under the knife again today

[Lloyd Smale]

have to get a knee replacement on the right side to match the right ankle, right hip and left hip replacements and the metal in my back and the pins in my right leg and left arm.. this is surgery #18 since i got injured at 20 years old in the service. Wife gets concerned but anymore its just another day. I think id rather have surgery then go to the dentist. At least with surgery they put you to sleep and you wake up a couple hours later all done. Maybe after the burn my body they can sell the scrap metal to pay for any service. I really cant complain though. At 65 im physicaly in better shape then anyone i know my age. I had to exercise and lift weights all my life to overcome these injurys. Most at 65 are couch potatoes.

[ironglow]

.
   Prayers sent ..along with best wishes..  I have a feeling you will do OK ! Too ornery to let it get you down..  

   

[oldandslow]

Good luck with the surgery. Heck, carrying around all that internal iron is a workout in it's self.

At 84 I'm in better physical shape than anyone I know that age. That isn't saying much though.

[Lloyd Smale]

I just hope at 84 im still here to be ornery !!! My dad is 90 this year and is heading to camp tommarrow to hunt deer hes got his buck the last 2 years. His health is slipping fast though and it will be a miracle if hes around for another.

Good luck with the surgery. Heck, carrying around all that internal iron is a workout in it's self.

At 84 I'm in better physical shape than anyone I know that age. That isn't saying much though.

[BUGEYE]

Don't let them do an MRI. 

[VA Rifleman]

Good luck Lloyd.

[Lloyd Smale]

everything went well. Was up and walking 30 minutes after they rolled me into recovery. Dont know if its the pain blocks they put in it but it seems alot less painful then my hip surgurys and not in the same universe as my ankle surgerys or some of my back surgerys. Out of all the surgerys i had its probably a toss up between when they fused two of my vertebra and that evil ankle replacement. I feel better this morning (or night because i couldnt sleep with all the drugs in me) then i did 6 months out on those two. If this is all a knee replacement is dont live with the pain get it done.

[neckisred]

Glad to hear everything went well Lloyd. Wishing you a speedy recovery!!!

[Lloyd Smale]

so far this is the easiest of all my major surgerys so far. I had it friday and could walk without a cane on saturday. Pretty amazing. Doc said i might see less pain because of the pain block and the fact that he now does surgerys like that roboticaly looking into a video screen and its less invasive that way.

[Ranger99]

That's good everything came out ok.
My BIL had one a few weeks ago and
he flunked rehab and had to stay an
extra week and a half.
They also found that he's way worse
off physically than anybody knew of.
He'll probably have to end up in a
full time care facility

I'm always glad to see anybody leave
the hospital in better shape than they
arrived

[M134 Troll]

Get all healed up soon.   Are you going to miss gun season?

[Bob Riebe]

I agree with you Lloyd about surgery or dentist, although I have had the dentist knock me out when it is more than a cleaning, which make the whole thing much better.
I have had multiple surgeries and while I do not want to go back, memory is odd and the weeks I spent in the hospital, are actually good memories, partly because off wonderful nurses and a fine doctor.
How I got there is a different story.

Godspeed on your recovery (I have to admit I have a fond opinion of Vicodin; used it to fall asleep, and saved some for nasty sinus headaches.)

[Lloyd Smale]

isnt very often anymore then keep you overnight. My last two a hip and this knee I was out the door in a 1/2 hour after i woke up. They said typically its around 2 hours. I like my own bed so it sure doesnt break my heart and i spent a full year in the hospital back in the 70s and that was enough for me. . As to the narcotics i could never get a liking for them. I ate exactly one of them the first night and it kept me up all night. They just dont act on me like some others and i hate the way they make me feel and even more so hate the constipation. Id rather eat tylenol and suffer a bit. But ive always had a high tolerance for pain. Since my accident in the service first injured me ive had my share and some real bad times with it when i probably couldnt have gotten by without narcotics. Matter of fact i know i couldnt have. But it gave me a perspective on REAL pain and these joint replacements are more about being sore then being in any real pain. Bottom line is when i was in real pain the narcotics didnt make it go away anyway. I think for the most part they just allowed me to sit still and drawl while suffering. I could probably do as much or more with a bottle of jack. I just hope its over for a while. My doc said my other knee isnt in great shape either but isnt bad enough that it needs attention today.

[mcbammer]

    Had my right hip done in June of 1999 ,  to this day I am still not flexible enough  to bend an tie my shoes . I am curious to know the procedure they use today . In 99 they would  make the incision from the outside . About a 14 inch cut from the middle  thigh up to the waist band . I hear they now  go in from the  inside groin with  a small 3 or 4 inch incision .

[Lloyd Smale]

just had the wife measure the scar on the last hip they did and its right on the side and a bit less then 3 inches. But keep in mind this doctor is using that robotic look in the screen and manipulate controls type of surgery and he told me one reason is its alot less invasive. My right hip has a scar about 6 inches long from before he did it that way. Im sure it all has come along way since 99. I struggle a bit with my ankle replacement with swelling and aches and pains and it was done 5 years ago but honestly i cant tell the left hip was even done and its been less then 3 months since he did the right one. Have a little bit of soreness and tightness in that one but its still pretty fresh. No problems bending execept obviously the knee is still swollen and tight. But 3 days after surgery and im sitting here without what id call pain (maybe a bit of soreness). I even walked 2 blocks this morning with no discomfort. I still have soreness in my back but it was broke and pinned back in the 70s and redone 7 years ago and ive had two surgerys to remove scaring and open up my spinal canal since them. I think it will always remind me its there. No strength problem in it though. Before this last hip and ankle crap i was benching sets of 220lbs with no problem. Not quite what i could do in my 30s but pretty close. Ill be back at it this spring. Doc said its a good idea to take it easy for a few months with heavy workouts. Probably have to put the free weights aside and break out the bow flex. Its alot easier to build up with.

