Very well done our local NHS

[Lons]

I’ve been nursing dodgy knees for at least 15 years and 10 years ago had X-Rays and physio and was told both knees were “a bit rough” and would need scraping out soon and eventual replacement. I had to give up playing golf 5 years ago due to the issues which was a blow.

Not mentally ready for any surgery so I just put up with the usual until after cutting the grass last weekend I got a lot of constant pain in the right knee and sleep disruption which hasn't reduced so bullied by the missus this morning just before 9 am I filled out the obligatory on line GP form and pressed send. A few minutes later I got a ‘phone call, “we have a slot with a nurse practioner at 9.45, can you make it?”

Duly seen on time she referred me for X-Rays and told me to ring that department when I got home for an appointment. My wife also had a 10.30 appointment with the Parkinsons nurse so I made the calls when I got home at around 11.45 and she said “we can fit you in at 1.30pm”, so back into Morpeth and 3 X-Rays to each knee. Now just have to wait up to a week to discuss further with the GP and I’ve already booked an initial telephone consultation with the MSC unit for their earliest 13th July.

Of course luck is a factor but you can’t get faster service than that so no complaints and well done our local NHS practice though I know what’s coming in due course.

 

[Cabinetman]

Apart from a little pain after bashing my knee recently I seem to be lucky with leg joints, but that bash helps me understand what you’re going through, you have my sympathies.
Ps I think it’s maybe a lifetimes avoidance of sport that’s helping me now I’m older?

 

[Lons]

Possibly right Ian.
I played quite a bit of football, squash and golf, did a lot of running on roads and hard paths and always a lot of physical work at home then 17 years of hard physical graft after starting my business which was a shock after a lifetime behind desks and on the road.

Just like car brake disks they have to wear out eventually and I'm possibly my own worst enemy as I refuse to take pain killers, I have some 10% ibuprofen gel that helps a bit along with a tubular bandage support.

I bashed that knee once and it swelled up quite badly. The GP aspirated loads of fuid and sent it for analysis then called me in to tell me the results showed tuberculosis and referred me to hospital for tests. Of course I was clear but found out later they had mixed up the results at the labs and some poor bugger was told he or she was clear when it was the opposite.

 

[RogerS]

Sorry to hear that, Bob. Curious….did you mean MSK?

 

[Blackswanwood]

I hope it’s the start of a smooth journey to getting your knees sorted Bob.

The 80 year old gentleman I share a bench with at the carving group I go to had one of his knees replaced last year and goes in for the other one next week. I was surprised at how quickly the patient is back on their feet. The only drawback he found was not being allowed to drive for (I think) six weeks.

Although routine now for the NHS I find this stuff pretty amazing.

 

[Mike G]

Ps I think it’s maybe a lifetimes avoidance of sport that’s helping me now I’m older?

Might be, but extrapolating from a sample of one, I'd say it was more a matter of genetics and luck. There's nothing much harder on the knees than wicketkeeping and squash, and that was my life for decades. My knees are absolutely spot on, with no creaks or aches or anything.

 

[NickM]

Great that you got good service from the NHS.

I know two chaps who were Royal Marines (both mountain leaders so pretty hardcore stuff) at the same time. They’re around 60 now. They would have done the same training but one has had to have both ankle joints fused and one knee replaced. The other is as fit as a fiddle, still skiing etc. Definitely some luck and genetics involved in my view.

 

[Lons]

Sorry to hear that, Bob. Curious….did you mean MSK?

Yes MSK Roger though known here now as JMAPS (Joint Musculoskeletal and Pain Service). The old trick of changing the name when it's getting bad reviews.

 

[Lons]

I hope it’s the start of a smooth journey to getting your knees sorted Bob.

The 80 year old gentleman I share a bench with at the carving group I go to had one of his knees replaced last year and goes in for the other one next week. I was surprised at how quickly the patient is back on their feet. The only drawback he found was not being allowed to drive for (I think) six weeks.

