Bad Knees

[Bird]

I was sick for a week from the anesthesia

People surely do react differently to anesthesia. And of course I don't know why. Our youngest daughter is very slow to get fully awake coming out from under anesthesia. My wife has only been put under twice in her life. She's slow to get fully awake and nauseous when she starts waking up. And I've been put under at least 13 times in my life, the last being 4/16/2010 to remove the wisdom teeth on the right side (only a local for the ones on the left side several years ago) and I don't recall ever being nauseous when I awoke. Anesthesia, whether local or otherwise, has just never really bothered me.

For knees, I wonder why they can't just use a local. In August '97, I had carpal tunnel surgery on the right hand with a local. The doctor said it was the worst he'd ever seen, and he usually waited 3 months to do the other hand, but I talked him into doing it one month later and he had a different anesthesiologist who put me plumb under.

Then in July '98, I had a hernia repaired on the left side with an epidural, so I was able to watch the surgery in a mirror, and visit with the surgeon while he worked. That was interesting.

I'm like you about surgery being the last resort

Bob, I use Orthopedic Associates, a group of 9 orthopedic doctors with different specialties and the one I saw when I had plantar fasciitis, was also one who considered surgery as a last resort. I don't really know what causes the plantar fasciitis, but it was extremely painful and took almost a year to completely recover.

 

[brin]

"Then in July '98, I had a hernia repaired on the left side with an epidural, so I was able to watch the surgery in a mirror, and visit with the surgeon while he worked. That was interesting." >>

Now I could not do that !!!!! What if you said somehting that made the surgeon start laughing....ouch !...I had a cyst removed once and the doc wanted to show it to me...I said " No Thanks " LOL

 

[Bird]

Bob, the surgeon didn't know I was watching until I said something about what he was doing, and kind of startled him.:laughing: He said, "How can you see what I'm doing?" So I told him that big light fixture over the operating table was a very good mirror. He looked at it and said, "It sure is. I never noticed that before." So he said I could do the next one myself.:laughing:

 

[brin]

People surely do react differently to anesthesia. And of course I don't know why. Our youngest daughter is very slow to get fully awake coming out from under anesthesia. My wife has only been put under twice in her life. She's slow to get fully awake and nauseous when she starts waking up. And I've been put under at least 13 times in my life, the last being 4/16/2010 to remove the wisdom teeth on the right side (only a local for the ones on the left side several years ago) and I don't recall ever being nauseous when I awoke. Anesthesia, whether local or otherwise, has just never really bothered me.

For knees, I wonder why they can't just use a local. In August '97, I had carpal tunnel surgery on the right hand with a local. The doctor said it was the worst he'd ever seen, and he usually waited 3 months to do the other hand, but I talked him into doing it one month later and he had a different anesthesiologist who put me plumb under.

Then in July '98, I had a hernia repaired on the left side with an epidural, so I was able to watch the surgery in a mirror, and visit with the surgeon while he worked. That was interesting.



Bob, I use Orthopedic Associates, a group of 9 orthopedic doctors with different specialties and the one I saw when I had plantar fasciitis, was also one who considered surgery as a last resort. I don't really know what causes the plantar fasciitis, but it was extremely painful and took almost a year to completely recover.

Bob, the surgeon didn't know I was watching until I said something about what he was doing, and kind of startled him.:laughing: He said, "How can you see what I'm doing?" So I told him that big light fixture over the operating table was a very good mirror. He looked at it and said, "It sure is. I never noticed that before." So he said I could do the next one myself.:laughing:

Bird, I would have passed out...geeez, he was startled ? Yikes...what if he would have cut the wrong thing or stitched your thing a ma jig to your dillywaddle ? Know what I mean...You have more guts than me..Promise me this ..If you have the knee surgery and you wake up while it is in progress..say nothing...or you may end up bow legged..:laughing:

 

[Rockin RK]

Bird, For the last couple of years I live with knee pain in both knees, taking both anti-inflammatories and asprin. When I fianally went to the doc he offered the shots with no garrentee and bad odds, he said my other choice was one at a time or both at once. I had both replaced mid November and couldn't be happier, I was able to use a cane in a week on the tractor by Christmas. I'm still not 100% but I'm way ahead of where I was last summer. I'm 55 and I guess if they wear out I'll just have to do it agian.

