A Look Back at 2017 - January to June

I was surprised that I haven't posted since the middle of 2016.  But, a friend of ours mentioned to Dave that he missed reading about the garden and my view of travels around the United States and various parts of the world.  So, I dug out the 2017 calendar and thought I'd give an overview of what happened in 2017.

While January winter was a mild and pleasant one, the first part of the year was a very demanding one physically on me.  In the fall of 2016, Dave and I traveled around the Northern Mediterranean, and Dave noticed that while I started the trip with lots of big smiles, as the trip progress, (an my knee pain progressed), my smiles faded and eventually you could see I was just tolerating the trip.  On the flight home, I told Dave, "It's time for my knee surgery".  After several visits to a couple of orthopedic surgeons, January 10th, 2017 was scheduled for my left knee to be replaced, (it was the worse, with no cartilage left and much arthritis).

The surgery went well, and the pain was almost none.  The second day I finally had pain, and was switched to a higher morphine based pain pill and stayed a 3rd night, but went home on the 4th day, (Friday Jan 13th).  Bright and early Monday morning, I started my out patient physical therapy.  I don't remember much about the first day, (due to all the pain medication I was on).  Dave stayed home full time the 1st two weeks to take care of me and get me to my 3 day a week P/T.  Then the ladies of the ward stepped in to drive me back and forth the P/T.  When people say that knee replacement is the most painful surgery there is - don't believe them.  The surgery is easy.  It's the physical therapy that's a killer.  By the 2nd week, I was off the walker and using a cane, and by the 3rd week, I had reached my range of motion goal, (130 degrees).  Of course, I was doing my exercises everyday at home.  On Monday, January 30th, my therapist mentioned that I would probably need one more week and then be released.  I then told him, "By the way, my knee is leaking".  He put me in the exam room on the table, pulled up my pant leg, to look at the knee, said, "I'll be right back".  Within 5 minutes both he and my surgeon were standing over me asking the usual questions, (how long has it been leaking, is it only leaking clear fluids, has there been any blood, yada, yada).  The doctor wrote a prescription for an antibiotic, and said, "I want to see you in 2 days, 8 AM sharp".  I came home, called Dave, and told him what was going on, (so he could go with me to the appointment).

We went to the doctor's office, and in just 2 days, the knee was getting worse.  The doctor took one look and asked, "When was the last time you ate?"  He then left the room for about 15 minutes, and when he returned, he proposed 2 options - stay on antibiotics and hope for the best, or open up and knee and get a good look at what's going on.  After discussion, it was decided to undergo surgery again.  So, that day, (Feb 2nd), I was admitted at 11:00 for surgery again.  2 nights in the hospital and home again.  Tuesday morning P/T started bright and early.  The doctor said he cleaned out the knee and put a strong antibiotic in the knee.  This meant, again learning how to walk and use the knee again.  But, my brain had finally learned the first time to trust the new knee.  So, I was determined to meet my range of motion again, (this time it was set lower to 120, but by end of month I reached 130).  The second time wasn't as much of a set back as the first, other than relying on people to get me back and forth to P/T.  Dave went back to work after a week at home with me.  By February 27th, once again, my therapist said, "I think another week, and we can release you".

But, by Thursday, March 2nd, my knee was hot, red, and swollen.  My visiting teacher was over at my house and I mentioned to her about my knee, and she looked at it and said, "That's definitely an infection.  Call you doctor!"  That evening when Dave got home, I told him about my knee, and he immediately called the doctor.  Of course they were closed.  At 7 AM, the next morning, he called again, and told the answering service about the problem, and asked to be put through to the doctor, and they did.  Dave explained the problem.  The doctor said, get her in the office at 8 AM,  but first stop by the hospital and have her blood drawn, (there was an order waiting), I want to see her results.  By the time we got to the office, the doctor walked in and said, "Have you eaten this morning?"  Dave and I both knew that meant a 3rd surgery.  Withing 2 hours I was in the OR.

This time when I woke up, Dave said the surgeon found the knee was completely full of infection.  He cleaned it out, but left the knee open took several samples, and put in a "wound vac".  They would leave the knee open until they could figure out what was wrong.  They called in an infectious disease doctor, and every hour the samples were being monitored.  It turned out that the next morning they discovered I had MSSA.  When the doctor told me, my heart dropped.  But, the good news was - it was treatable and curable.  It would mean running a "PICC line" to my heart, and giving my high doses of antibiotics several times a day.  I would also need to keep the line in for 7 weeks, and be house bound.  That meant have physical therapy at home.  This time, learning to walk, and move was very difficult.  I was in the hospital for 6 full days.  The next day, a nurse and a physical therapist were at my house assessing my needs, providing my medical needs, teaching me how to address my PICC line, etc.  I was very weak and overwhelmed.  Everything took a toll on me physically and mentally.  Just going to one of my doctors would wear me out.  My knee scar was so large, and unsightly.  I cried, wondering, what did I do, why did I do this, I should have learned to live with the pain.

