I saw my orthopedic surgeon’s PA on Monday. My knee was still swollen but not nearly as much as when I took the photo in the previous post. I showed the picture to the PA and a nurse. They were impressed. The nurse said if it had been that big when I came in, it would have been their new record.
The PA drew some fluid from the knee with a fairly big syringe. Not horse-sized syringe, but large-human sized. He got a little more than two syringes full. My knee is somewhat smaller but still a little swollen and stiff. They also gave each knee a shot of lidocaine and triamcinolone, which is what is apparently used these days instead of cortisone. He wanted both knees to start from the same place. He promised immediate relief. It is better, but I am definitely not back to 100 percent.
Actually, it is no longer possible get to 100 percent. On my best days, I think my knees are around 80 percent, as long as I don’t ask them to do too much. I’ll see tonight if I get an achey knee around 3 am, which is my normal now.
On a brighter note, we had a nice, full rainbow in the front yard Monday afternoon.
I used my iPhone’s panorama mode to get this. You can see a lighter band on the left side of the image, which is an artifact. I must have jiggled the phone there.
The ends of the rainbow are not in our yard, so no pot of gold for us.
I hope the treatment worked and that things get back to the new normal (or maybe even better than that… without waking achy at 3:00 am!). Keep us posted.
A beautiful panorama of that rainbow. Love seeing the whole bow like that!
Robin – It has been nearly a week since I got the shots, and life is good. My knees feel better than they have in a long time. They are not back to 100 percent, but I don’t think they will ever get back to that point.