Knee Rehab

My knees have been going bad for about 10 years now. At first my knee would occasionally snap/lock but if I was careful for the next few minutes it was usually ok. When we went canoing in Canada I twisted one knee but it did not get better as quickly as usual. I had to gimp out of the backwoods and was a little while recovering. My GP, Doctor Jacobs gave me some leg exercises to do but I can’t say I kept up with that very well. When we redid the siding of our old house I was up on the ladder for hours on end and that’s when things started getting really bad. The pain was constant. But when the job was done I recovered once more.

About 4 years ago I started having some pain again and went to see my new GP, Dr. Lottes. He gave me a prescription for Naproxin Sodium but it only made things a little better. Since the pain didn’t seem to go away, he recommended that I go see Dr Nassif, an orthopedic surgeon, who X-rayed my knees and said I could have steel knees any time I wanted them. Well I didn’t want them, not right then anyway. He changed my prescription to Etodolac and that seemed to work really well. I’ve been ok since then. When I have to stand for a while my knees get sort of achy but I am hardly ever in any pain.

With our upcoming trip to France I started to get a little concerned that I would have some problems if I had to wander around the Gardens at Versailles for hours on end, not to mention the Louvre and all the other museums. When Karen’s sister Sue visited us a couple of weeks ago, she mentioned that she had just had a couple of cortizone shots for her bad knees. That got my interest and while she told me about it, she mentioned that she had also had a course of Hyalgan shots. I thought all that bore looking into so I made an appointment with Dr Nassif once again.

They X-rayed my knees again and said they were 4 years worse than the last time I was there. I told him about what I learned from Sue and asked if he thought that some Hyalgan might make things better. He said they probably would but he used a different product, Synvisc. He told me that I had to go get the approval from the insurance company personally, which I thought was kind of strange. He prepped me on what to say to them. But when I called them there didn’t seem to be any problem. They helped me download a form. I took it back to the doctor and by the next week, I had approval for the treatment.

My first injections were last Thursday. Since I had to humiliate myself by wearing an open back hospital gown on my last visit, I planned ahead and had a pair of sweatshorts under my trousers this time around. A nurse came into the exam room and laid out an array of things; gauze pads, syringes, and disinfectant, then left. The doctor and a different nurse came in and he made a couple of little marks, one on each knee, below the femur and outside the kneecap. The nurse cleaned and sanitized the area, then it was showtime. The doctor did my left knee first. He inserted the needle where he had made his little mark and injected the Synvisc between my femur and tibia. I could feel it going in. There was a slight pressure. There was no pain from the needle and only the tiniest ache from the pressure. It was gone almost immediately. On the right knee things were a little different. Still no pain from the needle, but when the fluid went in there was a lot of pressure and it ached quite a bit. I mentioned it, but they said not to worry, it would go away. The knee felt a little wobbly for a while. He told me to put ice on it for 15 minutes, three times a day. I did it a few times but there was never any swelling or discomfort after the initial injections.

I have to say I felt much better immediately. I was much steadier on me pegs and the first night I was free of the knee pain I usually get because they are unsupported when I roll over. I have to have 3 shots in each knee altogether, one week apart. I asked him why 3 shots. It has to do with injecting too much fluid at any one time. So, next Thursday I have my second shot and the final one a week later. The treatment usually achieves maximum effectiveness 8 to 12 weeks after the final shot, just in time for Versailles.