Finishing College, Getting a Part-Time Job and Osteonecrosis of the Knee

 Finishing College, Getting a Part-Time Job, and Osteonecrosis of the Knee

 

    The first thing I did when I was well enough, was to email my professors to find out what needed to be done to complete my courses. I think I only missed the last two weeks of the semester. I found out that I needed to write one paper, and take two exams. I was a little rusty with the information so they gave me some time to study. I had a bit of brain fog but I managed to get A’s on everything. I believe one of the immunosuppressants in particular, gave me brain fog for several years after my transplant. Next, I found someone who could help me determine how many more classes I needed to take before I could graduate. After looking over all the classes I had taken over the years, it was determined that, with the classes I just completed, I had fulfilled all of my requirements. I was overjoyed! It was on my bucket list complete my bachelor’s degree.

    The next thing I did was get a part time job doing secretarial work at my local City Hall. It wasn’t something I completely enjoyed but I appreciated getting back out in the world and seeing people. I had flexible hours and my boss allowed me to take off whenever I needed to, no questions asked. My coworkers were kind and encouraging. I had even joined an intermediate gym that was part of the hospital complex where I had been doing my pulmonary rehab. I would wake up very early and go there before going to work.

    One day at work my knee began to hurt quite badly. I could barely walk. I hadn’t fallen, nor twisted it in any way. After a few days, I decided to make an appointment with a local doctor to see what was wrong. I did some testing that showed I had a tear as well as avascular osteonecrosis. This was the result of all the years I took steroids for my ABPA. I went on to see another doctor in NY who told me I needed a knee replacement but that I was a bit too young for that. Ultimately, my intuition told me not to go through with a knee replacement and I decided to live with it. The pain and swelling eventually subsided. It would flare up a few more times in the coming years but I learned to not do certain activities like climbing up steeps hills or walking up steep steps and have not had many problems with it since.