Under the knife

[Brewdude]

 I shopped for a nice cane for awhile, collectors like you drive the price up too much!   I've been wondering who I should be mad at and now I know. :cheers:

I settled on an aluminum one with a big thick foam handle.. It ain't pretty and I wouldn't want to do Cane-Fu (yes that's a thing) with it, but it gets the job done.  


I think now is the time for a foot race, you game? Gimp vs Gimp.. Tin of baccy at stake.. Winner take all..     Lol.  

Be well brother, find something to laugh at/about. It makes the hurt run in fear.

Well, my collection of canes is pretty small. 8 or so displayed in a nice brass/wrought iron stand. Just a decoration really. Have a couple nice pieces I got in the UK many years ago. One actually is a sword sheathed in the long part. Carved ivory hand on the top. Pretty cool. Can't believe I took it on the plane home, but that was long before 911.

I'll take a rain check on the gimp foot race for now though. It was all I could do to go out to the mailbox a little while ago. Took over twice the time it normally takes and it's only about 500' from the house.

Had a couple good jolts in it today. Guess it's reminding me to take it slow and easy, which is not my nature. Can't rush the healing though.

Ya, right now I'm a gimp.


Cheers,

RR

 

[Stick]

I'll be sure to go very easy and slow as well as delegate the heavy lifting.

Good man Rande. We don't want to see you on the bench any longer than you need to be.

 

[TMacphersonNH]

Hope you have a quick and relatively painless recovery Rande. My thoughts are with you. Best wishes. - Tom

 

[ftrplt]

BD...You get to feeling 100% ASAP!!! And no apologizin' for telling us about your surgery, even if you feel it's a minor thing compared to others!! Minor surgery is what other people have When it's you they're cuttin' on, it's MAJOR surgery!! Take'er easy, don't push it, good move on nixing the opiates. Darn things can mess you up!!! :cheers: FTRPLT

 

[Brewdude]

Had a downturn in the recovery late yesterday. I'll spare the details but suffice to say that the pain increased by a few orders of magnitude. Had a miserable night trying to sleep. This AM no better.

Trying to stay off my feet as much as possible. Hard to find a position where the pain is mitigated. Just on Ibuprofen, not sure if it's doing any good but I sure as hell will not be filling the script for the opi's. At least my bowels are functioning today. I know - TMI right?

Got the brewery team alerted that I would very likely not be in Mon. So they're prepared to sally forth without me. And that's one difficult decision for me, make no mistake. I'm there rain or sun, snow or blow.

What caused to downturn? Hell if I know. Didn't do much Sat. Most strenuous thing I did was walk out and back to the mailbox, and frankly that was a bitch. Hard to believe that set this off.

I can only think that on Fri after the surgery the numbing agents they put in were still going strong. Once they wore off, then you get this.

Not serious enough to call the Doc though. No bleeding from the site or anything. Just pain and spasms. Gonna have to bite the bullet and get through it. Which is my way.

Don't think I busted anything loose from the op though. Had a couple good jolts when I moved it the wrong way, which begs the question "which is the right way"?

OK so enough whining. I'm a guy of detail, so that's how I normally operate here and elsewhere. And if that's TMI just read this instead-

Not a good day today, I'll hope for better tomorrow........


:silent:




Cheers,

RR

 

[DrT999]

May you have an easier day tomorrow!

 

[Stick]

Mate, that sounds sore. I must say though that I'm pleased you're not headed to the brewery today. In my (humble) opinion too much too soon. You've had an invasive procedure Rande and whilst it may not be to the same magnitude as others' med requirements on the BoB, it still warrants a recovery period. Take it easy old chum or you'll end up prolonging your recovery.

 

[RonA3597]

BD, I wish you a smooth, speedy recovery.

 

[Stick]

How goes it Rande?

 

[Brewdude]

How goes it Rande?

Much better mate.

Went back to work Mon, and while it was slow going I didn't take any unnecessary risks. Had some issues with my lower calf being sore but I put that down to being off my feet for a full week prior- using muscles that hadn't been used for a while. And that is much improved today.

Went for a post-op checkup mid week, and the healing seems to be progressing normally. Need to schedule some PT to get range of motion back as I can't bend it very far right now.

Gotta say that the first 4-5 days were pretty rough though, much pain and I had to use a cane to get around. In fact I ended up going to the Doc to see if this amount of discomfort was normal. He asked me if I had been taking the meds he prescribed and I told him no, and reminded him that I said I didn't want any Opiods right before the surgery. He had given me a script for 2 of them but I didn't fill it.

Well, he wasn't too happy about this and I got a short lecture! He sent me in for an untrasound to see if there were any blood clots, but that came back negative. So what else could I do except buck up and get through it best I could.

Fortunately after another 24 hrs or so the swelling ramped down as well as the pain. And every day from there it got a little better.

So I'm not going out to shoot 18 holes yet, but it's improving every day. Thanks for asking mate.


Cheers,

RR

 

[DrT999]

Glad to hear you're recovering! :cheers:

 

[Stick]

That's tremendous news Rande. You're clearly from good stock.
I'm not familiar with those drugs but they sound like real stinkers, so good for you for not delving into them.
Take things steady though mate, it's still early days...

 

[Brewdude]

That's tremendous news Rande. You're clearly from good stock.
I'm not familiar with those drugs but they sound like real stinkers, so good for you for not delving into them.
Take things steady though mate, it's still early days...

