“Working as a millwright in the chemical plant all those years, and being on my feet for 10, 12, sometimes 16 hours a day, I couldn’t hardly do it anymore. Once you lose your cartilage, it ends up being bone on bone. The pain gets pretty bad. They try different things, like giving you shots in there, and it lasts for maybe a few days. For some people they say it lasts a year, and then they come back to get another shot. But I wasn’t that lucky. I had my right knee replaced in 2008. It’s been great so far, knock on wood. But the other one’s pretty bad now.

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“My left knee blew out about two years ago. It got to the point where the pain felt like someone was driving a knife under my kneecap. I bulled my way through it for a while, but I finally realized it was just wearing me down. So I had a total knee replacement. Because I had no cartilage left in either knee, I’m going to be doing the other one in about 6-9 months.

“I receive therapy on my knee three days a week, and I’m seeing big improvement. There are times when it really hurts, but you just have to keep focused on your goals and get through it. This isn’t my first time doing therapy. Osteoarthritis was eating away the joints in my hands, so I’ve had two hand surgeries. Sometimes I feel like I’m falling apart, one set of joints at a time.”

What motivates you to do the therapy?
“I want full use of my legs again. I don’t want to be crippled. I’m too young and too active. I’m not a sedentary person. I’m used to moving and doing things. I have adult grandkids. I have a new grandbaby that will be born in August. So I want to be able to do things with them.”

— Evelyn Marlow

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