Resolutions

New Year's resolutions are, for the most part, ephemeral. Like a hickory wind they blow in with hope tinged with an underlying truth that not much will change. Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers and Bowflex dangle personality carrots to entice their potential customers. The regular list of resolutions always include better relationships with family and friends, financial gain, and a more diligent pursuit of health and happiness. For those of you who know me, including a few skeptics, the issue that has dominated my personal and professional quality of life, is my arthritic knees. In the past five years the contest has been between the gradual deterioration to the total absence of knee cartilage and my efforts to minimize the discomfort and pain with meds and exercise. Cycling has saved my knees thus far yet the eventual outcome was always going to be total knee joint replacements; it was simply a matter of when I felt that surgical risks would be worth a greatly improved life style. That decision occurred rather nonchalantly at a New Year's Eve dinner party with friends as we talked about the special things we want to do, rafting through the Grand Canyon being at the top of our lists. I want to fully enjoy that experience and two good knees are as imperative as a good boatman. I realized that I'm tired of talking about the pros and cons of waiting another two or three years. Today I scheduled the surgeries for both knees this year, June and October. My New Year's resolution is to become bionic. How often does one get to do that?