Still Stumbling

I am still learning how to walk. I had no idea it would be this difficult or frustrating. PT Bruce was here today, gave me some new exercises to do. It's a good thing I was holding on to things because I would have toppled over otherwise. (Insert commas wherever you think they should be.)

I've been discharged from seeing my orthopedic surgeon. I'm to see him in 1 year, then every 3 years after that. Sounds good to me.

Still have the major owies on my belly. God bless Vicodin.

I've Found the Cure

I've discovered the cure for post-op knee pain: get your gut ripped open. Seriously, you won't notice the knee pain much at all.

I'm having home health nurses daily for awhile to do the dressing changes. Yeah, I can do them my own self, but it's good to have someone else keeping an eye on how the wounds look. I tend to ignore things when they happen to me.

PT Bruce will be back to see me here at home. Apparently, in order to have home health you have to stay at home. No shopping, no outings -- except, get this, you can go get your hair done. I kid you not. I'm sure there are exceptions like doctor's appointments, but they pretty much expect that you aren't able to go somewhere to get the dressings changed.

It's good to be home. I think everyone missed me. The cat has been hanging around me more than usual. The dog, you can never tell what is going on in his hard head. The bird just babbles. I think she says, "Hello!" Hubby's happy to have me back. That's always nice. :-)

To Omaha

I've got some sort of infection in my abdomen. I have 3 areas that have broken open and are oozing some nasty gunk. I'm going back to Omaha to get them fixed.

Ever since my hernia repair when they put mesh in to hold things together, I keep getting these infections. The first time, in 2005, the mesh was infected and they had to remove it and put in a different kind. More infections, small repairs, one big repair with yet another mesh put in, small repairs, and here I am again. GrrrrRRRR! Anything foreign increases chances of getting an infection, but I've had my fair share already. Enough, already.

I really don't want to risk either of my knees getting infected, so I'm going to the best surgeon I know to get this taken care of. I saw a surgeon locally, and was not impressed. In fact, his lack of knowledge scared me a bit. My Omaha surgeon specializes in abdominal wall defects and hernias, among other things. He'll take good care of me. Leaving Sunday, surgery Wednesday, hopefully home on Thursday.

The knees are doing well. The left one still hurts and there is some swelling, especially by the evening. I still think my recovery is slower with this one than with the right. It wakes me up when I move it some way it doesn't like.

I'm still learning how to walk correctly. :-/

Day 23 PO

Well. Who knew? Apparently I do not know how to walk. Funny, I've been getting where I need to go.

There's more to getting the legs straightened than I realized. PT Becky says I will have to concentrate really hard on each step I take for at least a month, and then it will start to come naturally. Walking correctly, that is.

Oh, joy. Until I get the hang of this, I sort of list from side to side like a drunken sailor. I almost tilted off the patio steps last night and came close to giving The Groom heart failure.

The pain is better. I'm still very swollen and using my ice machine.

Post-Op Day 20

I've finally turned the corner with the pain. It's much better. Whew. Still lots of swelling, but at least I don't want to cut my leg off now. I'm taking half doses of pain meds. I hope this continues.

I went to an outdoor soiree yesterday, had good food, iffy wine, and met some new people. I was out and about for 2 hours. My leg was really swollen when I got home, but I enjoyed showing off my straight legs. The Groom is getting tired of me talking about being straight. I guess if you haven't had crooked legs all of your life, you can't really get it. ;-)

Eighteen Days Post-Op

Ouch. This still hurts pretty badly. About 2 a.m. this morning, I was wishing I'd never had this knee done. I know it will get better. Soonly, I hope.

PT Bruce made his last visit today. My knee bent to 115 degrees, which is what I could do before surgery. Maybe I should slow down with the movement and exercises. I'm way ahead of where I was at this point after the right knee surgery, and I wasn't hurting this much. Ya think skipping the walker and the cane has something to do with it? Maybe.

