“Well, it’s going to take a lot longer for you to heal,” the man intoned with the gravitas of great wisdom. Uh-huh. “ The older you are, the longer it takes,” he added, pointing at my right shoulder, which had just undergone extensive surgery. Uh, yep. If you say so. As we walked through the garden store, he was bent over a bit. He’d broken his back a few years back. So had I, in four places. I was 64 when I did it. He was a lot younger. In his forties, in fact. He was still crippled. Could barely lean over. I can lean over and touch my face to my knees with my legs straight. I learned to do that while healing my own broken back last August. This is not about being superior or judgmental or “lookitme.” It is, however, about choices.
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I recently had hip replacement surgery. My left hip progressed from slightly achy sometimes, to requiring a mandatory limp when walking. After a lifetime of performing intensely demanding, high-impact activity (ballet, jumping, squatting, etc.) and, probably some negatively contributing genetic factors, the joint cartilage had broken down and my left hip refused to behave normally. The verdict: osteoarthritis.
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