 

[Bird]

Glad to hear it's going well for you, Randy. The new AARP Bulletin came today and there was a story with a different topic, but they mentioned the lady had knee replacement surgery that resulted in an infection and had to amputate her leg. That sort of thing is not encouraging.

 

[om21braz]

Bird, not sure about the drug, but a friend of mine had what sounds to be a similiar bout of injections in his shoulder (had Cortizone shots many times, this was different). He says he still has some pain, but about 2 months after final shot he has more mobility and sleep. I wish you well with the treatments!

 

[crusty 1]

Bird ,Sorry to hear of your knee problem.Only people I know of just did the replacement and no complaints.As we age I guess it,s all gunna fall apart,but thats the blessing and curse all ay once.I intend to leave this sphere with the parts I began with but thats just me of course.Best of luck with your treatments and hope it get,s you back in the pink!:thumbsupave

 

[crusty 1]

Bird, I just thought did your knees get bad from scrubbing your shop floor?Just kidding of course but I have never seen a shop as neat and tidy as yours:thumbsupave

 

[Bird]

Bird, I just thought did your knees get bad from scrubbing your shop floor?Just kidding of course but I have never seen a shop as neat and tidy as yours:thumbsupave

Dave, I'm too lazy to sweep. I had plenty of air hoses to reach anywheere in the shop (40' x 60') and always just used a blow gun to blow the dirt out the door.:laughing:

 

[tommu56]

Bird I had it done 6 months after I had mine scoped that was about 2 years ago I was 52 at the time but if my memory serves me right it was 3 shots over 2 months it was a vast improvement in the pain relief for me.

The "liquid" was more like hard jello and helped to cushion the joint and I am on concrete at work all day.
I felt I was too young for a replacement and so did my Dr who did the injections.
The company doctor suggested replacement if the scope didn't work (to quick to cut in my opinion) but I have been really happy with it so far.


tom

 

[Bird]

Bird I had it done 6 months after I had mine scoped that was about 2 years ago I was 52 at the time but if my memory serves me right it was 3 shots over 2 months it was a vast improvement in the pain relief for me.

The "liquid" was more like hard jello and helped to cushion the joint and I am on concrete at work all day.
I felt I was too young for a replacement and so did my Dr who did the injections.
The company doctor suggested replacement if the scope didn't work (to quick to cut in my opinion) but I have been really happy with it so far.


tom

That's encouraging, Tom. The doctor did mention a "3 to 5 injection" treatment at one time. The brochure basically talks about a 5 injection series, but says some get relief after 3.

 

[jinman]

Wow! Bird, where is Cowboydoc when you need him? Isn't he an orthopedic surgeon? I don't know a thing to help you, but I bet Richard would.

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

Try the injections first. My neighbor had his left knee replaced with out any problems. When his right knee started giving him problems he had it replaced since the left went so well. Every thing was going well until (believe it or not) they had a recall on his new right knee. The replaced his right knee again and he ended up with a staff infection. He kept having problems with the knee and infections. They replaced the right knee a total of 4 times with 3 different doctors and hospitals before they finally gave up and amputated his right leg above the knee. He has a prosthesis now and doesn't get around very well with it.
Bill

 

[Bird]

Wow! Bird, where is Cowboydoc when you need him? Isn't he an orthopedic surgeon? I don't know a thing to help you, but I bet Richard would.

Yep, Jim, he's an othopedic doctor specializing in sports medicine. And the doctors I use are also the team doctors for the Lewisville & Flower Mound high school football teams.

 

[dmccarty]

My grandfather was a cabinet maker so he was on his knees working quite a bit. I never saw him with any kind of knee pads either. When he was in his late 60s maybe early 70's he had is knees replaced. Back then one of the cable channels used to show surgical procedures and I watched a knee replacement being done. :confused2:

The tools looked like stainless steel versions of what you would but at the big box store to cut up 2x material.

And they used the tools like they were cutting 2x material. :laughing:

All that was keeping the upper and lower leg together was some skin. Hmmm... Maybe this is too graphic.

Gramps was living in a rural area with a very elderly population. The area was full of people who had lived and worked in FLA, like my grandfather, and when the retired then moved to the mountains away from FLA. :laughing: They got a specialist into the hospital who did knee replacements. My grandfather had been in pain for years so he got two new knees.

