I've been meaning to share some of this for a few weeks, but have waited until I had some idea of outcomes. Also, not sure whether this belongs here or in t'Pub really. Anyway, here goes.
It's been a bit of a tough old year. At the start of January we lost an old and close friend, suddenly and unexpectedly. Her birthday a few weeks ago was a painful few days.
Then, later in January I had emergency surgery for a peripherally detached retina. Fortunately this was succesful, but it meant that I missed the funderal.
Following the surgery, it took some time for me to feel my sight ha dstabilised enough for me to purchase new glasses, but that has led to a host of new issues. One of the consequences of the vitrectomy carried out whilst fixing my retina is a development of a cataract. The surgeon warned me about this, but I have since researched both how they can impact vision and how they tend to form. In my case the cataract formed and led to increasing short sight in my right eye and increasing aberrations and multiple images in the same eye. Two different opticians were unable to correct my vision beyond 6/9 (as seen thorugh a kaleidoscope), although I was convinced that the underlying visual accuity was much better. They didn't mind selling me specs though! Eventually, after months of poor vision, which makes my work more than a little difficult, I had to insist on beig referred to the surgeon again. He immediately diagnosed the cataract, observed on its optical impact and got me booked in for cataract surgery, which was completed on 31 October. The next evening I had excellent vision in that eye and was tested a week later at 6/5. This has been a real transformative change (I was -9 before the detachment). I remain frustrated that it took me insisting to force a referral to the surgeon in the first place.
Meanwhile, in early August, I developed problems with my left knee. These arrived out of the blue, and I found that was unable to walk for any distance wihout my knee becoming painful and stiff. On occasion I would be reduced to a hobble after 100yds. Again, I've been through a number of stages, albeit with more positive responses than I had to my eye issues post operation 1, and various tentative diagnoses. I saw the orthopedic surgeon last Friday following an MRI scan (very quickly arranged at Harrogate hospital) and he explained that I have damage/breaks in the intra articular cartilage in the patella femoral region and another within the tinial femoral region of the joint. I also have a cyst on a tendon in the back of the knee, which actually seems to be causing most of the immediate pain. After a discussion of optoins, he suggested that if it was his knee he wouldn't have surgery immediately, but would see what he could do. On the basis that nothing I do will prevent later surgery that is the current plan.
Some positives on the knee experience are that several medical professionals have accepted that being able to get up and decide to run 20 miles is actually my normal expectation and so is not in itself unreasonable. If I can't get back to that, then there is a real need from my perspective to be able to wlak around cities to visit clients - I hate th etube with a passion and often walk reasonable distances when visiting London, which has been curtailed somewhat. So, armed with the knowledge that I can go back if I can't get it to submit, I am back on the bike (which doesn't hurt) and trying to walk further again. In a couple of weeks, I intend to add some very short morning runs and see how that goes. I am a forefoot runner, which actually means I seem happier running than walking. This one is an ongoing challenge.
Finally, we lost my Dad a couple of weeks ago after a few years of decline through dementia, so that has been another layer to the year.
Unsurprisingly, my fitness is not what it was, but I am (perhaps strangely in the circumstances) feeling that we may, I hope, have turned a corner. My memories of my Dad have been reset following his funeral to the time before his illness when he was whole, my eye works and we have at least a plan for my knee. here's hoping for a better year from hear on in and in 2019.
Mike