Knee replacement - part 1

HOSPITAL DIARY - LAPEYRONIE, MONTPELLIER

Wed 25 Feb - 1000 at hospital reception, a day of tests, questioning and hanging  about.  X-rays this morning in labyrinthine basement complex, many different views of my left knee and (I saw afterwards) entire lower body with marks and laser lines to measure it all accurately.

In between consultations with the nurse in charge, x-ray and anaesthetist,  back to very stuffy waiting room full of fellow knee and hip patients,  a varied bunch, most alone but one very garrulous fellow with his wife.  They were both very pleasant and he regaled us with tales of his complex medical history peppered with heart emergencies, all involving surgeons with whom he is apparently on first-name terms.  Unsure if they are ditto with him...  Other occupants of the room included a man who turns out to live in Lunel, a younger woman who said nothing and looked glum, and another woman my age, for whom this is not the first such op.

So it was a relief finally to be in my own quiet room, bare but pleasant ,with the familiar hospital buzz of noises off.   4 days later, the talkative man in the waiting rooms has scarcely stopped talking in the room next door, and is constantly surrounded by visitors.  But it is really no more than a murmur!  Having arrived at 10, eaten in the brasserie downstairs and sat around I was in the room by 4.  At this point the pre-op system kicked in - Canovas himself breezed by to say he was looking forward to seeing me tomorrow after 11, and he assured me I don't need to put a big X on my left knee..., followed later by his intern who asked lots of questions about driving, climbing stairs, walking etc.  Then followed the first shower with disinfectant scrub thrown in, and at the same time I was shaved round the knee and at the top of my left leg for the local anaesthetic (I had general too).

Thu 26 Feb was op day so this is mostly medical.   Still lots of waiting.  Second purifying shower @ 730 then sat in my gown till 10 - turned out I had it on back to front!!  Wheeled on my bed to the basement waiting space then local anaesthetic till nearly 12 - funnily enough someone did put a big black X on my left foot!  Then they heaved me onto the operating table and wheeled me next door, said goodbye and applied the general.

I asked the time of he who plugged me into drips etc at 1630.  No idea how long the op took but I have felt reasonably comfortable since and the pain has come and gone.  Canovas breezed in again on Thursday evening to say it had gone v well.  On Friday I could change from the all-revealing gown to my own clothes. I wondered how I’d manage, being unable to bend to put on boxers or socks.  It turned out the nice young man nurse helped me the first time, then it got gradually easier.

I wrote on Facebook “Just realising this is the longest I've gone without alcohol since... let's say 8 years. Not really missing it though if someone offered me a glass I wouldn't say no! But it is as well not to mix drinks, and with all the other liquids dripping into me just now water still seems a good choice orally”.  I have not been too successful sleeping on my back but luckily I've always been an insomniac and my tablet and 4G internet gizmo saw me through the waking patches. Greatest relief on Friday morning - I could wiggle my toes. A completely numb foot is a curiously scary thing.

The drug situation has been interesting.  I was happy to be allowed to keep all mine except painkillers, and surprised that the message had not got through so various duplicates appeared anyhow.  Spares are in a bag to go to the pharmacist later - explaining spares to busy nurses does not always help with the language barrier too.  Most of the pain and inflammation relief they provide works more or less OK - there was one, Lyrica, which I found had significant side-effects so decided not to take that. 

I wrote the next bit for Jenny Routledge who had a distinguished career in what the French call kiné. On Friday morning the very pleasant physio arrived and started my exercise. First an amazing techno bandage round the knee, little cubes encased in cloth which massage the swelling away without drainage tubes. I said these scientific wonders must have changed her life a lot, and she agreed: completely different from her start 20 yrs ago. Then some foot wiggling and knee straightening requiring counting to 10, at which I proved better than her. Then an amazing electric knee bender, to which my leg is strapped and cushioned while I lie on the bed. First day, straight to 60º, bending and straightening almost noiselessly for 3 hours while she goes to lunch I guess: the next day 70, then 80 and then 90º.  My friend Dawn who has followed the same treatment says this machine is a daily part of life for the next few weeks.  By the 4th day, the leg muscles are improving quickly though I still have lots of sore muscles after some of the leg raising exercises.

More anon…