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Getting a New Knee After Africa Trip

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by jerrymildred, Jul 29, 2021.

  1. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    As of two weeks ago (most recent numbers, sadly) my hospital had 64% of adult beds occupied. About 59% of ICU beds were occupied. Those are the lowest numbers in the Bay area. Or they were on Sept. 3. Who knows what they are today?
    Screen Shot 2021-09-17 at 6.41.58 AM.png

    @tochatihu provided a nice resource and it shows how much better our area is doing than over in redneck country like Dade City and Zephyrhills. These are all the hospitals in our county. Unfortunately, I couldn't find dates on this site. Like I think I said earlier here, and told my sister in Iowa, this particular area is very gray haired and therefore very vaccinated. What I don't get is why they waited so long to open back up. Perhaps they had staff out on loan to other facilities?
    Screen Shot 2021-09-17 at 6.47.03 AM.png
     
    #81 jerrymildred, Sep 17, 2021
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2021
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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    maybe just the amount of time it takes to get restarted. it was a big job here last year, bringing everyone back from reassignment to covid care or layoffs, and reopening the elective surgery departments
     
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  3. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    That sounds pretty reasonable. I just got a call from the surgeon's office. Sounds like they are moving with alacrity to get the pipeline moving again. My pre op redux is Monday morning at 7:30. They apologized for the early time saying they were trying to get things going as soon as they could, I said I love the early time. (But 7:30 isn't really early for me. I'm normally up by 5:30.) They also said I will most likely need a COVID test this time in spite of the vaccination due to the big COVID numbers. So they also set an appointment for that as well as a visit with the surgeon.
     
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  4. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Remember to bring a marking pen to write "not this one" on non-target knee.
     
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  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    they do that for you know ;)
     
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  6. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    But they probably do not make the message humorous.
     
  7. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Sometimes they do. Someone told me that they got one knee marked "this one" and the other one marked "the other one, stupid." :D
     
  8. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Yeah be careful about how you write the orders...

    You wouldn't want a bit of clothing to cover up the "not" and invert your message for example.

    Poor Abby.

    abnormal.jpeg
     
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  9. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Yeah, probably safest to let them mark it so they know for sure what to look for. ;)
     
  10. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    They ask you which knee is the bad one and then mark it themselves.

    Remember what i said Jerry soon as they get the IV in you tell them your very anxious about this surgery and they will knock you out right then and there no groin nerve block drama. Next stop is you wake up in your bed. And your knee will be super swollen.
    Probably at your age your in there 2 days?

    Hardest part for me was the ride home. You have to lay down in the back seat as your knee will not bend enough to get into the front seat.
    Slightest bump and wowee...

    Then PT starts. Take you pain pills before they arrive get them on board and working because they will make you bend your knee past where it hurts bad every single time. Days of fighting for another 1/4 of an inch movement. If its not hurting your not bending enough. Don't mess
    with this you have a very short window to recover full movement.

    About 30 days of that and your going to feel much better. Pain pills dude...your best friend.
     
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  11. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Thanks, Ed. I appreciate the tips. We're pretty experienced with this stuff. My wife got a new knee last November. I got a plate in my wrist 14 years ago. The wrist still needs to be stretched now and then but otherwise is like new other than a fairly impressive scar. The wife really likes her knee.

    Yes, that's how they did it with my wife. (y)

    This doctor does the nerve block in the OR after putting you out. :sleep: Also, he puts it in the hip.

    Three days including the surgery day is SOP for this doctor. The PT guy who gave us the class said this doc is old school in this regard. Also, he has a super low infection rate and his patients love him. You'll see why if you read on.

    This doc keeps the nerve block in place till immediately before you go home. It's a sort of a slow pump they remove right before you get dressed to leave. So the leg is still pretty dead till the next day after you go home. This is part of the reason for the three day stay in the hospital. So you can get some PT in before the pain really hits. If surgery is in the morning, they'll have you walking in the afternoon. The next day gets a little more ambitious. Even with the block, though, you still need the pills. And you need to tell the nurse ahead of time because they can get pretty busy. If you wait till you really need it to ask for it, you might be in major pain before the nurse finishes with that other urgent need he or she is probably busy with. They also keep a drain in place to let out the excess fluids till the day you go home. When I took my wife home, her only minor complaint was just getting into the car. (It was her right knee.) On the 4-mile ride itself, she felt no pain at all and sat in the front passenger seat.

    I know this well from getting a plate put in my wrist with nine screws all the way through. Even with the pills, it felt for about two days like someone parked an M1 Abrams on my wrist. Without the pills, it felt like my wrist was on a sharp rock with the tank on top. And I'm sure that getting the ends cut off of two big leg bones is way worse than getting a bunch of screws run through your arm. :eek:
     
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  12. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Got my shot in the inside upper thigh where they would insert stents if you need a heart catheter that’s where the nerve bundle is.
    Both times.

