mr. cob

Howdy All, I think I have reached a major turning point with my first knee, for the last 48 hours I have not used anything for pain other then Tylonal (sp), tonight will be the 3rd night not taking any hard stuff for pain. Not taking the hard stuff my knee seems a bit stiffer in the morning but it loosens up when I go for a walk and do the knee flexing, I am sleeping pain free and that’s what counts. Dave

Howdy Roger, Glad to hear its getting better. I am down to only taking the pain meds at night, I'll do a few Tylonal during the day but other then that I am doing well without the hard stuff and then only a couple during the night so I can sleep. Dave

Howdy Roger, I do hope your feeling better today. Another thing to keep in mind ICE especially after you do the PT. It took a while before I realized how important the ice is and how much better it makes you feel. I am hoping that by the time they do the second knee I will have all this stuff figured out, drugs when and how often, ice when and how often, I have a pretty good idea now what to do but the first 10 days were an on going experiment to see what works and what doesn't. another thing I learned load up on the drugs at night so you can get some sleep, trying to get to sleep when that knee is throbbing does NOT work. Dave

Howdy Roger, Glad to hear your doing better, I guess I am lucky never had any drainage from my knee. Dave

Howdy Henry, I just want to again thank you for telling us about the Confomis knee. I am not an engineer nor do I pretend to be one but as a Journeyman Machinist, Certified Welder and all around fabricator, when I watched the video of the Conformis knee operation I could plainly see that it simply had to be better then something taken from a box on the shelf. The use of the jigs and fixtures to shape the bone and position the implant impressed me and made making the decision to go with the Conformis knee and EASY one. Dave

Howdy Roger, A bit of advice for what its worth, day three was the worst for me in the pain department. I was and am afraid to use to many of the pain pills as I don't want problems afterwards. However I now know better, the second time around and I will load up on the pain meds for at least the first 4-5 days, after that its not so bad but the first 2-5 days can be brutal at times and there is no sense hurting anymore then you have to. So take the darn pills now you won't need them that much in a few days. We are all in this together and we are all pulling for each other, we will get through this. Dave

Howdy Chad, Maybe we can get a "Gimps" area of the campground, that way our goings on won't disturb the regular folks. 😀 Dave

Howdy Rocky, It sounds like your going to have a bit more to deal with then the rest of us, I am sure I can speak for all of us when we wish you well with a quick and full recovery. Find the best surgeon you can to do the job, we’er Pulling for you. Dave

Howdy Jim, And I thought I was a “Cob”, that’s just mean. Sorry Roger, it would appear that I am not alone in pulling your leg or to be correct your knee. Aren't we just a bunch of old gimpy bastards making fun of each other’s ills. Just one of the things I’ll be going to hell for, next time we meet we can compare scars and tell tall tales around the campfire. Dave

Howdy Phil, I am making another attempt at humor, oft times what I think is funny is not received well by those who are more then Semi-Sane. Dave

Howdy All, Sorry to hear that others have also been "offered" a no lube shafting from national general. The problem with unique insurance needs such as we who use an HDT in the RV environment is that there are so few places who will even offer the service at any price, if one such company can get by with such rate increases its probably only a matter of time before they all do the same. Dave

Howdy Roger, I am doing well, I can honestly say that the second day after the surgery was the worst and it wasn't as bad as I had expected. Most of the time I am in no to very little pain, the only real pain I feel is when doing the knee flex exercises other then that on a scale of 0-10, I would say 90% of the time is less then 3 and hovers around 1. I have had some trouble sleeping at night, I normally don't sleep on my back so sleeping on my back so that I can keep the left leg elevated has been a task. For the last week I have been able to sleep a bit on my side so this has helped. One thing Learned early on, KEEP THE COMPRESSION SOCKS ON as much as possible, I tried taking them off at night so I could sleep better and ended up with a lot of pain. I am only using the narcotic pain meds when I really need it which is not that often, last darn thing I want to do is end up with pain meds being a problem. I have been using some forearm crutches for the last week and am getting along well, walking for short distances without the crutches when I am near something I can grab if I should lose my balance. The only real concern I now have is the flexibility of my knee, I can do 90 degree bend with no problem anything beyond that and it hurts but that is something I am just going to have to work on. Hang in there, you'll make it, we all seem too in the end. Dave PS. With that Conformis, knee joint you have a Peterbilt, quality part in your body, that may or may not have an adverse reaction to your truck. 🤣

