8. Order the t-shirt and shorts that they give you at the hospital a size bigger than usual because they run small. -- Mom
9. Get a temporary handicapped placard from the DMV now, while it's painful. You'll need it afterward, anyway. -- Dad
Today was....uh...interesting. I had my CT scan this morning. It was an experience. They put my foot on a folded towel, which kind of left my knee suspended in the air. Not much, obviously, but enough that it became pretty painful, especially since I couldn't move it. At least it was over quickly.
Then I went out to pick up my handicapped placard (I picked up the form from the doctor yesterday). On the way back toward my house, on a busy one-way street, my car broke down (tie rod, it turns out). I had to wait in the 100 degree heat for the tow truck, with cars honking all around me. Fun times! So I now have a new handicapped placard.... oh, and a calendar full of new appointments, thanks to the letter I received from the doctor's office today. They made appointments for me with therapy, my own doctor for a heart/lung check, hospital for lab/EKG, my "new knee" class at the hospital, and the surgeon for post-op followup. Along with that, they sent prescriptions for Celebrex and a scopalamine patch. I'm supposed to put the patch behind my ear 48 hours before surgery (for nausea). They also sent a paper saying that from now on, I will need to take amoxicillin before any dental appointments. Hadn't known that. I wonder who will prescribe it - the dentist, or the surgeon? (EDIT - dentist).
I am pooped and my knee is throbbing, so I'm headed for bed. A lot accomplished today, but a lot of problems, hassle, and pain, too.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Independence Day
I got a note this morning from HJ, who was at Vaughantown with me. He had his first knee replacement two days ago, and his second is scheduled for about the same time as mine, depending on how well the first one goes. He makes it sound like it was no big deal and that it's "great to feel young again". Well, that's certainly encouraging, though after only two days I doubt that he does. Maybe he has some really good drugs!!
I was looking at my Spain pictures this morning and came across one of Retiro Park in Madrid. I had planned to spend time there but never actually got there on foot because of my knee (I saw it from the hop on, hop off bus tour). I was standing on a corner, with the park a couple of blocks away on my left, and the hotel about the same distance down the street. My knee was grinding, and even though I really wanted to go to the park, and I had the time, I just couldn't face walking there and back and then on to the hotel. Instead, I walked back to the hotel and took a bath. I never want to have to choose like that again, and use my precious vacation time to sit around the hotel because I hurt too badly.
Wisdom accumulated so far:
1. You have to have your head right before doing this. You have to be sure going in that this is what you want to do. -- Mom
2. Start the post-op exercises as soon as you can. Don't wait for the first therapy appointment. -- Mom
3. If you are having a bad knee day (with the "original equipment") go down stairs backwards. It looks funny, but it uses different muscles and won't hurt as bad. -- HJ
4. Learn the post-op exercises before surgery so you will know how they are supposed to go. -- Mom
5. Build up your leg as much as you can before surgery. -- random person at the pool
6. Take a pain pill before therapy. You don't get extra points because it hurts. -- Mom
7. How many things have you not done because it hurts? If it's affecting your quality of life, you need to do something about it. -- Dan
I feel like I at least have a road map now. There is a destination, and a date to be there. I know what comes next. With a list of tasks to accomplish between now and then I'll be well occupied through the summer. I'm just still struggling a little with that "getting your head right" part.
I was looking at my Spain pictures this morning and came across one of Retiro Park in Madrid. I had planned to spend time there but never actually got there on foot because of my knee (I saw it from the hop on, hop off bus tour). I was standing on a corner, with the park a couple of blocks away on my left, and the hotel about the same distance down the street. My knee was grinding, and even though I really wanted to go to the park, and I had the time, I just couldn't face walking there and back and then on to the hotel. Instead, I walked back to the hotel and took a bath. I never want to have to choose like that again, and use my precious vacation time to sit around the hotel because I hurt too badly.
