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Good news re: manual bend under anesthetic

Posted , 7 users are following.

britta217
britta217

dear all -- some of you have read it already, just wanted to give you all a quick update.  i saw my surgeon last tuesday in order to discuss details for when i go into hospital on november 4.  before seeing him, i saw the finnish torture queen (physio) in his practice and after putting me through some incredibly painful moves, we discovered that my bend had increased to 90 degrees, so 10 degrees more since the week before!  my finnish friend then said that if it were her knee, she would wait and try and get the most out of the knee bend before going into hospital.  and my surgeon agreed, especially when we went through his exercises and he saw the huge improvement.  so, i next see him on december 9 and the new date for the hospital stay is december 16.  but obviously, everybody hopes i will not have to go.  i see my finnish friend 3 times a week until then eek

my surgeon and i believe that the improved bend has come from my new medication cocktail.  one of the meds is lyrica and i personally think this is what is helping me.  LOTS of side effects so not entirely happy about it but as long as it helps with the bend, i will continue taking it.

in the meantime, i am also having acupuncture.  i had my first session on friday, felt rather ill afterward and then went home and slept for 4 hours straight!  have more sessions next week, so am keen to see if it helps.  i noticed on the bendy machine today, that pain sets in much, much later than in the past.  thanks to the acupuncture session?  who knows.  i am grateful in any case.  let it improve even more until december 9!

2 likes, 46 replies

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  • CazDesmond
    CazDesmond britta217

    Posted

    Hi Britta, I'm a copycat! My surgeon is happy, says keep it up, so no manual bend for me either, yay! I see him next on December 15th.

    I had an X-ray, they are so interesting.

    Take care x

    • britta217
      britta217 CazDesmond

      Posted

      This is wonderful, wonderful news! and a big "bravo" to you as you are doing it without the cocktail of drugs i swallow every day. so we are basically running a parallel life as i see mine on december 9 and possibly go back in on december 16. but let's be optimistic, neither of us will have to go back in. you will definitely need to get out the bubbly ... oh, ermmm, i forgot, probably not ideal with the meds you are taking. but in our mind, we are dancing and celebrating!!
    • SHANDERS
      SHANDERS britta217

      Posted

      Britta & Caz well done to you both.  I hope when I see my surgeon in three weeks he is as happy with me.  Got to get today's physio over with first. Wish I was going this morning as my leg seems quite good at the moment and I know by 4pm it will be stiff, sore and swollen! Keep up the good work ladies...💐🌻🍀
    • CazDesmond
      CazDesmond britta217

      Posted

      I do take Panamax every 6 hours as a safety net. Also Bruphenorphine when I need it, which is less and less, not even one a day. Also one Lyrica at night. Tomorrow I see my doctor, I will ask her for maybe Something stronger than Panamax for the strong pains. Bruphenorphine is expensive and addictive.

      Can you drive? I don't know if I can, I haven't tried. Maybe I will go round the block tonight when it's quiet and see how it feels.

      Yes, dancing in our minds, that sounds good.

    • britta217
      britta217 CazDesmond

      Posted

      hi caz ... ah!, some new meds to research but bruphenorphine sounds like it has morphine in it which i cannot take (sadly). but good info, thanks!

      my car smiles at me expectantly every day and i have to sadly decline. not because of my leg, i would make that work, but from all the meds i am taking, i feel like i have cotton wool in my head. and my stability is not super, i feel dizzy from time to time. so imagine if something like that happens when i am driving. ermmmmm .... no thanks! my little car will just have to be patient, just like me :-) let us know how you did driving round the block. the thought makes me smile.

      i woke up this morning and BOTH knees were screaming. i had to ice both and i couldn't really walk. the meds kicked in and it feels better but not great. holy cow, what is going on?!

    • CazDesmond
      CazDesmond britta217

      Posted

      Hi Britta,

      I saw my doctor on Tuesday and she changed my mess. I now take 2 Lyrica, one in the morning one at night. That's because the nerves have woken up on the inside of my knee. Now I take Panamax every 6 hours or Prodeine forte if the pain is bad. They make me very tired.

      I tried getting into my car, my right knee screamed at me and I decided to try again next week. I have to do it soon! I won a bit of money on a radio competition last year ($50,000) and bought my car. A black Chrysler, I call him Clarence, you will understand if you are a Bruce Springsteen fan. Since my op my husband has been driving him, and he has changed the settings and all my discs in the player! 

      I read on another thread that you had some bad news from your physio. I hope you are ok now.

      How are you sleeping? On my back is driving me crazy, the dreams are weird. The other night I dreamed I was at a Robbie Williams concert, all he sing was Let me entertain you! Over and over, I was in the mosh pit, and my knee was hurting. I must have been well drugged as I didn't wake and this went on all night.

      I would love to sleep on my side but it hurts too much.

      Was your other knee painful before your op? Maybe it's having more strain put on it.

      Keep mind dancing

    • britta217
      britta217 CazDesmond

      Posted

      wow, you lucky thing, what a windfall! give it time and you will be whizzing around with clarence, giving your hubby clear instructions DO NOT TOUCH any of your settings. very annoying that, isn't it? after you had got it just right? but on the other hand, hubby is acting as your driver official driver, no?

      yesterday was horrendous. both knees were screaming with pain at 4 in the morning. how can that be when we swallow so many pain meds? i could hardly walk. after a session with the kinesiologist, i was more or less pain free. it just baffles me this up and down with pain. just had a session with my physio who is wonderful. we worked more on relaxation and how to get me into the zen mode :-) her hypothesis is that my mind is blocking the knee.

      i thank god that sleeping has never been a problem. by week 4 i managed to find a way to sleep on my side but even on my back i slept like a log. i really laughed at your robbie williams experience! when i had the operation, i only had a spinal anesthetic and to cover the noise of the operation, they asked me did i want to listen to some music. the only "modern" stuff they had was robbie williams! so i listened to him for 2 solid hours - the length of my op - and i am not even a fan :-)

      oh yes, both knees were bad, we basically tossed a coin to decide which one to operate first. my left leg has been a super star until yesterday and so now i am very consciously trying to put more weight on the operated leg. it can take it, i have to keep reminding myself.