Although routine now for the NHS I find this stuff pretty amazing.

Thanks Robert, it's not something I can't cope with or worry about, the thing that does concern me is timing as if it's during the mowing season I'll be a bit frustrated. 6 weeks of being a passenger in my wife's car doesn't appeal too much either.

Just one of those things, if we live long enough it's likely to happen to all of us. Pain I can live with and if essential I'd take the meds. My wife had a replacement 3 years ago and was on her feet within a couple of hours and home the same day and she's fine now and I know recovery can be fast if you put the hard work in.

Mike has to be right about genetics and presumably the make up of your bones and cartilage patially determines how long it lasts but I think one of the big differences between amateur and professional sport is that the latter has the benefit of constant training, physio and monitoring so everything is stronger where people like me just chuck your kit on and go at it hammer and tongs so abuse really.

Apparently catilage doesn't naturally self regenerate so when it's worn away you've had it hence my reference to brake linings. When the nurse put her hand on my knee and asked me to bend it I saw her expression change and she muttered "severe crepitus". I just asked her not to swear at me.

 

[RogerS]

.......the thing that does concern me is timing as if it's during the mowing season I'll be a bit frustrated. ........

Now if only you had a robot mower.........

 

[Lons]

Now if only you had a robot mower.........

The second word is off Roger

 

[RogerS]

..... Definitely some luck and genetics involved in my view.

Possibly. Both ex military and so reasonable enough to assume similar physical factors during their working life. But my sister is having her first knee op on the 29th. She's already had both hips done. Genetics ? Nah. She's just clinically obese and there's 1.5 of me to her weight...if not double.

 

[Lons]

Possibly. Both ex military and so reasonable enough to assume similar physical factors during their working life. But my sister is having her first knee op on the 29th. She's already had both hips done. Genetics ? Nah. She's just clinically obese and there's 1.5 of me to her weight...if not double.

You've met my wife Roger, could blow her over with a hairdryer but she's had both hips, a knee and both Achilles done. Not sports minded ever though she was on her feet a lot as a nurse but had to be genetic in her case.

 

[Woodbloke]

The second word is off Roger

Struggling here to work out what the first word is. I've had a genteel upbringing...... - Rob

 

[Lons]

Struggling here to work out what the first word is. I've had a genteel upbringing...... - Rob

I could have said GFandM but you wouldn't have understood that either Rob
My old man was a miner and apparently their second language was pitmatic interlaced with an expletive or three. My mother was Austrian so a colourful word or two from that direction as well.

 

[Accipiter]

Sorry to hear about your knees troubles Bob... but it's good to see you're getting attention from your local NHS teams.

I've had pains in mine for quite some time and has been gradually getting difficult at times but especially if I've crouched down... the difficulty (and painful bit) being when struggling to get back upright. Eventually made an appointment (on line) after going out to photograph the bluebells, crouching to take some low angle shots and just couldn't get up without my son's help.

My appointment was with one of the practice nurses that specialises in physiotherapy, told me it sounded like I'd got "Patellofemoral" problems to *both* knees, would need x-rays to confirm and given a YouTube link for some exercises to do until another appointment was made after the x-rays... I've had the x-rays just awaiting for the appointment. If it's not one thing it's another... That said, I'm ofbthe mind that if knee replacement is somewhere along the line I'd rather sooner than later so I can be more active than going through 'slowing down' because of knee troubles.

Hope yours get sorted sooner rather than later.

 

[Lons]

You might be lucky Frank as if it's patellofemoral it could be just inflamation and they may offer you cortisone type injections which are worth a try if they do. I had 2 lots in my rotator cuff shoulder the first lasted 4 months but the second well over a year now touch wood. At worst you might get away with less invasive surgery with a potential full replacement joint many years away.

Think about the replacement issue very carefully before you jump into it Frank. I have a fairly high pain threshold and attitude that if something needs to be done then just do it but there are reasons I've managed the issue for all these years.

