A brief background on this journey: On July 4, 2015 I injured my knee. I didn’t have health insurance at the time and so I didn’t seek medical help. My knee swelled and hurt intensely until the pain was a part of everything I did. I couldn’t walk without crutches. I couldn’t cook, clean, garden or fish. I couldn’t teach my homeschooled kids. It might have been the darkest summer of my life, and it definitely ushered in the darkest period I can remember. Unemployed, hurting immensely and afraid that we’d lose our home and family, we struggled.
In 2016 I found a job that I could work. It took nine months of searching. In those nine months my family had gone on food stamps and the kids were on Medicaid. In Idaho, they don’t allow adults who make more than $6,000 a year to use Medicaid. We made $6,700 in 2015 – not enough to pay for the house we live in or even the basic utilities. Too much to get the medical help I needed that would have opened up many more doors for employment. Too little to make ends meet.
After I became eligible for health insurance, I went back to the surgeon who had worked on my knee before the injury. We tried arthroscopy, steroid shots, synthetic fluid, physical therapy and wait and see. I walk less than 500 steps a day, each one causing more pain as my bones grind against each other. My back and other knee warp and twist from compensating for my injured knee. The surgeon and I finally reached the agreement that the last action is to replace the injured joint with metal and plastic and hope that I will finally find relief.
I’m not looking for the fountain of youth. I’m looking for the fountain of middle age with this surgery. I hope to gain a life where I’m not miserable going to church, the store, or am unable to walk at the end of a work week.
Welcome to Seeking the fountain of 40.
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