Finally by April 18th, the PICC line came out and I would start going back to outpatient physical therapy again.  I would only need 1 month, since I had made fairly good progress at home.  My range of motion was set at 100.  I was still doing my exercises everyday at home to build up my knee.  On the last day, I was taken for a P/T walk outside to evaluate how I could do on grass, rocks, uneven surfaces, stairs, etc.  I mentioned to my therapist that I was very depressed that I was only able to reach a range of motion of 124 degrees, I had been hoping for 130.  He stopped, looked me directly in the eye, (and I will never forget his words), he said, "Barbara, that's remarkable.  most people after 2 surgeries on 1 knee only reach 120.  You've had 4, (counting the one to remove the wound vac).  When we, (the P/T team), met with your surgeon, we told him you would only reach a range of 100 at best, and you would most likely walk with a cane the rest of your life.  And look at you.  You haven't used a cane for the last 3 weeks.  You are remarkable.  But, please use a cane for a couple months when you are outside, just for safety.

It's been over a year.  The scar is still healing.  At the top, where the wound vac was, is an indentation - there's very little tissue under to hold the skin.  I still have some pain.  But, at my annual checkup, the xrays showed all was good.  The surgeon said normally it takes 1 year to 18 months for a knee to heal, but in this case it will take 2 or 3 years for the knee to be completely healed.

Some people after hearing my story have said, "I'm not getting my knees replaced".  And I tell them, don't let my story be the reason you don't do it.  I am just the 1 in 1,000 that got an infection.  My surgeon said he had done thousands of replacements, and I was the first to ever get an infection.  He was so apologetic, and felt so bad about what happened. I was officially released by the surgeon and all doctors on May 17th.  But I must say, the one person who really helped me through it all, and was there for me was Dave.

Then 3 days later, Dave and I took what would be our vacation of a lifetime.  It was a brand new ship build for Princess Cruise line, and it was being relocated from Barcelona, Spain to Australia.  We booked a 28 day cruise for a portion of that started in Rome, Italy and ended in Singapore.  We flew to Atlanta, then into Rome, then we had stops in Naples, Athens, Santorini, a passage thru the Suez Canal, Jordan, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Cochin, Sri Lanka, Kuala Lumpura, and Singapore.  From Singapore we flew to Hong Kong, (spent the night), then flew home to Chicago.  We actually flew around the world, (and them some).  We saw 3 of the most riches countries, (those in the UAE - where gold was piled high for sale), and some of the most poorest, (Cochin, India - where garbage lined the streets).  But we both agreed that nothing in the world compared to the beauty of our own country, and especially our own little backyard.  I made sure to visit the ship's exercise room a couple times a week to keep up my exercises.  And I wore a pedometer everyday.  When we got home, I stopped in to see my physical therapist.  He asked how the trip went.  I told him about the visit to the island of Capri, Italy, (during our visit to Naples), and that I logged 13, 200 steps that day.  He smiled and told me that I basically walked 5 miles and that we was so proud of me.  I told him about visiting a Buddhist temple in Kuala Lumpura and walking up 250 steps to the temple and back down 250 steps.  He high fived me, and said "You go girl.  That new knee is really working for you."  Dave and I have many, many photos and many, many memories.  We returned home on June 18th.

I did manage to get just a few plants in the garden during those last 2 weeks of June.  I knew that my new knee wouldn't allow me to kneel and I would have to bend at the waist to do most of the work.  But, Dave tilled the boxes, I bought 6 tomato plants, some carrot seeds, green beans, squash seeds and called it good for the year.  We did have a pretty good yield.  Things came on very quickly, (due to the hot temperatures and the daily watering).  I told Dave, "Maybe I've been doing things all wrong, getting my garden in early in the Spring.  It seems to really like a late planting better."

We also attended a couple of Broadway Across America plays.  Dave really loves those.

Overall, I felt like I lost the first 6 months of 2017 due to so many surgeries, various doctor appointments, physical therapy appointments, nurse visits, and so forth.  The cruise was just the thing that Dave and I needed to get away from everything that had happened at home.  And, we didn't mind the 28 days on a ship.  In fact, we enjoyed it so much, that we've talked about doing more of these long duration cruises.

Well, that ties up the first half of 2017.  I'll post July to December in the next post.

Hope this wasn't too boring, or too much information.