Dealing with the Pain

Yesterday, I went to the ortho doc to get my knee shot up. It is a process because I’ve moved one step beyond the steroids so this stuff has to be dispensed by a specialty pharmacy. So I have to call the office, they send in a script, and then I have to call the pharmacy since it needs to be delivered to me. Once I get it, then we have to schedule three weekly appointments for the series of injections.

I try not to dwell on the negative stuff because there really isn’t anything to be done except try to live healthier and manage the pain. I know there are surgical options but I really want to push that off as long as possible. The exercise plan I follow does include a lot of things designed to strengthen the muscles around the knee to take pressure off the joint and that seems to have worked relatively well.

From what I know about osteoarthritis, I’m pretty lucky that it really doesn’t impose any major limitation me (at least for now). If it ever got bad enough that I couldn’t dance, that would be depressing. For now, it just limits what I’m able to do which is certainly frustrating.

I don’t want to use it as an excuse but it is part of my reluctance to doing another competition like event. I know what the judges are looking for in certain dances and I know my limitations. For example, I love Bolero and OwnerGuy always tells me I don’t have to go really low but even trying to stay down on the slow on that one knee is difficult. I don’t even really think about it – I think I just bounce back up automatically because the knee is sending signals that I’m about to go too far.

And the judges don’t know and aren’t going to make any allowances anyway. Compared to someone with equal talent but better knee flexibility, I’m likely to come up short even as I try to find ways to create the movements without stressing the knees.

I know that may sound defeatist but I also have critiques from various events that point out what the judges want to see. And many times it is just things I’m not really capable of doing. Always makes for a fun conversation when I get a coaching lesson from one of those judges and they find out about the knee issues.

Not going to lie – there are plenty of times when I wish I could feel just once what it would be like to try some of those dances without having to worry about the pain flaring up because I tried to do too much.

Was talking with my brother a couple of weeks ago and we were swapping stories as we won the genetic lottery and got the arthritis from Mom. My other two siblings don’t have a clue what its like and it is just hard to explain it. Certainly, once you reach a certain age, there are always assorted aches and pains so we all have to deal with it.

As I said, I feel lucky that I’m able to manage it to the point that it doesn’t create severe limitations on what I can do. It is just that some days you can’t help but wonder what it would be like to not have to deal with it.