Second op

Posted , 17 users are following.

well it's my D day tomorrow, I have the second knee done, don't know if it's pkr or tkr, will let you now, am nervous cause I no whats coming but really pleased to be getting it done all at the same time, so I'll get back latter tomorrow or Wednesday and let you no how I am and what I had. . Mm scary šŸ˜±

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  • Posted

    Oh Mandy, I really feel for you - Ive not been around much for a couple of days so have only just caught up with whats been happening.....

    Im glad youve contacted PALS - Ive had to use them once before, and my daughter had to use them last week, and believe me, they get results, and fast! My understanding is that if a complaint is made, the person/department in question has to fully and satisfactorily justify their actions/behaviour/incompetence etc.... I hope that dreadful "Nurse" gets whats coming to her. I had one when I had my op, she was really nasty, but I managed to sort it out on the ward and she ended up coming and apologising to me directly - but that doesnt take away how she behaved and now Im dreading having her later on in the year when I go in for TKR #2......

    Im glad youre back home, and getting the TLC you need and deserve - and I hope you manage to get/keep your pain under control.

    Happy healing! xx

    • Posted

      Ah , thankyou, isn't it awfull though when your dreading going in hospital not because of what surgery you are having , but what nurse you might get, . Pretty disgusting to say the least. Hopefully when the next ten/ twelve years have shot past, and it's time to have the full knees put in ,she will have long left, that's if she's still there after this ofcourse. I shan't worry about that just now though,lol.Ā 
    • Posted

      I've noticed that some nurses that have been in the field for a number of years are being reassigned as special projects leaders whe others remain in the direct care arena. I sometimes wonder if management hasn't sensed that the ones in the reassigned area are just burned out on shift work and pressure but they don't want to lose the wealth of knowledge they possess. Others are so caring and dedicated they are living examples for young nurses. My surgeries are done at a university medical school med center and hospital. They have a lot of young RN's on the floor and well blended in the mix are various level nursing students and some working on speciality sections. My only concern with this group is being smothered. I call them helicopter nurses as they just sort of hover around you just hoping you will ring your call button. When they removed the hardware in March getting ready to battle the staph, I had a student nurse from another nursing school assigned to me all one Thursday. He knew they were going to be inserting a PICC line and he had never seen it done. The poor kid was so excited he about wore my covers and pillows out straightening the bed and brought me fresh ice water every 15 mins. After all that, the 2 nurses that specialised in the PICC line application didn't get started until after he had to head out or miss his 120 mile ride back to school. However, his instructor stayed a d with my permission and agreement not to show my face, videotaped the proceedure and captured the voices of the 2 experts explaining the proceedure. I'm glad there are the older experienced nurses but sometimes awfully happy they are being used somewhere besides direct patient care. I have friend a my age that still have horror stories of the old Catholic hospitals that were run by and staffed by nuns. Even the Dr's were afraid of those old gals. One of my kids was born in a facility like that and we never had any problems but I figured out, even at a young age, who was in charge. That was back in the day of small wards a d one girl had a miscarriage. The Dr wanted her to lie on her back for so many hours and she was hurting physically and mentally. She complained a bit to the sister. Big mistake.....as the sister was exiting the room after hearing the girls tearful complaint she yelled back at her....you got this way laying on your back. You'll get over it the same way.....nothing like professionalism, no matter how classless.
    • Posted

      dont even get me started on the catholic church and nuns thank god they dont have the hold they once had i can still feel the fingers tingling wth painĀ  after the slap for not answering fast enough in schoolĀ  oh god we were sooooooooooo scared
    • Posted

      Spain and Ireland. . .very similar countries in that way! Ā things have changed so incredibly over here though . . Ireland still has some laws which seem rather strange to us over here . . refusing an abortion to a woman whose baby was dead in the womb, seems a bit weird to me! Ā Luckily for her, she was ab
    • Posted

      le to come home from spain . .sorry about that, it suddenly disappeared!

      ab

    • Posted

      ya i agree withĀ  you i myself think that any woman should decide themselves if they want an abortionĀ  and should be able to have it in ireland instead of going to ukĀ  laws here dont make sense to me either
    • Posted

