Hey! Sorry I haven't posted in a few, but I didn't have much to say...pretty much just staying home and taking it easy!
I was sooo tired after getting back from Portland yesterday. We didn't get home till 6:00, and then my friend called and she has a sick horse. Tried talking her through what to do. We think the horse has an ulcer, so no more grain. Only hay. I hope she will listen to me, but she keeps feeding grain. Time will tell.....
I had a GREAT visit with Dr. Kelly. Spent about 45 minutes with me. He is talking with another Dr. in Boston to see what type of fusion would be best for me. He is thinking the T2 nail. It is a long nail, that is curved to between 5 and 8 degrees, so my knee would not be perfectly straight. He needs to go in through my hip area. The "nail" or rod, is as long as my leg, and held on with screws at the top, near my hip, but NOT attached to my hip...only the femur. It is then attached to the bottom of my tibia, near my ankle, but not on the ankle.
He says the hardest part of the surgery will be removing the tibial component that has the post in it. He says that will take about 45 minutes to get out. The femoral component doesn't have a post,, so that will take about 15 minutes. His main concern is not breaking the tibia. IF that happens, he will have to stop the surgery for the fusion, put me in a cast for 6-8 weeks, then do the fusion after that. Hopefully, that won't happen, but he wanted to prepare me just in case. He said I'll have an incision about 6" long at the top of my leg, another at my knee, and another just above my ankle. He said "it won't be pretty". Heck...it's not pretty now! LOL He said barring any complications, I will be in the hospital for 4 days.
He's not sure how long it will be before I can bear weight on it, as that will depend on how the surgery goes. He thought anywhere between 2 and 4 weeks, but is leaving that open. He did agree that moving my knee (bending) is causing the RSD to flare up, so the fusion really is the best option for me to have a life. He isn't guaranteeing that I'll be "pain free", as every time is different. Going by the past surgeries, he says I'll be in some pain for approx. 4 months, and then hopefully, it will be on a very low scale like it is now.
He was very impressed on how much research I had done, and that I had good friends that found others who also had a fusion, that I could chat with! The surgery is going to take about 3 hours. He also said that IF the tibial component would not come out, he may have to do a tibialectomy (something like that) but it wouldn't affect the fusion being done. He said the recovery would be very much like recovering from a TKR. He also mentioned a "Witchita" nail, but I think he's pretty much leaning towards the T2.
I feel very much relieved getting the details and information. I HATE being in the dark. I know some people don't want to know all the details, but I need to know. I told him I'm more scared of NOT having the surgery than having it. He said where I have mimicked having a fused knee, I am way ahead of the game. A lot of people don't or won't put themselves in a cast. I would highly recommend that to anybody thinking about a fuison. It really does give you the experience of having a fused knee/leg and whether or not it is something that is right...for YOU.
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