good answers in 2021

22:26

I don’t really feel much like writing tonight, but I said I would give this a try so here I am.
It doesn’t always have to be the most dramatic story, right?

My appointment with the orthopedic surgeon was today. I think I mentioned that in yesterday’s entry.

Basically I rambled off a hundred questions and he was polite, and informative, and answered them all. At the end I apologized for asking so many and he quickly told me not to feel bad about it and it was good we were on the same page. I just want to know as much as possible before I do this surgery. I like to be prepared. I’ve never been into the unknown.

And now that I know a lot more details I am feeling so much better about this procedure! All of the things I was most worried about are pretty much non-existent. There were so many little restrictions I was reading about. Not being able to bend 90 degrees. No crossing your legs. Six week minimum recovery. Sleeping, sitting, moving, etc. and so forth. It was all this stuff I knew about that made the post-op recovery seem so daunting.

Well, as it turns out, the doc said he was strongly considering an anterior approach through the front of my upper thigh. With this approach we basically remove all of the restrictions I was so worried about. He said that there would be no restrictions!!! I mean obviously I have to use common sense and not do stupid stuff like go run a marathon three weeks post-op, but I mean come on! We all know I’m almost guaranteed to never do that. haha.

I don’t have to worry about any of the sitting/standing/bending stuff with this approach. Most patients in my situation are up on the walker for a few days, then maybe a cane if unstable, or straight to walking. Driving within a couple weeks [as long as no narcotics] thought they recommend 3-4 weeks. Travel good after the two week post-op check up on the wounds and healing.

To top off all that wonderful news, he also continued to reiterate how a large percentage of people in my situation recover quickly and easily. To the point where they’re usually telling them to slow down because they try to do every thing all at once. Which is something I totally understand. I can’t even imagine the idea of being able to walk normally right now, so waking up after surgery and suddenly being able to move will be so amazing! I’ll probably want to sprint down the street too!

He said it is one of the best, most successful, elective surgeries right now. Patients continually tell him how the arthritic pain disappears after surgery. Of course there’s surgery pain, but the idea of not having this throbbing uncomfortable pain all down my leg every day? I’d be in heaven.

In the end he said it’s totally my call. I can tell him I’m ready and we’ll start the process. It’s a 4-6 week lead time and he says we could get it done by January if I want.
Or I could wait until April and he sees absolutely no harm in that. He doesn’t think the changes from last year are enough to expect it to be too damaged to fix in a few months.

I really want to do it to get it over with already. Besides wanting the pain to go away, and definitely wanting to sleep more, I’m ready to just not think about it any more. But there’s this whole thing going on with my brother and honestly I really want him to get his stuff done before I worry about any of mine. I’m hopeful at the idea that my surgery and recovery will be a lot easier than I expected, but I’m going to wait to see what we can do for him.

Time to go now. I almost fell asleep on the couch and posted this quickly to not miss the deadline. =)

rose.

00:45

Last updated November 06, 2021