May 12, 2007
I noticed something called “shea butter” (made from the fruit of an African tree) at the local health food store awhile back. Gary has been wanting to try something other than what he’s been using to “grease” his flap. He’s had various problems in using vaseline, xenaderm, Eucerin, and so forth – getting rashes or fungal infections, or the skin looking dry, etc. So we’ve been using the shea butter on it (as it claimed to be good for the skin) and so far it has been working better than the other stuff – the area has been staying moisturized and having no skin problems.
May 14, 2007
Went to the doctor for the results of my MRI. After an hour and a half wait, I got the bad news – torn medial meniscus (knee cartilage). The doctor says it’s not harmful and doesn’t lead to arthritis, but neither does it heal. So the two options are 1) to keep the knee in good shape through rehabbing it, keeping the muscles strong and flexible, and live with whatever annoyances it might cause (he says the pain comes when the piece of torn cartilage gets in the groove of the knee, and it might not always be there – it may just move there when the knee is put in certain positions; unfortunately my pain is pretty constant, and more than annoying, the worst thing being it interferes with getting a decent night’s sleep) or if one can no longer live with the pain or the restrictions of activity, 2) arthroscopic surgery, where they remove the torn cartilage.
The doctor says people usually take 3-5 weeks for recovery from the 30 minute operation and then can be as active as they want; the recovery is from the soreness and healing after the surgery, and it’s impossible to say how long one is going to hurt or how quickly one is going to heal. Gary had this surgery a few years back, and it took him 6 months to recover, so he isn’t advising me to rush into it, and says the surgery is, as understatement, “no fun.” Me, I wish I could hide my head in the sand and have the pain simply go away.
(And FYI, sister Janet, since you wanted details, he says that for particularly bad spells I could get a cortisone shot for temporary relief. He also says the knee doesn’t “miss” the removed cartilage, as only about 10-15% is removed, and so the knee will be no worse off without it.)
I noticed something called “shea butter” (made from the fruit of an African tree) at the local health food store awhile back. Gary has been wanting to try something other than what he’s been using to “grease” his flap. He’s had various problems in using vaseline, xenaderm, Eucerin, and so forth – getting rashes or fungal infections, or the skin looking dry, etc. So we’ve been using the shea butter on it (as it claimed to be good for the skin) and so far it has been working better than the other stuff – the area has been staying moisturized and having no skin problems.
May 14, 2007
Went to the doctor for the results of my MRI. After an hour and a half wait, I got the bad news – torn medial meniscus (knee cartilage). The doctor says it’s not harmful and doesn’t lead to arthritis, but neither does it heal. So the two options are 1) to keep the knee in good shape through rehabbing it, keeping the muscles strong and flexible, and live with whatever annoyances it might cause (he says the pain comes when the piece of torn cartilage gets in the groove of the knee, and it might not always be there – it may just move there when the knee is put in certain positions; unfortunately my pain is pretty constant, and more than annoying, the worst thing being it interferes with getting a decent night’s sleep) or if one can no longer live with the pain or the restrictions of activity, 2) arthroscopic surgery, where they remove the torn cartilage.
The doctor says people usually take 3-5 weeks for recovery from the 30 minute operation and then can be as active as they want; the recovery is from the soreness and healing after the surgery, and it’s impossible to say how long one is going to hurt or how quickly one is going to heal. Gary had this surgery a few years back, and it took him 6 months to recover, so he isn’t advising me to rush into it, and says the surgery is, as understatement, “no fun.” Me, I wish I could hide my head in the sand and have the pain simply go away.
(And FYI, sister Janet, since you wanted details, he says that for particularly bad spells I could get a cortisone shot for temporary relief. He also says the knee doesn’t “miss” the removed cartilage, as only about 10-15% is removed, and so the knee will be no worse off without it.)
posted by Peg Daniels at 7:21 PM
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