The surgery yesterday on my right knee went well. My orthopedist assumed my meniscus was torn and that he would have to go in and repair it. When he got in there, he saw that my meniscus is slightly damaged in the middle, but was not what was causing the problem. I had a ligament (not sure if it was the ACL, PCL or MCL) that was catching on a piece of a jagged bone in my knee (Mark might know which ligament was catching, but I'm not waking him up to ask). The orthopedist shaved the bone smooth and snipped off the pieces of shredded ligament.
My knee has three incisions with stitches in each, and a pressure dressing over that. On top of THAT is some gauze and a wrap to hold it all together. I'm able to walk with crutches, and put a little pressure on the leg. I hope to be off of the crutches SOON! I have an appointment with my orthopedist next week to have the wrap, dressing and stitches removed, and I should be back to semi-normal knee activity then. It will take about four weeks total for my knee to be completely rehabbed, but the orthopedist doesn't feel that I'll need physical therapy (yahoo!).
I did fine with pain until about 7:00 pm. I waited until 8:00 pm to take a hydrocodone (generic Lortab), and I'm still awake because the pain hasn't really subsided. It's not excruciating, but it's enough to keep me awake! I guess the fact that I managed to take two naps today while the anesthesia wore off doesn't help, either! And here it is, 1:30 am and I'm still wide awake. And I had to take another hydrocodone at midnight because the pain never really went away from my 8:00 pm dose. F.U.N.
The orthopedist told Mark that this surgery will probably be a short-term fix. He's sure this will help everything for about 10-15 years but that something else will probably have to be done again after that to try to relieve the tension that's going to build up again in the ligament. It's the tension of the ligament that caused it to catch on the bone, and that's what made the popping noise you'd hear every time I bent my knee. My left knee also does the same thing, but until I have pain there, we won't worry about it!
7 years ago
5 comments:
I'm glad everything went well! Can't wait for those stitches to come out...we're going swimming! I need a swimsuit so you are going to have to go shopping with me to find one! Love ya.
Definitely go easy on the hydrocodone. That stuff is extremely addictive, and readily available on the black market. It's bad news.
Ouch, I hope your knee pain is better today. Would swimming in your local pool be good therapy?
Karen - Jen & Jon's mom
So glad your surgery went well. I hope you are able to get some sleep and you are off those crutches soon. They are no fun!
Tammy
I hope you are feeling better soon! Thats just what happens when we get old--we fall apart! HA! Feel better soon.
Jen Pianalto
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