All I want for Christmas is a new knee

[MikeG-2012]

It's been a while since I posted an update, so I thought I would take a few minutes to do so.

I am doing OK. The next eight days will be hard because I am off my arthritis pills, Diclofenac/Voltaren (https://www.rxlist.com/voltaren-drug.htm) (pain relief and anti-inflammatory). Since I quit taking them last week, I have been in a lot of pain. My bad knee is swelling up and I feel like the Tin Man when I get up in the morning. I am off the meds because they are NSAIDs, and I have to stop those 2 weeks before any surgery. On December 7, I am having a left knee replacement. The procedure will be outpatient if you can believe that! I am not looking forward to a surgery, but I am looking forward to the benefits of not living with a knee in constant chronic pain. If you would like to read about the procedure, you can do so here (http://www.orthoillinois.com/blog/how-outpatient-total-joint-replacement-surgery-is-possible/).

I feel the best I have in the 5.5 years I have had this stupid disease, so I am really hopeful of a good outcome of the knee replacement.

I hope all of you are doing well, and that you have an amazing holiday season.

[Pete]

Merry Christmas MikeG-2012!! Hope Santa brings you a fully functional knee and a speedy and full recovery!!

[Alysia]

Merry Christmas, Mike. Praying the surgery will be successful and that you will have a perfect new knee. Meantime, for the joints pains try hot packs. Please update us.

[MikeG-2012]

Merry Christmas, Mike. Praying the surgery will be successful and that you will have a perfect new knee. Meantime, for the joints pains try hot packs. Please update us.

Hot packs do work, in the evening. During the day is when I need them, but as active as I am at work, it is hard to use them all the time. I am a Display Technology IT Specialist at a college, and I do about 3-4 miles on my feet a day supporting classrooms and our conference center.

Thanks for the tip and the well wishes! I do appreciate it very much!!

[annekat]

Thanks for the update, Mike. This has been a long time coming for you. I hate to think of you doing without the meds in preparation, but look forward to hearing that it's done and you're on your way to functioning normally and pain free again! Merry Christmas!

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[blu4runner]

Best wishes for success with the knee surgery. My wife had a knee replacement in July and the results have been great. Hoping for a speedy recovery

[Jaha]

Mike,
I'm sorry you are having to go through so much pain before you can get your surgery. I know you have endured the knee pain for so long now and will feel like a new man afterwards.I pray that all goes well and keep us updated on your progress.
I use a rumb on called Activon on my joints, along with an ice wrap on my knee,that I can walk around with.Please take care!

[mishb]

All the best of wishes for a great 'pain free' new knee Mike.
Hopefully one day, the scooter can be ditched for good and the motorbike will take its place.
December 7 is not too far away now, so my fingers are crossed for the current pain to ease off for you.

[MikeG-2012]

UPDATE: 12/8/2017

Small sore on my operative leg postponed my surgery until December 21. Real bummer! To keep infection control minimized, they will not operate if there is even a pimple on the operative leg.

So I get to wait 2 weeks and be off all my nsaids again. I am refraining from using topical pain relievers too on my knee as to not inflame any skin.

Yesterday, I did 4.5 miles of walking and went 3x my projected goal for 30 minutes of exercise a day. My boss and I pulled network cable for our new phone system all day yesterday. So according to my watch, I did 12 flights of stairs yesterday, and all of those (and more) were on 12 foot step ladders. I hurt last night--a LOT!!!

I am not looking forward to now being incapacitated over Christmas, but if it means I will fell better soon, I'll do it.

Hang in there everyone! As the sign above my office door says: "You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have"

[Pete]

MikeG-2012 — That sucks!! Hope the infection clears quickly.

[MikeG-2012]

MikeG-2012 — That sucks!! Hope the infection clears quickly.

It's not even an infection! It's just a 1/16 inch sore.


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[Middlesista]

Mike - sorry about the delay in your surgery, it can be frustrating

my husband had a knee replacement what he failed to do n the post op period was perform the excercises as instructed. Ended up with some issues that could have been prevented if he took the pain meds and did as he was asked to do.

The surgery did do wonders for his pain but he does not have full mobility

best wishes to you

[vdub]

I did 4.5 miles of walking
That's not incapacitated. I'm glad you can get in that much walking.

I had a new knee put in on my right side about 2 yrs ago and its doing great. I had the left side replaced almost exactly a year ago, but it had problems and came unglued, so I had to have a third total replacement with a longer shaft put in. That was done about a month ago, so I'm still hobbling around a bit.

Unfortunately, the new knees kind of straightened up my walking and caused problems with my hip, which is apparently worn out. I see the doctor this Wednesday to schedule the surgery for the hip to be replaced.

Its as if there is a domino effect. You get one replaced and, now that it is working properly, it throws the other joints off. I hope that doesn't happen to you, Mike. Good luck!

[Pete]

vdub — Will we have to refer to you as the Bionic Man?? Be well!!

[vdub]

Well, I have a pace maker, so I guess if I get a 2nd hip done, it might be appropriate. :-) As you can imagine, I'm getting pretty tired of it all.

[MikeG-2012]

Well, I have a pace maker, so I guess if I get a 2nd hip done, it might be appropriate. :-) As you can imagine, I'm getting pretty tired of it all.

YIKES!! Traveling with you must be an automatic "you'll have to come with me sir"...

Thanks for the encouragement VDub! I am looking forward to walking straight for a while. And incapacitated is what I am after a 4 mile day at work. Ice and pain killers get me moving for another day. One week from today is my last day of work for the year.

Oh, and Middlesista, I do plan on doing all the exercises! I am not even 50 yet, so I need to have full mobility to do my job. I'm too young to retire!

