Making decisions about knee replacement as an older person with multiple conditions

I mean now if I go out for any length of time, just walking round the shops, maybe if I can do that, I use a stick now.

How long ago did you start using a stick?

Well, actually the doctor recommended it after I went to my last appointment, he said- you know, because I was worried about my knee giving way—it felt sometimes as though it was a bit unstable.

He said, “I’d use a stick to support yourself when you're out walking,” and really it does help because the worst part of it now is that it hurts more when I’m standing still for any length of time.

So, a stick’s useful to lean on so I can take the weight off my right foot.

I bought a Nordic pole, I thought that might be helpful, because I, you know, the very thought of having a walking stick you feel you’re an old man, that sort of thing.

So that’s what the doctor at the [hospital] said. He said, “if you don’t want to walk with a walking stick, get an umbrella. One of these long umbrellas.” [Laugh].

He said “Just to support.”

But now realising now I, in the last six months, twelve months now, that I need the walking stick because if I don’t have the walking stick I can’t go far.

I try to go for a walk once a week. I go for a walk, go on the bus just to town; town’s not too far. So once a week I’ve made a point of going out, and so being in the fresh air, at least not just ten minutes, but being in the fresh air for two hours or something, or three hours, something like that.

Being out, you know? To help.

So yeah, walking stick now is, I can’t. I can’t go.  I’m okay at home, I can just go out to the car for five minutes, when I’ve rested my knee’s okay. But when I just start walking that knee quickly starts losing its power.

And I’ve got a little dog, so she gets me out two or three times a day. So, yeah. So, I’m keeping up the exercises.

Do you find that’s manageable at the moment to sort of take your dog out for walks?

It hurts [laughs].

Yeah, it hurts [laughs]. I’m thinking, very much thinking to I’ve got a birthday coming up and I’m very much thinking, if there’s somebody to, like my daughter or son, is there anything in particular you want? And I’m gonna say, “I could do with one of them little carry- it’s a walking stick, but then it, it goes so you can sit on it? You know, just balance on it?"

I don’t need to sit down, but sometimes on a walk with her, I find I get halfway round and I’m thinking, ‘how am I gonna get back? I’ve done this, but how am I gonna get back?’

And I could literally just do with that little five-minute break and sit down for the knee to stop actually throbbing [laughs] and let, and let me carry on. So, I’m thinking about it. I have seen them advertised. [name of chemist] do one, I think. There’s several places that do them, and they’re not very cheap. But it’d be worth it. So, instead of just an ordinary walking stick, it will turn into this little platform thing that you can sit on. I’ll give it a go.

Before I had the hip done, I was using a stick for quite a while. And afterwards, of course, for a while.

But then, you know, miracle, I was fine and I didn't need a stick.

Well, maybe I would be better using it. People have said to me, “Why don’t you use it, Sue?” But it’s you know; I think my age is such that I just don’t want to feel even more like an old lady. [Laughs]

So I know the people in the physio department have always said, “Oh, just use the stick.” You know?  And I did have ‘a walker’s stick’ rather than a walking stick, is what my father always called it. There was his, he said he didn't need a stick but he’d have a walker’s stick. It was a walker’s stick [laughs].

So yes, I used his stick which was quite useful for me. I don’t - I always carry it, in the car if I need it, in case when I’m out. But I don’t at the moment use it.

I’ve got a number of very nice walking sticks downstairs just inside the door.  I’ve never used one - perhaps that will come one day, don’t know.

But I feel that when you, let’s go back a bit - if you decide that you’re not very well and you sit in an easy chair and you’re saying, "I can’t do this and I can’t do that and I can’t do something else,"  that’s- that to me is progressive and it’s best to plug away as long as you possibly can.

And if I take to a walking stick possibly then I’ll take to two walking sticks, and so on and so forth,

I can manage now - albeit that it’s painful. There’s the odd occasion when I’m walking through the woods when I think, 'oh perhaps a stick in my hand would help,' but I can still manage and I shall continue to manage for as long as I can.

Because I think it’s the best way really - I believe if you start leaning on a stick you might lose the little bit of balance you’ve got left.

Oh gosh yes, I’ve- my daughter bought me, thank goodness, because I couldn't afford them, something that I borrow from a friend of mine: when I was complaining that my walking sticks, I have walking sticks, but because of the arthritis in my hands, it was hurting my hands to grip the sticks...

So my friend said, “Oh, try my crutches,” and I said, “What’s the difference in them, you’ve still got to grip the crutch?”  “No, no,” she said, “not mine,” she said, “they’re called elbow crutches.”

I said, “Oh right,” she said, “You just hold with your elbow, you don’t-” you can grip with your hand but you don’t have to, your hand goes underneath a strap. And so she said, “have a go and see what you think.”  So, I did, so I was upright better than with the walking stick, I wasn’t so leaned over and it was much better on my hands.

So, I was telling my daughter about it, I said, “oh,” I said, “I’ve seen the price of them online,” I said, “I can’t afford them,” but I said, “they were-” I could tell the difference immediately.  So then for my next birthday, lo and behold, my present from my daughter was my elbow crutches.

Aww.

So now I go walking with my elbow crutches and I’m more upright, it’s better for my posture, it’s better for my hands, so that’s an improvement.

I’ve seen an article in an arthritis magazine for something that’s supposed to be really, really good and can be prescribed.

But that’s been a bit of a saga. And the surgery has said that they can’t prescribe it. They’ve sent me to the [town] physio. And they said, no, they can’t prescribe it, go to [hospital]. So, I have now been to [hospital] and they are ordering me this- not, not specifically the one I saw in the arthritis magazine but their version of it.