Day 15 Post-Op

BEFORE and AFTER

I looked at my legs for the first time today, and I made The Groom take a picture. My legs look normal! Well, still a little swollen, but straight. :-) I notice my left foot still turns outward. We'll have to work on that in therapy.

Staples are out, and I'm going to outpatient physical therapy starting on Monday. I am bending the knee at 113 degrees.

How Far Out Am I?

I've lost track. Monday will be 2 weeks, so there you have it. I took a hot bath today. I love my baths. :-) I get the staples out on Monday. PT Bruce gave me a pass today. When he called, he said he was very busy and that I knew what to do, so he didn't feel bad about not coming by. Works for me!

I saw the plastics guy yesterday. I walked more than I should and drove for the first time. It went ok, but by 2 a.m., I was using the walker to go to the kitchen. Today I was able to get by with half the pain meds, though, so there's no rhyme or reason to the pain. The swelling is still about the same.

I don't know how far I am bending the knee. PT Bruce left his measuring thing at his previous client's on Wednesday. He guestimated it was past 100. I'm more concerned with straightening the knee. I don't know if I'd ever in my life been able to completely straighten my knees before surgery. It's haaaard. But it's worth working at it. My right knee straightens and bends like it is supposed to, so I'm sure I can work on the other one and get it straight, too.

~~~~

Speaking of plastics, I have a blog for that. Nothing will happen until the end of the year, so the posts won't be on topic for several months. Anyway, it is girls only. No boy cooties allowed. Not even Groom cooties.

A girl's got to have a place to gather with other females, right? And if I ever decide to post before and after pictures, well... it ain't gonna be a pretty sight. My girls out of the bra right now are not a look I want burned into my husband's retinas, able to pull up online at any given moment. *shudder* He can see the afters all he wants.

And my arm wings are horrendous. A good West wind, and I could fly to my mother's easily. So drop me a line if you want an invite. I doubt it will be of interest to anyone except those who have gone through it or who are planning to go through it, but I'm game.

~~~~

RIP, Tim Russert. He seemed to be a truly nice fella.

~~~~

I use the word "so" a lot. (At least I don't write "alot.")

One Week Since Surgery, Day 6 Post-op

I am 6 days post-op, and my knee bend is at 100 degrees. Ta-da! With the other leg at this time, I was only at 93. It has been a long day. I still hurt. INR-1.6. PT-15.8.

~~~~~

Monday, June 9, 2008: The day I became old.

Nurse Lynn came by early this morning to do her thing. Bloodwork is good. Knee is good. Pain is still here.

We were discussing my pain, and she looked right at me and with a straight face uttered these words: "You're not a spring chicken anymore."

I want the complaint department! This just can't be. Me? Old? No way. Why, I'm only 52. That's young, right? Old is like 95 or something. I think she just hadn't had her coffee yet and was a bit rattled because it is Monday. Yes, that's it.

Day 5

OUCH. I don't know why this leg hurts so much more than the other one did. There was no report of having to remove a bunch of things as with the right knee. If this were a western, I'd be bellied up to the bar taking shots of whiskey.


The left leg is really swollen, and I still have staples in, but it is straight. I'll need to retrain my left foot to walk correctly. That's part of physical therapy.

Day 4 Post-Op

Ouch. Still hurts, 7-8/10. PT Bruce came today. We only did a few exercises. I am bending the left knee at 80 percent. (Right knee is 120+.)

Nurse Lynn came again, this time to do blood testing. My PT was 15.6, INR 1.6. No change in my coumadin. Dawg really likes her. I'm trying to get him to go home with her. :-)

I raised the notches on my walker up 2 places. I really am taller. I noticed while walking down the hall that my knees don't touch when I walk. That's good news. I told The Groom that there is now space between my legs from my woohoo all the way down to my feet. I think that is normal.

Day 3 Post-Op

OUCH. I've been on my happy ass most of the day, only walking when I need to go to the restroom or get something to eat. I'm hoping tomorrow will be better for it. I'm keeping ice on the knee except when I am up walking.

