Heat and a bum knee make for a disappointing summer

The late August cool spell has been a welcome reprieve from Chicago’s oppressively hot, humid summer.

Multiple heat waves dogged us in June, July, and early August, and the heat index — the temperature-humidity combination indicating how hot it actually feels to us — neared 110 degrees some days. It was so hot the record overnight low temperature was broken four times in late June. Canada sent us smoke from wildfires, temporarily making our air quality the worst in the world. 

We were advised to stay inside so often it might as well have been winter. As of mid-August, I had not gone to one outdoor concert. Most summers, I enjoy my balcony a lot. This year I’d step out and immediately return to air conditioning. 

It wasn’t just the weather that kept me indoors, however. It was also a knee constrained by arthritis. Maybe I should be grateful for their simultaneous occurrence. It might have felt worse to be kept in by my knee in fine weather, or by the heat when I was primed to be out. 

Silver linings: I read more books than usual. I finished the online portion of ESL tutor training. I picked up the genealogy research I periodically return to. That debility needn’t idle me is a good message to take into old age.

My right knee isn’t totally shot, but it is difficult to stand up from a chair or get out of bed, and sometimes I limp. I’m bothered more by stiffness than pain. I managed to give some shortened Chicago Greeter tours. Once the temperatures dropped, I got to a few jazz concerts. 

Although my mother had severe arthritis, and I know people younger than I who had knee replacements, it’s been hard to accept that I entered 2025 feeling good and by spring was hobbling. I resist self-pity with the reminder that in my eighth decade I’m fortunate to have never been hospitalized. 

I think about my cousin Bob, paralyzed at 47 by a botched surgery, whose upbeat attitude is an inspiration. He is in a wheelchair. My bum knee is fixable to an extent. 

I’ll see an orthopedic surgeon in October. If I’m lucky, a functioning knee will be restored, but I need to be realistic. I’m not going to be as nimble as I was at even 70. Age will still take its toll; mobility will not last forever. 

I should remind myself to get to the want-to-dos that require being on my feet. Are there any national parks I still want to see? What about the Midewin Prairie hike my friend Cindy and I have talked about? What about the Chicago neighborhoods I’ve not explored? I’ve postponed a December trip to the Bahamas, where my sister and brother-in-law winter. It had better be on the calendar next year.