Harvey, how wonderful to hear from you! You, your family, and your medical support team all remain in my prayers. I'll be looking forward to the day when you've completed both of your surgeries. I hope and pray that you are getting stronger every day.
Kathy, hang in there. I pray that things work out for the best for your daughter and her children, and I pray that you will be able to remain strong as you have the extremely important job of being their main support. It's tough to be in that capacity, but you will make it. Hang in there.
Sjc, I continue to pray that you will land a job that is a good fit for you. The last one certainly sounded like an emotional drain.
Geoff, you are a gem. I pray that your new job is all that you hoped it would be. Thank you for your never ending support that you give to all of us who need it. You are always in my prayers.
Ruby, you and your dad are in my prayers. You have been going through a lot, and I hope you can take a good measure of comfort in the knowledge that we, your OYB friends, are praying for you.
To any of you whose names and situations I have omitted, know that you are still in my prayers.
I'd like a ask for prayers for a situation I'm facing. I finally got up the nerve to see an orthopedist last week because I have pain in my knees, and have enough weakness that I have to go up and down stairs one foot at a time, like someone who's 100.
When the dr. came into the room with my x-rays, he said we'd take a look at my really bad knees. I have very little if any cartilage left in either one, which explains that pain that I've lived with. (Luckily, I have a very high pain threshold.)
As some of you know, I am one of those perennial people who are in the process of losing weight. My weight loss is very slow, and I've lost about 25 lbs. over the past couple of years. My biggest challenge is exercise that doesn't hurt my knees a lot (I have no access to a swimming pool). The doctor said that he refuses to perform knee surgery on anyone with a BMI above either 30 or 33 (I was pretty overwhelmed by that point, so I'm not sure). Mine is higher than that, but the Lord knows that I have been striving to have it below that range for a long time. Anyway, I've had cortisone shots in both knees now (never had both done at the same time before). Synovisc injections are the other possibility if the cortisone shots don't do the trick. (They won't add cartilage, so I'm sure I'll still have a problem.) The doctor told me to work on my core and upper body strength, as a way to lose weight. I've been pretty discouraged since seeing him, but I don't want to have surgery that's riskier than necessary.