Howdy Randy, The exhaust straight down could be nasty if it’s a dusty area, just something to think about. Dave

Howdy Rocky, I am counting on being pretty able by the time we go south, today was another encouraging day not much pain and able to flex and move better. If only the va would get it together when it comes to my PT I could concentrate on my health rather then fighting to get them to take care of the bills. I don’t know how long the people doing the PT will do it while fighting with the va to pay them. Dave

Howdy Lawrence, About the time the left knee could handle a Ural ride it will be time to do the right one, so it’s going to be a while before that happens. My main concern is being able to work the clutch in the Pete, so we can go south in January. The right knee hurt more then the left one but I had the clutch knee done first so it would have longer to heal before we attempt our second escape from the NorWet gloom. Dave

Howdy All, I am going to lay part of the blame for my over doing the PT on the first PT person I worked with and take the rest of the blame myself as I was trying to do what I thought she wanted. The first person never touched me she explained the excerise and encouraged me to push through the pain, so I did to the best of my pain threshold what I thought was right. Yesterday the man I worked with had a completely different way of doing the job. First he applied heat to my knee explaining how the heat loosens the joint. Then held my leg, lifted it and slowly manipulated the joint all the while talking to me and explaining what he was doing, the entire session was like this. I left from the PT feeling much better and asked that I could continue to work with this man as much as possible while I am getting the PT. when someone tells me to do something that is supposed to be good for me I tend to do it. I guess I also need a person who will take the time to talk to me and explain what is being done and to not just turn me loose and hope for the best. Today when I do the work it will be done in a different way so as not to hurt myself. Dave

Howdy Henry, I have heard such stories from others and to be honest will be having a talk with my PT folks and asking them for their own safety to knock my arse OUT if such things have to be done. I am not trying to be an Internet badass, I am simply stating a fact if that happens to me I am seriously afraid that my reaction to that kind of care would be to perform acts of physical violence upon the PT person should I be able to. I have to be on guard in many situations where how I my react is not in the publics best interest but is in response to what I perceive as a direct threat to my wellbeing. Unfortunately I have had such things to deal with in the past. Dave

Howdy Henry, Sir, you have got to be Supermans good looking younger brother, how you had both knees replaced pretty much at the same time is a testament to just how darn tough an old goat you are. Seriouly I have always considered myself to be one of the orneriest critters God ever made the mistake of turning loose on this planet ONE knee at a time is enough for me to deal with. Most of the time I really don’t have much if any pain UNTIL I move to get out of bed into or out of a chair getting onto and off the pot is enough to make me light headed. The PT is kicking my butt, I think I overdid it last night as I had a hard time sleeping because of the pain. Just kinda taking it easy today I see the PT folks tomorrow so I will talk to them and ask if I am stretching to hard. One of the problems I have is our home is so small I can’t really do any worthwhile walking, we have gravel walkways so being able to move around is difficult I think this is why I am not loosing up as I should. Dave PS. I don’t have access to my computer so I am responding using my phone, I always try to reply to each individual but doing this by phone is hard for me so please don’t take it personal if I don’t reply to each post as I normally do. Thanks to everyone who has posted and for your well wishes they are most appreciated.

Howdy Rocky, I hear you loud and clear when it comes to the drugs. Thanks I the blessing I will take all the help I can get. Dave

Howdy Jim, I will listen to these folks they know a heck of a lot more about this then I do. Dave

Howdy Brad, I should be on the way home in a couple of hours dealing with the va to get the walker and cane, shower bench etc. The va will mail to me what I need but that could take up to a couple of weeks. So I don’t know if the hospital will send me home with this gear or not. Dave

Howdy Rocky, I am not to proud to take the meds I want to take as few as possible but I will take them. Dave

Howdy Lawrence, Thanks for the well wishes. Dave

Howdy Chad, So far it’s going well thanks for your well wishes. Thanks so much for taking on my trailer I know it’s going to make Donna very happy. Dave

Howdy Roger, I am so glad I finally got around to having this done. The only bad thing I have found when it comes to retirement is I wonder now how I ever had time to work. All the best wishes to you for your upcoming inframe rebuild Dave.