Stairway To Heaven

   This is just half of it, our new hardwood stairway.  The last day the contractors were here, they told me not to touch the banister.  It was still wet.  I smiled and agreed to be good.  They left.  But then, I had to go upstairs.  I gazed at that staircase like it was an old adversary.  Not hold the banister?  But I always hold the banister.  What about my knees?  For a brief moment I imagined calling them back and asking if they could build me an elevator real quick...as a back up.  Okay, maybe that would be asking too much.  I think they only do wood and carpeting.  
   I could do this.  After all, I was in much better shape now.  I may go slow, but I almost always take the stairs whenever we are out doing family stuff.  Gone are the days when I would take the elevator while everyone else took the stairs.  I can still their faces.  The elevator door opens and they are standing there,  "Where have you been?  We've been waiting for hours."  Ha ha...tease the disabled mom...very funny.  
   No, if there truly is a stairway to heaven, I will now climb it.  And eventually, come hell or high water, I will get there...possibly huffing and puffing.
   I refuse to let this knees be a limitation.  I refuse to let them negatively affect my level of tenacity.  I have a full and active life to lead and well, they need to come along for the ride.  So, suck it up knees.  I am not going to be easy on you (I sound just like Jillian Michaels).
   It seems like yesterday that they first began giving me problems.  Ever since the eighties, when I was assigned to Germany, my knees have been an issue.  Whether it was my meniscus or my ACLs, I always seemed to have someone telling me my knees were well, messed up.  At ROTC Advanced Camp, I twisted my knee pretty bad.  They sent me home with a note basically saying, "No go at this station".  Come back next year".  It was in ROTC, I had my first surgery at the local Veteran's Administration Hospital.  I have to admit, I was scared, especially after I had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia.  But I did recover, so I thought, and I did return to complete the camp requirement.  I still remember what my ROTC Advisor told me before I left, "Whatever you do, if you want to pass camp and get that commission, don't ever let them see you limp."  So, I never limped.  And eventually, the real issues with my knees returned.  I later discovered I had ACL damage, several tiny tears.  My knees creaked like floors in an old house, and on occasion, they would give right out from under me, but I toughed it out.  I never cried.  I never whined.  But I always did the right thing.  I went to the post doctors.  They did the cursory tests, prescribed 800 MG Motrin (ranger candy) and told me to take a break and stop running for a while (two weeks to a month on average).   Pretty soon, I was back out there running on those ACL tears, as best I could.
 Years later, my unstable knees were what began the physical that retired me from active military service.  After 21 years of running on those bad knees, I had caused other irreparable damage.  During my second medical board in two years, I was fortunate enough to have a doctor living next door.  She did a second knee surgery (said my knee had looked like scrambled eggs inside...yuck).  Well, its because of her, my knees don't grind anymore.  Thanks to her, and a little persistence on my part, I can now walk like I do.  I thought that surgery would be the last of it.  But it wasn't.  After my husband returned from the war in Iraq, we planned a vacation.  On the day before we were scheduled to leave, my left knee locked.  They sent me off post for care.  The doctor told me to come in the next day to prepare for immediate surgery.  For the first time, I refused to listen.  I just didn't show up.  I was now a retiree with a new found empowerment, not to mention a new attitude problem.  I don't know.  It wasn't that I was scared of another surgery.  I just didn't have the heart to cancel a family trip to California for my stupid knees.  So instead of going into surgery as recommended, I walked all around Disneyland.  I guess you could say my knee relaxed and unlocked.  It hasn't locked like that since.  Stretching and exercise was the key.  I believe it still is.  
   Today, two days after the contractors have left, and I have already been up and down those stairs a couple dozen times.  All this after my regular five mile walk.  So far, so good.  My calves are sore, but the old weak knees are holding up okay.  Please knock wood.  Hey, I can knock the floors now.  : }  I can now touch the banister which helps, but still, I take my time.  Why so many trips up and down the stairs?  Well, we put all the little stuff upstairs so we could redo the main level floors.  Someone needs to bring it all back down.  Okay, maybe I'll do this little by little over the course of the next week.  No sense tempting Murphy's Law right?  "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".