My story began two years ago. I’ve been an athletic person my entire life. In fact, I taught all types of Group Fitness classes for 25 years until my knee started to feel very painful with each step I took. Day in and day out I was in chronic pain. I decided to stop teaching my beloved classes in 2021. The pain had gotten so bad that I decided to make an appointment to get my knee x-rayed. Low and be hold I had bone-on-bone knees but the right was much worse than the left. Basically, my beat-up knees carried me through to the age of 57. I’m pretty darn proud of that fact because I’ve done everything known to man to create added stress on them. After waiting a year (because the injections weren’t working) I decided to take a leap of faith and schedule my surgery for full replacement of the right knee on September 19, 2022. The day I awoke from surgery I realized in that moment it was going to be a long journey back to having full ROM and pain-free days on my feet. For weeks after the surgery I was crying and moaning in pain. Natural child birth was less painful than this! I am now 16 weeks out from the surgery date and I’m still struggling. I have very painful days and others aren’t so bad. My back, hips, both knees AND mental state have been affected at this point. I’m being told this is normal for some, and it could take up to two years to be fully recovered from this experience. I’m going to cling to my pendant with the hopes that I’m fully recovered by the one year mark. I vow to be brave but I can’t promise the occasional comments like “ouch” and “when will this pain EVER end” wont be expressed from my lips. This has been one heck of a painful journey and I can’t wait until it’s finally over! Thank you Leslie for supporting me in this journey. I LOVE my necklace and promise to pay it forward once I’m fully recovered.
Sarah Jones Whitney