I have neglected my blog for a few months, and my regular
reader may be wondering why. It is not
only that my career as Consort to the District Governor came to an end at the
end of June, when I suddenly became the Immediate Past Consort to the Immediate
Past District Governor, or IPDG. Several other things conspired to make my life
very busy since the end of June, not least of which is that I have been in
hospital for major surgery on my knee.
Past glories - the DG in her pomp
My right knee had been feeling sore for some years, and
seemed to be getting worse as time went on. I knew that the underlying reasons
were probably related to injuries sustained during my football playing days as
a young man. I used to play Saturday and Sunday every week, and if I picked up
an injury I would rarely seek medical attention but would just wait until it
felt OK before carrying on playing. That approach seemed fine when I was in my
twenties, but it came back to haunt me as I got older.
My football career begins - Salesian College Chertsey under 12s
About a year ago I plucked up courage to mention it to my
doctor. He referred me to Ashford Hospital for an X Ray and got me an
appointment with one of the surgeons, Mr Cameron-Smith. It’s interesting about
surgeons that they don’t seem to be
called ‘Doctor’, but simply ‘Mister’.
Anyway I went along to see him, expecting that I would have an
arthroscopy, a procedure whereby debris around the knee joint is cleaned out
and would solve my problem, albeit temporarily.
Ashford Hospital
I was a bit taken
aback when he told me that I had osteoarthritis on my knee joint, and there was
nothing he could do for me other than a complete knee replacement. He showed me
the X-Ray, which indicated my bones rubbing together, with hardly any cartilage
between them. Never having stayed overnight in a hospital before (except
perhaps when I was born) I wasn’t sure I wanted such an operation, and he gave
me 6 months to think about it and to come back if I wanted to proceed, or just
discuss further.
My X-Ray
In January this year I went back, still unsure, and he gave
me another 6 months to consider it, but warned me that in his opinion, I would
not be able to walk in a year’s time. Over the next month or two the soreness
did seem to be getting worse, and I realised I was starting to walk with a
limp. So in April I went back to him and asked him to put me on the waiting
list for an operation. It wasn’t long before I was given a date (20th
July) for the operation, which I was told would entail at least two nights in
hospital, maybe more, depending on my recovery.
About a month beforehand I was summoned for a pre-op
assessment, where basically I was taken through the process of what would
happen in the operating theatre, and exercises I should start doing to prepare
myself. I also underwent various tests
to check I was fit enough to be operated on. I was even handed the type of knee
joint that I would have inserted in my leg. It was in two pieces, which were
made of a mixture of titanium and plastic, and I was surprised by how heavy
they were. ‘Blimey’ I thought, ‘I’ll be
walking lopsided with these in my knee.’
A knee joint like mine
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