Under the knife

I have been having problems with my knees for almost two years now. I can't believe it has been that long.

It happened because of my disability - five years ago, I had surgery that would make walking easier, but now I am not walking and I have grown since then. So the desired outcome of that surgery worked for a while, but now it's having the opposite effect and it was pulling my kneecaps in all sorts of directions.

Just so you understand what I mean, my kneecaps were about four centimetres above where they're supposed to be. That's a problem.

About five months ago, my knees started complaining, as they should. We wanted to have them sorted out so they wouldn't be a misery for the rest of my life.

But here comes the problem... the orthopeadic surgoen who had done every one of my surgeries retired last year. Now we had to find a new person. It's quite a long story, but we found a good one. Dr Craig Hastings.

We went to him just over a month ago. He decided that a good plan of action would be to do one knee at a time and release the hamstring transfer (the surgery I had five years ago) and release the quads. In theory, this should reduce pressure on my kneecap and they should go back into its rightful home. Now, we just have to wait to see if theory becomes reality. It looks like it is.

I have to go back to him in about ten days to take off the bandages and see if it has worked. If it has, then we need to fix the other knee. Fun times.

I'll write more news when I get more news.

xxx

Patience is a virtue.

I know that I haven't written an entry in a while...things have been so busy since my last blog entry.

I'm now in Grade 11. People tell you about how much more work it is. I didn't believe them. Listen, people, you should listen to those people when they tell you stuff like that so you can prepare properly.

Anyway, to get you up to speed on what's happening in my life.

A lot of interesting things are in the pipeline. I'll tell you guys about a couple of them.

Firstly, last year I applied for a service dog - quite the mission to find the right people, but once you find those people it's all good. So, I applied in September 2010 and in February this year, I had an interview with one of the trainers to see if my having a service dog is a good thing. I got accepted for the programme.

And now, we wait. They say it can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years for them to find the right dog for me.

Exciting...

The second thing happening is that I applied to go on Rotary Exchange. The committee has to discuss it and then decide if I'm right for the programme.

If I get accepted, I'll be one of the few disabled people from South Africa to go on exchange. I guess it's a trend with disabled people: very few people have experiences well-worth having when there are so many disabled people out there. Quite ironic, I think.

And again, we wait...

I think that's one of the things that come with the territory of being differently abled. Playing the waiting game. We have to wait for everything. Opportunities, failures, other people, even ourselves.

But I think the best thing I've gained from my disability is most probably...patience. I have to have patience with myself because, let's face it, stuff takes a little longer. I have to have patience with other people, because they take time to get on your side.

I hope that you all have patience with yourselves and each other. And as the saying goes, "patience is a virtue", so make it one of your own.