Knee surgery - 2009

In time, the voice box healed, the right vocal cord became flexible again and after several more of the hideous endoscopies, I was deemed healthy and able to have surgery again by Dr. Feldman.

The knees both felt good! I decided that I really liked steroid injections! It was the most relief I had in years. My neck was feeling good, the holidays came and went and I was thinking, "OK, I guess I should start planning revision". I saw Dr. Glazer again in February '09 and he reported that my neck was faring well, although I felt it was a bit "stiff" and I didn't feel that PT was all that successful. I had chosen a new PT this time and I think she was so fearful of hurting me that I didn't get out of it what I should have. He gave me a script to do another 'round' of PT.

Of course, I waited before I made a PT appointment. And I waited. Till slowly but surely, I started having problems. By April, I had a pain in the neck!! Worried that something may be wrong, I knew I couldn't call Dr. Glazer without having gone to PT, which was what I was supposed to have done a couple of months ago. So I chose another PT and had almost immediate success. This young lady was wonderful and really seemed to understand what I was going through. By now, the steroid injections had basically worn off, BUT I still had to admit that overall both knees didn't feel as bad as they did before the injections. I made an appointment and returned to see Dr. Davis.

His response was, "What's going on with your knees and WHY do you have pseudo-gout??” Duh! You are the doctor; YOU should be telling me why I have pseudo-gout!!! He said, "Let's give you another injection in each knee". OK-sounds good. He did and they weren't nearly as painful this time. I didn't know what to make of that. Then he said, "Let's get new MRI's". Ok-sounds good again. I guess, I mean all of this money, all of this time and all of this radiation exposure!! Is it really necessary??? But okay, he's the doctor. We arrange to do it at a Shields and there is a facility in Providence. Wonderful.

It was the worst MRI experience of my life. I realized how badly my Flatback had progressed because it was near impossible to stay flat on my back for that long. The test took about two hours and fifteen minutes to complete and I was in horrible pain. Plus, at this point, I had also developed Restless Leg Syndrome and they kept telling me to stay still. Between the back pain and the uncontrollable need to move my legs, it was torturous. I was literally in tears at the end and the MRI tech's felt so bad and were so compassionate.

I received a call from Dr. Davis a couple of weeks later and he said, "OK, I see meniscal tears in BOTH of you knees. You can either live with it OR I can go in there and see what the heck is going on". Knowing full well that the pain from my knees could impact recovery from spinal revision, I opted for the knee surgery. PLUS, I knew that Dr. Glazer wanted me to resolve the knee issues first. I trust him immensely and if that was what he wanted, so be it. So, just about one full year after my cervical fusion, here I was headed back to Beth Israel for bilateral knee surgery!! C'mon, I just wanted to have spine surgery. For some reason, I never get to opt for the easy path to anything; it seems as if I get stuck with detours at every turn. I ask, "How long will I be out of work?" remembering the supposed 2-week recovery from the neck surgery turning into 6 weeks! He said, "Eh, 2-4 weeks!” OK, so this time I told work 3-4 weeks. Although I spoke with several people who had ONE meniscal repair in ONE knee and were out for more than a month, because I feel that for the most part  I recover quickly, I'll be back at work in 4 weeks MAX. Surgery is set for July 27. Let's get this show on the road.

Monday, July 27 ~ Erica, Ben and I head to Boston. I drive us up and it's a nice ride, I'm calm - this is going to be NO big deal. In and out. I'm a little hungry though. So here's a question for you! EVERY single time you have surgery, the instructions are NOTHING TO EAT AFTER MIDNIGHT, right? OK, so shouldn't there be some leniency with that if your surgery is slated for the afternoon vs. first thing in the morning? So if someone eats last at 11:55 PM and is slated for surgery at 7AM, they followed the rules, and everythings is perfect, right? But if someone is slated for surgery at 4PM and hasn’t eaten since 11:55PM the night before is starving!!!! And freakin' dehydrated!! I never understood the logic to that! I think I need to ask someone that question sometime. We got into prep with no fanfare and no difficulty, everyone is very nice. They do the basic info, get me ready in a Johnny, a phlebotomist gets a line in me and soon Dr. Davis arrives. He draws with the infamous marks on my knees and tells the kids what he is going to do and then the anesthesiologist arrives. This time you can just tell he is an attending and no "newbie" and as he and I are talking, guess who walks by and looks at me? Dr. Glidden!! Remember him? He was the Chief of Anesthesiology that Dr. Glazer had arranged for me to chat with over the unfortunate incident that had occurred after my cervical fusion. After he looked at me with a quizzical glance and kept walking, I instinctively called out, "Dr. Glidden?" He backed up and squinted his eyes and said, "Hi" and I immediately re-introduced myself and he very quickly remembered and said, "Oh yes, you're the patient that the resident told you that you were a difficult intubate and you weren't?" Yep, that's me. He even took the time to explain to the present anesthesiologist (I never did plan for any special treatment for this surgery as I would only be out for 1-2 hours and Dr. Feldman had told me to ask for a LMA -laryngeal mask airway, which Dr. Davis said he would make sure was used) exactly what had occurred and he remembered it perfectly. He asked about my spine and when I would be having revision with Dr. Glazer and I told him, "Well, I really don't know. Right now, I am having this knee surgery and when I am fully recovered from it, I'll deal with the revision." By the way, LMA is a form of intubation that is very common in one-day surgeries anyway, regardless of any difficulties. Even though Dr. Glazer and Dr. Glidden had previously assured me that I am not a difficult intubate and that I had no problems whatsoever, I must admit that I felt a degree of comfort knowing that I would only be having LMA intubation rather than the typical endoscopic intubation. He wished me luck and was on his way.

