Step one went a little different ( and hopefully better) than I was expecting.
Since I had previously seen a Knee Doctor and he proclaimed that I “Need a New Knee”, I was going in for my consult with Dr. Hur at Methodist Sports Medicine expecting to talk about and schedule a surgery.
However, he is wanting to try a few things first. Today, we tried a cortisone shot. This blog will become tedious for most folks… but will be record keeping and a means of communication with the Dr. as we move forward on this journey. The new goal is…. how long can we put off the knee replacement? Although I do not feel like 48 is a spring chicken, it is apparently very young for a knee replacement and we are going to see what delay does for us.
3:00 today- first cortisone injection into the Synovial Capsule.
It hurt significantly less that I thought it would– but that is because it is still under local anesthetic, I am told. Right now, a few hours later, it is feeling swollen, a bit stiff when I try to bend it and when I stand for a while, I get slight burning sensations. The burning means the local is probably wearing off and I a feeling the burn of the cortisone. No way to predict how much this will help or how long it will last, but hope to find out. My goal is to be able to not need my OA Brace unless I am putting the knee under duress… So I am walking about the house without my brace for now. The whole thing is complicated by the trochanteric bursitis in my right hip… so tonight, I am intending to attempt to find a comfortable position, rest the hip and chill on tramadol. This means I will not be stress testing the knee tonight.
Total steps today: 3723
no stairs
crashed, bed early…
