I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row for my surgery next week and beyond. I've mentioned that I have terrible knee pain. After surgery, I will not be able to use any kind of aspirin product or it's derivitive, such as ibuprofen, Advil, Motril, Aleve because they put you at risk for bleeding. Not a good thing. For now, if I take 4 ibuprofen, it will give me some relief. That will not be an option post surgery. Tylenol, which I can take, gives me no relief. To that end, I decided to make an appointment to see my orthopedist who did some repair on my left knee 4 years ago. He said then, that if I did not lose weight that there was no reason to do any more surgery until I lost weight. The repair did help, but now the pain is back and worse, and in both knees. I saw him today and the news was not good. Since it had been 4 yrs since he last saw me, he did new x-rays. I expected him to say that I would need more repair after I lose weight, but what he said was that I need total knee replacements for both knees. Big bummer! I did not expect to hear that. He was pleased to hear that I am having surgery and on my way to weight loss, but that my options are pretty slim for my knees. He gave me a cortisone injection in each knee and also gave me a prescription for Ultram (Trammadol) for pain . He also said that he could do surgery to "clean out" the severe arthritis in my knees to buy some time, and possibly give me some limited relief, before doing the total knee replacements. He also mentioned that there is a injectible treatment call Synvisc that is used to lubricate the knee joint. He said it was made from chicken or turkey or some such bird's bones. Motor oil for the knee. This is given in 3 separate injections into the knee joint and can buy more time. I'd certainly want to try the "motor oil" injections before going for the big surgeries. I trust this doc. I have worked with him for many years in the past and think he does good work, with good results. So.....once I lose some weight and can't stand the pain any more, we'll move on to the next step.
Tomorrow is the big day for my preop exam with my surgeon, and registration at the hospital. Before I do that, I am seeing my dentist so he can make a "flapper, (that's what they call it) for when I have my implant. It is a tooth on a retainer, sort of, that you wear while your bone heals after the implant post is put in place. You have to wear it for 6 months....which is a big pain in the patootee. After that, you get your new crown and Voila!, a lovely new front tooth. This has to be made before the implant surgery is done, otherwise, you leave the oral surgeon's office without a front tooth. Not a lovely look.
Busy, busy. That's me. The liquid diet is going fine. I said I wasn't going to weight, but I couldn't resist. I've lost 13 lbs in the past 8 days. I certainly should have, because there is not much going in and plenty coming out. I pee pretty much on an hourly basis. The diet has not been all that bad. If I can do this....I can handle the postop diet. Really.
I hope ya'll appreciate all the education I'm giving you on not only gastric bypass surgery, but dental implants and knee replacements. I am going to be one cute chick.
Until then, stay tuned.
Woof, meow and xoxo
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