THE EXTREME IN TOGETHERNESS

I think I have now discovered the ultimate in marital togetherness. Having been married for going on 58 years in May, I thought we had been through all phases of togetherness--wrong!
Usually togetherness is good , but now we are discovering the bummer side.

My wife is having knee replacement surgery on February 7. About two weeks ago she made the trip to an orthopod she had seen before, and he explained to her that the area behind her right kneecap was gone and her knee was bone-on-bone.

Then last week I saw the same man, and he quickly let me know that both my knees are bone-on-bone and that replacement knee surgery was the best course of action. My right knee gives me more problems, so I elected to go for surgery on that one and am scheduled for April 25. I am hopeful that I have allowed enough time between the two surgeries to give my wife time to recover. I certainly want to be available to facilitate her recovery and hope she can reciprocate for me. We like to go to England in late June and want to be in reasonably good shape by that time, as we do a lot of walking there.

The only consolation we can take is that we have heard recent advancements in artificial knees are great and easier to adjust to, but the fact remains that hard and constant therapy pre- and post-surgery is a necessity with frequent exercises to encourage the flexion of the new joint required.

Another good thing we have going in our favor is that we live in a house with an elevator. When we built our home in Sanibel Island, Florida over eight years ago, the builder wisely suggested installing an elevator. The cost of putting one in a home being constructed at the time was $13,000, whereas adding one to a home already built is closer to $50,000 because of the major cost of tearing out space for the elevator and then renovating the home after the installation of the elevator. Occasionally, in life, we make good decisions---and that was one!

Our goal is to get back to the tennis courts. I think Nadal, Federer and the Williams sisters will not be too concerned and will be able to sleep well at night, but maybe we can compete again with our old fart friends.

We hope to have four good legs instead of two. That will be a new high in togetherness!