The nurse came today, not my regular one. This one hugged me before she left. I'm not really into touchy-feely stuff. Dawg liked her though, and only barked once when she first came in.

PT Bruce will be here tomorrow. I don't think there are enough drugs in the United States to keep me from hurting when he tortures me, so I'll just do it and cuss later.

Day 2 Post-Op

I am home. Ouch. I need to go back and read my first posts here and see if my right leg hurt this much.

There isn't anything to report. The surgery was fine, recovery fine, nothing new. Oh, there was an 86-year-old woman next to me in physical therapy today who was able to kick her operated-on leg almost up to her ears. Grrr. She made the rest of us look so bad. I can barely lift my heel up off the surface. My straighten/bend measurements are -10 degrees and 77 degrees today. They like to have us at a 90-degree bend when we go home, but I was discharged anyway. Physical therapy and the home health nurse will be here tomorrow: PT to torture me, the nurse to draw blood for a PT/INR because I'm on coumadin again.

I'm moving slowly around the house with my walker, and cursing when I have to lift my leg up to get into bed or when I sit and have to hold my leg up off the floor because I can't bend it too far yet. I just keep telling myself that it will get better very soon. I'm using the ice machine - I now own 2 of them. I'm taking my good drugs. I'm planning to sleep well tonight in my own bed. I missed The Groom. It's nice to have him next to me again.

Oh, I am finally about an inch taller. I can tell, because my walker needs to be adjusted. It's too short now. My left knee is still very swollen, so I can't see the results yet. I'll get pictures this weekend and see if I can see how much straighter the leg is.

One Day Pre-Op, Nine Weeks Post-Op --- Give or Take

Wow. These last 4 weeks have gone by quickly. I've been doing my exercises most days. There is almost no pain in the right knee now. No swelling. I have no complaints at all.

My left knee, however, has been aching like crazy. I will be happy to have the replacement over with and be into recovery so the pain is lessened.

Surgery is at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow. *yawn* We have to be there at 5:00 a.m.

