Some Downtime…

[Jim Frye]

Well it’s winter and there’s s a nice, warm shop in the basement, but absolutely of no use for the time being. I had a knee replacement surgery last Friday, so woodworking is out of the question for awhile. The surgeon said that after the pain meds they put in the surgery site wore off in a couple of days, it would feel like I’d been hit by a truck. He was right, but he didn’t say it would feel like the truck had been parked on the knee afterwards. I have an ice water therapy machine to help with the pain and swelling recovery, but the swelling is huge and enduring. I do have physical therapy three times a week also along with daily exercise routines.

[LCHIEN]

Ouch, do recover quickly. I presume that if not replaced, the original would have given out sooner or later curtailing shop time as well!

[Jim Frye]

Thanks. I’ve been having cortesone shots in both knees every three months for a couple of years now. Both knee joints were bone on bone and were getting worse. So the right knee was replaced this year and I will have the left knee replaced next year. Also have the same issue with my left thumb joint, but the injections have a better result so far. There is a new surgical procedure for the thumb and I’ll give a few years to prove itself.

[leehljp]

I do not envy you one bit. I have been very fortunate - pain wise.

I have learned that for some reason, I don't feel pain like most people, and LOML says I don't know how to appreciate that, or have enough empathy for those who do have such pain . 3 days after my heart bypass - cracking my chest open, - I was moved down from ICU to heart bypass rehab. As I was being discharged, the rehab floor manager came to me and said: "I watched you on your first walk. You did better on your first walk than most people do on their last walk before we release them. The different kinds of pain pills that they gave me for use at home after being released, - I didn't take them because I didn't really have any pain. BUT During the 3 months of out patient heart by-pass rehab, - as I progressed, I did slow down the last 3 weeks. My left knee was bone on bone and when I was moved from 2.5 mph to 2.7 mph and on the treadmill, I had to back off. That affected my other exercises. My left knee could not take the 2.7mph.

My total knee replacement: I did have one problem - I went to my second rehab session and asked them to let the nurse look at my knee before doing any exercise. (I had on long and loose pajama pants). My leg and knee were swollen. Without looking at it, they said it was common for some swelling. I asked them to look anyway. The nurse on staff came and looked at it and called the surgeons nurse, who was in the same building. She came, looked at it and took a picture and took it to my doctor. He came and said, "YOU have a severe latex allergy. They pulled the latex bandage off, gave me those 6-5-4-3-2-1 allergy pills that one takes for poison ivy - and sent me home. Two days later I was back for rehab and everything was OK. Very little pain. Ten days after the surgery, (January 2025) I was setting on the examination table for the doctor to check me after the latex allergy event. He came in, looked at me and asked, "Are you OK?" Me: "Yes, why?" He said, "Your leg is hanging straight down (90°). Most people don't do that for about 3 weeks or so." Me: "is it bad for me to do that?" Him: "No, that is good."

CONCERNING PAIN PILLS: In my 3rd week, my rehab trainer said: "You are not complaining about pain, but you are not progressing as much as you should, considering that you were at 90° a little over a week ago." Then she said: "Are you taking your pain pills given to you after your surgery?"
Me: "No, I don't need them. "
She then said: "You were given them to help you get through the pain! You are not taking them, so you have slowed down your knee angle advancement. We have learned that that faster one progresses, the stronger and better your leg becomes at a quicker rate." "Take a pain pill 2 hours (IIRC) before you come in so we can stretch your muscles more and bend your leg/knee farther back from the 90°. And once you advance to the prescribed angle, you will not need rehab anymore." So I did and was told that I cut a week off of my needed rehab. I could still have 3 more if I wanted them (on my medical insurance allowance). I chose not to because I did more moving around at home than at the re-hab.

Get well, do what the doctors and rehab people say, and especially what your wife says!

BY THE WAY: A friend (and fellow church member) had his knee replaced a couple of months after mine by the VA hospital in Memphis and we constantly argued over the correct way for surgery and rehab. I was released the same day as my surgery; he was kept in the VA hospital for 3 days; his rehab was totally different from mine.

LEFT KNEE
OH, for me it was my left knee ONLY. I do not want another surgery. The reason is 1. my right knee is fine; 2. I hate the down time for the surgery and getting back to normal.
Back when I was in my late 30's (1983) I tore 3 ligaments in my left knee playing softball. The doctor was also a sports doctor and told me after the surgery - "I re-attached the ligaments and pulled them tight so that they would not be loose." Well, over the years, the extra tight ligaments pulled the knee joints together and in the early 2000's, I began to feel the "bone on bone" in that knee. My right knee is perfect and plenty of space in the joint.