Our Saturday at the Green Bay RV/Camping Show made it clear to me that exercise is essential to my well being.
When we attended the 2010 RV/Camping show, I walked with a cane, wore a knee brace, and took ibuprofen for the pain. I went into five or six of the big campers, but going up and down the stairs was too much for me. We left after an hour.
I did some serious damage to my knee that winter. My doctor recommend surgery, but that would have meant rehab over the summer. I did not want to give up a moment of the camping season to an outpatient center, so I told him we would wait until September. Meanwhile, I would tough it out and do what I could to improve the situation. If nothing else, I would be better able to face the surgery if I were in shape.
I began daily workouts in the arthritis pool at our aquatic center and practiced yoga each morning. By mid-summer, I was able to take off the brace and get rid of the cane. I lost over twenty pounds. By autumn, I was hiking on the North Country Trail and climbing rocks to reach the highest point in the Chequamagon National Forest. The improvement was gradual, yet by September, I realized there was no point in having the surgery. I kept up the exercises and added weight training at the fitness center.
At this year's RV/Camping Show I was able to go into every one of the campers and walked around and around the two massive buildings for over five hours. No knee brace, no cane, no painkillers.
No titanium joint will set off metal detectors at international airports, which means one less hassle when I go to Ireland in a year or two.
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