Xrays & operations...

Early up this morning, and the now all too familiar procedure of catching the hospital bus through to George and joining the queue system.
To make things a little more interesting this morning, when i eventually got to the front of the queue, they told me that i did not have an appointment, and had to first go to the xray dept and get my name on the list, then to go upstairs to the orthopaedic dept and get my name on the list there, and then to return to collect my file in order to go and get my xrays taken!
Muttering under my breath i headed off to complete the process.
45 minutes later, and with my name now on all the required lists, i was sitting in the xray queue waiting for my turn.
At 2pm i finally made it to the front of the queue, and went inside to get my xrays taken.
Then upstairs to wait for another 2 hours to get to to see the specialist.
He looked over the new xrays, which showed multiple angles of the head of my femur, the ball part that slots into the hip.
His thinking was that maybe the screws that went at a 45 degree angle through the nail in my femur, and into my hip, were protruding out of the side of the ball part, and scraping on something, causing the pain.
Unfortunately the xrays were inconclusive. They only showed that the 1 screw was broken off, and the 2nd screw that they used was screwed very close to the edge of the joint.
He suggested removal of the hardware in my upper leg to see whether this would fix the problems i was having.
He looked through his diary and made my appointment for the next available date, 11th February next year!
6 days before my birthday! Oh well, maybe a nice birthday present awaits me? One can only hope hey?!
He notified me of the complications that may arise from the op, namely infection, or the re-fracture of the femur, or that they cannot remove the screws!
I was willing to put up with the risks involved though, as we all seemed to think that the op is necessary to get me walking again.
He explained that after the op, even if everything went well, he would need me to still be on crutches for another 6 weeks in order to make sure the bone was strong enough to take my weight again.
I dont think that the op will fix me entirely though.
I know that there are a lot more problems with my leg and knee that will develop over time, and perhaps even in the near future, but if i can lose the crutches and get walking again without them, then this, for me, is a huge bonus!
I have done a lot of research on calcium supplements too, as he mentioned that the bone around my hip area looked very weak, as i have not been using my leg for weight bearing much over the last 2 years. He was afraid that the hip might fracture whilst removing the nail as the op is quite a forceful one.
I have some Calcium Carbonate/Glycine chewable tablets that i am taking, and research shows that vitamin D3 helps the body absorb the maximum amount of calcium for the bones, so i have bought some D3 as well.
1 tablet of vit D3 in the morning with 2 tabs of Calcium Carbonate and then another 2 tabs of Calcium with lunch.
I'll keep on with the quad exercises as well, and hopefully by Feb next year i'll be strong enough to walk once the crutches can get chucked away!
At the moment i am almost able to stand straight legged with all my weight on my left foot. I can put about 90% weight through it now.
I know that walking requires the knee to be a lot stronger than just being able to stand on the leg, but i'm sure that as the quad gets stronger, the knee will will get stronger too.
Thats my aim now anyway...to strengthen the quad muscle to the point where it supports the knee enough to limit the amount of damage that will be done to it when i am walking again.
So, thats the news up til now.
Back to the physio and supplements drawing board, and pray pray and pray some more that Feb next year i get some good news for my birthday!
I was really hoping to be walking by the end of this year, but that doesnt look like happening now.
At least i've got summer to look forward to.
Its almost here, and by all accounts its going to be a scorcher!
Much love to all my readers.
Peace

2 days and 1200km later...

The trip down to Cape Town was a long one. Luckily it was overcast so it wasn't a hot one in the car.
The specialist there saw me, and i did the usual climb up on the bed and he pushed and pulled on my knee and did the leg rotating thing i've become used to by know.
His findings were that my knee seems to be stable enough to facilitate walking!
He said that the pain in the lateral part of my knee was, in his professional opinion, and without having looked at any xrays or seen inside my knee, coming from the upper part of my leg.
It was pain transferal from my femur or hip.
He looked at the xrays i had brought with me, and said that he could not tell from them where exactly the pain was coming from, and that i needed better xrays or an MRI to make sure.
And that was my entire 20min meeting with him.
A 2 day round trip, and a pretty expensive fuel bill later and i was still none the wiser...but at least i had been pointed in a direction to look now.
I took a chance the following morning and called the hospital in George to see if i could possibly get a late appointment for the same day, and i could stop in there on the way past.
As luck would have it, they could fit me in.
5 hours later and i was once again sitting in the queue system waiting to see the specialist at the public hospital.
3 more hours later and it was my turn.
They were interested to hear of my visit to the specialist in Cape Town, and agreed that the knee might not be where the initial problem lay. Unfortunately it was too late in the day for xrays, so they scheduled me to return the following wednesday for xrays and a better look.
So, off i went again, with a date to return in a weeks time.
The plot thickens...

Time for a specialist!

It's been 3 months since my last entry now, and i have been keeping on with the physio i am doing at home to try and strengthen my left quad.
I have noticed an improvement, but it is still very slow progress.
I have gone from straight leg raises, to straight leg raises with my work boot on my left foot, thus increasing the weight by about a half a kilo or so (they're steel toes caps).
My quad seems fine to take the exra weight, but my knee screams at me whilst grating and grinding under the kneecap!
But i'm still managing to get by every evening with a 50 set routine.
Luckily there hasn't been a return of the dreaded DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). I take Friday and Saturday off from this routine to give my quad a break from the workout, and this is seeming to give me enough of a rest to not have the muscle pain i've had in the past.
As these things usually go, i per chance, was speaking to someone and they mentioned a knee op they had had in the past and that there was an excellent specialist in the Cape Town area that i should get in contact with.
I found him online, and contacted him with my story.
He agreed to see me for free, waiving his usual consultation fee, and assess me and give me his diagnosis and also cost of getting fixed up privately.
I researched all about him, and am extremely confident that he is the right man for the job. He is 1 of the most highly qualified and experienced knee specialists in the country!
My appointment is finally (after 2 months trying to get a lift down to his practice) set for next week Wednesday afternoon.
I'm very excited to finally know exactly what is wrong with my knee.
One thing is for sure...there is nothing that i can bring to the table that he hasn't already seen and dealt with before!
So this is very encouraging.
Now just to hope that he has some sort of good news for me.
I'll be back online in the next 10 days or so to report back what he told me.
Peace