Thank you for asking, Layla.
To recap, I had an arthroscopic op in November on my left knee, with resection of the lateral rim of patella that was overhanging the button and the impinged tissue underneath it. After that, many symptoms improved, including that walking became bearable; and 7 weeks later, I even managed a hill walk without pain (not a big walk, maybe 4 miles long, 1200 ft of ascent – but still: friends, views, fresh air). However, I still have an inflamed-feeling knee (it feels tight, resists flexion, swells up at the back, is warm to touch over the lateral side), and this becomes uncomfortably stiff if not moved – so still wakes me up a couple of times at night, though no where as frequent or as severely as before.
At my review appointment two months after the last operation, the surgeon said that he wasn't surprised at all that it was still inflamed, and expected this to slowly improve over the next few months. However, 4.5 months post-op, despite NSAIDs and regular icing all this time, it is still just as inflamed-feeling, so, while it is much better than for the 20 months after the replacement, and I am sure the mechanical problem of lateral patellar impingement has been corrected, I still have what feels to be ongoing, significant synovitis.
An added complication has been that my left hip has become rapidly more symptomatic, going from almost no symptoms in January to really painful now, and that is very much curtailing any walking at the moment. It is also twisting outwards, and I can't fully extend it, so that probably functionally impacts the knee. Good news is that I'm getting it replaced in a few weeks time – hope it goes as well as my right THR (and not as abysmally as my knees!)
United States
Hope you have a great season.
