Tuesday April 28, 2009: Da Feet, Part Deux

I had my ortho appointment with Dr. Gray today for my feet and ankles. Lots of xrays were taken so he could check all the nooks and crannies, bones, etcetera. I do NOT have any signs of arthritis in my feet or ankles.. I don't have flat feet. At the moment, there is no swelling. I do have a bone spur by the arch but he said that is nothing that would be causing the current pains (which are far less because of the nice weather this week compared to last week). He thinks it is a soft tissue issue probably and after I go back in 2 weeks with my existing orthotics and the sandals that I have for pronating feet, he will decide what to do, but he thinks I just need some OTC orthotics for the pronating at this point. He also gave me 2 tubes of Voltaren to try on my feet. I have tried it previously on my (now replaced) right knee and it did nothing but it was probably too far gone by then and not used for long enough to have any impact. He also thinks at least part of the problem might be related to the funny walk I had for months too. He also was very pleased with the good outcome of the PKR and was happy that sending me to get it done was a good decision. WHen I mentioned the other knee getting worse, he said I could get that one replaced eventually too! Hopefully not too soon---he remembers how much surgery I've had in the last 18 months, since he did 2 out of the 3. Dr. Gray also said it could be an alignment problem caused by the funny walking and now the new knee. he checked the tendon and of course, today it isn't sore like it sometimes is. He said it wasn't swollen or hot today but could get a shot of cortisone when it does act up.
So I go back again on May 12.

Monday April 27, 2009

Today we received a wedding invitation to my cousin's son's wedding in June in a Boston suburb. The groom is the young man who just returned from Iraq. After the wedding, he and his new wife will be moving to FOrt Dix (in New Jersey) for the next couple of years. His mother is very grateful he won't be returning to Iraq at least for those 2 years. The wedding is on a Friday afternoon at 4PM at the bride's family's house. We really didn't want to drive home after the festivities but we really didn't want to spend the money on a hotel room. So fate kicked in! Andy (youngest son), who lives Cambridge/Boston and his GF made reservations tonight to leave for the Azores to visit my sister on the night of the wedding so we're actually going to spend the night at his apartment, sharing the bed with his kitten, which should be fun. They will be up here in a couple of weeks and will give us an extra set of keys to the apartment so we can just let ourselves in. My plan is to use my own Macy's coupon this week and buy a set of nice towels in a neutral color for a wedding present. And since I'm working in dresses on Thursday, I'm going to take a look around. I honestly can't remember when I last bought a dress, except for a cotton tee-shirt dress from LL Bean a few years ago! It should be interesting finding shoes to wear, although I have black heels I can always wear (I'll have other shoes in the car!)

Meanwhile, my sister is going to be making a quilt for my office where I am sitting now. It will be a wall hanging. My assignment is to go to the fabric store and buy the fabric which my son will take with him when he goes to the Azores. So I have to do that in the next couple of weeks, along with getting her some Twizzlers and other goodies for her that he'll stick in his suitcase.

Tomorrow morning is my ortho appointment and I hopefully will come home with some answers. My feet are still hurting but not as much as they were last week when it was pouring out. On a good note, my new knee feels fine and my other knee hasn't been so achy either. I'm guessing it's all the warm, dry weather we've had the last few days. Tomorrow is the last day of warm temps and then it's back to the 60s-no more 80s and low 90s

Friday April 24, 2009: Da Feet

I was supposed to have my ortho appointment today for my feet and ankles, but unfortunately, yesterday afternoon, it was cancelled. He would not be in at the office today. I was given a choice of taking a "if there is a cancellation, we'll call you" appointment for next Thursday but I said that wouldn't work as I have to work. Then she said I could see one of the other orthos Friday (today) in the RIdgefield office, one whom I had never had any contact with. I said no. I was about to ask if Dr. Schweitzer would be available, but suddenly there was an appointment free for next Tuesday afternoon. So I'm going then. Meanwhile, my foot pain has lessened. The more time goes by, the more I am convinced I have foot and ankle arthritis. I was looking at the AAOS site yesterday and found this article with a diagram that shows where foot arthritis develops and those spots are where my feet ache (in addition to other problems, though):

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00209

And I think my foot pain has lessened because it's no longer raining and the pain index is no longer at 8. There is more going on in there than possible arthritis (and it is just my guess that's the issue). Hopefully Tuesday I'll get an xray of my feet and see what shows up. Meanwhile there is also that tendon in the front of my leg and my arches are still hurting. I guess I'll update after my Tuesday afternoon appointment, unless something exciting happens between now and then!

Wednesday April 22, 2009: Oh my aching feet!

After having a terrible night's sleep yet again due to my feet and ankles hurting, I got up this morning and told Henry that I thought it was time to see the doctor about it. He said he had been waiting for me to decide this! I wasn't sure if I should see Dr. Schweitzer (replacement doctor) as part of the problem is caused, I'm sure, by the change in my gait since my PKR, or if I should see Dr. Gray, whom I've seen previously about my feet (although I had seen him a whole lot more recently about my knee, last in June 2008), because he's an ankle and foot specialist. I called CFO and ended up getting an appointment with Dr. Gray this coming Friday afternoon. Issues are pain on the bottom of my feet, by the base of my toes on the bottom of my feet (some stiffness), the arches of my feet aching, the heels aching, my ankles aching and feeling like they need to crack frequently, and lastly the anterior tibial tendon issue (which I think is tendonitis) still. That tendon and the ankle cracking are things that started after the PKR, so I think they are related to the gait. I am guessing he'll send me to PT for possibly iontopheresis and ankle strengthening exercises or something. I will not consider any suggestions of surgery!!! No way, after 3 surgeries in 11 months! It;s been nice not having any in 7 months !!
I had been hoping not to have to go to the ortho office again until January when my next appointment with Dr. Schweitzer is scheduled, but that's not going to happen. When I made Friday's appointment, I made sure that it was for a bilateral problem so I don't have to go back to have one foot looked at then after the other foot is looked at Friday. I also want to be sure Dr. Schweitzer gets a report of the appointment.

