Don’t give up hope

I am posting my experience to give people hope, not to offend. I am 65, been fighting osteoarthritis in my rt knee for at least 10 yr. I had to give up my nursing career last year because of the pain and immobility. Ive had every thing done to my knee except replacing it. Last winter was hell, could barely climb out of my recliner. Last spring I was almost ready to give in to surgery when I bought a recumbent ex bike. At first I could barely get my knee to bend enough to make the pedal go around. I worked every day on it and now7 mo later, I’m easily riding it 45 min and knee bends much better. I gave up walking because it hurt too bad. Now, I’m up to 1 1/2 miles every other day, pain free. I am blessed to have this improvement and maybe one day my number will be up but for now, I’m working on losing an additional 40 lb which will bring my bmi into normal range and hoping to walk my first 5K at thanksgiving. I know many people have no choice on the knee replacement. But I have several friends who had both knees done and continue to get bigger and bigger and still complain. If you are hurting and at the point of feeling hopeless, just know your pain may not be a life sentence.