Tibial Osteotomy

[_John_]

My knee`s are rooted. In the biblical sense. basically, I`m bow legged. here`s how it works:

Clench both fists above your keyboard put them together in front of you about 20mm apart, got that?

Okay now tilt your fists until your index finger knuckles are touching, now that's my knee joints due to the bow legs.

Over the past 48 years, this pressure has worn the cartilge and there you have it, Osteo Arthritis.

Now up to this point there`s been mild discomfort, pain at times increasing over the years and now stiffness in the right knee.

Maybe one is more bowed than the other, kicking bikes over etc the way I walk or pivot. Now though, the left knee has joined the party.

Its pretty full on, pain wise but its been gradual and frankly I`m the type who has, out of necessity, just run on.

I work a physical sort of gig, I operate a sand and gravel wash plant. Lotsa stairs, lots of heavy lifting its a knuckleheads job, I love it. Love I can do it at near 50.

Well, lately I`ve been confronted with the realisation that: " I don`t wanna alarm anyone but I can`t hardly walk "

I see my own doctor, she sets me up on strong anti inflams I wear neoprene slips on my knees and battle on. I see a bone specialist thinking oh, he`ll just say matey! we can nip in and clean that rubbish out of there and you can go climbing mountains in no time

eerrrrrrrrrrnk. Wrong.

He suggests ( subject to the results of a further MRI I had ) the Osteotomy. Which makes a Total Knee Replacement ( TKR to those in the loop ) look like a friggin HAIR CUT! Well, not really but its full on.

The gist is, I go from being bowlegged to knock kneed. How? The take a biscuit out of my Tibia`s just under the knee`s ( that's cut a piece out of the bone ) then realign the leg and knee so the weight goes to the outside of the joint to the good cartige.

Cost? NFI, prolly about half a Typhoon. Recovery?? 6 weeks minium, 3 months for real boofhead work they say no sport for 12 months.

The facts are: I`m too young and full of pith and vinegar for the TKR. I`d wear then out in no time. Be like Dalts putting 195 x 15 recaps on his ute.

No medical insurance here either.

Who can afford even 6 weeks off work?

The ligaments and all that shizzle are good, my knee`s shouldn`t just give out, that's comforting to know when I`m dragging a 2 inch hose up a conveyor belt..

Pain. It`ll get worse. That depends on how I care for the knee`s ( ha! ) and losing weight which I`ve started already. I `d have to keep

it at my fighting weight and leave the cakes where they are.

The Tibial osteotomy is the regarded the best option for active folk, you should get 10 years of decent quality. More maybe, then be looking at TKR.

But its frankenstein sh!t cuttin bones. Sure, you can get plates and screws in ya arm and collar bone and go to Hockenhiem next weekend and ride a Grand Prix bike, but I`m not 21 anymore nor am I vying for a world championship.

This is where I am now. perplexed.

[tab]

...seriously don't know what you're carrying on about, sounds like simple day surgery.

Or not

Long shot but what are the chances of it being a work injury? Which by definition also means an inflammation or a reoccurrance of a previous injury (regardless of where or how it happened) as a result of your normal duties.

Edited 18/06/11 08:43 AM by tab
mords wuddled

[_John_]

Trent! LOL! I wish to Christ people would stop throwing the " worker comp " flag on this!

lolz, if I could prove that the company caused me to be born bow legged and lead an active life over the past half century all over it like a seagull on a sick prawn.

The Specialist said when asked for a price: oh, you need to sign up for health insurance, sit the year out etc.. How do I do that? How do I say: NO! I`m FINE! :D certainly no surgery needed here anytime soon that's for darn sure!

I don`t do bullsh!t all that well, if that makes me a fool then that's what I`ve always been.

I pressed him for a price, but he was like oh, the girls ( nodding towards the front desk ) do the that, we`d have to do ya a quote.

I`m thinking, 600 rwkw starting from scratch in a T prices. I pulled 7,500 outa me arse but frankly I have no idea. Maybe that's each leg.

Funnily enough, David Morgan is one of the top orthopedic surgeons in QLD. Me and ol` Davo go way back, I mined sand on his property. Maybe we can cut some kinda deal.

Honestly, 90% sure I wanna do it. Question is logistics and planning.

[bjc]

One total knee replacement and to stay at a private hospital was $22,000 for my mother-in-law of which $5600 was 7 days in hospital including drugs ($800 daily).

You say that your surgery will only likely last 10yrs ish which is what they say the lifespan is of the TKR although my father-in-law has TKR on both legs, one of which is now 10yrs old and the other is 6yrs old. He is now 62yrs old and weighs 110kg which he was meant to have weighed 90kg max to get the most life out of the knees.

