After several years of hobbling around with a bum knee the time has come to “upgrade.” Here’s a MRI image of my knee. You can see the femur and the tibia with a thin white line between. The surgeon referred to this as “bone on bone,” Osteoarthritis.
So, on August 29, Joann drove me to the surgery center. We arrived at 5:30 in the morning. As I was contemplating the surgery, I started to wonder what if they don’t have the right parts? As they were wheeling me into position in the operating room I asked the surgeon’s assistant. She pointed to a cart stacked with dozens of boxes. No need to worry. Turns out my new artificial knee is a Zimmer Persona size 6 on the femur and size D on the tibia.
At 3:30 in the afternoon I was climbing up the front steps to my house. You can see a photo of me on crutches on my front porch. Soon, as part of the recovery process, I was circulating ice water around my knee.
Here’s an image I lifted from a website that shows what the parts look like, and an x-ray image that shows the new knee joint.
On December 7 I managed to join friends for a three mile walk around Point Pinole, proof that I’m on the mend. Here’s a photo of me with our dog Carson. It may be a few more months before I’m where I’d like to be, but progress is encouraging.
The recovery process involves physical therapy sessions twice a week, lots of exercises to get my range of motion back and to build strength. One of my challenges is that after years of walking with an affected gate, muscles in my hip have atrophied.
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