When I was first experiencing joint issues in my knees, I found that I could no longer drive my manual car. It affected my mobility and independence, but I wasn’t too concerned as it was thought that I had a work injury. You recover from that – right? Wrong!!!

 It came as a shock to me when I was diagnosed with Osteoarthritis (OA). I was told that this was a degenerative disease. There is no cure. I resisted the diagnosis and hung on to my belief that I could improve my condition. I fully believed that I would be able to get back into my beloved new car and drive again. I was going through the Shock ~ Anger ~ Resistance ~Acceptance ~ Hope (SARAH) cycle of emotions. This is a common cycle for people experiencing a life change, be it health, work, family dynamics, relationships etc…. The doctor explained that I must have had the OA for years, but didn’t know it. Now that I was no longer asymptomatic with the disease, there was no going back. I was going to have to learn how to live with it – no turning back allowed! 

It didn’t help that my car was new (second hand – but new to me.) It was my pride and joy. I had bought it for myself as my 50th birthday present, it was the first time I made a decision based on what I wanted – not what was practical as a family car. It  had been in my life for only 5 months prior to being unable to drive it 🙂

So this is my story. Read on……