Pain Management Appointment
[ Wednesday September 6th 2023 at 1:30 pm ]
My right knee has been locking. It has been as if there was a glass wall above / below it preventing it from moving. There is a tear in my knee that has likely moved. Additionally I keep inadvertently tugging on the tear. More likely than not the tear has worsened.
My pain doctor wants me to have an operation. A knee locking is reasonable cause for surgery. I am supportive of this. This will be #8. In mid October 2023 I will be having an appointment with my family doctor concerning the referral. With summer holidays there isn't an appointment time available before this. I am not particularly bothered by this.
Surgeries # 6 and #7 were at a teaching hospital. I was sent there because the hip replacement surgeries had a significantly elevated risk of paralyzing me. They were unsure if a bone graft was going to be required during my hip replacement on account of the disease I had. The last appointment I had with a knee surgeon at the orthopaedic clinic was very poor. The intern spent about 20 minutes with me. She was in over her head. This was followed by the surgeon spending not more than 90 seconds talking me and then spending the following 20 minutes talking to the 5 medical students he was mentoring. I got this surgeon reprimanded for this. My pain doctor is asking that I be operated on in the city where I live. I am going to go back to the surgeon that initially sent me to the teaching hospital to see if he has the skills needed to do the knee surgery that is warranted.
The hope is that my knee could be repaired. In 2012 I had an appointment with a 91 year old surgeon who specialized in the hip disease I had when I was going through this. This appointment was just shy of 2½ hours. He told me both my knees would wear out because of the treatment method used on me. I am not entirely convinced repairing the present damage will work. But there is a case to be made that it could work. The recovery from this is a bit unpleasant. But this is minor compared to what I've endured over my hips.
The only challenge is that the orthopaedic community is hopelessly back logged due to the limited surgeries happening during covid. I don't know what the timing will be. One of the surgeons has a 4 year back log. It may become necessary to raise the money to have an operation outside of Canada if this becomes the case with me. The past few months haven't gone well. The surgeon does have some discretion over priority. I am prepared to have the frank discussion about this with him.
If you are thinking of me please pray for it to go well with the appointments will be having concerning this.