I Hate Dr. Williams!

"I'm not happy with how far you're bending" he says. "I want you to let me force it" he says. "You come in to the hospital, I knock you out and I can bend it to 140 degrees" he says.

About nine hours after the procedure, my knee is swollen, red, painful, and won't even bend 5 degrees. And I am supposed to start back on the CPM and have PT tomorrow! This is me sticking out my tongue and blowing a raspberry in the general direction of my surgeon.

I stopped writing after my one month anniversary. I figured it had been a month, I should be better by now. I stopped using the brace 10 days before my 2 month anniversary. Yes, I had problems. I had to stop PT for awhile when a suture site on my knee wouldn't heal fully and kept spot bleeding. And I had a number of issues with swelling. But lately I have been able to walk with relatively little pain, though some stiffening. I have been diligent about PT, both during appointments and home. But the scar tissue seemed to be blocking my bending progress from going at the desired rate.

I had gone to see Dr. W. for the arthritis flaring in my other knee. And that's when he mentioned manipulation. (I think it was just payback for a comment I made about a certain sports team and their dismal season!)

Naively, I agreed. So two days before Christmas, with most of the snow scooped off the streets, off I went to the hospital, I even took a loaf of my pumpkin walnut bread as a holiday gift for his staff. I worked very hard at being perky and positive. Instead of an operating room I went to the recovery room where I was lightly put under, while the nice anesthesiologist administered the epidural. I woke up an hour later unable to move anything below my waist and wondering if it was done. It wasn't. I got another shot in my IV while he bent it three times to a grand total of 135 degrees. (See even my knee has a stubborn streak and he missed his goal by 5 degrees.)

I was in some pain and couldn't figure out how he got my knee to bend that far, as it was felling a bit traumatized and wouldn't go much past about 40 degrees for me. I was able to walk, first with a walker, then a cane, and even on my own. When we got back from the hospital I was even able to walk around the supermarket. But when I got home and sat on the couch, my knee screamed in protest when I asked it to bend - causing me to yelp a bit. I have been icing and took my pills. Neither of which seem to be helping.

Basically, I feel like I have taken a huge step backwards. Instead of spending the holidays in on warm sunny beach or a snowy one in Maine, I get to spend Christmas Eve and my birthday with Dina, my physical therapist. (By the way, my birthday is Monday - large presents and trips to exotic locales are always appreciated!)

I think everyone can agree that a raspberry is fairly mild compared to what I could be sending Dr. Williams way!