It's time to let them go. The last time I wore them was the winter of 2020, when I went to the office 5 days a week and had 5 pairs of jeans and enough hoodies and sweaters to go with them. Maybe the last time I wore any of them was for PI(e) Day the 13th, the last day at the office before a long stretch of working from home. An inauspicious day, indeed.
It wasn't the working from home that took the jeans away, though. I did enjoy 6 weeks of wearing more comfortable pants during the workday, but I would have kept the jeans in rotation or put them back in if not for the worst May day I have probably ever had. My Physical Therapy Pool closed the week before the stay at home order took effect, so I wasn't able to use it for gentle stretching and strengthening 2-3 times a week. I went on more and longer walks, and that was putting strain on my body while relieving strain on my brain. I had been away from the therapy pool for about 6 weeks when my knee and ankle gave out halfway down stairs, and I dislocated my shoulder keeping myself from a face-first fall down the rest of the stairs.
The knee bent sideways and the connective tissue stretched too far to be able to keep it in place. Same for the ankle (though it's likely something actually tore there, too). A knee brace confines the knee like a protective cage, keeping it from bending in any direction it's not supposed to. And that knee brace is why the jeans need to be passed on to someone who can wear them.
Early in my relationship with Midori (my green knee brace), I learned that she was dangerous and would cut me if given the chance. This is due to one of the things associated with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome hypermobility type (hEDS): skin that tears easily. So I tried what I did in jr high/high school sports: putting some of the material they use between your skin and a cast to give Midori and my skin some space. However, this still results in sweat getting onto the brace pads, requiring them to be washed and put back on precisely and correctly, all things that are hard to do and cause pain for weeks.
Wearing the brace over jeans didn't work because it scrunched the jeans up in weird folds that also tore the skin. : ( I could wear it over gentler pants, but I couldn't wear pajama pants to work. I had to purchase leggings and athletic pants that were considered borderline acceptable in casual professional settings, and any that didn't have a lot of extra material around the knees also tended to be skin-tight/figure hugging in places I am not comfortable displaying. So I also had to get longer shirts and sweatshirts to cover said areas. And I kind of hate how they look, but I also hate not being able to safely walk, and one of those is way more important than the other.
I did experiment with wider-legged jeans for those days when I just don't want to show everyone how crippled I am with my bright green knee brace, but those are also days I walk a lot, which = sweat on the brace = gross and hard to clean.
I have done extensive PT for years, and it just doesn't look like the connective tissue is going to be able to reliably keep things in place possibly ever again. So the chance that I would ever be able to wear the jeans is pretty much zero (unless a miracle occurs).
So. I am not keeping the old, straight-legged jeans. I am giving them to someone who can and will wear them. And I hope they have better luck with the Radian jeans that do have amazing pockets but I couldn't keep from falling down to save my life. The space in the closet will go to the even-less-attractive pants that I have to wear. Everyone wins. Yay.
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