the Group

For the next two years, my hip steadily deteriorated. All my efforts to make the muscles stronger to accommodate the weak joint only seemed to cause the cartilage to wear away faster.
I faced the fact day after day that I was looking forward to a life in a wheelchair or a hospital bed.

Finally, I found a surgeon.
I knew going in that the surgery was going to be painful, but after two years of increasing pain, I could hardly wait to have surgery.
The surgery was all that they had warned me about. 26 days in the hospital. The relationship was pretty much gone by then. What may have been a difficult relationship couldn't stand the stress of my injury and disability. I spent the days in the hospital essentially alone, wondering what sort of home I would return to -- if I were to return at all.

I had to put aside the sadness and focus on recovering. You learn to live one lie after another when you're forced into an emotional corner.

It was a little more than two months after the surgery that I attended my first meeting of the Injured Persons' Support Group.