Knee Replacement Part 9

Seeing myself still being resistant and pushing through...

Knee Replacement Part 9, 12/4/2023

When I was six years old in first grade I fell on the sidewalk at school and broke my left arm. It was fractured in the elbow, so I did not have a cast, but used a sling until it healed. My teacher, Miss Blanche Daughtrey, rearranged our seating arrangements so I had a seat at the school table on the outside so it was less likely that students might hit it. I am right-handed, so my disability was only somewhat limited.

At the end of the healing time, I was told to start bending the arm. My arm had become quite comfortable NOT bending, and now it hurt to bend. I resisted instructions to bend it. Indeed, the more my mother told me to bend it, the more I resisted (same with brushing my teeth, too). I was told if I did not start practicing bending it, they would “put me under” with ether. I resisted that because whenever I had ether, I had nightmares. Just looking it up, one online the definition of ether is “a pleasant-smelling colorless volatile liquid used as anesthetic.” I do not remember it being pleasant at all. I believe I had to go under ether twice to get my left arm straight.

Thinking of this now as I push past the point of comfort headed toward full use of my left knee. I am getting closer.