Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Knee news is good news

My knee has continued to bother me. The anti-inflammatory medicine helped a lot for the first 10 days or so and then it started hurting again, to the point I was limping and unable to use that knee. The day after Christmas I took a HOT bath, and sat on the couch all day. That helped a lot. My knee was again almost pain free a few days later.

Yesterday I had an appt with my doc who suggested a coritzone injection into the space behind/under my knee cap. We are planning to go snow machining (yes - we call them snow machines; not snow-goes (too bush), not snow-mobiles (too 'lower 48) and not sleds (confusing because we pull actual sleds which are called sleds.) this weekend and I want my knee to be fully functioning. So the doc says "it will hurt a little, just like when you get an injection in your arm." The needle is about 2.5 inches long and the syringe looks mammoth - it appears like a lot of milky white stuff to be jamming into my knee. So I watched him poke it in (I'm usually pretty good with medical stuff being done to me) but when he started moving it around I got a queesy feeling in my gut and I looked at the corner of the office. "You've got a lot of cartiledge in here" he says as he moves the needle around. Look at the corner! Look at the corner! I could feel that queesy feeling again and a very deep ache in my knee. Then he pulls it out (I wasn't watching but he told me he did) and then it was all over. My knee was numb in that area for a couple hours and I felt great. Then it got achey (the numbing agent wore off) and it was killing me last night. This morning I feel great again. We are hoping this does the trick. When it gets sore I'm supposed to take it easy, treat for inflammation and use cold packs to keep swelling down. However, I have to say, the heat felt really nice for soothing all the muscles around it that were sore from walking funny for a week.

They still think it's arthritis and I'll be this way the rest of my life. There may be a miniscus tear, but probably not worth doing surgery if we can control it with anti-inflammatories. And I probably need to lose weight which I haven't been doing very well the last two weeks. Back to the diet AFTER the holidays.

7 comments:

crochet lady said...

I've know other people that have had those shots. They are painful initially but do really help considerably. Hope this does the trick for you.

Anonymous said...

Bill has had numerous cortisone shots.. knees, shoulders, feet, fingers, etc. He says it usually is a day or so before it feels better.. are you heading for the cabin? Hope you have a great trip! and hope we get more snow in this State!!

Rose

Kellie said...

Hope the shots work for you. I've heard you can only had up to 3 shots in a joint before they start goofing things up. Take care of yourself :)

janice said...

Patty I am so happy for you! Praise Him for modern medicine!

Hope you have a great time this week-end. Try taking those portable heat wraps - you might need them!

Blessings

A Lady's Life said...

oh geez that sounds scary.I hate needles lol
I am glad you feel better though.
That sounds like a lot of fun you'll be having.My cousin is going dog sledding in Fernie. That should be fun as well.

studio lolo said...

I was right there with you when you were getting that injection!! I had one on the bottom of my foot for heel spurs only my doctor didn't warn me when it was coming. You almost had to peel me off the ceiling!! But, even though the pain was better for nearly 2 weeks with the shot, the side-effects I had weren't worth it.
I was jittery, restless, sleepless and plain aggressive! My appetitie decreased (yay) but the rest was awful. I found out it's because it affects our testosterone level (yes, women have testosterone) and that's why some of us get those side effects.
I have other friends who LOVE their injections!! (My athletic friends who golf, play tennis, jog.)

I just hope you find comfort that works for you with as few side effects as possible, especially if this is a long term issue.

For some reason you only come up in my dashboard blogroll, not on the front. I wonder why? That's why I end up missing some of your posts!

Happy New Year Patty!! Have fun (and comfort) in the snow ;)

Aunt Krissy said...

I learned to like the needle. I knew that my feet wold feel better in a day or so. I hope it helps you.