So, here we go again with the pictures. My left leg is really crooked! I'll post when I get home, probably Wednesday.

~~~~~~~

One of our lovebirds, Rob, died. His mate, Laura, seems to be doing ok. She has been very vocal, and I think she's attaching herself to a chewy strip thing hanging in her cage. I caught her napping next to it yesterday. We need to get her a stuffed bird for a mate.

Five Weeks Post-Op

Wheee. I started outpatient physical therapy yesterday. I have the same therapist that I had with my arm. It was nice to not have to go through the "getting-to-know-you" phase with a new team member. We just snipe at each other when we need to, like old friends. :-)

I think she's trying to kill me, though. I have 4 new exercises, and I'm supposed to do 30 of them twice a day. THIRTY, TWICE A DAY. That's in addition to my other exercises that I'm already doing. It took me almost an hour this morning to do them all. And I still have to do at least another round, if not 2 more. And I am supposed to start doing my left leg, too. I'll either give up, give out, or come out looking like a female wrestler.

I told The Groom that our love birds may start cussing and groaning. They were paying close attention to me while I was suffering through the moves this morning.

So, 4 weeks from now I will be on day 1 post-op for my left knee. I'm looking forward to having it over with, but also dreading it. In comparing the knee surgery to others I've had, it was fairly easy. But.. it was surgery. There was pain. It's been hard work. I hope these knees last me the rest of my life.

Post-Op Day 33

Just short of 5 weeks post-op, and I think I am doing pretty well. I've been discharged from home physical therapy, and I will start outpatient PT on Monday.

I am bending my knee to 113 degrees without difficulty or help. The bigger concern is getting the knee straight. I really have to work on that so it doesn't want to stay bent.

There is still some swelling, especially in the evening. I only use ice sporatically now, usually after a strenuous bout of exercises or after walking too much. I went to the hospital last week for a CT scan of my abdomen (infection brewing,) and as in most hospitals, I had to walk and walk and walk to get to where I was going. Walking on hard floors has always been a problem, with lots of pain after I stop walking. That hasn't changed. I guess I won't be shopping at Wal-Mart anytime soon.

Here is another picture. Not much is changing, I think. Except my tan. You can see that I wear slippers when I am outside, because my toes are very white.

Day 26 Post-Op

Before Surgery

Almost 4 Weeks

My leg, knee, and foot are still swollen, but I can really tell a difference in how straight my right leg is compared to the left. They are both still ugly. :-)

Three Weeks, Five Days Out

Ah! sweet mystery of life, at last I've found thee;

Ah! I know at last the secret of it all;

All the longing, striving, seeking, waiting, yearning,

The burning hopes, the joys and idle tears that fall!

~

I took a hot bath.

Post-Op Day 20

I saw my surgeon today for my first post-op visit. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks. He is very pleased with my progress. We are scheduling surgery on my other knee in 6 weeks.

The staples were removed by home health on day 13. We also stopped the coumadin that day. I've been walking with and without the cane lately. I use ice once a day now, in the evening. By then, I'm usually a bit sore. I am still doing my exercises, and home health physical therapy comes three times a week. I forgot to ask about going to out patient PT. I guess the therapist can call and get the orders. I am doing 3 sets now, with my personal goal of working up to 4 sets.

I have an abdominal infection that I am keeping my eye on. I finally went to my PCP today, and he referred me to the surgeon who did my original hernia repair 3 years ago. I don't want this little thing to turn into a big thing, especially now that I have this foreign stuff in my leg.

I drove home from the doctor's. I'm free again! Not bad for less than 3 weeks out, eh?

Pictures

Still swollen, but my surgical leg is straighter.

________________________

Staples

Post-Op Day 10, Continued

I am walking with a cane now and doing some new exercises. Remember my brag about not using ice? Scratch that. I'm back on the ice packs and ice machine. In fact, The Groom is at the store buying ice right now.

I am using the leg more, and using the muscles in a different way. Ouch. But it is progress, right? Bruce measured my knee angle and today it was ...drumroll, please...
100 degrees! ^happy dance*

I asked him to measure my "good" leg while sitting, and he said it was about 115 degrees when I bent it as far as I could. I will be very happy if I can get the right knee to bend that much. That would get me in and out of the car and the bath. What more does a gal need?

Oh, and I think Bruce was drinking this morning. Ick.

I get the staples out on Monday. I should probably get a picture before that. Whoever stapled me managed to get a fairly straight line. I always find that amazing for some reason. I doubt my surgeon did it. Those guys usually scoot out of the OR as soon as they are done and let others finish things up.

