~~Ping!
Not even close to Frontpage..
My first knee replacement, an Oxford unicompartmental, failed after 9 months. Now I have a total revision replacement in its place. Its been 15 months since I received it and it’s still giving me problems.
I had both knees replaced last March 17th. Wow! What a recovery!
At three months it is still very painful to get out of a chair or go up or down the stairs. By evening, I feel like elephants are crushing my thighs. Yet...The physical therapist, the surgeon, and his physician’s assistant tell me that I am ahead of the curve in healing and rehabilitation. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be behind the curve.
If I had to have this procedure redone, I think I would go completely NUTZ!
One thing the doctor was not exactly truthful about was pain management. They want the patients off all narcotics by 3 months, Except for a lortab just before bed, I am off the narcotics, but honestly Tylenol and Advil just aren’t up to the job in the day time.
Also...The doctor failed to inform me about how uncomfortable it is to get off the narcotics. Fast or gradual, it stinks. I did it fast ( about 6 weeks ago) and the process took about a week. I thought my eyeballs would melt and drip down my face. The experience was everything anyone might have seen in a movie about heroine withdraw. Now its tylenol and Advil during the day and one lortab at night, and believe me, it isn’t enough to control the discomfort.
Bump
My husband had a hip replacement in Feb. of this year. It was a great success as he has no more pain there. Unfortunately, he is now realizes how painful both knees are without the hip hurting. We know he should have both knee joints replaced as soon as possible. There is almost no cartilage left in either joint.
I injured one knee years ago and re-injured it while carrying heavy wood up and down several steps bringing it into the house to the wood stove while he was recovering from the hip operation. So, bottom line, this family is looking at 3 knee replacements.
The hip thing was a tough experience all around as I am sure many of you know who have had replacement done. While I am grateful that there is an alternative to ending up immobile or crippled with limited mobility, I was very unhappy contemplating what lies ahead. So, I did a bunch of research one night, including looking through the health category at gizmag.com. (If you want to keep up with what’s going on in high tech, health - everything, read the updates regularly at that web site.)
What I stumbled onto will give all of you who have joint problems and still have your own parts some really good news. Cartilage regeneration has been elusive in medical research up until this year. NW Univ. announced a major success in animal experiments with a new substance they invented. I found the info on the university web site here:
Growing Cartilage — No Easy Task
New nanoscopic material enables cartilage to do what it doesn’t do naturally
http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2010/02/cartilage.html
Summnary:
1. It’s an injection
2. It takes 30 days to grow new cartilage
3. It is natural material and non-toxic (biodegradable nutrient soup that acts as a catalyst prompting your own body to grow its own cartilage)
4. It will be very inexpensive compared to replacements
5. NW Univ. announced it in Feb. and was heading into trials right away. Since it is non-toxic, one could reasonably hope for a fast track from the FDA
6. The savings versus replacements... I saw a figure of over a billion for medicare annually (data was pre obama)
We printed the articles out and brought them, at her request, to our surgeon. She doesn’t have a problem with the new procedure cutting into her practice as there is plenty of work left to take up the slack. We are watching for results and she is also so we shouldn’t miss it when it is available for humans.
Tell everybody you know that’s facing replacements due to cartilage being damaged. This is a big deal!
I should mention that our surgeon was very impressed with the information we took to her and what she discovered when she investigated it. This really looks like a hugely important development. Of course, not all joint problems are cartilage related, but lots of them are with knees. I’d like to get the info widely distributed - I posted it here when I found it but who knows how many people saw it? Is there a ping list for health subjects? Anyone looking at having a knee replacement done should seriously consider waiting for this. Also, I wish I had the ability to find out how long it will be before it is available to the public. Maybe someone here has the contacts to be able to do that?
Thanks for posting this. A family member is looking at a replacement in the near future.
Cheers!
My cousin had a knee replacement, got a staph infection in his knee, they had to take it out and he was without a knee for several months while the staph was treated.