And I’m just hoping that it’s a bit more beneficial than the one I had from the physio at [hospital]. That is not in any way to run down what was done for me then because, you know, I do know of others who’ve had very similar knee supports provided. It’s just that, for me, it seemed to have very little effect, well, no effect on the pain. Very little effect on that giving out sort of feeling.

I’m hoping, when I get the call about this, this other one that it might be a bit more useful as the injection wears off more and more. And I’m hoping this other one might be far more useful. Apparently, they set it with an Allen key and it-, where my bone-on-bone thing is in the inner side of my knee, apparently it kind of helps to open up that gap which sounds fascinating.

Oh, okay. That’s really interesting.

I know [laughs] I hope it’s not painful.

And you said that you learned about that through an arthritis magazine.

I did, yes. Arthritis Digest, it’s called.

I’ve spent quite a bit of money on supports and things for my back, you know, across the shoulders and down there, and I spent, oh, thirty-odd quid on one of them and it- all it did was swelled my ankles up.

So- and, you know, he- like the doctor said, well, the one you've got it’s probably the best one that it’s not overly tight, but it does allow movement, but he said, “No, stop using it,” so I’ve given up on all that sort of stuff.

No, well, I mean I have to say over the last year certainly, I have tried different knee supports you know, from just a band under my knee, to a much more comprehensive one, a bigger one, but the trouble with the bigger ones is you can’t wear them under your clothes very easily and I’ve not found that any of them give me any real relief from the pain you know, despite the claims being made about them.

I mean I would love it if somebody could say to me, ‘oh well, this particular apparatus would help,’ but I haven't found anything that gives me any support really when I’m walking.

And I’m a bit insecure so I walk around with a walking stick and if I go outside, I take the, what I call the trolley. So that I can walk and then sit down, walk and sit down. Well, the walking stick I bought myself, and the trolley I got from the physio department.

I’ve got an automatic car. And so, I don’t have to clutch, I just have to brake, and that’s my right leg, which is the partial knee.

And then I’ve got a mobility scooter. ‘Cos I can’t walk the distance. So that keeps me active, I can slip off into town. Drive into town, go to the car park and offload my, my scooter and I’ll go into town. I used to be able to go and, with my scooter. Sit on the scooter and watch the rings performing and stuff like that, but they’re restricting now, no visitors. Which is I find very, you know, I used to enjoy the weekends because I’d get out in the fresh air and watch, watch the dogs and watch my daughter judging if she’s judging, or, or if she’s competing, and, yeah.

The scooter I’ve had a lot longer. We used to take it on holiday with us, which was great… and we still do ‘cos I’ve got one that folds up.

Oh great.

And people were always fascinated to see it, ‘cos it’s a remote-control thing. And the weight is 23 kilos which is the maximum weight of a suitcase.

That works well then, yeah.

It goes in the hold. I’ve actually been to America on my own with my scooter because I was able to drive my scooter with one hand and hold my suitcase handle with the other.

And I remember, we’ve got great friends in America and I remember highly entertaining my hostess in [American state] when I was leaving. The airport was just empty. And it was big as everything in America is. I had a wonderful time. I was just scooting around with my suitcase in one hand and, and she was in hysterics.

[Laughs]

Oh yes. Gotta get some fun out of life.

I’ve got a walking stick. I’ve got a pair of; my friends describe them as designer crutches [laughs] cause I don’t like the NHS ones. They’re heavy, they’re grey and heavy. When I went for my X-ray for my hip, the chappie in there was lovely and his first comment was, “Oh my gosh. Everything colour coordinated down to the crutches.”

Aw.

[Laughs] He just, he laughed at them. Yes, so I use that. But, you know, it makes me feel like 90, you know, wandering out. I think people think, people have sort of stopped me and said, “Oh, have you had your other hip done?” And I go, “No.” [laughs]. This one playing up at the moment.

And I'm much of the opinion and luckily, we’ve got very active WI with some brilliant ladies. But, you know, we, we live life and go to the theatre. We visit all sorts of places and we do, you know, loads of things. There’s a lot I can’t do lately. That’s sad. And that’s why I’ve bought the scooter so that I’m a little less limited.

With this scooter that I bought and the problems I’ve got, I now have the ability to sort of go along to things that I would never attempt to. Because I think my WI are off to the Tower of London and to see the flowers for the Queen’s Jubilee.

Well, I wouldn't even remotely consider going on that trip, but of course with this gadget, I can. And- and the beauty of it is I’m sure that if I were up there and I needed- I wanted to walk around and I needed it to be safe, I’m sure there are people up there who would look after it for me. I don’t think I’m going to attempt to go into the White Tower, that might be a bit too far, but I’ve been in there a few times anyway but... 

So it’s nice to think that I can do that, but it would be even nicer if I was doing it under my own steam, but hey, my bones aren’t going to repair themselves and there’s only so much surgery can do for them.

I don’t use it other than sightseeing and trips, longer- you know. I walk on a day- you know, it’s-, whatever I need to do during- you know, during the week is- you know, I manage. But the scooter doesn't live in the car all the time, it does live in the garage. But it’s one of these electric foldup jobs, so you just- it just wheels out, folds up, and the electric winch in my car comes out and picks it up and puts it in.

That’s clever; that’s really clever.

It’s brilliant actually. It’s absolutely brilliant. People stop and watch [chuckles]. And then when I press the button on the key and the scooter just opens up, [smiley voice] they’re just quite impressed by it.