He gave me scripts for Oxycodone and Hydrocodone, and I've read too many negative things about them so certainly didn't want anything to do with it. Have to admit though, that just after seeing the Doc and having the pain no better I was sorely tempted to fill the script. Glad the pain subsided significantly about 24 hrs later.

No, I don't see myself as some tough old bugger. Just wanted to steer clear of heavy duty narcotics. Now I'm glad I did.


Cheers,

RR

 

[Ozark Wizard]

Sounds like you're on the mend, good show!!

Excellent news is always welcome!

 

[TMacphersonNH]

Glad to hear you are on the mend Rande. Awesome news. There is a place for narcotics. For instance I use the fentanyl lozenges for my chemo related pain. (On the narco equivalency it's about 50 times greater than oxycodone). If used wisely and for the purpose intended they can be a life saver. Pain can sometimes prevent recovery which isn't a great place to be. But it sounds like you are in great shape and I'm very glad to hear. My best wishes. - Tom

 

[Dutch]

Rande, it's great to hear you are feeling better. I agree with Tom. My doctors always told me that pain meds are intended to get over a specific operation or injury. It's when they are taken month after month, year after year, that the negatives really start to pile up.

Hopefully you will be ready to swing a broom before too long! :lol:

 

[Brewdude]

Rande, it's great to hear you are feeling better. I agree with Tom. My doctors always told me that pain meds are intended to get over a specific operation or injury. It's when they are taken month after month, year after year, that the negatives really start to pile up.

Hopefully you will be ready to swing a broom before too long! :lol:

Ya I get it. And perhaps I should've taken them after all. But I didn't. And I'm not smug or proud or anything. Life goes on my friend.

Swing a broom you say? As in taking out another bat???

:lol:


Cheers,

RR

 

[Dutch]

Rande, it's great to hear you are feeling better. I agree with Tom. My doctors always told me that pain meds are intended to get over a specific operation or injury. It's when they are taken month after month, year after year, that the negatives really start to pile up.

Hopefully you will be ready to swing a broom before too long! :lol:

Ya I get it. And perhaps I should've taken them after all. But I didn't. And I'm not smug or proud or anything. Life goes on my friend.

Swing a broom you say? As in taking out another bat???

:lol:


Cheers,

RR

Yeah, you looked pretty athletic in that extermination vid you posted! :lol!:

 

[Brewdude]

Rande, it's great to hear you are feeling better. I agree with Tom. My doctors always told me that pain meds are intended to get over a specific operation or injury. It's when they are taken month after month, year after year, that the negatives really start to pile up.

Hopefully you will be ready to swing a broom before too long! :lol:

Ya I get it. And perhaps I should've taken them after all. But I didn't. And I'm not smug or proud or anything. Life goes on my friend.

Swing a broom you say? As in taking out another bat???

:lol:


Cheers,

RR

Yeah, you looked pretty athletic in that extermination vid you posted! :lol!:

You mean the one of me in my skivvies, broom in hand, shouting "bring it on you sunnavabitch"? Can't understand how that made it in to youtube, unless you posted it! Not my finest moment......





Cheers,

RR

 

[Brewdude]

Not happy to report that the knee began acting up about a month ago. Started becoming sore, some days worse than others. Not terrible, but definitely noticeable. Could not bend the knee enough to kneel or squat, which I need to do frequently at the brewery. Also started having spasms which came and went, but at their worst began to deprive me of sleeping.

This all started after a period early this year where I felt 100%. Full range of motion, no pain at all. This lasted a month or so. And there was no event that I could identify which might have re-injured the knee - not like the situation that it originated from where it was more than obvious that I'd had a serious injury.

So was this down to just the daily stresses that I incur every day at the brewery which now have conspired to somehow cause trauma to the surgery? I had to know.

Fortunately, the L&I claim had not been closed yet. (Labor and Industries for all you non-US residents. Which means that the state picks up the costs for an on-the-job injury).

Got myself to the Doc who performed the surgery today. He had X-rays of the knee taken and didn't find that the tears had opened up or something. But it did reveal that I have calcium deposits in between the joints. (Actually it was a bigger medical term but the upshot is that it's calcium).

Apparently he removed the calcium deposits I had during the surgery to repair the torn meniscus, but they have now manifested themselves again!

As for the treatment, he recommended a cortisone injection into the knee. I was very apprehensive about this due to a prior cortisone injection into my knee back about 20 yrs ago. (Don't remember which knee, btw).

In that instance the pain from the injection was so great that I was on the verge of grabbing the syringe out of the doc's hands!! So naturally I was a bit apprehensive.

I hasten to add that injections normally do not pose a problem for me. Take a blood sample, get a flu shot, even give blood with a bigass needle and NBD. Yet that cortisone shot was something of another order of magnitude.

My Doc assured me that I probably wouldn't even feel it, so we went forward (me being the sceptic).

He numbed the injection site with some cold spray (not liquid nitrogen), and while I plainly saw that the needle gauge was rather large, the insertion was 95% painless. I was impressed!

So where we are at is this - I'm to go forward as normal with no restrictions and report back in 10 days. Doc said that at some point it may be necessary to go back in and remove the calcified deposits, but only if they become such that I cannot stand it anymore. So for all that I'm cautiously optimistic.

It seems that my body just naturally produces this calcium and there's nothing that can be done to prevent it. When it gets too great it has to be cleaned out. And that's something I rather wish to avoid!

Another long winded post.........

And here is rabbit with a pancake on it's head-

Cheers,

RR