Heather's L knee scope, TTT, and PFJR on 1/26/09

[Heathers new knee]

Hee-hee Rotten triple T's, I know some folks like that. Gel pads. Hmmm....I can safely say they wouldn't do a bit of good right now but, thanks for giving me the heads up. I will invest in some and try and try again. New parts give ya better cushion to work with.... yay!!

I agree this time, Plumb. I will stay put in the hospital until sawbones boots me out. I was told that 2-4 days is the usual...probably the same with the ORIF but, I just HATED that bed. I can always request to have drugs that knock me out, right? I was talked into accepting the Ativan at 2 AM with my last stay, it worked for about 3 hours. Better than nothing.

I'm a big fan of PT as long as it's doing it job. I can chew on a stick and bite the bullet to squeak through it but, I need to see results. It feels pretty abnormal not having to go right now cause I've been in formal PT for sooo long. Still waiting for the day when sawbone's theory about PT making me feel better comes around. It always hurts, never fails. Maybe this time around that will get better, too?

I think you were refering to the continuous passive motion machine Caroline. Thanks for reminding me, I'm going to ask about that one, for sure. Think it would've saved me from the MUA before? You were a very patient patient. I hope I'll be able to ditch my J-brace now...that would be great!!! I can handle an immobilizer for a few weeks. This brace has started leaving an angry reddened J on me for about 1 1/2 days. Possibly a sensitivity to the neoprene?

Ahhh yes...cooking. That task might be easier after the job's done, aye? As long as it's not too much standing around right now, I'm ok. I do alot of the prep sitting down but, trying to manage anything in the kitchen whilst your arms are busy with crutches is unsafe. Learnt my lesson the hard way.

Howdy Sue!!
Well, it sounds like we're in the same boat with long-term difficulty with those stairs. I've had a recent tendency to just throw things down cause I can barely get myself down 'em.

I hope you're not on my heels with this...fingers crossed that your MFX works, ok? Sawbones said he could just resurface either side, if needed. Had the trochlear side not been damaged, he would've just resurfaced the kneecap and vice-versa. I need both so, I hope they make a great team!!   Hee-hee! if my new parts works equivalent to a Mercedes, I'll floor it!  

Have a great day folks, off to meet with my PT soon. Now, that's guy's a team player worth keepin'!

Heather  

[Caroline109]

CPM-that was it! Couldn't remember what it was called! I have no idea if it would've saved you the MUA! My knee problems are fairly straight forward-torn cartilage, a little patella maltracking, and then bone on bone arthritis to the point of needing the PKR. Fancier surgeries and anatomy generally get me not confused, but not sure where in the knee/leg someone is talking about:) My first night in the hospital, once I finally got to my bed and my room mate's visitors, who brought with them massive quantities of Italian food that made me feel nauseous, left, it was almost 10PM. I slept off and on, waking up every 1.5 hours on the dot needing to pee. The nurses blamed the IV drip for that and I tend to agree because once I was off the IV, I didn't have to pee every 1.5 hours!

As I said, it's much easier (I know you're in pain now--but after the surgery you won't immediately want to be standing up or sitting down doing meal prep) to cook and freeze food ahead of time!

[Marjan]

Oh, I have to concur with Caroline on the food prep front.  Unless you have another cook in the house, try to plan at least a couple of weeks worth of casseroles, prepared meats, soups, stews, etc.   It truly was nice to tell hubby to "dump the casserole in the oven 350, and go back to being the "knee queen" on the sofa.  He's good at a lot of things in the kitchen, but I think, this really took the burden off of both of us.  I didn't feel guilty for not cooking and he felt "taken care of" too. Same may go for your family.

Hope your PT visit goes well, Heather.......it's good to get a good plan in place.....nice to have everyone on the same page!

Have a good day,

marjan

[Heathers new knee]

Howdy all:

Back home from my PT meeting and he's absolutely thrilled about this. All gung-ho to re-rehab my leg and hopefully with better success now. His words struck a cord of hope in saying "you're not even functional now after all the hard work you've done and you NEED to do this."

He is somewhat concerned because his hawkeye vision picked up a detail on the posterior x-ray view. The medial compartment looks to be quite narrowed in there. The second concern is possible rejection of the prosthesis. Sawbones' statement on the OR reports indicate "scar tissue and focal granulomatous inflammation with foreign body giant cell reaction."(assuming my knee didn't like the previous hardware)

Dig:
If you get this, can bleeding inside the knee from the trauma be partially to blame for that? Either way, Bob recommends doing the tests if possible. Seems that the cement isn't always tolerated at times, either.

Thanks for the cooking prep tips guys. I will definitely get some things pre-readied for the family. Although, my daughter learned quite a bit by helping out during the 5 months I spent on walking sticks. I think she could handle easy stuff.

