Open Debridement and Proximal Z-plasty

[Janet]

Pam:

So sorry to hear your mom is very ill and you must return home. I hope you got home safely without too much discomfort. You have a lot of on your plate right now. I'm worried about you.

Janet

[missmyknee]

Hi All


2 weeks post-op

Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes for my Mother. She is doing better but not out of the woods, yet. She has recovered enough to be released from hospital but now is in a nursing home...hopefully temporary. The 10 days she was in the hospital took a real toll on her physically and she is very weak and frail. It's hard to see your Mom in a nursing home and looking so frail. She is trying to build strength enough to go back home.


On the knee front... I had stitches from scope holes removed today. They were the tiniest stitches to see and were clear, so made it extra hard to remove. The residual nerve pain is still there but not quite as bad and very slowly calming down, so that is good. I have developed a new problem that will definitely slow down my rehab. Sunday night I got up to use bathroom during the night, I stepped down and was in excrutiating pain on the bottom of my foot. I absolutely could not bear weight. It hurt at the heel going towards the toes and very painful on top of the foot. I feel like I am stepping on a large lump. The foot has been swollen ever since. Monday I managed to do therapy , afterwards the pain was horrible. I stayed off it and went NWB with the crutches. The next morning the same thing, when I got up in the morn, intense pain with weight bearing, about bringing me to tears and this day, it was even worse. I started searching what this could be and I am leaning towards plantar faciitis, possibly a stress fracture in the foot. Today I had PT again and had him look at it. He feels the bottom foot pain could be the plantar fasciitis, but the top on the metatarsals could possibly be stress fracture. I called my OS who did my leg refracture/derotaton, since he is a foot and ankle specialist too. I m lucky to get an appt for April 29th. Not being able to put weight on the foot eliminated several exercises. PT is improving his patella mobe technique and has been able to get scar tissue to POP , he said like bubble wrap and get some thick areas to smooth out. Flexion is very stiff. I won't be able to get back to Cinci til May 8th , heaven only knows what flexion will be at that time.

I think this is the straw to break this camel's back. I just can't get out of the quicksand with this leg. When I make it halfway out ,I sink back in the quicksand, only further. Once again I am dealing with something that is extremely painful. I just got rid of the unbearable nerve pain and now this. I hope this doesn't turn into a chronic condition. 

To end on a positive note, after snow over the weekend  , today it was in the upper 70's and everything is green and blooming. The lawn got it's first cutting today. Happy Spring !

Pam

[Janet]

Pam, girl, you do like to do things the hard way, don't you  . Seriously, though, I'm sorry you've developed this foot problem. I'm glad you've got an appointment with the foot specialist. Once you know what is really going on, they'll be able to figure out how to treat it....and hopefully incorporate that treatment into your knee rehab.

Yea for spring! We're in the 70s here today and tomorrow, too, but it's way too early to expect it to stay this warm.

Janet

[Jaci]

Hello Pam,

I'm so glad your Mother is out of the hospital. I hope she regains her strength and is back home in as short a time as possible.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that your foot problem is nothing more than a bad case of plantar fasciitis. I've had that quite a bit from the AS, so I can give you lots of tips on exercises and stretches for it once you have a confirmed diagnosis. 

Take care,

Jaci

[missmyknee]

Hi All

This is not a knee update but rather an announcement !   

The Twins are here !!!  My son and daughter-in-law had twin boys this morn. One weighing 7lbs 11ozs     and the other 6lbs 13oz.  This makes 5 kids for them and 7 grandkids for us. Everyone is healthy and doing fine. We went out to visit today and got to hold and hug them 

Just wanted to share this good news !

I'll post a knee and foot update in a few days after my appointment for the foot on Tuesday.

Pam

[Janet]

Congratulations, Grandma! What a joy....and how for you to have some good news to share.

Janet

[skibum9]

Congratulations!!!!

Sharon

[NotEnough]

Congratulations Pam! Those are good sized twins.

[missmyknee]

Thank you ladies for the congrats on the twins. They continue to do well. They found out they are fraternal twins from the blood typing of the cord blood. They look very much alike though. Lots of hugs and holding !!

I had my foot appointment today with the foot specialist OS. I have continued my pattern for only having problems that 1% of people get. i have been diagnosed with a complete rupture of my planter fascia tendon. It didn't end there either. I also have lateral planter nerve damage which was diagnosed by the fact I cannot move or abduct or feel very well my 4th and 5th toes annnnnnnnnd the extreme pressure I have had in my foot besides pain is called some sort of stress compression syndrome. All very rare. To top it off these ruptures can fibrose. Need to go more in depth with that when I have next appointment, given my AF history. I have been immobilized in a CAM walker boot with a special arch. I have to sleep in it too. I have to wear it for 3 weeks then take it off and try walking. I will see the doc again in 4 weeks to be re-evaluated. I was told this could be an ongoing problem. Right now , no surgery. So I have my leg wrapped with double compression for the knee and now a CAM walker on the same leg. I can try putting weight on with the CAM walker. He said if it was a stress fracture the treatment would have been the same , but I would have been better off with just a fractured foot instead of this.