[BUGEYE]

isnt very often anymore then keep you overnight. My last two a hip and this knee I was out the door in a 1/2 hour after i woke up. They said typically its around 2 hours. I like my own bed so it sure doesnt break my heart and i spent a full year in the hospital back in the 70s and that was enough for me. . As to the narcotics i could never get a liking for them. I ate exactly one of them the first night and it kept me up all night. They just dont act on me like some others and i hate the way they make me feel and even more so hate the constipation. Id rather eat tylenol and suffer a bit. But ive always had a high tolerance for pain. Since my accident in the service first injured me ive had my share and some real bad times with it when i probably couldnt have gotten by without narcotics. Matter of fact i know i couldnt have. But it gave me a perspective on REAL pain and these joint replacements are more about being sore then being in any real pain. Bottom line is when i was in real pain the narcotics didnt make it go away anyway. I think for the most part they just allowed me to sit still and drawl while suffering. I could probably do as much or more with a bottle of jack. I just hope its over for a while. My doc said my other knee isnt in great shape either but isnt bad enough that it needs attention today.

My Dad also couldn't take dope.    He said it made him feel crazy.

[Lloyd Smale]

for my last two surgerys it wasnt that easy going in. Instead of just knocking you out they do a spinal and that requires you to lay there and tell them which muscles feel like there being electrocuted. Isnt really that awful painful but its more unnerving. I think they do it that way because its safer then using general Anastasia. But your still out for the procedure and when you wake up its done. Ive had so many operations that i dont even get excited about it anymore. Kind of makes my wife shake her head when im laughing and joking with the doc and anesthesiologist. Nurses even shake there head. Now if i had to go back and get my back rebuild again or broke it again THEN id be a bit more nervous but joints are nothing these days.

[Lloyd Smale]

Had to laugh bugeye. I dont do good with them but when NEEDED i can tolerate them. My ex father in law had to have an operation years ago and they rolled him out and had him on an iv shooting narcotics into him. His wife daughter and i walked in the room and he looked at me seriously as hell and said get those little mother fing midgets out from under my bed. They keep coming out and laughing at me. I had to hold back from laughing. Then he called his wife over and said she needed to talk to the nurse (who was a hot 20 some year old and he was 70) he told his wife she keeps coming in there and trying to rub on his manhood and took her top off. I busted out laughing. Just couldnt hold it anymore. He was dead serious too. They had to take him off the opiates and give him something else. I guess they even had his heart doing weird things. Dont much want some midgets but a good hallucinations about a 25 year old hot nurse wouldnt bother me much.   

isnt very often anymore then keep you overnight. My last two a hip and this knee I was out the door in a 1/2 hour after i woke up. They said typically its around 2 hours. I like my own bed so it sure doesnt break my heart and i spent a full year in the hospital back in the 70s and that was enough for me. . As to the narcotics i could never get a liking for them. I ate exactly one of them the first night and it kept me up all night. They just dont act on me like some others and i hate the way they make me feel and even more so hate the constipation. Id rather eat tylenol and suffer a bit. But ive always had a high tolerance for pain. Since my accident in the service first injured me ive had my share and some real bad times with it when i probably couldnt have gotten by without narcotics. Matter of fact i know i couldnt have. But it gave me a perspective on REAL pain and these joint replacements are more about being sore then being in any real pain. Bottom line is when i was in real pain the narcotics didnt make it go away anyway. I think for the most part they just allowed me to sit still and drawl while suffering. I could probably do as much or more with a bottle of jack. I just hope its over for a while. My doc said my other knee isnt in great shape either but isnt bad enough that it needs attention today.

My Dad also couldn't take dope.    He said it made him feel crazy.

[mcbammer]

for my last two surgerys it wasnt that easy going in. Instead of just knocking you out they do a spinal and that requires you to lay there and tell them which muscles feel like there being electrocuted. Isnt really that awful painful but its more unnerving. I think they do it that way because its safer then using general Anastasia. But your still out for the procedure and when you wake up its done. Ive had so many operations that i dont even get excited about it anymore. Kind of makes my wife shake her head when im laughing and joking with the doc and anesthesiologist. Nurses even shake there head. Now if i had to go back and get my back rebuild again or broke it again THEN id be a bit more nervous but joints are nothing these days.

   I dont know what they use to knock you out but it didnt take long one inhale and I was out  like a light .  They told after my surgery ,see you in 20 years , because thats as long as  the artificial joint suppose to last . I  have 21y. on mine an  hoping  it last till I  checkout .Something you might find amusing , Just before surgery they rolled me into a waiting area just outside the O.R. the High speed bone saws were singing away , then all of a sudden I catch a familiar odor . It was that same  pungent  smell you get  when sawing deer  antlers  off  or bone when processing .   De'ja  voo   feeling came over me .

[Lloyd Smale]

have to agree. I sure dont like the stench of bone being burned or cut. Kind of brings me back to the dentist thing.