BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS »

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Bad Knees and a Soap Opera

Number 12
"I can look you in the eye and tell you I feel I've tried to solve the problem diplomatically to the max, and would have committed troops both in Afghanistan and Iraq knowing what I know today."
Irvine, California; 4/24/06
I've had knee trouble for years. Not only am I losing knee space, my knee cap is rotting away from the inside due to arthritis. The doctor could go in and scrape the underside of the cap but there wouldn't really be enough healthy knee cap left. Compounding this problem is that the knee space issue isn't good. Eighteen months ago I only had 30% space left. I get by with shots of some medicine that is at least 25 letters long and isn't cortisone under my knee cap. The last one in July 2006 was extremely painful and my knee hurt for weeks afterward. I am not going to have that done again.
A healthy knee above with normal knee space. Below a bad knee with not much space left. I don't know what mine looks like to compare.

Now this chick has a pretty high pain tolerance. My doctor is always surprised that I'm not begging him for meds. My knee has been pretty bad lately so I'm going to see my orthopedist on Monday morning for new x-rays and to discuss replacement options. There is now partial replacement and replacements just for women. I am tired of my knee hurting and having to baby it. He has told me in the past I am much too young for replacement but I'm much too young to feel this old. We shall see what he says.
An interesting thing about my orthopedic doctor (to me anyway) is that he has the same name as the OB/GYN character from the soap opera that I used to watch. The women were always going to see Dr. XXXXXX because of pregnancy, female illness or whatever. Thing is, we never saw the mysterious Doctor. This was 20 plus years ago but it makes me giggle. I think up plot lines while waiting in the exam room.

2 comments:

Kitten Herder said...

Were the injections you've been getting synvisc injections? My husband has horrible knee issues, and he's been doing that for the last two years. He's about done with them, I think. He says a knee replacement is about 18 months away for him at this point. I think it'll be a 50th b-day present. Odd gift, huh? But, if it gets rid of his pain, I guess that will be a gift.

Good luck with your knee!

Summer said...

Went to the ortho doc today, said I had synovitis, he said there are a series of injections I could get but after the reaction of the last shot I had, I'm not ready for that yet. I hope your husband can find some pain relief. If a knee replacement will help him it would be worth it.