I then turned my attention to this anesthesiologist (definitely an attending and not a fellow or resident or "newbie" as I call them!) by the name of Phillip Hess, MD. He was cheerful and personable and I could just tell that he "knew what he was doing". At last, I knew I was close to going to the OR when he started playing around the line and said, "Ok, Valerie, let's go! Do you drink wine?" and I said, "Yes?" and he said, "Red or White?" and I said, "Both" and he replied, "OK, you just got a BIG dose of Pinot Noir honey and you should feel it about now" and I said, "Oh yeah, I do" and the kids laughed. I kissed the kids and was wheeled to the OR. I don't know if it was because I was relatively calm or what, but I was relaxed with or without the aid of the "Pinot Noir" and I barely remember being wheeled into the OR and I was out. The next thing I knew was I was "coming to" and opening my eyes and looking directly at a clock. It was 2:15. Alright, that was good. Dr. Davis had said it would be about 1 1/2 - 2 hours and this was on target. Must have been successful - YEAH! After idle chit-chat with several nurses about Flatback, I was given oral pain meds and some crackers and ginger ale and up on my feet. My knees were all wrapped up and I couldn't tell what the heck was on them. I was brought to another area where Erica and Ben were waiting, I went to the bathroom, given instructions and a pair of crutches and Erica was sent to get the car and meet us out front. I was wheel chaired out to the front and had a little difficulty getting in the car (can I just say how grateful I am that I have a SUV?? I honestly don't know how I would have made out after either surgery without it!!) and my little Erica drove me home with my Ben in the back seat attending to my every moan. Bob and the kids helped me in the house and it was now about 7 or 8PM. I couldn't climb stairs so I slept downstairs in the now infamous "Aunt Mary's recliner" with one kid or the other for several nights.

After day 3 or 4 when the discomfort level had risen and I was wondering what the heck Dr. Davis had actually done, I decided to look at the discharge papers. Well, what a surprise!! Wonder why both knees were starting to really hurt! As it turns out, I didn’t just have meniscal tears repaired. He performed 5 procedures in my right knee and 4 in my left!!! Duh! Instead of feeling better with each passing day, I felt worse. It was never horrible, intense pain but more discomfort just on the brink of pain. I hobbled and wobbled, and moaned and groaned and after the 2 week mark, I knew that there was no way I was going to work. I kept insisting that I was until my daughter Erica finally said, "MOM! HELLO!! Look at you! You can barely get to the bathroom by yourself, you are NOT driving!!!! Face it, you're going to be out longer than you thought!!! End of story!" I had to call my boss and tell her. She was wonderful, but I felt awful. I mean, my God, these people are going to think I am a wimp!! So, not to digress, recovery turned out to be very difficult - mainly because I just could not do anything. At my first post-op I was told that I wouldn't be going back to work until October 1. Yikes!! Had to call work again and tell them that. I think the only reason I CHOSE to be compliant was because I knew that this surgery was just a stepping stone and I needed to heal and to heal well. The time eventually passed and I returned to work. I was still in PT 3x a week and I was exhausted. So now my neck was "fixed", and my knees were "fixed" - all set for spinal revision now. Right? Wrong. I couldn't bear to take any more time off of work. I was just going to have live with the pain a little longer. A year. Or two. Or three. I mean, I wasn't that bad. Or was I?