On the knee front , flexion is still very tight and lots of work. I don't think I'm at 110 yet. I had a large hematoma that has gotten very hard and the size of a half golfball that they have started ultra sound on. I've found out those hardened hematomas get fibrosed too. Still some burning in the medial crease of the knee so will see about going on short term neurontin to calm that down. The needle sticks have calmed down and are much of a problem just here and there. I am still on double dose Celebrex for inflammation.  I go back to Cinci May 8th.

If I was a horse , I would have been put down after this.

Pam

[starpolisher]

From what I have read, it sounds like arthrofibrosis is a lifetime of surgery and PT.  Am I right?  It's been 3 years for me.....I don't have a life except surgery and PT.  At one point .... after six months of PT I went back to work to get my sanity back.  Unfortunately after a year I almost totally lost the ability to walk and back to the surgeon.  My house is a mess!  I haven't been able to thoroughly clean it in 3 years!  When I have bit the bullet and done a small section for a few hours I pay for it the next day.  I still don't know what life with arthrofibrosis means. 

Please don't think I'm being a baby.  I have had many health issues since I was a very young child.....severe asthma, thyroid, panic disorder, numerous allergies to all sorts of things.  Through most of this I managed to obtain a degree and have had some wonderful jobs but now, at age 60, I feel totally useless and so tired of the surgeries.....2 TKR's at the same time (big mistake as now I have arthrofibrosis in both legs).  One cleaning out and a smaller spacer and mua's.  Feb a revision and revision scheduled for May 30.  I have been on morphine for over a year now.  I can't even remember how long.  Mentally I feel I am at my wit's end.

[Janet]

Pam: Aren't you tired of being in the "special 1%"  ? As I've said before, it just seems to never end for you. I hope the CAM boot works and your foot doesn't turn into a chronic problem. I'm glad the needle jab pains in your knee are diminishing, but hope the tightness gets better soon.

Starpolisher: I can tell from your posts that you are understandably depressed about your condition. But it's not true that AF patients will never get better. Some do improve with the proper treatments and go on quite nicely. Our knees will never be "normal" or "the same," but AF is not always a life sentence. Are you on an anti-depressant? It may help, plus they are also used as a form of pain management.

Janet

[missmyknee]

Hi All

5 weeks post-op:  open debridement of scar tissue, synovectomy and removal of 6 neuromas

Well having a boot cast on a leg with a bad knee is the pits and sleeping with it on is very uncomfortable. I head out tomorrow for Cincinnati for appointment on the 8th. I will address the large hematoma that is very hard, persistant nerve burning in the medial crease. I will probably ask to go on neurontin for the short term. In the last several days, my knee is starting to become inflammed. I have had several episodes of very intense heat and swelling lasting several hours each. I hadn't had much problem with this since I was on celebrex right out of surgery but it seems to be coming on strong now. I am on double dose celebrex. Flexion is still very tight . 

Pam

[Janet]

Pam:

I hope you had a safe journey back to Cinci. We'll wait to hear what Dr. N has to say. Hopefully you're making some good recovery progress even with the continuing problems.

Janet

[skibum9]

Hi Pam

Hope you have a safe trip this week.

Sharon

[missmyknee]

Hi All

It took 12 hours to get to Cinci yesterday. We drove thru heavy downpour of rain from St Louis all the way to Cinci, plus detours thru St Louis and a little matter of having to turn around 30 min after we left to get a very important med I did not have with me.... oops ! My husband is the greatest 

Well , I'm back from my appointment. I was there from 1:00-5:30.  After taking a ribbing on the Cam walker boot and ruptured plantar fascia, we got down to the knee. There is definitely scar tissue forming in the knee again. In fact I completely missed the fact that the portal closest to the medial joint line was dimpled and pulled down by scar tissue !!! How did I miss that.  My flexion measured 105. They immediately started patella mobes, then stopped to do ultra sound to try and soften the area, then began patella mobes and some very deep tissue massage on the whole medial side. I was fortunate to have the PT who is really excellent at deep tissue massage and patella mobes. He got many audible scar tissue pops. It surprised me to hear it and hurt to have them popped. He did this for close to 30 min. After that I did all my PT exercises.  I worked on ERMI for 20 min then more patella mobes, tissue massage and got stretched with the Thomas stretch. I only gained 2 more degrees and got to 107 on flexion. Dr did his rounds and when he got to me, he wanted to see me upstairs in the office. So after icing and estem , I went up. I told him all my concerns with the scar tissue and continued tightness, hematoma, residual nerve burning and recent increase in intense heat and swelling. He did a very thorough exam feeling all over the knee and now He is  putting me on a medrol dose pak for a week, then go off 2 weeks then back on for a week. During the 2 weeks off and after the last dose pak, I go back to high dose celebrex. He also is putting me on a month of neurontin, possibly 2 months, to calm the irritated nerve down. I need to really work on the ERMI to get the tissues stretched and flexion improved.  I go back to see him 6 weeks. I have another PT session tomorrow before I go home saturday.


I thought my hometown PT was doing better on the tissue massage and mobes til I had them done here today....what a difference. Like I always say, if I could stay for about 6 mos , I would probably be doing much better, watched carefully and treated accordingly when changes in the knee took place.

Pam