    • CazDesmond
      CazDesmond britta217

      Posted

      Well, that made me look up kinesiologist. They sound really good if they can get you pain free, even for a little reprieve. I walked into the coffee table yesterday, the pain in my toes was worse than my knee, it felt strangely good?.

      What your physio said about your mind blocking the knee, I think there is a lot to that. I have pain on the inside of my knee and kept worrying, as you do, maybe the implant isn't straight etc. On Monday when I saw my surgeon, I had X-rays. For me the effect has been the opposite of what your physio thinks. Seeing those xrays has somehow relieved me of worry. I also saw my before X-ray to compare, that reinforced me I did the right thing.

      Strange about Robbie Williams, I really like his music. He was out here on tour not long ago but I had pneumonia and couldn't go. My spinal anesthetic went wrong, I could still feel, I ended up having a general on top!

      Poor you, to go through this again. I don't think I will have to as this was originally caused by a fall in a puddle at the shopping mall. I went one way, my knee, the other, I remember the crack! This TKR is after 2 arthroscopies, and over 10 years. But you never know.

      So, almost 7 weeks now, the only real pain I have is the inside of my knee. Maybe the magic number is 8 weeks for me.

      Yes, my hubby has been a superstar, also my daughter Veronica, who is battling her own demons with epilepsy and endometriosis. Hubby had to dash her to hospital yesterday as she had a seizure and banged her head. We have to pay ( big time ) for ambulances here.

      Veronica and I are going to a Katy Perry concert tonight. What with me on crutches and her in a neck brace, we will look a right pair!

      Onwards and upwards Britta

       

  • jennifer86104
    jennifer86104 britta217

    Posted

    Hi Britta, just wondering how the acupuncture's going? Do you think it's doing any good? I saw my physio today. Was a bit disappointed that she hadn't found out about acupuncture for me as she promised last week. When I told her I felt I needed to massage the area or use one of these foam rollers she asked if I'd like to try cupping. I'd never heard of it but said I'd give it a go. She had a plastic cup thing attached with a tube to a kind of suction pump. It sucks on the skin then she rubs it over the affected area. It did hurt - sort of a burning sensation but it was kind of a nice pain if you see what I mean. My muscles did feel looser afterwards. I've just been for a walk though and could still feel the pain at he back of my leg but perhaps it wasn't so bad. She's going to try a few sessions so we'll see how it goes. When I researched "cuppin" online afterwards, apparently all these celebrities are having it. So I'm actually very trendy 😊😊

    Hope all your treatments are still helping and your bend still improving. Jen x

    • britta217
      britta217 jennifer86104

      Posted

      hi jennifer ... yesterday was a not so good day.  i went to physio and my mobility was poor, so the manual bend was looming again.  i left in tears and went on to acupuncture.  my chinese doc told smiled benignly and said it takes time and not to worry.  today, back at physio, she was delighted with my bend!

      so how to answer your question?  i would find it difficult to pin point what is really doing the trick.  possibly it is a combination of everything? my chinese doc also does cupping, probably in a more traditional way.d  as you will have read, what it does is "hurt" a special place on the body to active it, i.e. make it heal itself.  i have had that done many times at my massage lady.  sometimes i have many huge dark purple circles on my back but i have found it to work really, really well, especially when i had chronically tenses muscles on my lower back.

      am glad to read that you think cupping is helping you.  keep at it, it is amazing what some of these alternative methods can do.  keep at it re: acupuncture, possibly you can even do some research yourself?  make sure you go to somebody serious, somebdoy who regularly works with doctors and is use to working with TKR patients.

      what a journey, eh?

    • jennifer86104
      jennifer86104 britta217

      Posted

      Thanks, Britta. I had the cupping with the physio at the hospital (all on the NHS! ) I was hoping to get the acupuncture treatment there too as I can be sure they know what they're doing. I'll wait and see how the cupping goes now I think. I've a lovely bruise down the back of my thigh 😊 Interesting to harder it worked for your back. Glad to hear your bend is better again today. Doesn't really matter which treatment works as long as we get better. Hope you keep it up. Jen x
    • jennifer86104
      jennifer86104 britta217

      Posted

      Thanks, Britta. I had the cupping with the physio at the hospital (all on the NHS! ) I was hoping to get the acupuncture treatment there too as I can be sure they know what they're doing. I'll wait and see how the cupping goes now I think. I've a lovely bruise down the back of my thigh 😊 Interesting to hear it worked for your back. Glad to hear your bend is better again today. Doesn't really matter which treatment works as long as we get better. Hope you keep it up. Jen x
    • jennifer86104
      jennifer86104 britta217

      Posted

      Thanks, Britta. I had the cupping with the physio at the hospital (all on the NHS! ) I was hoping to get the acupuncture treatment there too as I can be sure they know what they're doing. I'll wait and see how the cupping goes now I think. I've a lovely bruise down the back of my thigh 😊 Interesting to hear it worked for your back. Glad to hear your bend is better again today. Doesn't really matter which treatment works as long as we get better. Hope you keep it up. Jen x
  • jennifer86104
    jennifer86104 britta217

    Posted

    Sorry about the repetition! I kept re sending as it said"server error" 
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