@Celle Along with my OS injecting a lot local stuff into my knee during the surgery (which he said only lasts a short time), I also had an epidural in the hospital for approx 5 days, then some kind of local was injected directly into my knee, that may have lasted one day, I forget. I don't think it worked that well, either, if I'm remembering correctly.
But the next day an anesthesiologist inserted a catheter into my upper thigh which was connected to a pain ball, which contained non-narcotic medicine that goes directly to the knee area only, and blocks pain in the knee, whereas the epidural blocked everything from the waist down. The medicine slowly dispersed into my knee over approx. 3 days, then they removed that pain ball and gave me another one, which stayed in until it was empty.
At that point I was two weeks post op and had no more pain relief of any kind. Miraculously, I also had very little, to no pain, at that point, so I had a narcotic free recovery. The only time I had pain was after the first pain ball emptied, and before the second one was attached; and that pain was excruciating, but as soon as the next pain ball was attached, and took effect in a short time, I was pain free again.
Narcotic pain meds and I are not compatible as my reactions from them have gotten worse each time I've needed them, to the point where my OS was worried they would kill me this time around, as he felt they almost killed me after my 2016 surgery. So he had to work on ways to handle my pain without using narcotics. His plan was a resounding success and I was able to have my pain controlled safely. I didn't have to ask for, or wait for, more pain relief every two to four hours, nor did I have the ups and downs of pain relief you get with IV pain meds and pills that take a while to get into your system and slowly wear off.
I had pain relief 24/7 and it was consistently controlled at whichever level it was set. And to top all that off, I had none of the foggy head, constipation, nausea and vomiting, sleeplessness, and the rest of the side effects usual with opioids. Maybe one day they'll be able to do something like the epidural or pain ball that lasts a long time and will allow patients to be home the entire time. I was in the hospital a full week, then got to go home the day after they inserted the pain ball catheter. It would have been wonderful to do it all at home as I was wide awake every day, had no side effects at all, and could have gone home except that they don't allow patients with epidurals to go home.
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