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

[vdub]

Under 50 and having all those problems, Mike. I really feel bad for you. Being old, like me, and having mobility issues is one thing, but when you are as young as you are, its really a shame. You are in the prime of your life. Good luck on getting some of that stuff fixed.

[MikeG-2012]

Under 50 and having all those problems, Mike. I really feel bad for you. Being old, like me, and having mobility issues is one thing, but when you are as young as you are, its really a shame. You are in the prime of your life. Good luck on getting some of that stuff fixed.

Thanks. Although my life is completely different than it was 5 1/2 years ago, I still feel like I am blessed to be able to do some of the things I love to do.

I have said often that if it were not for my faith, my spouse, my job and my sense of humor, I would be in a much worse off place. My faith is important for me to believe that there is a plan for me. My spouse of 26 years has been my rock and only constant throughout my journey with this awful disease. Her love and support means a great deal to me. She has endured me not being myself while on pred, watched me gain 90 pounds, lose 60, put up with my lessened activity at home and has always been positive and beautiful! My job, which I love to do, has been my sense of purpose since 2007. After diagnosis in 2012, this job has been the single greatest reason that I drag my sorry butt out of bed in the morning. Also, it provides me with insurance that has kept us from losing our house with all the medical costs. Without my sense of humor and good nature, I would be a really much bigger mess. People at work tell me all the time that they have no idea how I manage to stay positive. I tell them that if I ever lose my sense of humor, their job is to cheer me up and make me laugh. I tell them that I am pathetic when I am sad and crying, and they really don't want to see that. They laugh and tell me that they can do that, and they do--regularly.

Please do not feel bad for me, help me stay positive, by encouraging me like all of you do! I may be younger that some of you, and older than some as well, but there are folks younger than I that are a lot worse off than me. Lets all help encourage them, and tell them that they can endure--even after this stupid disease has re-routed our lives.

[MikeG-2012]

***UPDATE***

Got a call yesterday from the nurse at the orthopedic center. My surgery is cancelled! Doctor fell and broke one of his fingers, so he is not doing any surgery until at least the end of January.

Based upon that time frame, and after consulting with my rheumy, and because I am already 1 month past due on RTX, I chose to scrap the knee replacement at this time. I am going to have RTX on this Thursday and again on January 4. Since I have to wait three months after RTX to have the replacement surgery, that puts me in a bad place in my work and life schedules. Summer is my busy time at work, and this summer we are traveling for my 50th birthday. If I wait until 3 months after my RTX, I will only be 8 weeks post-op for my birthday trip, and that is not acceptable.

I've decided to try a new treatment that is being offered at my rheumy's office. It is a freeze pain blocking therapy, that is designed for folks where surgery is not an option. It supposedly lasts about 3-6 months. I hope that if I get pain free, I can continue to be active and lose some more weight while I wait for the new knee. I still have great range of motion on my knee, it just hurts a lot. So if they can block the pain, I will be good for quite a while. Hopefully, I can hold out a year, and I am going to try next year over Thanksgiving week to do the replacement.

(insert your own expletives here) (-8

Happy Holidays everyone!!!

[Pete]

MikeG-2012 Oh s**t!! You might want to find a less clumsy doc... ;-)

[MikeG-2012]

@MikeG-2012 (https://www.wegeners-granulomatosis.com/forum/member.php?u=7964) Oh s**t!! You might want to find a less clumsy doc... ;-)

He's one of the best around, but as we know "S**T Happens"--even to well known and very respected orthopedic surgeons. This is the first time in 13 years that he will miss the surgeries at the end of the year. Imagine all the other people affected by his broken finger. I don't have to reschedule my life over this event--I can move ahead and keep working as if nothing happened. Those who work for and with him, don't have that luxury. I feel really bad for all the staff, anesthesiologists, physical therapy teams, home health care workers, surgical nurses and assistants--their livelihood has just been drastically affected during the holidays. I wish them all well!

I am telling everyone this whole situation reminds me of the story of the guy in the flood. When the water started to rise around his house, a guy moved to the top floor of his house, and a boat came by and he said "God will provide", a little while later, another boat came by, he said again, "God will provide", and the boat left. Later when he was on the roof, and a helicopter came, he said "God will save me". He drowned and went to heaven, ad asked God why he didn't help him, and God's response was "I sent you two boats and even a helicopter, what more did you want me to do?"

All of the cancellations, in some sort of way, are reinforcing my belief that right now is not the proper time for this knee replacement. I am willing to go along with the plan and wait a year!! My faith is telling me that is the right thing to do.

[MikeG-2012]

If any of you have chronic back, knee or hip pain, this is the procedure that I am going to try for my knee. Coolief is the name of this particular procedure. Here's a snippet of what it does: "Called “Coolief,” this non-surgical,outpatient procedure relies on cooled radio frequency (RF) ablation to safely target the sensory nerves causing pain.RF energy heats then cools the tissue at the site of problem."

https://www.mycoolief.com/

I'll let everyone know how this goes. I have an initial appointment with the doctor on January 15th.

[Lilly]

Hi Ed, sorry to hear about having to postpone your surgery. I hope you get it soon....you are very active, and your new knee will be so very nice! I damaged my knee while young with wegeners. I used to ride jet skis, but not the kind with a seat, these are kinda like racing skis, so you can only stand up on them and take a lot of balance. My right knee was my balance knee.....so knee replacement was a blessing. Wishing you all the best....and I love your quote!! Blessings, Lilly

[Bing505z]

Good luck Mike with the knee replacement! I have worked with similar old timers who got knee replacements after years of standing on steel, climbing 100' towers in the oil refinery, and repetitive lifting and bending. I have seen 4 of them have to get the knee replacement replaced also because they did not keep the weight down....Docs told them to keep under 200lbs for success. Make sure you lay off the Ho-Ho's and the Twinkies....good luck..Cheers!