Tracey's recovery fund
Donation protected
I’m Tracey, I’m in my 30s and I’ve got arthritis.
This is quite difficult to write, so please excuse any parts where I may ramble.
Do a search for ‘arthritis’ on Google, and you’ll find pictures of old people, old hands and elderly toes.
Most people that know me, know I suffer with “bad joints”, and have done since a problem was diagnosed with my left knee in 2013 (Chondromalacia patellae). Two operations to that knee have left it in (mostly) a good working order. In the time it took to get my knee sorted, however, my right leg took a major battering, picking up the strain.
It wasn’t long before I was diagnosed with moderate osteoarthritis of the right hip and knee. It has now also progressed to both of my thumb joints. Doctors have repeatedly told me that I am “too young” to have these issues, despite a strong familial history of osteoarthritis and hypermobility syndrome. I have been referred to rheumatology repeatedly, and seem to get stuck in a ping-pong between rheumatology and orthopaedics every 18 months or so, with no real answers.
A routine appointment with my hip specialist at the end of last week dropped one heck of a bombshell: in the space of 6 months, my right hip has degenerated to the extent that a hip replacement is now necessary. This is on top of the operation I already have scheduled for 20th June, on my right knee. So I now face back to back operations and an estimated 6 month recovery from the two operations combined.
A ‘Normal Life’.
Despite this, I work as a nurse in the NHS. In 2015, I also founded a charity that is campaigning to prevent sexual assault at live music events. I want to keep working, both as a nurse and in my spare time as a campaigner. I just want a ‘normal life’.
It takes a lot to say this, but I have been struggling to accept that these joint issues have happened to me, and have alternating between hiding and resting, to the other extreme of pushing myself too hard at work and attending festivals as a representative of my organisation. I am yet to find the happy medium between taking rest when I need it, but still living my life.
And this is where I need help.
The next months are going to be a battle. I’m ready for it, but...
It hasn’t helped my mindset that whenever you search for “arthritis” online, it doesn’t portray younger people. You know I said do a search on Google. Yeah, that. It doesn’t show anything that I can relate to.
There are some of things I need to keep living a ‘normal life’:
A foot stool... Appropriate footwear... Supports for my hands and thumbs to take the strain of 6 months on crutches... A new set crutch... Full body support pillow to help with my sleep...
There are places online (although few and far between) where I can source the aids and adaptations that will make this next part of my life easier, whilst still retaining (what I hope to be) my individuality. I am a glitter loving, animal print wearing girl.
My NHS wage, however, doesn’t stretch to meet all of this. Can you help me on this journey, and help me adapt to the changes I am going through, with a smile on my face, and a sense of fun?
I estimate that gathering these items together, plus postage costs, to be approx £400 - £600. Anything additional raised would help with things like the costs of Uber/Taxi's to hospital appointments whilst I am unable to drive and prescriptions.
I hate to do this. But I would really like this period of time to be the time I get my head around what has happened to my body and the changes in my life. And ultimately, continue to be the nurse and activist that I am.
This is quite difficult to write, so please excuse any parts where I may ramble.
Do a search for ‘arthritis’ on Google, and you’ll find pictures of old people, old hands and elderly toes.
Most people that know me, know I suffer with “bad joints”, and have done since a problem was diagnosed with my left knee in 2013 (Chondromalacia patellae). Two operations to that knee have left it in (mostly) a good working order. In the time it took to get my knee sorted, however, my right leg took a major battering, picking up the strain.
It wasn’t long before I was diagnosed with moderate osteoarthritis of the right hip and knee. It has now also progressed to both of my thumb joints. Doctors have repeatedly told me that I am “too young” to have these issues, despite a strong familial history of osteoarthritis and hypermobility syndrome. I have been referred to rheumatology repeatedly, and seem to get stuck in a ping-pong between rheumatology and orthopaedics every 18 months or so, with no real answers.
A routine appointment with my hip specialist at the end of last week dropped one heck of a bombshell: in the space of 6 months, my right hip has degenerated to the extent that a hip replacement is now necessary. This is on top of the operation I already have scheduled for 20th June, on my right knee. So I now face back to back operations and an estimated 6 month recovery from the two operations combined.
A ‘Normal Life’.
Despite this, I work as a nurse in the NHS. In 2015, I also founded a charity that is campaigning to prevent sexual assault at live music events. I want to keep working, both as a nurse and in my spare time as a campaigner. I just want a ‘normal life’.
It takes a lot to say this, but I have been struggling to accept that these joint issues have happened to me, and have alternating between hiding and resting, to the other extreme of pushing myself too hard at work and attending festivals as a representative of my organisation. I am yet to find the happy medium between taking rest when I need it, but still living my life.
And this is where I need help.
The next months are going to be a battle. I’m ready for it, but...
It hasn’t helped my mindset that whenever you search for “arthritis” online, it doesn’t portray younger people. You know I said do a search on Google. Yeah, that. It doesn’t show anything that I can relate to.
There are some of things I need to keep living a ‘normal life’:
A foot stool... Appropriate footwear... Supports for my hands and thumbs to take the strain of 6 months on crutches... A new set crutch... Full body support pillow to help with my sleep...
There are places online (although few and far between) where I can source the aids and adaptations that will make this next part of my life easier, whilst still retaining (what I hope to be) my individuality. I am a glitter loving, animal print wearing girl.
My NHS wage, however, doesn’t stretch to meet all of this. Can you help me on this journey, and help me adapt to the changes I am going through, with a smile on my face, and a sense of fun?
I estimate that gathering these items together, plus postage costs, to be approx £400 - £600. Anything additional raised would help with things like the costs of Uber/Taxi's to hospital appointments whilst I am unable to drive and prescriptions.
I hate to do this. But I would really like this period of time to be the time I get my head around what has happened to my body and the changes in my life. And ultimately, continue to be the nurse and activist that I am.
Organizer
Tracey Wise
Organizer