      I had one cousin who was raised to be very devout until her kid dropped a good tray and was made to sit and eat her lunch from the floor. Suddenly, not so much any more
    • Posted

      Food tray.....not good tray
    • Posted

      Hi all, pleased to report, have had a much better day today, am worn out now and just got back in bed, I'm still not eating quite right, but it's coming back , I slept a bit better last night so that has helped no end, so all in all, I'm on the road to recovery, I wish it wasn't quite so long though. Lol, I'm still cold, but just wearing jumpers, it's not nice weather anyway, so you need them. šŸ˜€
    • Posted

      hi mandy glad ur feeling better. I was cold for weeks had my TNR in March and as for eating ive gone from a size 14 to a 10 ive had to replace all my work clothes!!!! im still tired a lot so dont worry too much uve a way to go yet but onwards and upwards x x
    • Posted

      Increase iron rich foods into your diet. I'm sure , like everyone else, you lost a lot of blood and you'll need to rapidly rebuild. I've had to have transfusions on all 4 of the other knee openings. This one I didn't but my hemoglobin was down enough that I'm having to take 325 mg of iron daily for another month. The longer you go the more you understand just how serious this proceedure is. Keep on doing the right things, increasing you water consumption and you'll feel a bit better every day
    • Posted

      Hi oldfatguy , well I didn't loose lots of blood apparently, only had half knee, and they used tunica, ( don't think I spelt that right, ) before I had the 2 half knees, my consultant said that they should last me 15 to20yrs with a full knee and 12 to 20 yrs for a half, depending on my activity, I'm now being told it will probably be 10to 12, funny how the out comes change when you've had it done. šŸ˜ I shall try not to think about that for , now and just concentrate on getting through this lot, I'm most uncomfortable at the moment , and the first knee , now just about 3months old is really screaming at me. ,, . How is your recovery coming along? A lot better I hope?šŸ˜‰Ā 
    • Posted

      Wow, I no it's the wrong way to loose weight, but I wish I would drop a few sizes. I no u had to go and buy new smaller work clothes, but it's better smaller, than bigger,lol I'm so jealous,lol
    • Posted

      lol all my work friends said id come back like a house cos id been sat around feeding my face all day but I think its the stress thats done it. anyway I start phasing back into work on Thursday and im dreading it but it had to come.
    • Posted

      I'm glad to hear you're a bit better - and I'd completely forgotten about feeling cold when I had my op! I've remembered now I was absolutely freezing all the time. Oh the joys that I've got to look forward to.....
    • Posted

      I think there's a lot of truth in what you say - some of the older, more experienced nurses have an invaluable wealth of knowledge, but have clearly become jaded and possibly disillusioned with frontline patient care. Funnily enough the nasty madam I encountered was, shall we say, rather long in the tooth.....unacceptable to behave like that with patients, but I recently stopped working in frontline Customer Services for a financial institution (14 years!) and I had definitely become similarly jaded and disillusioned!

      And what a shame the youngster missed out on your procedure, but nice to know that the instructor was forward thinking enough to video it.

      Oh and Nuns..... enough said!

    • Posted

      Well things just go from bad to worse with me, . My daughter has been over to help me shower, and change my dressing, bearing in mind that since having Ā MRSA I have a fear of the staple, clip things, because they ripped through my skin , which I'm sure you can all imagine was absolute agony, . Well yes you have guessed they have put bloody clips/ staples in about 50 of them , they managed to get it right last time, I told him again when I saw him this time, to make sure it would defernatly be stitches, and was assured by the consultant just before surgery ,that it would defernatly be stitches. Well I no it's to late to change it now, but I'm furious, I've now got nearly 2 weeks to get myself in a stew about having them out. The last knee was so much easier, it's like they say, oh yer she's been here before, don't need to do anything right this time, . They told me to take my meds in with me, which are anti depressants, and stuff for my thiriod as I don't have one. But the whole time I was in there , they didn't give it to me , said I wasn't written up for it, it was just on my notes, . Der. I give up.im so madšŸ˜”
    • Posted

      hi mandy last time i went to hospital for revision last august i too was told to bring my meds with me i was not given my meds either while there instead they put them in a safe in my room and i had no idea of the code to get them out when i asked for the code they just said you will get them when you go home !!! in my opinion they dont beleive you on what meds your on till they see them we are treated like imbeciles,Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  i agree i dont like staples either ive had to have 4 x35 out over the 2yrs not easy but it just has to be done i was told that staples have to be done to make sure the wound holds because of the deep cut to the bone
    • Posted

