To be honest, the toilet seat booster is incredibly useful, and I think it cost me about the equivalent of 30 British pounds. Probably the best money I've spent in decades.
The double knee replacement actually did make a big difference to my mobility and pain, but for me it was not the wonder solution that it is sometimes portrayed. No one has actually told me this, but I have read that the outcomes for people with rheumatoid arthritis aren't as good as for those with osteoarthritis. No idea if this is true.
By the time I had it done my knees were in a shocking condition, and I had a very very bad bend at the knees – I walked a bit like a chimpanzee. There was a constant throbbing pain. This is enormously improved.
Because I showed no rheumatoid factors, plus my first doctor was incompetent, I was misdiagnosed as having osteoarthritis and they wanted to put me off a knee replacement until I was older. My GP ultimately sent me to a new rheumatologist, and he sent me straight off to an orthopaedic surgeon and I had my knee replacement within six weeks. To be honest, it was worth it, but I don't know if I want to go through it again. There wasn't really any pain from the op, and I suppose it's just a part of realising that my whole body is falling apart due to RA, and this is just something objective I can pin it on, if that makes sense.
I actually do have it in virtually every bilateral joint, except for perhaps my hips, and I take a biologic and it makes an enormous difference. However, I didn't start taking it until after my knee replacement, and I wished I had started years and years before – although probably couldn't have afforded it as it's very expensive and wasn't covered by public health initially. However, the right medication can stop physical long-term damage from occurring.
Anyway, enough of my pity party – boo-hoo, poor little me.