Oh yah! IV's are notorious for flooding my eyeballs, too Caroline. Mine was accidently left running wide-open in pre-op (oops! fixed that one myself) and I had to hop off the gurney carrying my IV bag along to the nearest facility. Sawbones came up outta nowhere! Jeez...Maybe he thought I was contemplating my escape too soon...LOL!

Heather 

[digginit]

Hey Heather, there's no need to worry about the giant cell granuloma.  It's the body's typical response to a foreign body.  Anyone with an implant forms these.  It's a very benign immune response.  Won't cause your implant to fail. 

AND be sure to get a private room.  A little privacy is a good thing, imho.



~dig

[Caroline109]

That is awful about the IV being left on. Yikes! It was bad enough when it was on the way it was supposed to be and needing to pee so often.

Did you schedule all your post-op PT yet? I was excited to get my paper that had weeks worth of PT appointments because I knew I would be busy to make my knee better!

You know, I don't think my hospital even offered private rooms in the ortho area. I couldn't have one anyway because my insurance only covered double rooms. 

[Heathers new knee]

Thanks for clarifying that, Dig. Thought maybe that was the case...glad it wasn't just me. I just have wierd reactions sometimes. I may not have a choice about the Vicryl, that's what my previous and present docs both use. Gimpy's just gonna have to get over it, aye? I'm sure there's a bunch of knotted up scar tissue from soft tissue damage...it was filled with enough blood to choke a horse (or something like that).

Oh yes! Definitely...I had a private room last time. Hope it's allowed this time, too! One less distraction to keep you awake and you can grumble in peace. So I'm told, in my case, snore in peace HA-HA! I just blame it on the Versed.

No, I didn't schedule PT just yet. I figured I would call after surgery to do that and make sure I'll have the greenlight from sawbones. I'll probably be D/C with orders and they can work me in. I did call the surgeon's office today. He won't be doing any pre-op testing at all. I thought the pregnancy test was pretty standard anyhow. I'll also have the CPM during inpatient time only. Might hurt but, I can definitely see the benefits of having one...YAY!!

So, I have found camera fever with the new Nikon. Love it! It's belated but, Merry christmas pics aren't late until it's after New year's right?

Heather 

[Caroline109]

Heather, is that a built in china cabinet? It's gorgeous!

You don't have to have pre-op blood work fdone???  That's odd!!!! NEver had knee  surgery without it (and it's not just because of my errant platelets). It was always part of the pre op, along with an EKG. No one asked me about a pregnancy test but at my age, I guess they figured it wouldn't be possible, lol! But I did have my tubes tied when my youngest was born so it hasn't been a possibility for a long long time!

[digginit]

Your Christmas stuff is fun, but I LOVE that buffet and hutch!  Noice!

WOW! about the no pre-op testing.  Guess you'll get stuck one time less.

~dig

[Heathers new knee]

Yup! The cabinet is built right into the wall, it's pretty cool...lots of extra storage. Thanks alot guys...I love her a bunch there, too. It's taken some work to sort-of get it back to the original state (late 1800's) but it needs a new mirror. Tried to get a good shot of my display without a glare.

I'm quite perplexed about no pre-op stuff, too. That's what the doc's nurse said and her response to my huh!  is that I am young and healthy with no underlying health problems so, there's no real need. I didn't have an EKG with the previous ones...just a CBC and pregnancy test. I remember the patches for the cardiac monitor being slapped on really hard when I was konking out, though. Ya think they rough us up when we're in la-la land? Sure did feel like it when I woke up.

Heather 

[digginit]

Yes.  Just because you don't remember where those bruises came from doesn't mean they weren't earned.  Lala land isn't a peaceful as it seems...lol.

[Marjan]

Heather,
My last surgery I didn't need to have any pre-op stuff done either, however, when I got to the surgery center, they did an EKG and blood draw about 30 minutes before I went to the op room.   They were quite amused at my, "what, no pregnancy test?"  Little did they realize it's still a biological possibility.....I felt like getting away with not getting carded! LOL

What a gorgeous cabinet! Did you have the wall built around it, or was it just a match made in heaven??

marjan

[digginit]

HAHA!!  Back in April when I was operating with Sawbones, he was doing a knee scope on a 16 y/o girl.  Did her pregnancy test right before she was gonna be operated on, and OOPS!  She was pregnant!  Ruined the girl's and her mamma's day....  Oh MY!

~dig

[Marjan]

Oh my.......is right.  Can you imagine Momma's face?  That poor girl....knee pain and pregnant, yikes     Bet that's a story she can tell her grandchildren.

Counting my blessings here -


marjan

[rottenkid]

Hey Dig was that Palins daughter?

no pre-op test hmmmmmmmmm

Don't forget to get a Polar Ice Machine!!!!! I love mine still