      Well, sorry that might be the case, but they managed it 12 weeks ago, and no problems, they seem to cock up time after time, I think I'm lucky they didn't amputate, no wonder they draw arrows on our legs
    • Posted

      I didn't take any tablets while I was in hospital, but I only take tablets for blood pressure and cholesterol. surely the thyroid tablets you should have been given! Ā Sometimes in hospitals they only seem to worry about their particular area . .and forget that we are people with other problems, not just a knee!
    • Posted

      Exactly, you have to take them ,they are so important that I don't have to pay prescription charges because of them, also the antidepressant is important, I've been on them since all my problems started, and to spend 2 days getting them out of my system, whilst having undergone major surgery, and already being run down , probably isn't the best plan. When I said to the nurse the day I was coming home , could I have my own tablets, please because you haven't given them to me yet,, she said, well I can see that you have bought them in, and there on your chart , but we haven't been told to give then to you, well is it just me or is that just ridiculous, I said ofcourse your supposed to give them to me, she said well did you have them yesterday, . That would be the morning following surgery which I didn't have untill 5 pm that evening, then I had the lovely night of wetting the bed cause I'd been left so long, then sat on a leaky commode, then spoken to like an idiot. And the night I didn't get any sleep, because I was to busy crying in pain, because they didn't realise that the doctor thought they would realise how much pain meds to give me, considering how much I was on before I came in. Well forgive me but I can't actually remember, aren't they the ones with the charts that are supposed to now what there doing.well she said I can't give them to you, and I don't think we did yesterday, but your going home today, so you can take them now, . Well aren't they professional, sorry to waffle, I now I should just be chuffed that I've had my knees done, . But it's put me off hospitals for life. šŸ˜”
    • Posted

      I feel myself tearing up even as I READ what you went through! It makes me sad to think that this could happen.

      I remember hearing about a lady somewhere in a hospital who was being treated poorly. She took out her CELL PHONE and called 911 EMERGENCY! The emergency squad responded, and she had them transport her to a different hospital!

      Some people might think this is crazy, but honestly, I think it was a BRILLIANT idea, and I applaud her for NOT taking any more crap from the first hospital!!!

    • Posted

      oh mandy your so right iremember after my bi lateral i was in for 12 days as things didnt go as plannedĀ  but one morning the hospital gp as he was called came in to see me as the meds they were givingĀ  were not hitting the spot he was not a plesent guyĀ  he stood there and asked what meds was i on he had my chart in his handsĀ  i repiled "your the doctor with the chart not me why dont you look at it " he glared at me nurse looked terrified but i didnt care i was sick with pain i had2 new knees and a present of a broken leg to go with itĀ  he ajusted my meds and was alot more plesent next time
    • Posted

      Sometimes they think they are gods don't they! Ā After day 2 all I got was paracetamol, and it doesn't do much for a TKR! Ā I don't really wish a TKR on my surgeon, but I would have to smile if it happened . . .He seemed to think paracetamol should be sufficient. . . .Ā 
    • Posted

      Thank god they sorted the situation for you, they really didn't have a clue where I was, about anything it seems, you may have noticed , I don't have a good word to say about hospital staff at present, this isn't the first time in my family that they've messed up, . I hope it's the last for a while at least.šŸ˜Ÿ
    • Posted

      They don't take in to consideration , what pain relief you were on before you went in, I for example was in so much pain , quite often I had to walk on tiptoe with my knees bent, rediculas I no but I was in so much pain , that was the only way, so obviously I couldn't go out, they tried every thing from tramadol, steroid injections morphine patches , which went up to 20s any thing above that I wouldn't have been able to drive, so that wasn't happening, I ended up back on the co-codamol 30/500 8 daily, topped up with auromorph Ā when desperate , so when in hospital , they gave me paracetamol , codeine , 5ml oromorph , obviously it did nothing. The doc had put what meds I could have, but not dosage, assuming the nurses would read the notes, and be able to work it out, . Well that's his story, but if that was the cas, it defernatly did not happen. May be they couldn't read, lol
    • Posted

