Bone-on-bone agony: the cruel reality of facing a three-year waiting list for a new knee

Before she retired in 2014, Alexandra McTeare had worked for the NHS for 30 years – and always believed in public healthcare. But when she experienced severe pain, she was forced to consider difficult choices

When Alexandra McTeare was told she might have to wait three years for knee replacement surgery, she felt desperate. “Because of how miserable your life is, how small it has become,” she says.

The problems with her knee started in 2017. “It was painful and would swell up, particularly in the heat.” She would take painkillers and keep her leg elevated when she was sitting down, and did stretching exercises for her muscles. But over the next few years, “it gradually got worse, the intervals between swelling episodes reduced and the pain increased”. It reached a point where it was no longer bearable.

Topics

Hornets' Miles Bridges out at least 2 weeks with bone bruise in right knee
Sports - Yahoo Sports - November 8
76ers' star Paul George sidelined the next 2 games with bone bruise in left knee
Sports - ABC News - 5 days ago
‘There was three of them waiting, like: play this track or else’: DJ EZ, the reality-bending maestro of the decks
World - The Guardian - November 19
'I've lost major organs to endometriosis' - NHS gynaecology waiting lists double
Top stories - BBC News - November 18
24-year-old man punches election judge in face while waiting in line to vote: Police
Top stories - ABC News - November 5
T Bone Burnett on "The Other Side"
Top stories - CBS News - November 10
The Papers: Labour targets waiting lists but tax rises 'won't cure NHS'
Top stories - BBC News - October 29

Bone-on-bone agony: the cruel reality of facing a three-year waiting list for a new knee

Topics

Related

Hornets' Miles Bridges out at least 2 weeks with bone bruise in right knee

76ers' star Paul George sidelined the next 2 games with bone bruise in left knee

‘There was three of them waiting, like: play this track or else’: DJ EZ, the reality-bending maestro of the decks

'I've lost major organs to endometriosis' - NHS gynaecology waiting lists double

24-year-old man punches election judge in face while waiting in line to vote: Police

T Bone Burnett on "The Other Side"

The Papers: Labour targets waiting lists but tax rises 'won't cure NHS'

More from The Guardian

Displaced residents return to southern Lebanon as Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire appears to hold – Middle East crisis live

Trump announces more picks including US trade chief and health deputy

British mother of Egyptian political prisoner to press Lammy to take action

Seoul slows down under blanket of heaviest November snow in 100 years

Bolsonaro allies nearly launched military coup in 2022, police report says