No thank you

zechariah

Hi all,

Well its been nineteen months since my total knee replacement and despite physio, hydrotherapy and enough pain meds to knock out an elephant, I am still in pain 24/7.

I saw the consultant recently and he mumbled something about an unbalanced joint, whatever that is?
He then offered to re-do the surgery and fit a replacement replacement and I expressed a strong opinion that left him in no doubt that it wasnt an option!

In other news, my kayak training has been on hold as I have suffered a shoulder injury, its made life difficult especially as I self propel in my wheelchair, but I am well on the way to recovery now but now we are really into autumn and so the thought of cold water makes me shiver.
I am lucky to have some good dry gear from Palm and so I should be okay!

I hope everyone is as well as can be expected

dreamdaisy

Sometimes things don't go according to plan Zechariah and I think that has happened here. You poor chap, after all that struggle and no further forward, what a severe blow. I guess knees are complicated joints, it's not just the skill of the surgeon at stake it's also the quality of the manufacture. I must admit if it were me I would go for the second operation but I can quite see why you don't want that. Does he hold out any hope of any improvement at all? DD

ironic

Hi Zec,

Nice to hear from you but not the outcome of your appointment. Sorry I cannot help with the unbalanced joint comment. Is there any use of getting another opinion about your knee? It has been such a long time that you have been in pain.

Glad you have managed to enjoy your kayaking did you hurt your shoulder while out on the water? I am shivering at just the thought of going out on water in this weather.

Good that your shoulder is on the mend though.
Take care,

Lv, I x

elnafinn

Hi Zec

It is good to hear from you and your message is filled with good and not so good things. I am pleased to see that you can kind of put a balance on what has happened. I fear that if I was in your position I am not so sure that I could.

Great that your shoulder is getting better and at least you will be able to get out and about and be independent sometimes, even if the weather will not be so great for a good few months.

All good wishes to you,

Elna x

zechariah

my shoulder is a mystery but I put it down to a memory foam matress as it only started playing up when we got it, I have now gone back to my old mattress and its way better.

I too shiver at the thought of getting out in this weather but I have faith in my gear and hopefully my kayaking, I do cause a flare up of pain for several days after but its worth the price and this is also the reason I wont go through more surgery, I would hate o take that step backwards and would miss the feeling of feeling so alive whilst out on the sea

liesa

Z i had a TKR 4 years ago, and have almost as much pain, now i cant get in a bath without my bath cushion used to e able to turn onto knees and get out, now forget it cant put any weight on my knee to lean on the pain can be excruitating at times,
no one has suggested an unbalanced joint so will look into that, they told me they coud do a review of the knee as there wasnt any reason for my pain, but i had MRI to see what was wrong BEFORE the TKR and it didnt show any problems it was only by arthroscopy that he saw it was bone on bone.... i also told them in no uncertain terms that a review wasnt an option for me... now the other joints are playing up and the weight is going on and on....
had hydro and physio numerous times but altho i can now get my knee i think they said 90* (still cant shut my loo door as its tiny lol)

enjoy the kayaking xxx

zechariah

Hi Liesa,

Its strange how they cant give us answers isn't it!

I have a good bend of 110 and just off of straight but the pain is so bad, it shoots straight through my kneecap and through the knee and so the consultant keeps saying that I cant be in pain as you cant get pain in a replacement joint.
I am no doctor but im sure there are still nerves around the knee joint :roll:

bertyboy

hi Zec please dont dismiss a replacement , ask a lot of questions , i had a tkr last april all semed well apart from the bend , so the physio bent it for me from 60% to 90% in one movement nearly putting me on the roof , it hurt , he discharged me , and i carried on in pain 24/7 , finally getting to see the consultant again having more physio , and finally xrays that prooved my knee was out of line and not tracking , he gave me the option of having more physio did that , then went for the op , 3 weeks ago , a resurface of the knee cap , realighnment , and muscle tightning , and a button behind the knee cap , i am in a brace for 6 weeks with only a fixed 60% bend , till tomorrow when i hope to get it fixed to 90% , i was given a 50-50 chance that it would ease the pain , not sure it has yet , but my glass is half full rather than half empty , there is things that can be done , please ask about all options x

zechariah

I shocked the consultant when I said "chop it off"

We dont talk about it anymore

elainebadknee

Zec

Thats really not good to hear that after all this time you still dont feel much better by sound of it than before the operation? I dont know about unbalanced joint or how common it is for the TKR not to be successful, just sorry you havent benefited from it yourself....What is the next step now, may I ask?

Elainex

zechariah wrote:

Hi all,

Well its been nineteen months since my total knee replacement and despite physio, hydrotherapy and enough pain meds to knock out an elephant, I am still in pain 24/7.

I saw the consultant recently and he mumbled something about an unbalanced joint, whatever that is?
He then offered to re-do the surgery and fit a replacement replacement and I expressed a strong opinion that left him in no doubt that it wasnt an option!

In other news, my kayak training has been on hold as I have suffered a shoulder injury, its made life difficult especially as I self propel in my wheelchair, but I am well on the way to recovery now but now we are really into autumn and so the thought of cold water makes me shiver.
I am lucky to have some good dry gear from Palm and so I should be okay!

I hope everyone is as well as can be expected

zechariah

There are no further plans except for he offer of a replacement of the replacement, oh except they offered to fuse the joint and that would mean that a 6' 4" guy with a leg that is bolted constantly straight, I explained how that was the silliest thing I have ever heard and how I wouldnt even be able to get in he car or many other things.

I am sure that the head of orthopaedics is Frank Spencer

stickywicket

Might this be a matter of ligaments or tendons? I ask because, after my first TKRs (30 years ago) I was a bit disappointed that my knees didn't come out straight, though there was no pain. It was explained that the ligaments were already shot and there was nothing they could do about that. Two years ago I had a revision in one and came out with a straight knee. Apparently, in the intervening years, they've now got good at tying up tendons and so realigning things. Well, that's what they told me and it works for me.