The Way Forward

On one hand, I'm feeling pretty good about things. We're losing weight (although I'm thinking that this isn't going to be a stellar week). That's the main thing, the ultimate solution. I think we've got a formula down that pretty much works for us, that's sustainable most of the time. That doesn't mean that it doesn't need fine-tuning... there's always more that you can do, more variety of foods, better meals, keeping a hawk-like eye on portion size (I am especially bad about loading up on the protein foods, because I love them, and yeah, they are low carb, but you can't just pile them on and really lose much weight.)

On the other hand, and this is the big issue... Michael's knees are getting worse, not better. Whatever he did to his right leg a couple of months ago has in no way resolved, and in part because he's had to transfer more weight to his left leg, the existing meniscal tear has probably worsened and/or something else has happened, as the pain has become intense and constant. We see the doctor on Tuesday, but I just don't know how much help he's going to be. The bottom line on all of this stuff is that the real fix is get weight off (and have the surgery for the tear), but that is of course not an overnight thing. We are doing the best we can. But there must be things that we can do in the meantime to help strengthen the leg muscles, to help reduce the pain. On top of everything else, it's going to be a long summer if he can't get in and out of the car (no Maine trip, either), and I'm thinking at this point that there's simply no reason to open the pool because he can't get in and out of it. I want desperately to get a hot tub, because it's one of the few things that I think might help with the muscles aches, but cost aside, I'm just not sure if he can get in and out of something like that, either. It's hard not to feel a little miserable and desperate about this. It would be nice if something would actually get better. Not better-but-this-other-thing-is-worse, just better. He's discouraged, and living with chronic pain is one of the hardest things that you can do. He feels like he's losing weight but overall actually getting less mobile... and what can I say? There's some truth to that.

I really, really wish that I could find some story of someone who had these problems and came back from them... and what s/he did. All of the "huge weight loss" stories I know start out with immobility and usually diabetes and heart problems/blood pressure issues, things like that, and typically you exercise slowly and lose weight, and things get better. But I've never read a story with this degree of knee issues and what exactly they did. It would mean a great deal to find something like that.

But we go on. I will read some books. I will find some more exercises. Somehow, we'll figure out how to get through this, to find the way forward. But any suggestions would sure be appreciated.