      I think I remember that story , wasn't it on the news, saying how bad have things got , when even in hospital you have to call for medical help? Or words to that affect, I wish I had remembered that, I could have done it to, thing is, I felt really guilty for being such a Ā nuisance , and not being able to do every thing I needed to, . But then again, wasn't that why I was in hospital?
    • Posted

      yes after my revision when it was time to go home i got perscription fo the most useless pain medĀ  PARACETAMOL god it dosent even get rid of a headache thank god they gave me back my pain meds that i brought inĀ  because id had morphine for 3 days and then suddenly paracetamolĀ  crazy
    • Posted

      Can I just say mandy that thinfs in the NHS are dire and I no because I work in a major hospital. And whils rudeness and bad behaviour is unacceptable people need to understand the pressure we are under. The dam government have cut our budget for the last 5 years and I havent been allowed a payrise for 3 years yet the MP.S give themselves 10% Weve lost 6 staff from our dept and 2 part timers so the 4 of us that are left have to do their work. They cannot be replaced because of the cut backs. So blame the dam government cos its only gonna get worse and it scares me.
    • Posted

      When I finally got to see the specialist again at two weeks, I had to be very insistent to get a better pain killer, zaldiar, which is a mixture of tramadol and paracetamol. Ā He couldn't seem to understand why I wanted it. . . . .
    • Posted

      Yes I appreciate everything you just said , but I was in a private hospital, with only 42 beds , they mainly do joint replacement , with one knee being ten and a half thousand, do do really think they should treat those 42 patients like that? I no I wasn't paying , but that staff don't no that, or at least there not ment to. And if I was paying I would have insisted they remove her, .Ā 
    • Posted

      We had to change primary care docs last fall as our doc was leaving the practice which like many of the clinics, was owned by the local medical center. Knowing that some docs are really skittish about prescribing pain meds on an ongoing basis. Finding a doctor of internal medicine that is taking new patience is very difficult but we finally found a fellow in his mid 40's who is part of a 10 doctor practice that is also owned by the med center. He is a Pakistani trained in Pakistan but received his advanced residency in a couple of US medical schools. One of my 1st questions was about his position on pain meds. His response was he believed pain control was one of the key components of practicing medicine but should always be just a step in working toward making the patient free of drugs. I would suggest orthopedic surgeons be asked similar questions. Any surgeon that wants to treat tkr pain with not much more than Tylenol needs to find another field, maybe tax collecting.
    • Posted

      I've spent YEARS putting up with SO MANY THINGS. My pain tolerance is pretty high, I am apparently more patient than most people, and I am ALWAYS taking the broken cookie on the plate because it JUST DOESN'T MATTER to me.

      I HAVE found, however, that I DO keep asking questions and am FAR MORE persistent than most people. This is increasing with my age, and I am learning to have a pretty LOUD voice when something isn't going right for me or for someone else. (I have ALWAYS been the one who gets in trouble for sticking up for others, and I am proud that both of my boys have also served detentions on numerous occasions because they DID THE RIGHT THING and stuck up for others who maybe didn't have the courage to stand on their own.)

      I applaud ANYONE who sticks by their guns and speaks out when something is NOT going right. We tell our children to KEEP TELLING until SOMEBODY listens if there is injustice or abuse going on. We, as adults need to do that, too!

      When we are patients in a hospital we are EXTREMELY VULNERABLE! We are COMPLETELY DEPENDENT on the anesthesiologist, the surgeon, the nurses, the aides, the lab technicians, phelbotomists, and all others who are caring for us!

      Any care other than COMPLETE and CAREFUL care is UNACCEPTABLE!

      I DO believe that as patients we owe everyone respect and kindness. We owe them PLEASE and THANK YOU. We DO need to understand that often they are stretched thin. HOWEVER, caring for us VERY VULNERABLE people who have just had major surgery REMAINS THEIR JOB and THEIR TOP PRIORITY.