Post-Op Day 10

*sigh* I am not a patient woman, and this recovery/rehab takes time.

The pain still isn't bad. In fact, most of the time the knee hurts less than it did before the surgery. I do have my moments, though, and that is when the drugs come in handy. I hope my liver holds out.

I am not using ice. The morning of my 7th post-op day I woke up with a lot less swelling in my knee. I had been using the cooling machine they sent home with me, and using more ice than the refrigerator could produce. The Groom bought 3 bags of ice, and that lasted 3 or 4 days with the machine. When we ran out of extra ice, I started doing without it. I used a regular ice pack a few times, but I haven't done that for 2 or 3 days.

I took a shower yesterday. Ah, sweeeeet. I was beginnig to feel a bit crusty around the edges. You can only do so much in a sink. I used a shower chair, and it was fine.

Physical therapy is (probably) going to switch me over from the walker to a cane today and have me walk outside a bit. It's supposed to rain. Now, I've been hobbling around on my own when the walker won't fit well in places and I've done fine. The first few days I did this, I paid for it with pain the next day. After a few days, it was better. The PT guy, Bruce, said there is no way I can hurt the prosthesis unless I fall, so I'm taking him at his word. Better said, I want to walk without assistance sometimes, so I do.

The exercises are one big bore. And they hurt. But I do them. Mostly I do them. The bend in my knee was at 93 degrees the last 2 times Bruce measured -- the first time I didn't see an increase from one measurement to the next. I feel like I am taking a test, and I want to do well. I also want to be able to drive, which is going to be hard to do if I can't bend my knee enough to even get into the driver's seat. So I do the exercises. Mostly.

Not much else to say. So far, this has been fairly easy. Certainly easier than having rotator cuff repair surgery. Now THAT was a rough recovery.

Six Days Post-Op

It seems as if I am in an every-other-day pattern with the pain, just like I was with my shoulder/arm. Overdo it, hurt, rest, overdo it. The pain still isn't really bad, more of a deep muscle ache above the knee, especially. My leg is still getting used to walking straight intead of crooked. Of course, having bones sawed off and metall hammered into the bone ends probably doesn't make for a good feeling, either.

I think I am sleeping a lot. They told us all at the hospital to sleep when we are sleepy, so I'm all over that. I had two 2-hour naps yeaterday and then slept a couple of 3-hour stretches on the couch last night. I never made it back into the bedroom. The couch is comfy. I prop my lep up on folded blankets and pillows. I've been using frozen gel packs for cooling.

I'm still very swollen from just above my ankle to above my knee, even when I first get up. After dangling my leg for awhile, it gets worse, of course. The bruising is ugly. The warfarin can be blamed for that. I still have 6 large bruises on my arms from them trying to start an IV and draw blood. They are just starting to fade. They kept getting darker for 3 days after they did all the poking. I look like the "old people" I used to take care of who had bad bruises. Ick.

Physical therapy will be here soon. My home health nurse is coming today to draw blood for INR/PT to see if my warfarin dose is doing the job. It will be the same nurse I've had off and on for the past 3 years with various surgeries. She is good, and she remembers things. She has watched me lose weight -a lot of it- and has watched the dog gain. She always talks to the love birds and asks about things I've mentioned in the past, things I've forgotten about.

Non-knee stuff...

I got some sun over the weekend. It was nice sitting on the patio with The Groom. He carted my walker down the stairs for me. We saw a little white flutterby two days in a row, which reminded us of the hummingbird we saw last year. He put the hummingbird feeders out on plant hooks and filled them with his home brew. We'll be in competition with the neighbors, who put their feeders out last week.

Birds are building nests in neighboring trees and under the hangy-down-things on both sides of our garage just under the roof. I'm sure there is a name for that. The grass is growing, and some plants are starting to shoot up. I can see little leaves on the tops of the radishes I planted several weeks ago. I hope to be able to putz around in the gardens in a few weeks. I have things growing inside that need to be put into the gardens outside.

Four Days Post-Op

Ouch.

Yesterday was good. I was getting around the house like gangbusters. Physical therapy guy came over and we did exercises. I was all over the house, doing little things here and there.

Then today happened. Ouch. I'm thinking I overdid it yesterday. I know I did. My body knows I did. I need adult supervision...

I am taking it very easy today.

Two Days Post-op

