Skip the primary navigation if you do not want to read it as the next section.
Primary Navigation
|
Home
|
|
Skip the main content if you do not want to read it as the next section.
When I was younger I was extremely active, but 20 years ago seronegative arthritis hit me like a brick. One day I was fine, the next I had a swollen knee and pain in the joint. I went to the doctor’s so many times I lost count – I think they thought I was just putting it all on but I wasn’t.
Three years later I moved from Birmingham, where I was living at the time, to Worcester and I just couldn’t take the pain anymore. I was at the doctor’s every day and eventually the doctor referred me to a private clinic for an MRI scan. Within eight weeks I had a call to attend the outpatients clinic where I learnt that I had a large Baker’s cyst behind my knee and a lot of fluid on the joint.
My ‘spare legs’
The doctor referred me for arthroscopy surgery, which worked wonders, but I had to use crutches and have physiotherapy for a few months. Since then I have moved back to Birmingham and have been given my own pair of crutches – I call them my ‘spare legs’. In the last two years the ‘disease’ in my knee has progressed to my hips, my left knee and my left elbow, which has also started to disfigure so my arm looks bent.
Personal motto
Sometimes I feel like giving up but I have learnt to adapt my lifestyle around my body. I can’t do everything that I used to but I don’t let it ruin my day. My motto is: ‘Life is life, how you choose to deal with it is up to you’. I have a fantastic family – my husband is wonderful. He puts up with my bad days, my temper and the crying sessions when I just need a hug. I’m 29 now and I hope to have kids one day.
I wake up in pain and go to sleep in pain but try to keep life as normal as possible. I just grab my ‘spare legs’ and off I go. People sometimes stare and ask me questions but I’m never rude. To other people with arthritis I’d say that that there is loads of help out there. Remember you’re not alone and try to have fun.
Lisa B
