One Year Anniversary of First Surgery

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Exactly one year to the day after my first surgery, I left Prince Edward Island on the morning ferry and by afternoon was walking along the harbor-side boardwalk in Halifax, Nova Scotia. What had always been a bucket-list fantasy voyage – a visit to the Canadian Maritime provinces – had become a reality. The trip had been timed to correspond with other aspects of my first TKR. When I walked on the ocean floor among the Hopewell Rocks in the Bay of Fundy I remembered the haste with which my surgery had been scheduled one year earlier, and the panic I had felt at that time. As I packed and repacked my suitcase during our travels, I recalled the hurried transition from summer to winter clothing of the previous year and the scramble to get things in place for my recovery. The unknowns of what lay ahead on our travels were far more agreeable than the unknown and painful prospects I had faced during my year of TKR. Realizing that the TKR journey could be made less threatening by knowing what lay ahead and how to best prepare for it is what motivated me to put together a ‘Survivor’s Guide’ for people facing TKRs in their own futures.

A year post-surgery I still consider myself in recovery. While I was able to walk 10,000 steps on the anniversary of my first surgery, that is still a stretch goal. Daily exercise is a must to keep myself comfortably active, and I doubt I’ll be skipping up and down stairs again. But I can walk without pain and that is far more than I’ve been able to do for the past 10 years. I am most grateful to those who offered their guidance and support over the past year, especially my husband who was with me every stiff-legged step of the way, and I wish you –the reader– all the best in whatever lies ahead.

Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick - the first check off my bucket list