I am home. I got sprung early because I am doing so well. This isn't bad at all. I've certainly had much more painful surgeries in the past year. I have an electric ice pack thingy with a knee wrap to use that feels really good. I'm taking Vicodin 5/500, which isn't very strong. If I could soak in a hot bath, I'd be in heaven.

Home health will come twice a week to draw INR/PT times because I am on coumadin. Physical therapy will come starting tomorrow to torture me. :-) I did very well with PT today at the hospital, which is why I got to come home early. I did the stairs just fine, and I'm hardly using the walker for weight bearing. I am still getting used to walking on a straight leg. It's hard to see how much straighter it is because it is swollen quite a bit. Once it looks more normal, I'll have pictures taken.

It is good to be home with The Groom, the dog, the cat, the fish, and the love birds. I'm having a monster taco for dinner. (Yes, hospital food is still nasty, so I'm hungry.)

Day of Surgery

Here I go. I have to be at the hospital at 5:00 a.m. Not much sleep last night. Both knees are aching something awful. It will be interesting to compare the pain before and after surgery.

Everything went well. Apparently, according to the surgeon as he told The Groom, my leg was very crooked. He put me in a very stiff brace for 24 hours in order to stretch the muscles into the correct positions. Owie. The surgical site doesn't hurt much, but the muscles above and below are very tender. The toradol they have been giving me works woderfully well. Much better even than morphine, which is a bit surprising to me because toradol is not a narcotic.

The big broughaha with me after surgery was that I was totally zonked. They thought at first it was the pain meds, but they finally figured out it was the Benadryl they gave me to keep me from being nauseated. I wouldn't wake up in recovery. The Groom was a bit kerfuffled about it all, but I eventually woke up and everything was fine.

Surgery Minus 1 Week

Ack. Time is getting away from me again. This always happens before surgery. I think I have all kinds of time, and then it's here.

I guess I am ready. The surgeon finally refilled my good pain meds to get me through this final week. I won't be able to take aspirin or much of anything except Tylenol and narcotics. Better living through Vicodin.

~Thanks for the ugly legs.~

The Groom took a picture of my knees the other day so I can have a record of before and after. I was puffy from running around all day and half the night. (Ignore the awfully poofy shorts. This was the first thing I grabbed that would show my knees. I am not really shaped like that.) Right now, my legs look like an inverted Y. After surgery on one knee, I guess they will look like a K - one straight, one still crooked.

I remember that I used to wear my shoes out on the sides something awful. They make shoes much better now, so I doubt I'll have to replace any. If they were worn, I'd have to get new ones because my gait and stance will be different.

I measured m'self at the doctor's office today. I am 5'10, exactly. I should be 5'11" when this is all over with. That's pretty darned tall!

Surgery Minus Two Weeks

I went to the pre-op knee and hip surgery class this past Monday. I met some women who will be on the same unit with me recovering: Barb, Margaret, and Phyllis. Barb and Margaret (knees) are having surgery the 31st, Phyllis (hip) and I on the 1st... the same surgeon. Her surgery is first, so I told her not to wear out the surgeon.

I asked about pre-op exercises. The nurse nixed that, saying we use our leg muscles enough doing our activities of daily living. Um .. hello? I don't do much daily living right now. I think (from a fellow nurse's perspective) that she was just answering off the fly. If you don't know the answer, make one up.

I've stopped exercising my legs. Not because of the nurse, but because I was in so much pain last week. I don't know if working my legs to exhaustion caused the flares or if it just made the pain worse, but I couldn't stand it. I don't have enough pain meds to get me through to the end of the month, so I'm taking it easy.

All rooms on the unit are private, thank you very much. They will be getting our happy asses out of bed the same day as surgery. We start rehab the next morning, bright and early. Plan A: ask for lots of drugs. Plan B: ask for more drugs.

Our nurses will have telephones. We will call them instead of "hitting the buzzer." I've been in other hospitals that used this method. I can't see that it is any better than the old call button method. Certainly, it isn't any quicker.

We can also order our meals whenever we want off of a menu. That works well for the patients. I'm not so sure about the nursing staff.

I got to hold a knee replacement and a hip replacement dohickey. They are heavy. The knee weighs 2 ounces more than the hip. Go figure. I like the feel of how smoothly the joints move. No more snap, crackle, pop, and creak.

Home health and home occupational therapy will visit for up to 4 weeks. I hope I get the same crew as I've had before. We are becoming quite familiar with each other -- enough so that the visiting nurse can tell if I've lost weight, if I'm feeling poorly, etc.

