New Knee Schedule

 knee

I figured a blog would be a good way to document my knee.  Nothing creative.  Just the facts.

It's Wednesday January 4.  Yesterday I had a surgical consult with Dr. Huber.  We both knew it was just a matter of time before I scheduled a day for him to take out my old knee and put in a new one.  Gives me the creeps.  Looks like I am a candidate for a 'patellofemoral replacement' referred to as a 'partial'. The knee has three compartments and only one of mine is totally trashed so that will be the one he replaces.  Even though a 'partial' sounds less creepy, they still go in and take out part of my knee.   Ick.

"He has some time March 12,"  office person Amanda said.
"I'll take it,"  I said.

Before that I there is a
Feb 13 pre-op evaluation from my primary care provider
Feb. 21 joint replacement class the day after I get back from NYC with Sarah and Linda
Feb 28 a meeting with Leah, (Huber's PA)
Feb 28 a meeting with the pre-op nurse

A 'partial' is my optimistic-self talking.  He won't know if the 'partial' is appropriate for sure until he goes in and takes a look the day of the surgery.  That means I'll go in thinking (hoping) I'll come-to with only part of my knee replaced when there is actually a chance the whole thing could be new.  I can't think about it.

The consult was productive.  He was able to answer all of my questions.  I had talked to 5 of his previous patients before I went in which is whole other story but everyone was happy.  One ran a marathon this summer.

In an effort to manage some of the pain until the big day I told him I wanted my baker cyst aspirated like he did last year.  It's bigger this time.  This year it's a lemon and last year it was a golf ball.  I know the cyst filled up again but it stayed smaller for a long time.  My hamstring flicks back and forth across it and drives me so crazy that I'm not even sure it hurts or I just feel like it does.  He can do it Thursday at 6:45 AM.

Why now?  I have too many days like Monday when I got up and couldn't walk.  Don't know what I did.  10 on the pain scale and swollen hard as a rock.  I had some pain meds, took them and avoided a trip to the emergency room.

The pain is most obvious at night.  I never sleep very well.  Some nights, hardly at all.

Today, it's not bad.  It's sunny outside.  Does that make a difference?

Most skiers would wait until the end of the season for the operation but since I can't ski anyway (or even walk), I'm doing it now. 

When I say I can't ski, it's not entirely true.  I can double-pole on the flats.  I always wear my down jacket because I can't go hard enough to sweat.  Yesterday I felt cocky and skied the 3 km man-made loop a few times.  It's not really fun...at least it wasn't yesterday when it was 5 degrees.  I have my bike on a trainer and spin once in a while.  Last time I did that was Sunday, and Monday was '10 on the pain scale' day so the bike may not be a good idea.

I iced this AM.  Took an ibuprophen and made sure my crutches were handy.

I know I'm not the first person in the world to go through a surgery like this but I feel like I am.  

I look forward to being young again.