Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

     I've been blogging for six years now and have nine followers; only two of whom actually follow me.  A good blogger would have hundreds by now, increasing each day, like Julie in Julie and Julia. You remember, Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book.

     Since I have no new followers and most of the ones I have don't follow and I still keep blogging, I have concluded that I evidently like to talk to myself.

     It's therapeutic, you know.

     So here's a chronicle on the body's ability to heal itself. As I've mentioned before, when you finally get old and wise and have learned from your experiences, no one wants to listen to you because you're old, forgetful, and useless.

     I remember complaining about one knee early on in aerobics at the old Deseret Gym in Ogden close to 30 years ago.  "When are you going to do something about your knee?" Joyce would ask. Then the other one went bogus so now I don't know which one started acting up first. As my flexibility became more and more limited and the pain kept me awake at night, I started thinking of solutions. Yip. Bone on bone. You need knee replacement. Yeah, after I've tried everything else. 

     The first thing I did was get injections in the knee. "Totally covered on Medicare." Sure. We went to American Fork something like nine times and it wasn't totally covered on Medicare and they billed us for we don't know what. All you can do is pay. And I saw not one iota of change. Of course, you have to do it every six months or something. Sure. Keep doing something that doesn't work.

     My next quest was for laser treatment. "Never have surgery." $7,000. Best laser west of the Mississippi. We got thinking about that overnight and decided we wanted out. No way. We signed. Eventually, we got out for $800. He has since been investigated for frauding older clients; making false promises. We found another chiropractor who did more for $900. Most of the treatment was nice and pleasant except when he tried to adjust my knees; but truthfully, I could detect no improvement.

     I started thinking more and more about knee replacement. In fact, the pain was so intense and my movement so limited that I pretty much thought about it all the time. I gave up walking. Going up and down stairs was a killer. I kept swimming and biking.

     Then at DeRay's sibling retreat in Vegas three years ago, his brother Ron talked me into taking Joint Pills, vitamins and other supplements that are designed to help the body restore itself. Ron says it has the capability. 

     After two years, I didn't think about having knee replacement anymore. I still had some pain and restrictions but it's livable. I used a heating pad to help me sleep at night and just sort of learned what I could and couldn't do. I still don't like to walk but when Amy talks me into driving to the hollow and walking about a mile by the stream in the trees, I'm always glad I did it.

     Ron says our bodies are like roads; there always needs to be construction going on somewhere so I try not to get discouraged. I now believe the body has amazing restorative capabilities.

     When we went to the gym in Ogden, Ed and I always did the weight machines but since we have been going to Clearfield, we haven't started. One day when Amy went with us, she talked us into trying it out. "Even if you only do it for ten minutes, it will help you." Oh my goodness, at first my knees and shoulders hurt more but as we continued with the machines three days a week, eventually I realized that I have less pain at night; and sometimes I have no pain at all.  The machines that had been there all along, added the finishing touches to my knee saga. I still walk up the stairs like an old lady, but then I am an old lady. Eighty in less than a month.

     It's probably a combination of the supplements, the strengthening machines, my daily stretches and trike rides; and swimming three times a week. I'm feeling pretty positive about the healing powers of my own body.

     With gratitude.

     Good night, Jeanette.