Dianna on Support and Communication

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ContributorDianna, 57Read Full Bio

Biography

Diana, 57, has four children, one grandchild and has been married to her husband, Bernie for 29 years. Ever since Diana has known Bernie, he has had issues with his knee due to a football injury in college. Diana wanted Bernie to have a knee replacement years ago but he was wary. He only decided to have it done after speaking with a friend who had had the operation. Diana opens up about the anxiety that her husband was having leading up to surgery and talks about how he was ready to back out up until the last minute. She regrets that she didn’t know how much anxiety Bernie was feeling at the time.

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ContributorDianna, 57Read Full Bio

Biography

Diana, 57, has four children, one grandchild and has been married to her husband, Bernie for 29 years. Ever since Diana has known Bernie, he has had issues with his knee due to a football injury in college. Diana wanted Bernie to have a knee replacement years ago but he was wary. He only decided to have it done after speaking with a friend who had had the operation. Diana opens up about the anxiety that her husband was having leading up to surgery and talks about how he was ready to back out up until the last minute. She regrets that she didn’t know how much anxiety Bernie was feeling at the time.

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Diana feels that she and Bernie have mainly positive attitudes but she senses Bernie is getting impatient. He is still not used to the weight of the knee implant. Their goal was for Bernie to be able to walk their daughter down the aisle. Diana said that she thinks today he would be able to. Their social life has been affected since Diana and Bernie can’t do the recreational activities with their friends. They both know that it will take a full year and Bernie is doing as well as expected. Bernie walked his daughter down the aisle 10 weeks after surgery

DIANA: I think he's happy where he is in his rehabilitation. I think he thought that he'd be a little bit further than he is now. I think he's doing great. And technically it's a full year before you're completely recovered. And it's not even been two months. So he's getting a little impatient and I asked him this morning, "How does your knee feel?" And he said, "Like a five pound brick is in there. He's not quite used to the weight of it and he hasn't quite built up the muscle tone yet.

DIANA: Last week is probably the first week where he hasn't just been up and excited and he's got this new knee. So I think it's really settling in like okay, this is gonna take a little while. I'm not gonna be running the Rose Bowl in a week or so.

DIANA: I try to keep his attitude positive. And he's pretty positive anyway. And I try to stay positive. I feel like I did my job for those five weeks. And like you are capable now of doing some of this stuff on your own. And I know that he doesn't need me to take a walk with him now. 'Cause he can walk by himself. He doesn't have a cane. He doesn't have a walker.

DIANA: Like for instance, yesterday he, earlier in the morning, he made a reference that he wanted me to come to his physical therapy with him. I really didn't know where that was coming from except that I think he just wanted that security of me because I've been literally by his side every day since then.

DIANA: Our goal was this wedding. A-and like I said, it was scheduled for May. And I was just petrified that if he had to wait until May for the surgery he wasn't going to be walking her down the aisle. 'Cause he was literally dragging that leg. He, today, could walk her down that aisle, do that first dance. He babysat the grandson last Saturday while we had a wedding shower. And he can't do that yet. He can't run after him if he's in a parking lot. So I think he just would like to get a little more mobile. He'd like to actually be comfortable in just resuming hikes with us and taking the dog on a hike.

DIANA: We were supposed to go up to Montana next week and he said, "I-I don't think I could get in a boat and fly-fish."

DIANA: His leg is very sturdy. He's not confident of it. Which is why I-I really wanted it 10 years ago. [LAUGH] Because it changed our life.

DIANA: He was a marathon runner and so we did a couple of marathons together and we were always really active people. We skied and we rode horses and we did all that stuff. And right about when he turned 55 it just really slowed him down. And I would, not take one for the team, but even in Montana when they did, you know, they went caving I stayed home with Bernie because I didn't want him home alone. And so it definitely affected our social life and our activity level. He's excited just to get that back and do those things again and be part of the group instead of the one that has to hold down the fort.

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