Anyway... his 10yr old TKR is still going well and no problems for him as he is still very active and he doesn't have the posterial cruciate ligaments (locks the knee out) as it was gone when he had the TKR.

I know this is expensive (FG XR6T for the two TKR's) but to me if you get the TKR's now and then have the plastic insert(cant think of the actual name for the white part) of the prothesis replaced in 10yrs then to me you will be saving money as the Tibial Osteotomy surely would have to be more than $7500 for both legs including hospital which is the biggest rapist of all!

The positive of TKR though is that your on your feet within 3 days and you sound mentally fit also so the recovery would be quicker than usual as was with my father in law!

Either way I wish you luck as my wife has had 6 surgeries on both knees being in the military and she is only 35yrs old with osteo arthritis in both knees!

btw my father in law was awake for both his TKR's!

Good luck with it

[Rootster]

I'm not far behind you..I've really struggled with my knees this year also...I found relief by taking celery 2500 joint relief capsules...Try some barley grass powder it helps bring the body's ph back to balance,drop acidic foods as the acid does no favours on the joints.. I also took up yoga,I found spending 10-15 minutes, 3-4 times a day stretching also helps relieve the pain..My mum was going to have a knee replacement operation,she started taking some sort of shark cartilage powered.She isn't going for the operation any longer and gets around fine now...Hope it works out well for you john...

[_John_]

AWAKE?!?!?!?!

ahhhh nuh..

The good thing about the Tibial Osteotomy is I keep my OEM knees. I keep all the ligaments which are good. The TKR is still viable down the track. Its slightly more difficult, but still no problem for a good surgeon.

The Osteotomy is a lot less expensive, only parts required are the plates and screws.

It`s a big decison eh.

But this cripple sh*t is getting real old, real fast.

[Guest XR09]

My father in law had it done. He's an old horseman. And walked like one...bow legged Bob.

Anywho he was 3 days in the hospital. They had him putting weight on them the next day. He had both knees done. Very painful.

6 months physio. Very painful. But I think one of the most important parts of the therapy.

12 months later and he is walking better than I have seen him walk in thirty years. He was 70ish when he had it done. And still riding the dumb nags.

Private insurance sucks. But pretty soon we will all have to have it.

You will be out of even desk action for about three months work wise. Well unless your mad like me. We do what we have to do really. And I would say at least 6 months for physical work.

Ostio really sucks and the operation only repairs the damage and not the symptom.

[_John_]

This correct. it just buys you time. But if you`re active, it seems the best option.

its the time off that has everyone, management and me, biting the lower lip.

But I like the bit about Poppy feeling and walking good. I wince and grizzle but I`m still walking.

On one hand it could cost me my job, as I know it anyway, I might have to go drive a friggin dump truck :( or do sales on a 972. Yuck.

Other hand, I`d be able to work, the day is coming where I will not. I have no retirement plans. I wanna work forever.

[Henz]

I had a bad motorbike accident at 16, basically used a few large trees and my left knee to slow myself down from 110kmh. Spent 3 months on crutchs, then had the first operation and another 3 months before I could walk. Lasted 2-3 weeks and the pain was unbearable, one more operation and 3 months before I could walk. This didn't take either. So the final op was the removal of all cartilage. A good cleanout and stitched back up. Now I was told that's as far as they could go without replacing the whole knee, which they nearly did the first time.

I work a very physical job, don't stop all day, either shoveling/'screding concrete or carrying heavy boxing, and that gives it no grief. But a 20 minute jog will kill it. Or spending a few hours sitting on a plane, can barely walk after that.

Ever heard of dr Patel from bundaberg? I had him when I first went to hospital. Leg the size of a basketball, pain killers wearing off. He gets a syringe the size of the Maccas straw and sticks it in, pulls the plunger on this massive needle, then disconnects it from the needle and holds his fum over it. He squirts the sh*t out into a tray, stirs it around, oh yea it's full of shards of bone and sh*t.

Now the best bit, imagine having a mouthful of coke and blowing it out a Macas straw. When he took his fum off the end of the needle that's what it was like. Blood and bone spraying all over the curtains. Then he started squeezing it to force more out. That was lights out for me and the nurse that was watching.

[_John_]

henz: Jesus H. Christ..

Until I get back to the specialist, who is Australian! I don`t even know if the proceedure is viable. he was confident it was.

For sure, who wouldn`t think: if they f*ck it up, just call me Stumpy? Or: I can walk now and put in a pretty full on day, but if it went wrong I`d be a passenger for the rest of my life?

This and some other even worse issues, it`s a bit of a challenge at the moment I might tell you.