I hope you have missed me during the past month. I have certainly missed writing my columns and communicating with all the readers. During the past four weeks I have joined the 4.5 million Americans who have received artificial knees. I now am among one-in-20 people older than 50 who have a replacement knee.
For several years I held onto hope that my knee would improve, but it didn’t and it got to the point that something had to be done. I had heard horror stories about knee replacement surgery and really had to give a lot of thought to jumping (or slowly walking) into doing something about my achy knee.
But once I made the decision to have surgery, I began looking for positive points and talking to positive people who have had the surgery. A couple of friends even had both knees operated on at the same time. I wasn’t that brave, but my good knee didn’t need to be replaced. I had found the surgeon I wanted to do the surgery and he agreed that I could wait until after Christmas and into January, the slowest time of the year for me. I thought about trying to get columns ahead to run while I was recuperating, but to be honest, my heart wasn’t in it.
I want to share with you two machines or medical systems that have been miraculous to me. When I had the surgery on Jan. 24 at Texoma Medical Center, a pain relief system called On-Q PainBuster was attached to continuously deliver a local anesthetic. That On-Q System was a life saver. I had very little pain in the area of the surgery from the time I woke up for the several days that the bottle of medicine in the little black bag that I carried around was doing its job.
The day after my surgery two very nice young women from physical therapy appeared next to my bed and said I needed to get up and walk. I had been told that this would happen, but when it actually did, I couldn’t believe they really wanted me to walk on that new knee. With one on either side of me, I slowly got out of the bed and walked across the room. What a nice surprise that I could do that without screaming in pain. It hurt a little, but not like I had imagined.
It was that second day that I was introduced to miracle number two, the CPM (Continuous Passive Motion) machine that provided motion therapy to my knee for several hours a day. The machine moved the leg in a series of motions, preventing tissues and joints from becoming stiff.
Some people had said that this machine was uncomfortable and they didn’t like being attached to it. But for me, it was wonderful. Being on it gave me two hours of rest and sleep every time I was attached to it (as many as three times a day). I think that early introduction to the CPM played a big role in making my recuperation easier.
After two and a half days I was transferred to a Transitional Care Center in Denison for almost two weeks. It was here that therapy was available six days a week. It was that continuous therapy that got me started on my recovery and the best use of my new knee.
I won’t lie and say that therapy isn’t painful because it is, but not as painful as I had expected. The kind, gentle therapists did their best not to hurt, but when they did, there were no apologies. In fact, the first time I said “that hurt” my therapist had no sympathy for me.
It’s that therapy that I am continuing at home now and have moved through the walker, the cane, and now frequent walks around the house on my own. The knee still gets stiff and is uncomfortable at night, but the pain pills are used much less often and the motion and flexibility of the knee joint is much better. They tell me I’m ahead of the normal recovery schedule.
I’ve missed writing this column twice a week and feel like I am way behind. I may miss a few more columns, but hope to be back on track on a regular basis very soon. Please hang in there with me.
Donna Hunt is former editor of The Denison Herald. She lives in Denison and can be contacted at d.hunt_903@yahoo.com.
