need encouragment, please

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

In my case no explanation is possible.

I say, be prepared for the worst and then if it turns out better, you will

be happy! I walked around way too much my first day - to the pharmacy and

all over the drugstore etc. Two days later, though I had been pretty good,

the novocaine wore off and apparently there was some bleeding in the knee

(this happens because they give you blood thinners and I ran around a lot)

and the pain hit like a blowtorch. Lots of oral narcotics did no good

whatsoever. I ended up in the hospital for pain management, for 5 more

days. Then I came home, ran around for a couple of hours unpacking when I

should have been lying down icing my knee, and the same thing happened

again. Two more hospitalizations (same routine in between) and I was then

at home dealing with major narcotic problems including both Dr ordered

withdrawal (not intentional) and Dr. ordered overdose (again, not

intentional). Then, my knee doc told me " the more you lie on your back with

the knee elevated with ice on it, the faster you will recover " . Seems like

he could have told me that BEFORE, rather than emphasizing how I was

supposed to get up and walk around using my walker every day.

During this time we had a helper from an agency who shopped, cooked, did

laundry, and drove my 1-yr-old daughter around after school. We had her for

about 4 weeks instead of the 2 weeks we had planned on.

I had lots of health problems going into this surgery, and my pain was not

mostly from my knee after the first two weeks. My knee is wonderful, I have

made very good progress, and I can easily imagine it being pain free at 6

months. My main problem now is how bad my other knee is!

I hope you are having quad-sparing minimally invasive surgery by a very

experienced surgeon. That's the real ticket. Everyone reacts differently,

but having someone who does 600 knees a year means she will know what to do

when things go wrong.

Good luck!

claire

Callahan Goodman

wrote:

" To those who believe, no explanation is necessary; to those who dont, no

explanation is possible "