An Appointment With A Social Worker To Plan For The Sudden Deterioration Of My Knees
[ Friday August 4th 2023 at 10:04 am ]
I am now having serious problems with both of my knee joints. It just isn't going well. Both of my knee joints rapidly deteriorated over the past 8 weeks. For all practical purposes I am now stuck in the same situation as when my left hip joint failed in 2006. I kept intermittently loosing the use of my hip. This is now what is happening with both of my knee joints. Additionally there are several positions that caused me to feel like I'm being knifed in my knee. It is a very sharp pain. It feels unpleasant.
I was asked if I would make a follow up appointment with the orthotist who last assessed and assisted me in May 2022. I agreed to do this. It was against my better judgment. The pros outweighed the cons to try. As an intervention the knee brace has not worked. The new brace is unable to avoid my body weight passing through the meniscus tears in both of my knee joints. I experience a surge in pain when I remove the brace. It also causes a surge of pain if I put the braces on while my knee is inflamed. The upshot is a net gain of about 90 minutes every 5 to 7 days. This is not a successful outcome.
I am running out of ideas. This doesn't mean I've given up. It amounts to that I've been living in the land of creative solutions for so long that I am just not able to work around my knee joints. I asked for an appointment with the social worker that helped me concerning my aunt. This appointment was time well spent.
I have been asked to take a 6 week course for living with chronic conditions. I attended this in 2018. It was useful at the time. The hope is that some of the group discussion will apply to me. I am willing to do this again. This is being done using Zoom and won't require me to leave my home.
The social worker will make arrangements for me to discuss with a community resource officer if there is practical help that would make my day to day life easier. Practically speaking I am needing this. It is unavoidable. I am looking forward to this conversation. I know there is limited help available. I had planned to hire practical help with funds my laser engraver generated. But my knees haven't given me the time to finish the physical setup before it deteriorated. Practical help cleaning would make a big difference to my life right now. I would appreciate it. It is now too physically hard. I am not able to make any appreciable difference with dusting because of the state of my knees. Again this doesn't mean I've given up. I am having to acknowledge the shortcomings of my knees and find strategies to work around them.
If I am needing emotional support it will be available in about 10 weeks. The social worker is planning a vacation and simply doesn't have time before then. The social worker was expecting me to have an emotional response to my knees failing. I couldn't provide a good explanation on the spur of the moment of why I wasn't experiencing emotional issues. I have now thought about this and am able to better explain my thinking and represent myself to her when she is available. I have undergone 5 orthopaedic surgeries as an adult. Each had a very difficult recovery. I was very physically weak for several months following each of my surgeries. Being physically weak and facing setbacks isn't new.
Additionally I have a drone pilot certificate. I have exceeded the minimum continuing education standard. I don't get tunnel vision on what isn't working for me. This is important in aviation. This principal has infiltrated my day to day life. I don't find it hard to shift my focus to whatever is next. I had reached out to the social worker because I knew I was reaching the end of my resourcefulness in overcoming my knees and not because of being emotionally overwhelmed. My concern is limited to not enjoying having to endure the loss of mobility again as an adult with the hope that all I required was having both my hip joints replaced and strategies to make day to day life easier to live in practical ways. I am sure I will have the opportunity to articulate this when she is available.
This isn't to say that I'd be unwilling to accept advice for my emotional well being. I have a general policy of acknowledging when I realize I am wrong, have made a mistake or when someone has shown me that I need to do something different. If the social worker wishes to help me and thinks she can help me I am willing to hear her out.