I went to the doctor because my knee was bothering me. I thought I had injured it, but I would put off going to see the doctor. But it had, it had gone on so long, I knew I couldn’t wait anymore and went to see the doctor. And she looked at my knee and, you know, examined it — my range of motion, what hurt, what didn’t. And, I — you know, I thought she was gonna say that I had like a torn something-or-other or I was going to need to go through some kind of regimen of physical training or — sorry, physical therapy, I mean. Or, you know, wear a brace or something, I don’t know, I just was hoping that it was something like — I would have some kind of non-invasive issue. I was not prepared for what she told me, which was that I had arthritis.
And I was just processing that for a minute, and the doctor said to me, “You look like you’re stunned.” And I was like, “Yeah, that’s a really good word. I am stunned.” Because I did not feel old enough. I thought of arthritis as something that was, you know, more typically something you suffer from when you’re older, and I know you can get arthritis when you are younger. But I didn’t think — well, I mean, I just, I just really didn’t feel old enough to just have like ordinary, garden variety, “you’re old and you have arthritis” arthritis.
And I mean, it was really — in some ways it was good news because it’s not like she was saying, “Oh, you know, you’ve torn such-and-such and you’re gonna need to have surgery or whatever.” Um, you know, and it was a kind of thing where exercise is actually probably better for it, also good news. But, um, I just — it just didn’t fit in with my concept of myself at that stage. And I have to say that continues to be the case. This was 10 years ago. I got that diagnosis 10 years ago and I still don’t feel old enough to have arthritis. I don’t feel old. I know I’m not a spring chicken, but in my mind, I feel so much older than what my birthday indicates that I am. And I don’t think that’s a terrible thing.