Knee Replacement gone wrong.

How does a doctor put the wrong size knee in you?

Being a gymnast and competing for many year, FloorX and Balance beam, your knees take a beating. No mats in the world will prevent all the hard impacts your knees will take. 

It all started with a knee that was grinding and snapping when I walked. Go the doc and being told, Yeah it is arthritis and all without any pics being done. So here starts the cortisone shots in the knee. 

Great, it would work for about 3 weeks to maybe a month then right back to the pain. 

Having to wear store bought braces on a daily basis just to be able to function.

Finally I am sent to a "specialist". As I write more you will see why I have quoted this term. 

At first, I am told the pain is all in my head and that there is nothing wrong. This was after xrays were taken. So again, another Cortison shot to shut me up and it wears off within the month. I reluctantly went back to this "specialist" demanding he do something that it is NOT all in my head. 

He recommends that I go in and have a procedure that they go in with 3 incisions and scrape anything that could be causing the pain. I jump on this only because I felt it nothing else, he may find something when he goes in, something that Xrays were not seeing, 

I get prepped for surgery and rolled down to OR. I remember waking up in the recovery, in pain with my knee. No one around to ask how it went for least 45 minutes. 

He comes the Doctor, what came out of his mouth made me forget the pain and relish in the fact that he was an idiot. 

Dr says; " I owe you an apology, your pain is very real. You are bone on bone and wearing it down badly. You are going to require a knee replacement".

Wow, so I wasn't crazy and making up my pain? Really?

How do you think that makes you feel when you are told that your pain isn't real? You starting thinking that your turning into a hypocondriact or something and it isn't a nice feeling at all. Always second guessing everything you feel.

I get home and it feels like learning to walk all over again. Who thought 3 little incisions would cause that much pain but it sure did. 

A month goes by and I have to see the "specialist" again. This time to discuss having a total knee replacement. 

I was explained the procedure and was told it could take up to 3-6 months for the surgery date. I agree to it because really, what other choice did I have. At least I was unaware of any other means at that time. 

Scheduled in months and have time to adjust to having a part of me removed and plastic and metal replacing it. It is alot to take in when you think about it, it somehow just seems wrong. 

In the meantime, I had to go for more exrays and preop tests, like bloodwork and such before surgery. 

Thinking I have 1more month, I get a call saying I am going in 2 weeks earlier. Ok, NOW the panic starts.

I get the house ready since I was told I will have to use a walker for 3- 4 weeks. Making sure things are oved out of the way. I was given a list of things I would need at home. 

- Walker

-Crutches

- Cane

- Raised Toilet Seat

- Tub wall handles

- Tub seat for showers

- Bandages

So I get all these things and sit back thinking, my god, what I am doing?

I take all the meds the night before surgery, no sleep that night due to the meds and my mind being on overdrive. fear is setting in. 

I go to the hospital for 6am. Can anyone please explain why nurses suck at giving IV's. This nurse stabbed, poked and stabbed again, missing every single time. 

It must have been 4-5 attempts when I finally got mad and said "Get someone else for gods sake, your killing my hands here".

I can see maybe 2 attempts but the back of my hands where red and bruising now. Finally another nurse came in, looked at my hands and recommended the anesthesiologist do the IV in the OR room. 

So they finish their prepping and I am wheeled down to the OR, Hop up on the table, the anesthesiologist, takes my hand, pulls it being me and boom, done in 3 seconds and didn't even feel it. 

Note to Nurses, pay attention to these people, they know what they are doing. Please don't torture your patients because they already have fear and anxiety.

Mask on, count and out for the count!

Surgery took 4 hours and I am now in recovery. I must have opened my eyes for a second then was out again. Next time I woke up I was in my own room and the pain, my god the pain was horrendous. My partmer is there asking if I am ok. Ah duh, I am sitting in a pool of blood, in dire pain, really, you do the math. lol

The Moriphone Pump was awesome, I think I was subconsciently hitting that button over and over. Thank goodness they are timed and not every hit was giving me drugs. 

A nurse comes in and cleans up the bedding and tells me I will have to get up soon to start therapy. Huh, I am still groggy from surgery and you want me up and doing therapy NOW?

I decide I want to see my leg before she comes in. It was so bandaged up that I could not see much. Which was probably better for me. 

30 Minutes later she comes in with a walker and tells me I have to start walking and helps me to stand. 

All I keep thinking is I wanted to wrap that walker around her neck. But I am up, only 4 hours after surgery. We proceed to this little area in the hall and there are steps, she says, "You need to practice goihg up and down stairs, go slow and try to do it 5 times and I will be right back."

I did it bit the only thing that motivated me was the thought of smacking her when she came back, well that and the want to get out of there.. lol

Amazing how short a hospital stay is for such a surgery, I was out in 3 days.

Stairs and walkers don't get along. It was painful and difficult to get up the 16 steps since my steps where deeper than the ones at the hospital. That means larger steps up. 

I finally get up, sit in my reclining chair and think it is time to see what it looks like. 

My leg was doubled in size, bruised all over, no one told me what to expect post surgery.

The staples were still in and go figure I fell on that knee the very first night at home. Walker gets caught up in the blankets and down I went, crying silently as to not awaken the entire house. I got up and make my way to where I was trying to go. Suck it up buttercup was all I kept repeating in my head. 

After 2 weeks the staples come out, the bruising has lessoned and man it felt good to get thos little metal things out. 

I endured 6 weeks of therapy to only have to go back in and have my knee manipulated because it was stuck in a in a bent position, 

Another 3 weejs of therapy and finally left to my own wits. 

Fast forward a year later. My knee clecked and felt disconnected all the time so I went to to my GP and asked for a different specialist. The one who did the surgery was dodging my questions and was not willing to check into the issues I was having. 

Saw the new doc, who asked me to get the hospital records and had the other doc forward all his papers to him to view. 

Lo and behold, the "quack" put a knee in me that is 1" too small. Which explained all the issues I was having. 

The shirt of it was I have to have it redone but he gave me the choice, redo it now and lose more mobility in it or wait until my 15 years are up and wear a knee brace every day until then to support it. 

Obviously I opted for the latter. 

My advice for anyone having this procedure done, google your doc doing it. If I had done this before, I would have known not to use him as he had terrible reviews and botched alot of surgeries. 

I am the product of a bad "specialist".