Tomorrow is the day!
Tomorrow 11am LTKR.
I am super nervous, excited, anxious, scared but hopeful- Ready to reclaim my quality of life and health.
(RTKR will be scheduled at my post op appt based on how I’m doing.)
First off-
Thanks so much to all of you. I know you’ve all felt exactly like I do right now. I’ve lurked this sub for over a year. You all have taught me so much, scared me at times, but always motivated me. Thanks for that.🌼
I’ve needed both knees done for 5 years. Years of fighting with our insurance who ‘believed’ before they’d approve surgery- I needed more PT, less PT, more injections, more pain mgmt and stronger narcotics but needed pre auth for (meds I didn’t want & they ultimately declined approval!) a short time where they kept referring to my rapidly spreading ‘cancer.’ THAT was terrifying as I’ve never been dx with any form of cancer!
Insurance not approving the orthopedic surgeon that I had spent endless months, weeks, days researching/learning everything about them and their practice and pt reviews, checking Board certifications, fellowships, and is the top “joint doc” in this part of the country and is in my hometown. He’s been the head team ortho doc for 4 of our 5 professional sports teams since he came back to Florida.
I’ve seen 4 different ortho surgeons, all with the same conclusion. Bone on bone, advanced osteoarthritis, PT nor meds will do anything for and need both knees done as soon as possible. Good docs but not who’d I chose for surgery. They weren’t going to approve anything anyways!
Remember, 5 years of this.
I haven’t been in a grocery store, mall, park, on vacation, hiking, riding my horses and haven’t driven in 3 years. (Life totally sucked!)
Dumped our insurance the moment we were eligible for Medicare and what a difference, 5 months made!
I had a set of criteria that I wanted in my surgeon.
I wanted him to have spent fellowship time training/operating out of HHS, wanted surgeon guided robotics, also that they employ muscle, ligament sparing surgery & do not use a tourniquet for surgery.
Thrown on top of all that I wanted a surgeon who was professional, patient oriented and a nice guy.
All things are possible!
Now, if I don’t completely freak myself out over this surgery, rehab & recovery journey -I won’t be a blubbering wreck for the rest of today and be somewhat composed tomorrow morning.
Just looking forward to pre op IV’s and the ‘I don’t care juice.’
1-Super curious how many of you used Journavax & how it worked for you?
2-What was the one thing you wished you’d have had or you had and it was a game changer?
3- Any other words of wisdom you’d be willing to share?
I believe, I have everything bought, being delivered and in place for coming home afterwards.
But, probably not.
Soldiering on, just a little shaky today.