My story

MartyC

Hi everyone.

l am a young 71 and apart from my arthritic right knee am pretty healthy. After putting up with a loss of cartilidge an bone on bone pain for the last 20 years due to an injury sustained at Judo in my 20's, l decided to get something done about it. l saw a specialist knee surgeon who told me l needed a complete knee replacement. That was in July 2020 during Covid. l was due to have the operation on the NHS in Feb. 2021, then lockdown happened and it was put off until June this year. However in April l did a FIT test to check for bowel cancer which l do every 2 years. lt came back positive and l ended up having a colonoscopy, and a CT scan from which they found a 70mm tumour in my colon. Luckily for me it had not spread to my lymph nodes. l had no symptoms or pain and would never have known until it could have been to late. So thank goodness l did the test. l then had colorectal surgery in May to remove the tumour which went well and l am recovering well. The NHS have been brilliant in response to all this. l have had no pain after the initial soreness disappeared. This all resulted in my knee operation being postponed until around October. I have now been told l have to undergo a short course of Chemotherapy as a preventative measure even though the cancer has all been removed. This will put off my knee op. until l don't know when. Next year l suppose. l play lawn bowls and indoor bowls and cannot play at the moment. l am now limping because of my knee pain and go upstairs on all fours or down one or two steps at a time. l am pretty active generally and enjoy gardening and the odd maintenance jobs around the house so this knee problem is very debillitating. The sooner l have my knee replaced the better, but when it will happen l just don't know. Meanwhile l will just have to soldier on regardless. I wear a knee brace sometimes but can't seem to get rid of the knee pain. Any ideas anyone?

[Deleted User]

Hi @MartyC

Welcome to the online community- it's lovely to hear from you!

My, you've been through the run of it haven't you. What great news to hear that you have received the care and treatment that you need so far and to hear that it has been successful. I'm sorry to hear that your knee surgery has been put on hold but obviously these things happen don't they and you have a wonderful positive outlook!

Here is some general information about knee pain which could be of some use in the meantime:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/knee-pain/

There is also a link to some top tips regarding self help:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/news/2021/april/top-tips-to-help-knee-pain/

Of course you know your body best so it is better to be cautious and not to push yourself too much if you decide to take on any of this advice that we have here. Have you contacted your GP or specialist about anything that they could offer you in the interim?

I know how debilitating knee pain can be and there are plenty of other people here on the forums who are willing to share their experiences and tips so do feel free to have a wonder around and join in with our conversations.

Take care and keep talking to us!

Sarah

Lilymary

Crikey @MartyC , you really have been through the mill. Great news that the surgery was a success, but. I do hope your chemo isn’t too hard on you. I admire your positive attitude, but you would have every right to feel battered by what you’ve been through.

You’ve done well to put up with the knee pain for so long. I was suddenly put on the list for hip replacement in March 2020 (great timing eh?) and the pain was pretty unbearable from that point. I finally had replacement surgery 8 weeks ago. Meanwhile, like you, I found ways to adapt around it so that my life didn’t come to a halt, aided by handfuls of pain killers. Staircases were a challenge for me too, but having to do it on all fours sounds particularly tough.

Do talk through pain relief meds with your GP and/or oncologist, in case it conflicts with your chemo and associated meds. On bad days I scheduled in some rest to let my joint recover if I’d had to be on my feet all day with work, and just generally nursed myself. Heat pads worked for me for a bit of pain relief, but you may be better with cold compresses? But above all I found distraction worked really well, getting lost doing something I enjoy to take my focus away from the pain. Perversely that usually involved gardening (like you), which all logic would say would make my hip worse, and it did hurt, but I just didn’t care, and that made the difference. On wet days, tv, box sets, and crafting also helped. But I found, and many others will agree, that at best all these techniques (including the pills) only knock the edge off the pain, rather than leaving me pain free. It just about made it bearable. Sort of. Oh ok, sometimes it was still agony, but you just have to crack on as best you can.

I hope the time will soon be right for your knee surgery, and that you get through this next phase of your treatment as easily as possible. X