Follow Up Appointment With My Regenerative Medicine
[ Thursday May 5th 2022 at 3:18 pm ]
I had my appointment today. It was very interesting.
I sent this specialist a summary on 4/11/2022 of the set of physical challenges and all the unexpected things my knee had done during March and April to that point. On 4/14/2022 I had a phone call ~15 minutes before I was being picked up for an early morning appointment with him: The doctor was ill and the appointment was rescheduled for today.
On April 17th I had the knee brace on and that is when my femur went out of alignment at the knee. I thought about it over night. I decided since the doctor wasn't available until today I would go back to the brace clinic since they were available. I sent the brace clinic an almost "for better or worse" e-mail explaining my doctors illness and asking if they would see me before today. Then I explained why. That e-mail was shared in some form with today's doctor to authorize a prescription for a knee cap tracking brace.
The doctor wanted to address my concerns and answer the questions I had. I only talked for maybe 8 out of the 40 minutes from the appointment today. However the doctor clearly understands me, how I think / reason and I was very satisfied with the appointment.
Ultimately he is sending a referral to a surgeon that will effectively read I've tried 6 different conservative strategies while under his care which have not brought any lasting results and arguably made things worse, that there is nothing more that can be done conservatively and ask him to discuss knee surgery with me.
The specialist today wishes to stay involved in my care. He complimented me for being resourceful. If there are pain related concerns he is more than happy to see me again. Regardless of what happens with the orthopedic surgeon he would like to see me again. He wants me to e-mail him when I have a consultation date with the orthopedic surgeon.
Ultimately he agrees with the decision I made on April 18th to contact the bracing clinic and only making 1 change at a time is worth while. So in terms of daily function exhausting bracing is the most strategic move.
If I am offered surgery I am prepared to have it. I set aside money from inheritance that if I am not offered it here I am willing to travel outside of Canada to have my knee replaced. I've tried very hard to avoid having knee surgery. The vast majority of 2015 to 2018 was me driving my power wheelchair across town (4.2km or approximately 2½) to the YMCA to do physiotherapy with their equipment an average of 4½ a week for 3 consecutive years. The only reason I stuck with it for so long was because I had to the surgeon when he offered to replace my right hip joint I would do everything within my control to bring about a recovery.