Seven Wasted Weeks

[peteryoung]

Today's post-op review with the knee surgeon has left me somewhat depressed. If I had been given the referral to a specialist that I asked for back in December but didn't get until March after two further wasted consultations with GPs, I would probably be well out of the woods by now.

As I suspected and as the surgeon more or less confirmed to me today, it seems the physiotherapist, who without initial access to the operation summary and acting in good faith that she was treating the 'usual' cartilage problems that everyone else gets, has been giving me exercises that help the surrounding joint muscles but have in fact been preventing the bone injury itself from healing: every time I tightly contract the muscles around the knee to improve their strength, I've been compressing on an 'open' wound on the bone where cartilage has been eroded (and necessarily removed) and can never be replaced. I pointed out that it only ever really improves after long periods of not applying pressure to the joint and resting it up, after which I can walk better, so he's recommended I definitely stop the physiotherapy. This permanent injury is also to a weight-bearing part of the bone that comes into contact with the kneecap, so if it's inflamed by any activity that's too much for it, it will hurt. As I have now figured out by experience, I need to allow the wound at the end of the bone to heal itself at its own pace without continual aggravation, after which a protective scarring will form over the area of missing cartilage, but only if I go easy and do no more activities that stress it too much.

Since December this has been a long catalogue of guessing games, misdiagnoses, professional cock-ups and misguided professional advice. And now for the last seven weeks after the operation, in good faith it seems I have continued to do the wrong things for the injury, which leaves the possibility that it may be in an even worse state now than it was before, and only time will tell if it heals sufficiently.

It's difficult to put my finger on something that has gone right in this whole affair.

Comments

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Oh love, huge, huge hugs. What is the doctor advising as a long term prognosis?

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

Thanks Farah. I should be able to use it OK and work as normal after it's done its own healing in its own time, and he reckons I should go back to work when it feels comfortable enough. Judging by all these continual setbacks I've encountered and how my knee is at the moment, I reckon maybe 2-3 weeks, if it behaves itself. I've finally bitten the bullet and I'm prepared to take a desk job in the meantime.

10-15 years from now, if it deteriorates again with overuse I'll have more long-term problems to look forward to. :(

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Well, bugger. That's genuinely awful. Medical screwups are infuriating even when it's something minor. When it's something as vital and irreplaceable (short of going borg) as your knees, well, I can only imagine. Serious sympathies, for whatever they're worth.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Oh, Cthulhu on a effin' bob-sleigh :-(((((

[flick.livejournal.com]

Oh, hell. I'm sorry, sweetie. I hope that the physio hasn't done any lasting damage....

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Ouch. I guess the only remotely good thing is that at least the surgeon identified the problem today.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

That's right. I hope I can now draw at least a partial line under this period of Things Going Wrong, the rest of which I haven't mentioned on LJ.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

*feeling angry on your behalf*

[fastfwd.livejournal.com]

Ow! I feel your pain. Truly, I do.

[pwilkinson.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Not good at all - very much hope that things improve from now onwards.

[hnpcc]

Bugger. I'm really sorry to hear that. Hopefully now that it's been correctly diagnosed it'll start getting better quickly. :-( Did the bursitis flare down (you know what I mean)?

Anyway, hope you're off the couch and feeling more like your normal self again soon.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

The heel is now perfectly ok, but it took about a week to disappear. I realised I had gone rather OTT on dried apricots the week before, so I stopped and the heel calmed down. I think it's something else to put down to my body's intolerance to too much acidic content in food.

[maryread.livejournal.com]

good god
I'm sorry to hear you've had to go through that

[dfordoom.livejournal.com]

Since December this has been a long catalogue of guessing games, misdiagnoses, professional cock-ups and misguided professional advice.

Hey, you have the same sorts of doctors that we have here! If I was really sick I think I'd rather see a vet.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

That is too close to the truth for comfort. My previous GP had just retired when all this kicked off, and our understaffed local surgery currently has a stupid system of consulting with whatever GPs are available that day, and it's difficult to see the same one twice. My dog Jake [icon] really did get more personal treatment over two years than I've had in four months...

Any good things?

[godelescherbach.livejournal.com]

Let's see...lots of time to catch up on reading? The time to catalog and re-catalog your various collections again and again? Free time to watch butterflies?

Pete, I'm really sorry about all this. Given the catalog of problems that I keep hearing doctors and other medicos causing, one would think they would be required to take a mandatory remedial class in LISTENING TO ONE'S PATIENT every now and again.

Re: Any good things?

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

I'm stuck in the middle of converting the garage into a small library, but I can't do much more that doesn't involve lifting, stretching and standing for long periods, which is all off-limits right now. I've been doing mostly creative stuff on my laptop instead.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

[Expletives omitted.]

[]

That's dreadful news. At least you've put a stop to the re-injury. Heal well.

*crosses fingers*