    No nerve block for me post surgery. They got me up walking on crutches the first day. No drain either. Just all bandaged up.


    It may be different for me mine was unicompartmental both times one single joint on each leg just one joint. So total knee is probably much more exciting lol.
    It still sucks all around though.
     
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  13. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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  14. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Warning: media rant coming up.
    It sounds cruel, but what happened is poetic justice, not because of his party but because of his intelligence (or lack thereof). But the media consistently re-enforce the political divide by always highlighting the party? Why can't the headline simply read, "Anti-Mask Florida Official Dies of COVID—and Takes Software Secrets With Him"? Put the details in the story. Most of my friends tend toward republican and most are vaccinated and seriously PO'd at the antivaxxers. But the press would have you believe that all Republicans are neanderthal nazis who want their grandmothers to die. And then there are the misleading stories like the one I saw this morning that Florida has the most nursing home deaths from COVID in the country. DUH!! Florida has the most nursing home RESIDENTS in the country. Whadaya expect? But no mention of per resident deaths compared to other states. So there's no way to know if it good or bad, because they didn't give any useful information. I am so sick of those lying "nice people" trying to scare us and tear us apart. :mad: End of media rant. :)

    Back to the topic, TGH is a fantastic hospital. It's where my son went for his cystic fibrosis treatments and hospitalizations. It's one of the most successful transplant hospitals in the country and where he would have gotten his new lungs if they had found suitable ones in time. But it's a long way from my house and, being in downtown Tampa, it's a royal pita to get to. Where I'm going is just four miles away and no crazy downtown traffic or tolls or parking fees. Just four traffic lights. (y)
     
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  15. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    I need to stop reading this thread.
    No.
    Not because of the political stuff….that’s ops normal.
    I still have all of my OEM suspension bits (last hospital visit was 05 for a kidney stone) but I know that’s gonna change..
    :)
    ..Seriously. Good Luck Jerry!

    Sorry about the Gators yesterday.
    They played a heckuva game…..
     
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  16. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    This was a total surprise to me. No one that I now of on my side of the family has had a knee replaced. When the MRI showed bone on bone, there was an immediate bone on floor reaction from my jaw. I always though bone on bone arthritis was excruciating. A friend in his 80s is in a world of pain with his knee. This hurts, but not as bad as I would have thought ... except when it locks. And whatever is locking it mush finally be wearing down after all these months of delays because it doesn't lock as hard or as often as it originally did. Still, I think it's better to do it now than to wait till I'm even older and slower to recover.

    Hopefully, your suspension will last at least as long as your battery. ;)

    PS. it does sound like it was quite a game. We were at a birthday party.
     
  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    same with mrs. b, both knees done, and no one on either side of her family even had pain, never mind a replacement.
    she did have lime disease though, which is a minor suspect.
     
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  18. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Hey Jerry my best friend and his wife both have cystic fibrosis. They both had there lungs replaced at TGH. They met at TGH and then got married.
    It’s a horrible disease. Causes so many other side issues, So much medication they both take like 50 pills a day
    Severely immunocompromised, And both the sweetest kindest people you will ever meet. I got him a job at where I work he’s the best in the world at what he does. My wife and I worry alot about them and try to help them any way we can always,
    We both see a Sinus guy at TGH too. Best hospital in town. Your in very good hands there.
     
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  19. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    He was in the same boat as you his wife needed a Sinus FESS at TGH and that surgery was Put off multiple times.
    She finally got in last week so there opening up again. Which is odd our local news reports it’s out of control locally. Really bad in Pinellas very scary.
     
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  20. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    @edthefox5, I'm sad & glad at the same time that you know someone with CF and have an idea what it's like. Most people don't know anything about it. Those familiar with it say it's the worst disease in the world. When our kids were born, the average life expectancy was about five. Now it's in the 40's but it's 40 really tough years. Our son made it to 38. When he was still a kid, we had to do three 45-minute postural drainage treatments on him every day, and on his older sister. Now there are vests that vibrate the gunk out. Way better medicines now to liquify the gunk. But eventually, every one of them will die of infection, scarring from infection, or drown in their own blood like our son. Unless they get a transplant. And then they get to deal with all the stuff that entails. As for the sinuses, our son had so many sinus operations that we all lost count.

    Anyway, veering back more or less to the topic, I think you might have miss-read something. I'm not going to TGH. I'm going to Medical Center of Trinity, which is only four miles from home. It's our son who was a regular patron at TGH. ;)