MRI results

[Josephine]

Got to see my surgeon today. He's such a pet! Full of fun and always smiling.

Anyway, he totally took me aback by telling me the result. Which is that I have a torn cartilage!! :sct: :skp: Never factored that in as a possibility, not for one moment! He gave the obvious options, live with it or arthroscopic partial menisectomy. A no-brainer really. He suggest to leave it for around two months and see how it goes. If/when I decide, I can just email him and he'll get me in pronto.

Other than that he measured the right knee and found it still 120. He was delighted but I expressed disappointment and said I wanted it at 130+. He told me "no disrespect, Jo, but you're never going to get 130 with those legs"!!! Ptcha!

After his 'ministrations' and showing me exactly where the torn meniscus is, I'm now sitting here with ice on my knee,

Question: why do orthopods always smile when they dig their fingers into an exquisitely painful spot and then cheerfully ask "did that hurt?" while you're peeling yourself off the ceiling?

 

[BigRed]

I am so sorry about your MRI results. It is always tough to get surprising and not welcome news. I know you will handle it well now that you know what you are dealing with.

As for your question, I think orthopods and physical therapists have sadisitic tendancies. Both my OS and PT smile as they torture me.

 

[tooyoungforthis]

Jo, 120 how great! now how long did that take to get your knee there? I think our OS just likes to see us jump! So sorry about your torned cartilage but you have your next best freind at your side. Ice

 

[Texas]

Hey Jo those are painfull........Do you want to wait though, cant it tare more IDK.....Sorry you have to have another surgery eventually......I think 120 is good alsoo. But I guess they do the surgery and really want to see some serious butt bending ...lol....Keep icing but you know that wont last forever .....Take it easy if you can yikes really I know that hurts........Best wishes..LOL on the Dr smiling....
Answer :I dont know but they do smile, and get a big ole' grin....

 

[JudyS]

Jo
Sorry about the other knee. But for me I always like to at least have a reason and know I am not crazy or feeling pain when there is no justified cause!!!

I have 2 orthopedic surgeons that do not want to ever cause any pain. If my hip doc did , he cringes!!! I guess I am reallly lucky. Same with my pt.
judy

 

[skigirl]

It seems that here in the US, the surgeon always tells you that if you have a tear, that it is best to do surgery right away, before it gets worse. However, it also seems like the meniscus surgery is the beginning to getting another tkr. I have not found that that meniscal pain ever "clears up", however, my husband found that by taking Glucosammine/Condritin DS that the pain did go away. We get the Glucosammine at a discount store here--Costco--but it does cost $60 for a three month supply. Good luck with your decision. Kelly

 

[Jamie]

Wow, Jo...so sorry. I agree with Kelly about the arthroscopic surgery just being the beginning. It sure was with me. Hope you have better results if you have the surgery. It seems a bad idea to continue to have pain, though. These decisions are SO DIFFICULT!!!

 

[ship4]

Jo,
Sorry to hear about the meniscus tear. That was the downfall for me when I went in to see about TKR. That is why I ended up with BTKR. Baby it, take the Glucosomine with MSM that Kelly suggested and see how you are. You may just end up with another one later down the road.
Take care of yourself, as I know you know the drill.......

 

[Josephine]

Well, what I haven't told you all is that last week on a routine visit to my chiropractor, he discovered my ITB and pes anserinus (amongst others) are all tight, inflammed and in spasm. Hence much of the aches and pains I've been experiencing that I had put down to a joint effusion and maybe a Baker's cyst. Well, Greg worked on those muscles and I was making silent screams whilst gnawing at my knuckles! Boy was that ever an horrendous session! When I peeked, he was leaning on the tender points with the point of his ellbow! Then he told me I must continue to apply the accu-pressure with my knuckles every day.

It's been amazing how much everything has improved in under a week.

So, the plan is for me to continue with this treatment until I can work out how much of the pain is from the muscles and how much from the knackered knee! When I have that sussed, then I can make my big decision.

And yes, it's clear that an arthroscopic menisectomy will be a two-stage TKR but it's the gentler way of doing it. I had a scope and washout on the first knee and it bought me an extra 3 years. Not a bad trade-off.

 

[Motherofmany]

Sorry Jo about the news, but glad you have some answers so you can make wise choices. Better to know and determine your best course of action.

My massage therapist is working with my IT Band in my right leg/hip. She is gentle to a point and doesn't want the pain to exceed a 6. When it does, or she notices I'm gritting my teeth, she backs off. Sometimes you just don't know where the pain is coming from until they isolate the muscles. When they hit the spot, :shk:. I didn't realize how tight it was until I started seeing her. Hopefully it will be looser before my next surgery.

Just wondering...what causes the tightness? Is it the surgery or a pre-existing condition? My left side isn't tight and I hoping that means I won't have this same problem after my LTKR.

