It's just a terrific story and I'm happy for you.

I have a friend who needs a TKR. She's 70 and her insurance company won't pay for gel injections either. I don't get that. Cortisone shots are (almost) always covered, and it sounds like the gel shots work better.

Although in her case, she really should get the TKR. She has some familiar excuses but at the heart of it, I think she's just afraid of the surgery. Understandable, so was I. But after doing some research and talking to people who had successful and unsuccessful outcomes, I learned what to do to 1) prepare for the surgery and 2) recover from the surgery. Not easy, but it allayed my fears and worked great.