    • Posted

      They do no the diff between private and paying but its no excuse and bad staff need to go esp from a private hosp. I truly wish you better luck next time and I hope things get better for all of us x x
    • Posted

      Your are so right, and that basicly is where my daughters were screaming from, I'm not the type of person that will make too much fuss on my own behalf, but when it comes to somebody else that's differerent, but even with that I always hit brick walls, because I never no which buttons I should or should not push, . NHS nearly killed my oldest daughter, when they ruptured her bowel and sent her home with it, . She still hasn't recovered seven years on, and I couldn't put it right, because the brick wall the NHS put up was to high for me. So when it came to me , going in to a tiny, in comarrison , private( even if I was a NHS Ā patient ) hospital , I and my girls thought it would be much better. How wrong were we.? I always thought Nursing was a Ā  Ā vocation not just a job , .
    • Posted

      tipical !!! how id like to put some of these surgeons on the op bed and carve them up and then give them paracetamolĀ  and a pair of crutches and tell them get on with it
    • Posted

      I think it's just the same with the NHS as with any other industry or occupation. There are always going to be the odd 'bad egg'. I think we've all worked with people in our various fields where we've questioned why they don't do something else. Unfortunately Mandy, it seems you and your girls have had incredible misfortune with your experiences. Its completely understandable that you've been left feeling the way you do, we can all only go off our own experiences.

      I think I've been really fortunate to of only had one questionable experience over the course of my 3 operations so far since February. I have met and been helped by some brilliant Doctors and Nurses, all on the NHS. I couldn't fault any of them for their commitment to my care. I hope that I continue to have the same fortune and that any future experiences for you are much improved xx

    • Posted

      Thankyou, I have had lots of surgery, this was my 6th, for me, it was only these 2 last ones at the private hospital , that I had problems with, . And NHS were brilliant with both my parents and grand parents, . My daughter was the disaster they have left her disabled , for the rest of her life. I can't forgive them that one.šŸ˜”
    • Posted

      Very true as always OFG. . when I went in for the op, I just assumed that proper pain control would be available.(I should have learned at my age never to assume anything!, but somehow never learn . . .) I didn't expect it to be pain free. . that would obviously be expecting a miracle. . but I do still feel bitter about being expected to go through the first physiotherapy encounter, at midday on day three, with only a 500mg paracetamol Ā tablet four hours earlier. . . I am not a confrontational sort of person, and usually try to accept whatever happens to me, but that morning after a couple of bends and excruciating agony, I told the phsyio to go away and leave me alone. Ā I shall know better what questions to ask next time (if there is a next time . . . )
    • Posted

      The last 5out of 6 surgeries on the knee/leg they have used the nerve block method of pain control. They insert a wire in the groin and run it to the nerve nearest the knee and it operates on both a drip and pump method and leave it in 48 hrs or thereabouts. The same day as surgery they supplement it with oxycodone and let me choose 5 to 25 mg every 3 hrs depending on pain. I go home on the oxycodone and morphine sulphate 15 mg 2x's daily plus Tylenol every 4 hrs for the 1st 10 days. Its a good mix and really keeps things in line. I always hit the oxy an hour before therapy. Knee pain has always been under pretty good control but a this weekendmy hip/lower has kicked in due to the upgrading of the therapy and trying to help my wife get up after a fall. Generally speaking, Parkinson's disease causes people to fall backwardness and as she bent over to pick up her horseshoes at the edge of the closet, out she came backwards and hit the floor bouncing her head off the carpeted floor. Fortunately nothing serious but shook her up pretty good all day and she's sore as hack in a few spots. Had to take her for 6 month blood work this morning and she had to walk a little ways. Back home now and will take a 2 hour rest. After I found out she was o.k. I told that once again being a hard headed German had some advantages . A week from Wednesday I get back to our patient therapy and then the real fun starts with pain management. Everyone in the UK talks about paracetamol but apparently it isn't used or comes under a different family of drugs here. I had never heard of it till I started on this site.
    • Posted

      paracetamol would be the lightest form of pain relief you can getĀ  it could be given to children over 8yrs so useless to someone who has had her /his leg cut open never mind to say the bone
    • Posted

      Paracetamol is useless pretty much, as Irish Linda says its for children, I don't no why they think we need it for knee replacements, it's got it's place, but not for what we have had done, . X
    • Posted

      I believe its calle acetominophen or something like that in the States?