Wisdom accumulated so far:
1. You have to have your head right before doing this. You have to be sure going in that this is what you want to do. -- Mom
2. Start the post-op exercises as soon as you can. Don't wait for the first therapy appointment. -- Mom
3. If you are having a bad knee day (with the "original equipment") go down stairs backwards. It looks funny, but it uses different muscles and won't hurt as bad. -- HJ
4. Learn the post-op exercises before surgery so you will know how they are supposed to go. -- Mom
5. Build up your leg as much as you can before surgery. -- random person at the pool
6. Take a pain pill before therapy. You don't get extra points because it hurts. -- Mom
7. How many things have you not done because it hurts? If it's affecting your quality of life, you need to do something about it. -- Dan
I feel like I at least have a road map now. There is a destination, and a date to be there. I know what comes next. With a list of tasks to accomplish between now and then I'll be well occupied through the summer. I'm just still struggling a little with that "getting your head right" part.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Where It Begins
Bee's knees.
Take a knee.
Knee to the groin.
Down on one knee.
Hands and knees.
Knee-high by the 4th of July.
Knee replacement.
Wait....what? Knee replacement? Me? But I'm just barely (barely!) 56! But....
My recent trip to Spain was great - lots of seeing & doing & talking & eating & walking - and limping & hurting & consuming mass quantities of Advil. For a couple of days after I got back it seemed better. But by Thursday of that week, I could tell it really wasn't. I called Novotny's office and was lucky to get an appointment for the following day.
I was sent for xrays since it has been over a year since they were last done. Oddly, they were no better than last time - can you imagine?! He told me, once again, that I really need a new knee. I am really not willing to consider that right now. It just seems like I am too young.
I was telling him that I have a new symptom, a feeling of swelling (but nothing visible) that is sometimes so bad that it feels like my leg is going to explode. Not all the time, but when it is there, it is really bad. So bad it makes me want to cry, desperate to make it stop! I've noticed that it happens after I swim, unless I ice it right away when I get home. He said I have what's called a Baker's cyst, which leaks and fills the joint with fluid. Because it's been a couple of years since I last had one, he said a cortisone shot might help.
Ow. Easily the most painful one I've ever had, but it started helping almost immediately. I asked - only half-kidding - about the possibility of a cortisone IV, but he said no.
For three weeks, all was well. The knee only hurt occasionally, I swam without pain. Then week four began. Almost as quickly as it had gotten better after the shot, it all went bad. I think I kind of tried to deny it, but when I walked into Meijer and had to stop, halfway to the back of the store, to let the intense pain wash over me, I knew I needed to go back to the doctor.
In the couple of days until I could get in, I agonized over the options. I had read a little about Baker's cysts, and it said they don't remove them because they just come back. But what if they don't come back for five years? Couldn't that at least get me a little older before I have to consider anything else? How about they just remove it and see?
However - that was not an option. He said I could either try the gel-type stuff that they inject, or get a new knee. When I started to say, once again, that I didn't want that, he said, "I don't know what you want me to tell you." I said I wanted him to tell me he had a magic wand he could wave to make it all better. The magic wand, it turns out, is called an "artificial knee". So I said OK. Kind of.
They gave me a packet of information and told me what the process would be, then I went home to mull it all over. I will have a CT scan that will be used to create a custom guide to be put on my leg in surgery to determine the exact placement of the hardware. It takes six weeks to make the guide after the CT.
I spent about a week thinking about the best possible timing, still halfway unsure that I really wanted to do it at all. Then I had a couple of really bad days. I had worked a show at BCPA (Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts), spending about 2.5 hours, total, on my feet. Still, by the end of the show, I could barely make it to my car, only a block away. I had to stop twice on the way, and then I wasn't sure I could get down the tiny slope to the parking lot. OK, that's enough!
I finally made up my mind and called the office to set it up - Sept 5, the Wednesday after Labor Day.
