and all gluten, non-whole wheat products. Did you know that some breads labelled “whole wheat” are only partially whole wheat? I should also avoid coffee, wine, white rice (brown and wild and black rice are okay) and eggplant. Now, I have no problem avoiding eggplant, but the coffee, pasta, potatoes, and wine hit me where I live.

The pain was bad enough I gave it a try. Two weeks later, I think it’s helping—maybe. I still have the attacks, but they are farther apart.

A friend suggested that perhaps when I face-planted on the patio last summer, I landed on my knee too, and a bone chip was floating around in there all this time and now has reared its ugly head. The way this comes and goes, that sounds plausible.

All this does make me wish I’d been more sympathetic to my mother’s arthritis pain. When you’re young, you don’t think these things will ever happen to you. I’m sure when I see her in heaven, she’s going to meet me with a big, “I told you so.”