Life’s joys and sorrows

Eric and I were thrilled to attend the wedding of our nephew Owen Evans and his lovely bride Allison Buege July 18, 2025. Eric played the bagpipes and we enjoyed seeing family and meeting new friends and family in Portland, Oregon.

Sadly, my sister-in-law, Lynelle Pond Lovejoy passed away from severe medical complications on January 22, 2026. We also lost my youngest brother Slade Lovejoy on March 17, 2026. He was on dialysis due to kidney failure and had several other complications.

He passed on my mother’s birthday. She died of Leukemia at 52. My father passed away at age 58 from kidney failure. I have lost 4 siblings now. I don’t recommend it.

I have had several health issues myself. Like all of my family, I have diabetes but my numbers are improving and my kidneys are doing well. My biggest problem now is left knee pain.

When I was 13 I broke the tibia under my knee. This has left me with a very large Q-angle, or quadriceps angle. This photo taken in 2021 shows how much my left knee angles inward. My knees both have a large Q-angle but the left one is significantly worse. My father used to tell me he would buy me a horse because I was so knock-kneed in my youth.

I have allowed myself to get super weak and my L foot turns out into supination with the ankle going into inversion. I let the foot turn so much that I have to be careful of my shoes to prevent me from walking on the side of my foot. For years, I have not had any knee pain despite the arthritis that I knew was worsening.

Probably, 20 years ago my left was bothering me, so I went to see an orthopedic surgeon who told me my knee pain was because I was fat. I did not think of it then but today I would ask why the other knee doesn’t hurt. I disagree when doctors tell people their pain is from being fat or being old. If that were correct we would never see skinny people or young people with pain. And all fat people and old people should have pain. I personally think those are lazy answers.

Many of the patients I work with tell me their pain is because the are old. So a few weeks later they are feeling better, I remind them that they are getting older. Thus proving my point.

For many years, I was very consistent about wearing compression stockings. I was not doing the 90-second alignment exercises because I was having no pain.

Almost two years ago, after I stopped working in home health, I went on a walk with Eric and Salish. I went back to the car early. The ground was uneven with very large gravel/rocks and I slipped and fell down. Eric helped me up and since then I have had left knee pain. I have also had about four more falls since that time.

I have resumed doing the Releasing Joint Restriction alignment exercises and have been doing strengthening exercises with some benefit. I broke down and had a cortisone injection and when that failed to provide any relief, I had a series of three Ortho-Visc injections every two weeks. It did help my right knee but not my left.

I have worked with two massage therapists and six physical therapists. I got the most benefit from a fabulou manual therapist for very brief periods. I have an appointment next month with an Australian physical therapist and am really looking forward to that.

My theory of the cause of most pain is due to inflammation. In the case of the pelvis being out of place it causes the alignment of the entire skeleton to be off which causes inflammation. When the pubic bone is jammed, this makes the whole pelvis slide out of place, all the back bones and head slide off, and one leg ends up longer than the other. When the pelvis is off, the hips, knees, and ankles do not line up straight. This causes the edge of the bone to rub up against a different part of the bone than it should. That is what causes arthritis, in my opinion.

When I fell, that likely knocked my pelvis out of alignment and I have not found anyone yet who knows how to get a pelvis back to neutral yet. But stay tuned, I have high hopes for the Australian physical therapist. I know I do feel better when I do my RJR alignment exercises, strengthening exercises and wear compression but I am still limited to walking with a cane and limiting the distance I walk.

I will let you know how it goes!