      Ā 

    • Posted

      Yes it is......Tylenol comes in a couple of strengths and they also use it in combination with an opiate for a different level short term breakthrough drug. I can't imagine trying to survive tkr pain on Tylenol. Its pretty good for a simple headache rd p ecially when you consider the cost of a daily pain meds is so inexpensive.
    • Posted

      Well , I went and had the awfull staples out yesterday , my daughter took me, so glad she was there, she held my hand, which I squashed for her, the skin had started growing over the clips, I wasn't very brave, I was already in a stew because of my fear of them and I cryed a bit. . My daughter told the nurse it was supposed to be stitches , she said we need to take that up with the surgeon , and that he would not be happy, if he had written for it to be stitches , and they had gone against it, so I will be telling him, my daughter told her that we had already put in a letter of complaint because of various things that had happened, and her whole additude changed. She couldn't wait to get us out. Funny that. I then had physio , same lovely lady as before, she asked how this knee had gone in comparison to the other, and I told her, she was horrified , said, if I didn't hear over next 2 days to sit and compose a letter, and send it in, she said, we don't need nurses like the night nurse from hell I had, and if a day nurse can't under stand a Ā patient Ā chart well enough to now you have to give there own medication that there written up for , then she needs to do a lot more training, . She was lovely, she even went to see if the person we need to see with regards to complaints was in her office so we could see her there and then , but she wasn't. The fact that she was so supporting made me feel I am not just moaning about nothing, so I will sit and write my letter. So watch this space.
    • Posted

      I am not surprised that the nurse wanted you out of the room after you had mentioned a complaint. Ā Professionals won't allow themselves to be embroiled with anything to do with a fellow professional. Ā  Stick to your written complaints. Ā  A complaint has got to be addressed when it is in writing. Ā Anything else is ignored. Ā I know it is a long process but this is the only way forward. Ā 
    • Posted

      Im glad you've met someone who actually cares after your experiences. It does make a difference doesn't it?

      When I was in for my TKR in Feb I met some lovely nurses and had the help of a brilliant physio. When I had failed surgery last week, the nurses all remembered me and gave me hugs. The physio saw me and came over to thank me for a card I sent him back in Feb, he had checked my file and tried to offer me some words of comfort now I'm facing more surgery. Knowing how nice most of the staff are at my hospital, it takes away some of the apprehsion I have about having a huge surgery in the future.

      I think it's great that you're taking your matter further. Imagine how many others, who don't have the family support like you, have suffered at her nasty hands? Also it isn't a good reflection on the rest of the staff at your hospital who do their job exceptionally well. Good on you x

    • Posted

      to be honest as i said before i think you should let it go and get on with your life that nurse will in my opinion walk herself into trouble before longĀ  she has so far got away with it but like we say here give someone enough rope there bound to hang themselves sooner rather than laterĀ Ā Ā Ā  great the staples are out thats one thing we all hate try to consentrate on recovering now and best of luck
    • Posted

      That's a bit like saying , I should stick my head in the sand, and pretend it never happened, well it did , and not ones but twice, I I'm sure not only to me, . So no I won't just leave it , I will complain, . And now I've got support from hospital member of staff I'm even more determined, .
    • Posted

      I agree Mandy. I don't think I could let it go. Too late when you read a horrific malpractice story about another of her patients in your local paper!!! Better to put across your views and stop her from escalating x
    • Posted

      good luckĀ  to you i could not take on anybody while im trying to get back to livingĀ  it would be too upsetting since having ops over the last 2 yrs it wouldnt take much to upset me and i dont think that you were the only one that nurse upsetĀ  so why is she still there !!!! ????????????????
    • Posted

      Exactly , that's why I can't let it go, as Kathryn says if something worse happens, at least I have tried to get rid of her, I'll be able to live with myself, I'm not a brave lion, but I'm no Ā ostrich eitherX

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