As many of you know, my knee replacement was canceled in December and I did not have the time available to reschedule until the same time next year. I sought out alternatives to replacement and found my primary healthcare center just started doing Coolief. It is a series of RF Ablation treatments to the pain nerves in the knee. ABC news did a story on this procedure, and you can watch it here.

Here's a photo of the trial procedure where they use lidocaine to numb the pain nerves. If this procedure works, then they schedule you for the real one, with bigger needle and mild sedation. As you can see, there is no cushion in my knee. It is bone-on-bone, all the time--even behind the knee cap!

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I had mine done on Tuesday, March 13th. I had pretty bad discomfort on one of the needle sites, but it was bearable and the staff helped me breath through it. Now, a week later, I feel better than I have in over 2 years! I still have some soreness, but nothing like having to walk on an arthritic knee with no cartridge in it. They say it takes 4-6 weeks to take fully. If I feel this good now, I am going to be jumping up and down in 4-6 weeks.

If you have bad osteoarthritis in your knee, and are not ready for a total knee replacement, ask your provider if the do this type of procedure. I am sold--and it has only been a week!!

Enjoy your week everyone!!