Ever hurt your knee?


 
AndyK

AndyK

TVWBB Wizard
I think I finally blew out my knee.
It’s been going south for a while and now it feels like it’s getting poked with a hot knife when I walk.

I’m sure gaining weight after I retired had a lot to do with it, as well as getting thrown around on the mats at job I had last year and all those hours playing lumberjack.

Anyway I had to fly down to the Bay Area to see my doctor a week ago.
A simple X-ray and some naproxen and he sent me on my way.
Well, that didn’t fix it so I’m about to go in for a steroid shot.
I’m not sure how that will fix it.

I’m about to switch out my medical because they won’t give me an MRI until I jump through a bunch of hoops.
Is this the standard for hospitals now?
 
I had a torn meniscus in 2015 and had the arthroscopic surgery done on it. Arthritis sets in as you get older and now I have to be careful when I get up and take those first few steps that it doesn't give out on me. Steroids will calm down any inflammation you might have. Naproxen is an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug)...you can also take acetaminophen (Tylenol) with an NSAID because it is a pain-reliever and not an NSAID. It works by raising your pain threshold. I take the extended release (8 hr. Tylenol) and it helps me a lot.

Having a bad knee throws everything off, especially your back. Also, I have read that every pound you take off takes 4 times that amount of load off your knee. Try not to limp. Limping makes my knee hurt more.

They typically mix xylocaine with the steroid shot that they give you. You will feel great for a while, feel like they fixed you right up. That will help a lot with the pain, just don't overdo it and make it worse.
 
Many years ago, our neighbor had a knee replacement. Poor guy, they had a recall on the knee within a few months after the surgery, and they had to replace it again. Back then, they could only do 2 replacements in a lifetime because they shorten the bones a couple of inches each time, and the replacements were only good for about 20 years. Things have probably improved a lot since then.

EDIT: On a more positive note, my neighbor is doing great today! There's just no stopping some people...Andy, you are one of those guys.
 
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Pammi had a knee replacement about 10 years ago
Now, her other one is hurting all the time too
She went back to see the surgeon who did the replacement ( her hip replacement and my rotator cuff surgery too) and said that it’s going out. She opted for a steroid shot in it, as we were in the midst of house repairs to get it sold
But we can both see another knee replacement in the near future

The only advice I’ll give you if you decide to have it replaced is to do your PT!!
It’s gonna hurt, bad, but it WILL get better!
 
Good advice from above. My Wife just had her knee replaced and is so happy she did.
First few weeks are rough but you have to push thru.
 
Ed P said:
I had a torn meniscus
Click to expand...
I have a similar issue in my left knee, from being stupid 40+ years ago. It flops around like the handle on a bucket. Fortunately, it only flops up into my knee joint when I push down forcefully on my left leg and torque around while pushing off. If I put any weight on my left leg at that point, I won't walk for 3 days. I've been fortunate in that I've managed to figure out what really causes the problem, no surgery, and I've even played racquetball with a good knee brace. I haven't thrown it out in at least 15 years.
 
Well the shot went well.
It still hurts but the doctor says it might take 2 weeks to get the full effect of the shot.
I asked him what happens next and he said he is banking that the shot will take care of my bum knee.

I hope it does because I know a guy that uses a walker because his knee replacement surgery went bad.

Hopefully this turns out well and stays that way with some preventative measures.
 
You in Renee's case she'd done pretty serious damage to it while playing high school sports (she was a bit of a tomboy) and had 3 surgeries on it before we even met. And way back then still late teens/early 20s they told her it would not last and she'd need it replaced but that was so many years ago if she'd have done it then it would have been made out of wood :D
 
Andy were you able to keep 38 medical and move? I know we have or at least had something that we couldn’t be part of the plan if we moved out of California. I’m not 38, right next door.
 
Bruno I thought you were 38.
I’ll bet we worked together for that contractor in Foster City with the yellow and green trucks.

38 doesn’t care at all if I move out of state but Kaiser does.

38 does me good on my benefits.
I get free Kaiser and free pharmacy with no copay until I’m 65 and then Kaiser can be a supplement to Medicare and I would still get free pharmacy with no copay.

For me, Kaiser is free other than the $10 copay to see my doctor.
I could change hospitals companies to upgrade to a nicer hospital.
That would cost me $188 or so per month with larger copays so I stayed with the free ( to me ) Kaiser.

Kaiser is not available to me up north so I fly down for my medical issues.
I always have other obligations down here to do so I do quite a few things each trip.
II still get free emergency care anywhere I am national wide but I’m not sure about Canada or Mexico.
I think we had to pay $200 for some stitches my wife got in Mexico

Since we are extremely remote I also use 2 different Life Flight med-evac helicopter companies for fast response if we get into a serious medical situation like having a stroke and need to be in downtown Sealle ASAP.
The reason I am paying 2 companies is that there are 2 Life Flight companies here and if one is busy they will stuff you in the other and that can get very speedy with out insurance.
A flight here can cost about 100K depending and I Don’t want them to take advantage of that so I pay for both .
These are a dirt cheap insurance policiy.
Each policy costs about $80-$90 per family per year.
I recommend this insurance policy to anyone that lives a ways from a good trauma center.

