I thought I would start writing down details as I proceed along this journey. Mainly, so I can look back and remember details and also chart my progress. There may be some of you who, like me, want to know all the details. So, it may be of interest to you too. To me having more details makes me feel more in control of the situation! This will be long, so feel free to not bother reading it all LOL.
2008
I was at a park sitting at a picnic table while my then 9-year old son had football practice. When I went to get up from the picnic table, my sandal caught on the bench, and I very non-gracefully fell over the bench and landed HARD on my left knee on concrete. I really hurt my knee. It swelled like a balloon. I had fluid coming from it for a couple weeks. So much that I would soak bandages every hour. What did the doctor say? Nothing - because I never went. I was a busy mom with twin 9 year olds, a 10 year old, a husband, two dogs and a cat. I couldn't take the time and chose to ignore it the best I could.
From that point on my knee was never right. It would ache at night, hurt when walking, etc. This severity of it would come and go. Often it was very manageable, and then I would have occasional flare ups that I would get through on my own.
2014
I finally reached a point where I visited the ortho. He diagnosed arthritis based on the x-ray. I received a cortisone injection which really helped. I continued with these for a few years.
2017
The cortisone was not really helping anymore. In June of that year I visited my son in Florida. While walking in the sand on the beach, I felt a tearing sensation. Now, my pain was much worse. The plane ride home was terrible. I went back to the ortho and he ordered an MRI. I had torn my meniscus, the osteoarthritis was worse and I had several bone spurs. This led to surgery to repair the meniscus and do a general clean up. I felt so much better and did great for about 3 more years.
2020
The arthritis pain started coming back like a bear. I tried cortisone again, but it was no longer working for me. But then 2020 happened, and I let it go. My job became remote and being off my feet a lot more seemed to help. I also think part of it was not wearing dressy shoes anymore as I did in the office.
2022
I had returned to the office and was now starting to limp and be awake during the night from pain. I returned to the surgeon who did my 2017 surgery. Complete bone-on-bone and more bone spurs. He suggested a pain management ortho Dr and also mentioned the possibility of TKR at some point. However, he did not do knee replacements himself.
October 2022 I had the viscosupplementation injection. This did absolutely nothing for me. In fact, I was so much worse at my two month follow up appointment in Feb. of 2023. The doctor suggested consulting with a knee surgeon as well as a bit of physical therapy. He mentioned that the insurance companies like to see that you have tried everything before going to TKR.
2023
I attended five physical therapy appointments and absolutely loved my therapist. At the fifth appointment she suggested I
STOP PT as it seemed to be doing more harm than good. My pain was so much worse, I could barely walk and my ROM had decreased quite a bit in five weeks. I knew two people who had used a particular knee replacement surgeon very recently and gave him glowing reviews, so I made an appointment with him.
March 2023 - I visited the surgeon. He took x-rays and agreed that my osteoarthritis was severe and fully bone-on-bone. He said I was certainly a candidate for TKR. His only hesitation was my age. (Which from Bonesmart, I know that 53 is not TOO young). He suggested I try one more cortisone injection as I had not had one since 2020. I would have to wait three months for surgery after an injection. I didn't really mind this because due to work obligations, mid-summer would be a better time for me to have surgery. So, I tried the cortisone.
I will say the cortisone made "some" improvement. The swelling went down some (not totally), I wasn't waking up AS many times a night in pain and I was able to walk short distances without limping. After a little bit the pain would start again and I would end up limping with stabbing pains. My ROM improved a bit, but I was still locking up often. There are times when I wake up and think "I don't need surgery", but after showering, taking the dog out and getting ready for work, I am right back to the pain. By the end of the work day I am quite swollen and hobbling out of the office. I go home and am finished for the day because my knee is too bad.
Knowing that I was bone-on-bone and still struggling (albeit, not quite as much), and that things would not get better over time, I decided to schedule the surgery.
April 6, 2023
I sent a message through MyChart to the surgeon letting him know that I would like to cancel my three month follow up in June and instead schedule the surgery.
April 9, 2023
On Easter Sunday I received an email with a link to an app. The email was from the surgeon's office and just said that the doctor had put in an order for my surgery and would like me to download this app.
April 10, 2023
I received a phone call first thing in the morning from a woman who introduced herself as a Nurse Navigator from my surgeon's office. She said she would be my liaison between myself and the doctor before and after surgery. She gave me her direct number and said I should feel free to call with any questions or problems. She also explained the app and said I will receive educational materials through it as well as messages from her. I can use it after surgery if I need to send a picture of my incision for her or the doctor to look at. She stressed the importance of having a support person with me when returning from the hospital for the first week if possible. This is fine as my significant other and myself live together. He will take some time off from work as we have two dogs. My three adult children also live very close. One is a career firefighter/paramedic and works 24 hour shifts with several days off in between. So, he will be available often.
About 15 minutes after that phone call I received a call from a scheduler. She told me I could have surgery anytime after June 21st (due to that cortisone shot I had back in March). I picked the date that worked best for me for work - July 12th. She also scheduled my first post-op appointment which will be August 10th. She let me know that I will receive a phone call when it gets a bit closer to schedule pre-op testing and asked me to contact my primary care doctor to make a medical clearance appointment (I called and made this for June 30th). We scheduled a pre-op appointment with the surgeon for July 6th where he will go over my pre-op testing and answer any questions.
April 11, 2023
The app let me know that I had a message. I logged on to see there was a pre-recorded virtual pre-op class that I was to watch. When I was done, it would let my nurse navigator know that I took the class. The class covered everything from helpful equipment, anesthesia, what to bring to the hospital, the fact that this would be an overnight stay, how to prepare the home, tips for preparing physically before surgery and what the exercises would be after surgery. It was interesting, but honestly, pretty much all the same information I read about on Bonesmart
April 12, 2023
I received a phone call from my surgeon's secretary. She was calling to introduce herself and give me her direct number. She wanted to once again stress the importance of having help at home for the first week and to see if I had any questions. She went over the upcoming appointments I have to be sure there were no conflicts. So far this practice gets an A+ for customer service!
Whew - that was long, but I am all caught up! If you read this far, I can promise that future posts won't be as long LOL.
So three months from today is my day. I am looking forward to it, but dreading it also if that makes sense?