Wow, that's great. I'm 72.
My ankle replacement was the result of a severe soccer injury over 40 years ago. It was reconstructed at the time and all was good for about 30 years but eventually I lost the ability to run or even walk fast. I naively thought I could have the joint cleaned up with arthroscopic surgery. The doctor said, "there's no cleaning that up, you are bone on bone."
He then said we could control the pain with cortisone and pain medication. I turned down that option. Then he suggested fusing the joint. That didn't sound right because I would never walk without a limp. At least I could still walk normally with not much pain so I said that is out of consideration. Then he said I was a good candidate for ankle replacement.
While not yet a common procedure, it seems to have been perfected since the early years when they didn't go well. After thinking about it for a couple months, I decided it wouldn't improve on its own and decided to go with it.
He said, the good thing is that it will last 20 years. I said, "Then I'll only need one more".
