November 30, -0001
I am a man’s man, at least that is what I hope. But being a man‘s man has some drawbacks. So the story goes.
On December 6th I had surgery to remove a torn meniscus from my right knee. I had explained to the Doctor that my right knee was my good knee and I needed it fixed. My left knee has already had three surgeries and was just good enough to lift me up.
So my doctor said ok and did meniscus surgery just to make my right knee useable. After surgery he told me the cartilage in my right knee was gone and he’d need to replace the knee sometime, he said when it hurt bad enough I would know it was time.
Two weeks after surgery I was feeling fine, then the east Texas ice storm hit. The unusual cold weather froze and broke several pipes. Yes, we thought we had prepared for it and many exposed pipes were protected, but not all.
The barn pipes run close to the ceiling about 20’ high, that was an issue. Fortunately, one of our boarders has a 16’ A-frame ladder he lent to us. I managed to fix most the ice damage with the use of that ladder. However, going up and down that ladder caused my knee to start swelling, At least that’s what I thought. Hey, no problem, I’m a man’s man. Foolish as a man’s man could be.
I ignored the swelling until I couldn’t walk. Off to a nearby clinic run by a nice woman who also boards horses at our ranch. She informed me infections in the knee are dangerous. She gave me multiple shots and prescriptions and told me to contact the surgeon who did the operation. My surgeon was also very concerned. He said go to an ER and have the knee checked plus multiple blood tests. Phooey phooey.
Beth and I decided to return to Albuquerquue and have the surgeon deal with the issue. At this point we were concerned that the infection could be a significant issue. In Albuquerque we were confronted with the problem of going to an ER, but we did. 8 hours later I finally had fluid drained from the knee. They would let me know the final test results. I did have an infection. My surgeon said no way my knee was infected and that my swollen knee, now the size of a soccer bal,l needed rest. I don’t understand the meaning of rest, however my wife does. So pressure sleeve, ice, and elevation was required.
Ranch team calls with a list of issues I need to deal with when I return. I return to the doctor and he said to let him drain the knee and test the fluid. He started drawing fluid from the knee and when he saw the fluid his first question was ‘Did you have lunch today?’ What? 'Well if you had lunch we need to wait several hours before surgery unless you want an epidural.' I chose the epidural and spent four days in the hospital recovering from surgery and being pumped with antibiotics. I was finally sent home with a picc line installed and instructions on how to self administer antibiotics in the picc line for the next 21 days.
Point of this blog: 1) after surgery slow down, 2) you can’t do it all, 3) when it starts to hurt immediately seek help. Foolish me, I continued to work for 8 days and am feeling the results.