Pushing real hard to get ready. Just yesterday I was finally able to get over 90. 92 by myself with pushing. I'm hoping to be over 100 on the RTKR before 9/1/09 LTKR.

Hope you see some improvement and can get relief with both your knees soon.

Blessings,

 

[Clunker]

Wow, Jo...so sorry. I agree with Kelly about the arthroscopic surgery just being the beginning. It sure was with me. Hope you have better results if you have the surgery. It seems a bad idea to continue to have pain, though. These decisions are SO DIFFICULT!!!

I must disagree girls. I tore my left knee up real real bad in football. 1976. Major surgery on that knee. I continued to play some sports,not football but fast pitch softball and baseball. And with all that favoring my bad knee I tore my meniscus in 1991 on my right knee. I had both knees scoped at that time to clean up my bad knee again and to sew and cut small piece of meniscus out of right knee. That's been 18 years,and yes I have some arthritis in that knee, but knee is sound. I am very careful not to over bend either knee, as in crouch very low.
Jo if I was you I would get in as soon as possible to get that knee scoped and cleaned up. The swelling and irritation will cause more problems then the surgery. Plus the pain can be corrected.

I had 3 surgerys and 5 scopes on my left knee before TKR

I wish you the very best!!

 

[Jamie]

I'm not an expert by ANY means, but I have seen some statistics that say the acceleration of arthritis following a scope is a bit higher for women over 50 than for men. I'm sure there are LOTS of factors that enter into what happens. Like you, Clunker, my hubbie had THREE scopes on his knees (2 on one knee, not 3 knees) over 20 years ago and he is FINE. That's the part that really chapped my jaws when I lost ALL my cartilage by 6 weeks after my scope! GRRRRR....NO FAIR!!!

But everyone is different and it is probably worth a try to prolong the time before a TKR is needed. My knee stayed EXTREMELY swollen and painful for weeks following the scope and at that time I was too dumb about it to know that was a REAL problem. My surgeon basically ignored my pleas to do something until I really screamed about it. By then it was too late.

 

[Clunker]

So your jaws got chapped? Was it windy and cold?
I thought we were talking knee here,lol.

Sorry could not help it,after all the dissin you been giving me.:hehe:
But I am sorry to hear about your cartilage,that would suck!

 

[tahoe1009]

Man, that is tough news!! Sorry to hear that!! Hope you feel better soon!!

 

[Josephine]

Thanks everybody. Your kind words and encouragement are so appreciated.

Just wondering...what causes the tightness? Is it the surgery or a pre-existing condition?

It's not so much tightness as inflammation. And that's caused by not using it the way nature intended. So if you're constantly favouring the other leg and walking badly, the muscles will complain and have a major sulk! They go into a state of almost permanent contraction, bit like cramp, which is what causes the pain and the deep massage, stretches and acu-pressure are intended to make it relax again.

 

[Linda2]

I KNEW there was more going on with that knee than just the effusion! It must be the psychic knee network.

I know working all the kinks out will really help. That's one of things they do for me at PT. I will be praying for you to get relief soon.

 

[Jamie]

Yep, Jo....I really hope this smooths out the pain for you...and quickly!!! We like our supremo nurse person to be pain free and kickin' up her heels like the young filly she is!!!

 

[Simon]

Hi Jo

About 2 years before I had a TKR I slipped on the ice. My right knee was sore and a bit more swollen and I just figured nothing new. My PC was worried as after 5 months it was still swollen and it was hard to exercise so she wanted the OS to check it out. He was pretty sure when he saw it I had torn the meniscus but he did an MRI to be sure. Well it was a complex tear and fairly large. Once he saw the MRI he said an arthroscopy would do no good as the knee was such a mess and he also saw alot of bone edema. I said fine and figured it would calm down in time. 6 months after that (almost a year after the slip), it was still very swollen so my PC wanted the OS to drain it. Well that helped for about a month. The one problem with letting it go was that by the time I did the BTKR (about 2 1/2 years later) I had developed a 12 degree contracture. Pain wise hard to tell how much that contributed to things.

I also have that chronic inflammation problem in the knees along with tight muscles that nothing seems to fix. My PC wants me off aspirin but them the blood work gets messed up (I am pretty sure the anemia and low WBC are coming from the chronic inflammation).

I do hope you get it all figured out and find some relief.

Simon

 

[Jayne]

JO,
How did that happen? I am sorry to hear that! Why did he take an MRI? I sound like a question nut and don't mean to but, I guess I just want you to be okay. We all need you. Plus you are a dear person.
Jayne

 

[Judles]

Hello Jo! Just came on.....so sorry about your laterst knee problems! I hate these roadblocks! I know how doubly frustrated you are with your extensive orthopod knowledge! You, of all people have the distinct advantage of getting the best medical care available!!! I hope you get yourselfsorted out sooner than later! We don't want a hurting Mother Hen!!! (0)