Age is a big factor as replacements have a finite life span though it depends on individuals, lifestyle and luck as well as putting in the post op work religiously. Second replacements are never as successful as the first though there was a replaceable lining system but I don't know if that ever got off the ground. I think there are options and not all are complete joints. The NHS don't want to be doing the job again in 10 or 12 years time and it's not only cost that drives that. I'm 77 so in the window where most likely by the time they operated I'd never need another or they'd use the excuse that at 90+ I'd be too old and frail to withstand an operation.

If you research, (my info came from a knee surgeon some years ago), you'll find that while replacements are generally successful the results can vary significantly. In my wife's case it's excellent but the poor guy over the road never was right and walked like a tin soldier and in pain more than 2 years after the op. I'm pretty sure he didn't do the exercises properly however. His widow blames all the stress for his fatal heart attack last year.

Just to go back to the surgeon. he eventually needed a replacement himself and his words a couple of months later were " Christ if I'd known how painful this is I'd never have inflicted it on my patients"

 

[Accipiter]

I get where you're coming from Bob - gratefully received .

I've been through a few 'joint' operations in the past with the left wrist TFCC repair, two trapeziectomy - left and right thumbs and, most recently (last year) a left hand first finger fusion operation... cartlidge removed and joint now held together with a stainless steel screw - size/make unknown .

I must have a high pain threshold to have gone through those - especially another trapeziectomy after the first one... and after the TFCC repair . Recovery time, exercises and such. The finger fusion op is the one causing me the most troubles out of all I've had, if minor niggles compared to the joint pain, a finger that's continually at a 30°~40° angle... such as getting things out of my left pocket, trying to pick something up... holding something, taking something off someone using my left hand

I also had (still have to a minor degree) a left rotator cuff problem - still affects me if doing some stuff. I had physio exercises for it - different coloured rubber strips different strngths) to pull on - but no steroid injections... had two of those for the finger, before the op, which help but only short term. At 75(¼ now ) time wise would be akin to you should something 'drastic' be required... I'd be too old for a 2nd. Maybe by then they'll have a mixture of some sort that will be used as a replacement for damaged/worn cartlidge? The surgeon that did my finger fusion op said there's something that can be used in some finger joint ops but not for the one I needed seeing to .

Maybe that surgeon didn't get a surgeon that was as good as him? . I'd heard stories from others that had TFCC and/or trapeziectomy ops that said they'd experienced pain and wished they'd not had the op done.

 

[Lons]

Crikey you're an operation veteran Frank.

Physio didn't work at all for my rotator cuff, had 6 months of the rubber bands and sessions and I had to push for the injections. It isn't 100% but not far off, so far. i cut a bit off the bands for wiggly tails on fishing flies one of which caught a 6lb rainbow trout, I released it back into the lake to possibly remember that pink wiggly plastic isn't eible and hides a sharp hook

 

[Accipiter]

Crikey you're an operation veteran Frank.

... I guess so in some ways... . I drew the line though at a 'suggested' op for my hiatus hernia... on seeing the surgeon his description of what he'd do wasn't what I'd read in respect of 'keyhole surgery' - the way he eyed my stomach area as 'virginity ground' for his scalpel

Physio didn't work at all for my rotator cuff, had 6 months of the rubber bands and sessions and I had to push for the injections. It isn't 100% but not far off, so far. i cut a bit off the bands for wiggly tails on fishing flies one of which caught a 6lb rainbow trout, I released it back into the lake to possibly remember that pink wiggly plastic isn't eible and hides a sharp hook

Great catch ... 6lb - bloomin marvelous - bet you were/are well chuffed and spot on for releasing it for another day .

I've tied mine together to make a band - so I can put both feet in, raise it to my calves and then stretch/walk sideways... that's one of the exercises... FAF - surprised I've not fallen over