Unfortunately he did not like the PT. He did want to do the PT. And he did not DO the PT. His replacements were not so successful. I think his pain was gone/reduced but he was never able to walk correctly again. The family puts this on my grandfather not the Doc.

However we have read and been told that knee replacements increase your chances of strokes. And after the replacement my grandfather started having strokes. Now he very well may have had the strokes anyway but we blame the surgery.

The replacements seemed to have helped his pain which IS a big deal. But he also declined from that point and had a series of strokes over the years until he died.

My two cents is that knee and back surgery are in the same boat. You get it done when you can't take the pain any longer because the risks of bad things happening are high.

Later,
Dan

 

[Rockin RK]

Bird, Part of my problem was I waited to long before checking with the doc, if I'd gone in earlier the shots might worked for me. So I'm glad that you're getting checked out early enough to have a chance with the shots.

 

[Knotbored]

I had total knee replacement at 56 to fix a missing cartilege removed when I was 19. I lived with pain including playing adult sports (soccer)for all those years and had a very easy recovery (mostly because the before pain was worse then the after pain.) I am now 71 and nearly forget which knee was bothering me back then.
My wife had the identical operation a couple years later and had a more difficult time with the recovery discomfort-probably because she hadn't lived with severe pain as long.
We visited Disney World 10 weeks after her replacement and she (we) walked ALL OVER that place and she wasn't slowed down a bit and kept up with little discomfort.
When its done you can't kneel on it, don't jog, don't use that leg on a shovel.
Expect 1 week onpain, 1 month of discomfort, 1 month of favoring it and several weeks of exercising it then icing it down-that ice was worse then the pain to me.
I couldn't be happier- and remember when you favor a bad knee it does damage to your hips and to the other knee. I would replace the other knee if it was as uncomfortable as the first one was. Worrying about the operation was far worse then getting it done.

 

[Bird]

he did not like the PT. . . . he did not DO the PT

we have read and been told that knee replacements increase your chances of strokes

Dan, my mother was 75 when she fell and broke her right hip. A steel plate was installed with screws. She got out of the hospital after 19 days, and we thought all was going well for another 41 days. But then one evening, she started to get up out of a recliner and all the screw heads popped off, so it was back for a bigger plate and more screws. That time she got a massive staph infection in the hospital. She spent over a year in the hospital, had 4 surgeries and they finally just completely removed her right hip joint and said she'd never walk again. When she originally broke her hip, she had already been having lots of problems with her right knee, so 2 years after the hip was broken, they did a knee replacement, but I'm afraid she didn't do her therapy either so that knee was pretty stiff and hurt if it got bent at all. It was two and a half years after the knee replacement when she had her first stroke, so I never considered the possibility of a connection between the two.

when you favor a bad knee it does damage to your hips and to the other knee

Yep, I don't know just why my knee problem is so much worse some days than others, but . . . it wasn't too bad Sunday, and yesterday morning wasn't bad at all, but this morning, it was bad. However, I mowed, edged, and trimmed the yard anyway, and before I was through, not only was the knee hurtin' like the dickens, but my left hip joint felt incredibly tired and sore.:laughing: And of course I knew why.

 

[Reg]

There will be some variation in "success", patients are sufficiently different for that.
Surgeons too, as well as after care services, e.g. physio therapists.
I think any anecdotal evidence more than 5 years old should be discounted (somewhat), more than 10 years old should be discounted even more.

My wife's replacements have been within the last year and a year or two from now the process and success rate will probably have improved even more.

The "PT" started right in the recovery room, they put her on a continuous motion machine that ran her foot up and down like a piston and con-rod to keep bending and straightening the knee. The other leg was in a pressure cycling cuff, with ice water cooling, to reduce the probability of clotting, thereby reducing the chances of strokes - some medications for that too (though they disliked me calling them "blood thinners").
She was discharged 3 days after surgery each time and a surgical appliance rental company delivered a continuous motion machine for her to use for 3 weeks.
Physiotherapist visits to the house twice a week for three weeks, then twice a week for four weeks as an outpatient (still in that phase for the left knee).

This seems to be the current state of the practice in this area (35 miles west of Boston, Mass) at a Worcester Mass hospital.
It probably varies by surgeon, patient, hospital, after care services, etc. and will almost certainly change over time.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, go to private messages if you prefer.

Best,

Reg