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"When
I was doing television, during my 50s, I couldn't walk more
than about 200 yards," remembers Dennis. "I used to get tears
in my eyes. I'd look at kerbs and think, 'No, it's too high.'
I
used to do a programme called The Journey and I'd walk very,
very badly. People rang in and said 'He doesn't do bad for
a cripple".
Dennis was fit as a young man, even playing professionally
for a spell in Rugby League, but a weakness in his legs held
him back. "I had wonky knees. I kept having cartilage problems
and eventually it got so bad that I couldn't do sport any
more. What
had happened was that the cartilage had all gone, so it was
bone on bone and painful."
Waiting for surgery didn't stop Dennis's sailing though. In
spite of years of chronic pain, he refused to give up. "It
was getting worse, but I went on two round the world yacht
races with the Whitbread and The British Steel Challenge.
They wouldn't let me go on the foredeck because they said
I was a hazard - I couldn't move quick enough."
Eventually,
Dennis was brought in to Southampton General Hospital for
the operation on his right knee. "This was the one that was
in a really bad way and it took a long time to get it right.
The surgeon cut out the old knee and put in a steel knee with
a rubber joint in the middle.
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"I
was in hospital nearly two weeks. When you come round
you have an automatic machine which is working your
knee all the time -you're strapped to it and it's going
up and down, even as you're sleeping"
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"But
they couldn't do that with me because he'd had such a tough
time putting it in. The muscles were stretched too much and
it would have done more damage, so I had to wait about five
days before I went onto the machine."
Dennis
learned that physiotherapy was the key -after, and just as
importantly, before the knee replacement operation.
"You
have a muscle above the knee called the quadrocep and that's
got to be in good shape or your new knee is useless. It does
all the work for the knee and if you have a strong quadrocep
then your knee will work superbly.
"I
didn't have. Mine had wasted quite badly, but the next time,
a year later, I went up to the hospital on my bike, three
times a week. I went across on the ferry and then pedalled
up, about six miles there and back, three days a week -and
had the physio on top of it.
"When
I went in for my left knee and they said it was fantastic
- like a walk in the park, because the leg was in such good
condition."
Recovery
wasn't plain sailing though, on either occasion. Physiotherapy
was long and painful but very necessary. "The first time I
rode a bike it nearly killed me," says Dennis. "I just stopped
and fell off sideways." But it's been more than worth it.
"It's completely changed my life. I can now do anything -
I can jump, I can run. I hadn't run for years. It's given
me terrific confidence. I've rowed my dinghy around the Isle
of Wight. "I'm sure I shouldn't be doing these things, but
I can..."
Adapted
from 'On An Even Keel',
BBC Radio Solent Magazine, Winter 2003
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