I am still a California resident and still keep my main residence here even though I’m liking the PNW boonies more and more.

I have near 40 years of prop 13 on the California house.
It is not costing me much, it’s a good investment.
If one of us gets sick we could easily move back for better healthcare and not get hammered on the nicer Bay Area housing costs.
So I keep the place.
 
AndyK said:
Bruno I thought you were 38.
I’ll bet we worked together for that contractor in Foster City with the yellow and green trucks.

38 doesn’t care at all if I move out of state but Kaiser does.

38 does me good on my benefits.
I get free Kaiser and free pharmacy with no copay until I’m 65 and then Kaiser can be a supplement to Medicare and I would still get free pharmacy with no copay.

For me, Kaiser is free other than the $10 copay to see my doctor.
I could change hospitals companies to upgrade to a nicer hospital.
That would cost me $188 or so per month with larger copays so I stayed with the free ( to me ) Kaiser.

Kaiser is not available to me up north so I fly down for my medical issues.
I always have other obligations down here to do so I do quite a few things each trip.
II still get free emergency care anywhere I am national wide but I’m not sure about Canada or Mexico.
I think we had to pay $200 for some stitches my wife got in Mexico

Since we are extremely remote I also use 2 different Life Flight med-evac helicopter companies for fast response if we get into a serious medical situation like having a stroke and need to be in downtown Sealle ASAP.
The reason I am paying 2 companies is that there are 2 Life Flight companies here and if one is busy they will stuff you in the other and that can get very speedy with out insurance.
A flight here can cost about 100K depending and I Don’t want them to take advantage of that so I pay for both .
These are a dirt cheap insurance policiy.
Each policy costs about $80-$90 per family per year.
I recommend this insurance policy to anyone that lives a ways from a good trauma center.

I am still a California resident and still keep my main residence here even though I’m liking the PNW boonies more and more.

I have near 40 years of prop 13 on the California house.
It is not costing me much, it’s a good investment.
If one of us gets sick we could easily move back for better healthcare and not get hammered on the nicer Bay Area housing costs.
So I keep the place.
Click to expand...
Good planning right there!
 
Just to update this thread a bit,
I finally got my doctor to refer me to the orthopedic surgeon at Kaiser.

I drove my dually down to haul some more stuff up north too.
I was down to my last 2-3 hundred miles and my rear differential takes a dump but was able to barely limp home.
Apparently they lied to me when they said my differential oil was fine for my road trip 🤬.
$5,200 later and I’m just about to pick up the truck and head back up north at the end of the week.

The surgeon put me into the rotation line for the knee replacement surgery.
He said it will take about 3 months unless I agreed to go early if there was a cancellation.
I told him I’d fly down the day he called.
So that’s finally going in the right direction 👍.

He also did something really cool.
He gave me a prescription for a permanent handicap place card for parking.
I’m in love with this parking pass already.
This handicap parking pass will never expire so I guess I’m officially in the old farts club.
 
AndyK said:
I drove my dually down to haul some more stuff up north too.
I was down to my last 2-3 hundred miles and my rear differential takes a dump but was able to barely limp home.
Apparently they lied to me when they said my differential oil was fine for my road trip 🤬.
$5,200 later and I’m just about to pick up the truck and head back up north at the end of the week.
Click to expand...
<BEEEEEEP> Might have been cheaper to get a junkyard...... urk, maybe not. Just checked prices. Holy cats, have those things gotten expensive. Thing is, diff oil does not just disappear, it has to go somewhere.
 
I used to get parts from the wreckers yards when I was younger .
We used to get 351 Cleveland motors out of wrecked Country Squire Station Wagons for dirt cheap and put them into Mustangs.
Same thing with transmissions and other Hot Rod or restoration parts we needed.
Sadly those days are long gone for me.

I actually thought the transmission was going out at first, heck I would have even bet on it.

It took 3 days of of calling shops and listening to “bring it in and we will see what it costs”, before I finally bit the bullet so I could go home so I went to Aamco in Concord.
Two days later they told me my transmission was fine but the differential not so much.
So while they had the transmission on the table I asked them to go all through it and address anything they think needs attention.
It’s an expensive Allison 6 speed transmission so I figured it was worth a major service.
Anyways that’s why I had to pay the $5,200 and change to get my Dually fixed.
 
Well, if you ran a dually rear end dry..... 2 outer wheel seals, 2 outer wheel bearings, pinion seal, 2 pinion bearing, 2 differential bearings, and obviously, a ring & pinion gear set along with the setup kit. Setting up a ring & pinion.... get the pinion depth right and the right left & right shims on the carrier. That setup can be a bit of an art.

I managed to roach a Chrysler 8.25 rear gear set in my Heep a bunch of years ago, drove a few hundred miles home in front wheel drive (without constant velocity joints in the front axles, sharp corners can be rather entertaining.) Expensive lesson.
 
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