That will give me two months to get the small bedroom cleaned out, painted, and furnished so that I can sleep there for awhile (and avoid the stairs). Having a deadline will force me to get it done!
So this journal will be all about the journey through New Kneeland. I'm still a little ambivalent sometimes, excited sometimes, but not yet really looking forward to it. Give me a few bad weeks and ask me again. I have been gathering wisdom from people who have gone before me, and I intend to make use of all of it. I also will keep swimming. I have said that I'm swimming to keep my knee. Now I guess I'm swimming to use it up. :)
Take a knee.
Knee to the groin.
Down on one knee.
Hands and knees.
Knee-high by the 4th of July.
Knee replacement.
Wait....what? Knee replacement? Me? But I'm just barely (barely!) 56! But....
My recent trip to Spain was great - lots of seeing & doing & talking & eating & walking - and limping & hurting & consuming mass quantities of Advil. For a couple of days after I got back it seemed better. But by Thursday of that week, I could tell it really wasn't. I called Novotny's office and was lucky to get an appointment for the following day.
I was sent for xrays since it has been over a year since they were last done. Oddly, they were no better than last time - can you imagine?! He told me, once again, that I really need a new knee. I am really not willing to consider that right now. It just seems like I am too young.
I was telling him that I have a new symptom, a feeling of swelling (but nothing visible) that is sometimes so bad that it feels like my leg is going to explode. Not all the time, but when it is there, it is really bad. So bad it makes me want to cry, desperate to make it stop! I've noticed that it happens after I swim, unless I ice it right away when I get home. He said I have what's called a Baker's cyst, which leaks and fills the joint with fluid. Because it's been a couple of years since I last had one, he said a cortisone shot might help.
Ow. Easily the most painful one I've ever had, but it started helping almost immediately. I asked - only half-kidding - about the possibility of a cortisone IV, but he said no.
For three weeks, all was well. The knee only hurt occasionally, I swam without pain. Then week four began. Almost as quickly as it had gotten better after the shot, it all went bad. I think I kind of tried to deny it, but when I walked into Meijer and had to stop, halfway to the back of the store, to let the intense pain wash over me, I knew I needed to go back to the doctor.
In the couple of days until I could get in, I agonized over the options. I had read a little about Baker's cysts, and it said they don't remove them because they just come back. But what if they don't come back for five years? Couldn't that at least get me a little older before I have to consider anything else? How about they just remove it and see?
However - that was not an option. He said I could either try the gel-type stuff that they inject, or get a new knee. When I started to say, once again, that I didn't want that, he said, "I don't know what you want me to tell you." I said I wanted him to tell me he had a magic wand he could wave to make it all better. The magic wand, it turns out, is called an "artificial knee". So I said OK. Kind of.
They gave me a packet of information and told me what the process would be, then I went home to mull it all over. I will have a CT scan that will be used to create a custom guide to be put on my leg in surgery to determine the exact placement of the hardware. It takes six weeks to make the guide after the CT.
I spent about a week thinking about the best possible timing, still halfway unsure that I really wanted to do it at all. Then I had a couple of really bad days. I had worked a show at BCPA (Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts), spending about 2.5 hours, total, on my feet. Still, by the end of the show, I could barely make it to my car, only a block away. I had to stop twice on the way, and then I wasn't sure I could get down the tiny slope to the parking lot. OK, that's enough!
I finally made up my mind and called the office to set it up - Sept 5, the Wednesday after Labor Day.
That will give me two months to get the small bedroom cleaned out, painted, and furnished so that I can sleep there for awhile (and avoid the stairs). Having a deadline will force me to get it done!
So this journal will be all about the journey through New Kneeland. I'm still a little ambivalent sometimes, excited sometimes, but not yet really looking forward to it. Give me a few bad weeks and ask me again. I have been gathering wisdom from people who have gone before me, and I intend to make use of all of it. I also will keep swimming. I have said that I'm swimming to keep my knee. Now I guess I'm swimming to use it up. :)
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