Hi Mozzarc:
I intend to post as much detail as possible - if nothing else it'll incentivise me to document this whole process.
The walk was sort of my idea, definitely not the doc's. There's a bit of a backstory. I'd been living with OA since March 2012, when my right knee suddenly disintegrated; on Tuesday I felt a few tingles, by Friday I could hardly walk at all. Over the years I'd been offered a high tibial osteotomy by way of surgical relief, but I didn't like the idea of an operation designed to wear out the remaining good bit of my knee (the lateral (outside) compartment) that had a multi-month recovery process during which I couldn't drive. Not really practical when you're a single father of three.
And then Life intervened, in the shape of a divorce, and latterly complications from an earlier OA related surgery; I had my left ankle fused in 2013 and in early 2017 it was found that the screws in my ankle were harbouring several superbugs.
Ridiculous quantities of antibiotics and 18 months later, the ankle is more or less fine (no bugs any more at any rate) and in the meantime I dound out about PAR from (I think) a M**ley F*ol newsletter, and I bought some, on the basis that a. the shares were cheap and b. the treatment (it already works in dogs and horses, why wouldn't it work in humans?) seemed very promising indeed. As I recall an investors' group I belong to had just done a deep dive on Sirtex and I felt that PAR represented a much more compelling proposition than Sirtex, so I jumped in. At an average of 34.5c,yay.
I was more or less prepared to wait until PPS became PBS available, but then life intervened again - I met a rather wonderful lady at the beginning of May this year who among other things has in the last few years controlled her knee OA symptoms through weight loss and exercise (25kg and more Yoga than you'd believe possible) who gave me the kick up the arse I needed to do what I could to get rid of the limp and the constant nagging pain.
So I found a doctor who could get me onto the TGA SAS, I have foresworn the booze for a bit, lost 3.5kg (another 11.5kg to go) in the last fortnight, and the less said in public about my fledgling yoga career the better.
I decided to do the walk for three reasons. 1. I've never done it, and I've lived on Sydney's North Shore for 30 years 2. I wanted to see whether I could, for my peace of mind and also to reassure my beloved that I wasn't a complete invalid. 3. To establish a 'before' baseline for the iPPS trial.
From reading the experience of others I am expecting significant pain abatement around the three week mark and about a year of relief, although the idea of a booster shot (which I believe is standard veterinary practise) is something I will bring up with the doc (who I know lurks here, being a shareholder himself ...)
Happy to answer any further q's if people have any.
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