D Day

Well here i am two weeks, nearly three, after the op. I have had the staples out and the dressings off. I have done my exercises and can bend and straighten my new knee. Sounds fantastic doesn't it?

This is how it happened

Monday  - i went into Cannock Hospital at 10am - well 9.30 because i needed some last minute xrays - reported to the ward and everything was smoothly handled from then on. My details were checked, including blood pressure and temp and blood tests. My notes brought up to date I had an identity tag on my wrist and a Hospital gown under my dressing gown and J and i chatted in between the nurses and getting to know the other women on the ward.
  K and the children came and took J off for lunch and i walked through to the aneasthetic room with a nurse. I sat on the edge of the trolley and they gave me a spinal block (not very comfortable probably due to my not sticking my spine out enough). In the operating theatre i was given some light aneasthetic and some fluid in a drip. Although i heard almost all of what went on, and even had a conversation with the aneasthetist about family and looked at photo's of her children, it was a little unreal.
  I was taken through to the post op room, JT had a word as i was pushed past and he told me it had gone well, no complications.
 It was hard to sleep that night because the other woman in the room had had a full general and when she wasn't snoring she was shouting and making a lot of noise. The nurses brought me pain relief and water and eventually tea. They offered toast but i wasn't hungry. I did drink all the water and tea offered though.
 Te embarrassing thing was that the spinal block meant i couldn't tell when i needed to wee and i wet the bed (twice) so i was relieved when they put a catheter in.

Nearly there

After all the years of waiting the day is nearly here when i can have my op. All things being well tomorrow afternoon i start the journey from pain to pain free, from limited to unlimited and from frustration to a level of life. Great.

I have been told the pain is a lot worse than i can imagine - but i know that it is for a short time only. For a number of weeks everything will be worse, then slowly and surely my new knee will feel like a part of me and i will be able to walk without crutches or a walking frame or a stick for that knee.

It is the start of a new me.

I cannot believe it.

There must be a lot of payback i owe someone. Two weeks away from my knee operation and i have an infection in my leg. Went to the doc today and have been put on some antibiotics. I dont know how to feel about it. I was worried that whatever was on the bottom of my legs was spreading and that would be the end of any hope of an operation. I suppose an infection has to be better news than that. Of course i forgot to ask sensible things like should i put it up or not, should i rest it or not. I am certainly more aware of it than before. The fluid sac is growing and there is some discomfort with it now.Lucky i went to see the doctor when i did.

If it delays the operation it wont be the end of the world, just very disappointing. If it turns into something worse and stops the chance of an operation i think it will feel like the end of the world. 

Fingers crossed that it turns out to be just the infection and that the antibiotics clear it up quickly.

Getting Ready

I am supposed to be getting ready for my op, but finding it hard. I want to diet but instead am eating chocolate. 

I have a strange thing happening to my left leg, of course, there seems to be a pocket of fluid forming just below the knee and i am getting the strange feelings i had before all the staining happened at the bottom of my legs. Suppose this means that whatever happened there is trying to happen below the knee, but that is worrying because not sure they will be able to operate if that is what is happening. Its a sign of poor circulation and will put the end to hopes of new knees. will go to see the doc.

Other than that and the increased pain in my right knee i am not doing too badly at the moment. Feel sometimes as though i am covered in ants, bit on edge and edgy. I suppose this is because of the operation hanging over my head. 

Walking is not too bad on good days. i have even felt as though it is getting easier than it has been for a long time. On bad days it is now almost impossible. So sore i have almost been reduced to tears. Never mind. Their days are numbered

Jubilee Weekend

Today the celebrations start. I think the village of Constantine have a lot of things planned including a hog roast and an exhibition of art and clothing from the 50's. Not sure how  many of those we will get a chance to go and look at in between hospital visits.

This morning P looked at Mums calendar with its list of all the things she had planned. Its very sad and a sobering moment - who knows when she will write and complete anything off that calendar again? The doc said yesterday that she is improving but she is back on fluids and intravenous antibiotics and looks frail and small.

Arthritis wise it hasn't been a bad few days. The pain killers appear to be working at the moment, which is always nice, though i am on full strength of some every day now, topped up with full paracetamol. We walked through Truro yesterday. Poor M has it in her hip and is in a lot of pain. The docs in the village have given her some of the pain killers she is on in the States so with luck she will have a better day today.

Yesterday was full sunshine in the late afternoon, hot and pretty. We drove home past the beaches and stopped on Pendennis head for an Ice Cream. P said it was Dads favourite place to stop and i have to admit it is one of mine. We watched the sailing boats and the people walking dogs and a lone fisherman on the rocks and even though there were a lot of people there doing the same thing it didn't matter or intrude.

P rented a car for the rest of her stay. Its a little green Nissan. We laughed when J asked what she had rented because being three not into car women we just said it was an 02 reg with two doors and a Nissan. G or J would have known the mileage and the top speed and how many miles to the gallon. Ha ha.



Nearly forgot. There was a woodpecker on the wall this morning. I have never seen one so close before. I wondered if it was Dad come to tell us he was taking her. Told  him we would rather not. I should have taken a photo but we were too busy chatting.

 this is where i am again today, in the wonderful village of Constantine between Falmouth and Helston. It is sunny and windy and a beautiful day. K and I are here to chivvy Mum into health and out of the Hospital in Truro where she has been for over a week now.

This blog is supposed to be about pain and so here goes.
I experienced a huge amount of pain that lasted over 4 or 5 days pain that stung and meant i couldn't use my right knee without a stick to support me. I thought i was going to have to go to the Hospital to see what was going on because it was a new and all invasive pain but after suffering it from the Wednesday to the following Tuesday in varying degrees, it then went altogether and i was back with just the very faint memory of it.
On Thursday (over a week later) i went to work as usual and the pain was in a good place and i found i was striding out again which i haven't done since the benefits of my Australian Holiday had worn off. I got into the car to drive home and suddenly I was in excruciating pain in my right Knee again. It lasted all evening, so sore and almost burning with pain, that i couldn't walk to the bathroom without using both sticks. As my bedroom is upstairs and the bathroom downstairs and i am a woman of a certain age where a nights sleep always includes at least two trips to the bathroom, i was very worried how i was going to cope. I took pain killers in the evening, which i don't generally do, and it took the edge off but it was still very painful. I survived the night and on Friday morning woke up and the pain was back to its normal level. Go figure.
Anyway it is Saturday now and i am off to see if Trago's have any mattress pads because the bed is soooo hard.

Wet and Windy Cornwall

I am down in Constantine looking after my mother who has a bout of pneumonia which is why it has been a while.

I just had to add a note or two though because i am finding changes in behaviour of my knees (my right knee specifically) are causing me not only a lot of pain but a lot of concern as well.

At the moment, and since Tuesday, i cannot stand still for more than moment before i get pain along the front right side of my right leg from above the knee to mid calf and then my knee gives way very painfully. It is happening all the time now. Manoevering is impossible and i am having to use my sticks more and more.

I am very concerned that this is going to make recovery from my op (when it happens) very difficult. I wont have a good knee to count on.

Yesterday i did a supermarket shop while someone sat with Mum. By half way round i wanted to sit down and just give in to the blackest mood out. The pain is really taking over now. My left leg is sore all the time. If i touch the outside of the leg along the edge of the knee and a little beyond on either side i feel as though i have bruised it. On my right knee the pain is different, more sore when pressed, more aching when used.

Perhaps it is just the weather. Here's hoping.