Tuesday April 21, 2009

The pain index is at 8 and I can tell. Everything aches. Couldn't fall asleep last night. Left knee hurt a lot, as well as feet. I think I'm going to need a nap this afternoon.

Monday April 20, 2009

I meant to write this yesterday but somehow the day passed and I never did! We had a very very busy Saturday. We went to Cambridge to see Andy. Due to parking permit issues, we had to meet him (and his girlfriend) at a T-station down the line from where he lives, where there was also a humongous parking garage. I went up and down stairs like I hadn't in probably a year and a half. We took the T to Somerville and had brunch at Renee's. I had French toast with chocolate sauce and raspberries! Yum! Then we took the T to Brookline to see my old house. where I lived until the end of 3rd grade, in June, 1963, when we then moved to NYC. The brick wall in front of the house wasn't there when we lived there. Andy kept asking me why my parents sold the house and moved to NYC because the house is amazing. We also saw the park across the street from it where I used to climb trees and go to an annual Easter egg hunt. Then we took the T back to Cambridge to his apartment where we met the darling Sasha kitten. Not a great picture (see above) but the only one you can actually see her. Then we walked to Harvard Yard. On the way, Allen called to say if it would be okay to have dinner with Kathy's parents as well as them once we got there. Once at Harvard Yard, I thought about my parents being there, as my mother was class of 1940. Lots of tourists and others around. Then we took the T back to where the car was parked, drove the kids back tio Andy's apartment and left for Easthampton to see Allen and Kathy-this around 3:30ish maybe. We got to Easthampton, met their new cat too (forgot to take a picture) and then went out to dinner at a diner we've been to with them. We met Kathy's parents there too. Nice dinner, although the waitress forgot a lot of things. Then we drove home. Having left the house at 8AM and arriving home at about 8:45PM, it was a long day but a great day. I could never have walked that much a year ago without terrible swelling in my right knee and terrible pain. Thank you, Oxford Partial Knee Replacement! My left knee (unreplaced but with its worsening issues) survived too but was a little achy. Leg muscles -mainly calf-were a bit stiff yesterday but are feeling better today.

I'm not working this week but am working next week, but at the end of the week so it's like having 2 weeks off again, unless I get called in to work unexpectedly. We shall see.

Tuesday April 14, 2009

I realized last night that my new knee is actually now beginning to feel normal again, with the few moments of discomfort mostly when I'm trying to get comfortable or trying to sleep and either I turn wrong or I'm putting too much pressure on the Oxford implant area. My right leg no longer feels like it's longer or heavier than my other leg. I had some tightness on the lateral side and that's slowly fading. The hamstrings are rarely tightening up now. Yea! Only took nearly 7 months (although everyone told me it would be a year before I felt completely normal again) after my partial knee replacement, and my ankle is still feeling like it needs to crack frequently. But on the whole, it really feels so much better! Now I just wish my left knee would stop reminding me all's not well there!

Thursday April 9, 2009 SHoot!

Yesterday while I was at work, only straightening tables of tables that were a mess, my left knee, the knee that doesn't have bionic parts, decided to give out not once, but twice. I took some Tylenol while still at work to see if that would help with the pain I had there after the giving out (I had already managed to hit the knee on something earlier). Helped sort of. Once home, showered, and dinnered, I iced it which helped a bit more. Today it still hurts and is slightly swollen, although not nearly as pouffy as the right knee used to get, pre-partial knee replacement. I went to Costco earlier this afternoon and wore my old knee brace which felt weird since I had only worn it on the other knee before! I was happy to take it off once I got home. Consulting with my friends at Knee Geeks, one thinks I am most likely on my way to new parts in that knee. I tend to agree with her but hope it will be a while before that happens. However, if things don't feel better with it, I'll probably end up calling the rheumy office or the ortho office and possibly get a cortisone shot (if I'm lucky). The last MRI of that knee was done in December 2007 and the knee was operated on in February 2008. The operation was a meniscus trim, chondroplasty, and a chondral defect was seen. Dr. Gray told me after the surgery only 1/2 of the medial meniscus is gone and probably even more is gone just by wear and tear.
Ah, the joys of bad knees......not.

Tuesday April 7, 2009

I didn't realize it had been 2 weeks since I last made an entry! Things are progressing. I noticed my scar is finally looking less red in the red spots. I worked Sunday and my hamstring behaved very well, although my feet were killing me in the evening.
I am continuing to be busy on Facebook. There are now 19 people in the Oxford Knee group. However, no one says anything (or hasn't in at least a couple of weeks)!
I sold a Le Creuset pan on eBay. What a pain but done. Someday I will get the right amount to charge for shipping. I also have shipped off the Depression Glass, again underestimating shipping costs, but I sucked it up and paid what I needed to pay.
Really pretty boring now as far as the new knee goes. Other knee has been not so wonderful but tolerable still.
I guess that's it for now!