We are finally doing taxes. I was the holdup, getting all of the medical deductions together. I have most everything added up for last year - a bit over $12,000. No wonder we are always broke. That is a big chunk of our income to be flying out the door. More than our mortgage.

I've been cooking and freezing things. I have fried catfish, vegetable beef stew, chili, corned beef, and a casserole I made up consisting of chopped broccoli, cream cheese, cream of mushroom soup, crab meat, crumbled Ritz crackers with butter, and lots of pepper. I also have some favorite frozen dinners. That should cover me for awhile after I get home.

My plans for next week include packing for the hospital and making sure the house is walker-friendly. And paying bills. There is no internet access at the hospital, so I'll need to make sure everything is taken care of before I go in. I'll miss the world while I am cut off from my computer. I have books on CD. I'll probably take a player so I can at least relax with some reading/listening.

Surgery Minus 4 Weeks - Exercises

I have been doing leg exercises every day. Ouch. I knew my legs were weak from having bad knees for years and years, but doing these leg exercises really bring home just how weak I am.

There is no way I can do squats, so I've sort of made up some of my own exercises. My physical therapist (for my arm) gave me some printouts of a few things I can do, so I've been faithfully doing those. I do them all in the bath. I do love my hot baths!

-Quadriceps Set
-Heel Slide
-Clam Shell 45 degrees
-Straight Leg Raise
-Bent Leg Raise
-Wall squats (my version)

I should be scheduling a pre-op class soon. I'll ask what other exercises I can be doing to help after surgery.

A lady at church is having knee replacement the same day as I am. It will be nice to have someone with whom to compare notes. Hubby said a guy who had the surgery a few weeks ago (3? 4?) stopped by the office today and bounded up the steps without any assistance. That's what I like to hear!

Then hubby said, "You never hear anyone say they regret having that surgery." Good point. I suppose it is because by the time we agree to have knee replacement, things are really bad and the surgery gives quite a bit of relief and returns mobility.

Surgery Minus 5 Weeks - And We're Off!

I received a surgery date last Friday. I will have a total knee replacement on April 1, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. I'll be getting a DePuy Rotating Platform Knee. My surgeon said if he were getting a replacement, that is the one he would choose. He's in pretty good shape and seems to be fairly young, and I trust his judgement. He said not everyone should have this knee, but it should be good for me.

Other than my joints and muscles falling apart at an alarming rate, I'm in good health. Blood sugar, blood pressure, lungs, heart, cholesterol, triglycerides, liver profile, protein, calcium, BMI/weight are all normal. I do have lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia along with osteoarthritis.

I am 52, 5'10, and have valgus (knock knees.) I don't know the degree, but I look like an upside-down Y when I stand. My surgeon tells me that I should be very happy with the pain relief and regained function after the knee surgeries. (I'm getting them done one at a time.) He says my knock knees will be gone, and I will gain about an inch in height. I wonder if I'll look thinner, since my BMI will be lower. :-) My Tanita Scale says my body fat is 15.8%. Hahahaha. I don't think so. I've got more than 15% fat in my head. A few months ago, it gave me a 12% reading. Maybe when I was born...

I have 5 weeks until surgery. I am starting some leg strengthening exercises today. My knees have been bad for so long that my muscles are weak. We'll see how this goes. I don't think I've been able to squat since college. I was really hard on my knees: volleyball, skating, cheerleading, lots of falls and injuries.

Working at camp one summer, we were doing some gawd-awful extreme athletic course before the campers arrived. One exercise was to get on a tire hanging from a rope, high above the ground. Get the tire swinging. Swing it over to another tire hanging from another tree several feet away. Scramble from the first tire to the second. Yeah, right. Sounds easy?

While scampering from the first tire to the second, I realized I was going to fall, so I put my right leg out straight to catch m'self. The right kneecap went sliding off to the right side and stayed there. Owie. Big owie. I spent the first few weeks of camp on crutches, and my knee never fully recovered. This was the year Elvis died.. '77? Something like that. It was my second year working at this camp. It's probably not a good advertisement to have the Games Specialist on crutches, but I got through it.

Anyway, things only got worse from there. Wear and tear. Weight gain, weight loss, repeat. Add in a nursing career and things got even worse. I'm sure that I am no different from others who need knee replacements. We all wear out eventually.

I will try to keep this updated. I really enjoyed reading another blogger's details about his knee replacement surgery. Maybe I can pay it forward here.