22 Foxhole East

apple_muncher

Hope dh is well enough to take on full parenting responsibility when you go away...

mark55man

OH will muddle through without too much damage. we've all been there

f0xh0les

He is on over the counter painkillers, cos the ones they want him to take are really addictive and the doctor says they wouldn't consider a knee replacement for another 15 years. He has zero cartilage in his knee, so every step he takes bone grates on bone and he has osteoporosis to look forward to. So unless the trials of cartilage regrowth speed up he is knackered. The effects of 17 years of painkillers are starting to cause him stomach troubles, the dr has ruled out exercise, and that has caused a low mood, and the tablets can cause a problem with iron absorption. So that is what I am going with at the moment.

He is suffering with knackeredness, but until it gets so bad he is worried by it himself, he will not take my advice. Now he is taking my advice. So that is how bad it is.



He will cope just fine with the kids, but m-i-l rang yesterday to say f-i-l has been swabbed and there is MRSA present in a wound on his leg. So they are all panicking like crazy, although according to mr google, the results from a 3 antibiotics cocktail works very well these days. anyway, that was the bombshell dropped yesterday. At least they have the caring ministrations of s-i-l who has 'come home' for Christmas - which always leads to 'at least your sister came home for Christmas, one of our children care'. Not my circus, not my monkeys.


Today is DS4s 9th birthday. He is a very happy boy. He has a (cheapo) tablet, 3 ds games, a few books, some gift vouchers and some dosh. We are going out for lunch, then cake. Job done. Mulled wine will be deployed at 4pm.



Baking a fruit cake this morning in place of a Xmas cake.

Tomorrow will be Xmas Eve.

in_need_of_direction

Dr Michael mosely did a documentary on exercise, I can’t remember what it was called but there was a bit on their about cartilage regrowth. Might be worth a nosy. I only remembered as I’ve had some scraped out of one of my knees. The other thing that really helped me was getting properly fitted for me orthotic insoles. They weren’t cheap but have made such a difference over the 5 years that I’ve had them

Sayschezza

Ex h had the same problem with knees and the NHS so paid privately in the end. Surgeon said if he hadn't had it done when he did then he was only weeks away from it being inoperable.

f0xh0les

I know it is not exactly the same, but surely if Supervet can do it .... but then again the lifespan is a bit different.



NHS knee specialist has said the only thing he can have is pain management and has been told no exercise as the bones are grinding now - he really has no cartilage at all, and bits of bone might break off and start floating around, which will lead to even more arthroscopys and rinsing outs.



And of course, all he wants to do is go for a run, or a long bike ride.



Will look into the private route.

in_need_of_direction

I was fortunate to have access to private healthcare for my surgeries however my scheme won’t cover knee replacements which are kinda inevitable. That said, when it reaches that point, I would definitely go down that route from a quality of life / sustaining income point of view.

f0xh0les

They won't do knee replacements on the under 55s, so he has another 10 yrs +. The Dr's recommendation was to do less and rest more. Not really what he wanted to hear. Just offered him codeine based painkillers that he refused 16 years ago as he tried them once and they scared him, he was so off his head with them being so strong, and has been coping with ibruprofen and paracetamol since then. He is currently 4 days without taking anything. But then he is not doing much at the moment. Hopefully he will perk up again soon, he needs a break from them.

kerri_gt

Oh dear, your poor OH (that seems entirely inadequate) would he be able to swim at all? Thinking less stress on the knee, in times where we're all being told to do more, it seems ludicrous that he's told to do zero.

Families eh? Esp st Christmas, seems to be carte Blanche for snidey comments and behaviour. Not sure if it's just a stressful time of year, because everyone is cooped up together more than usual or the solstice having an effect on people ...or all three.

Happy Birthday to DS4 - assuming the 4pm mulled wine isn't for him :rotfl:

greenbee

Having been chronically anaemic in the past, make sure you get plenty of vit C into him as that helps absorbtion (and made significantly more impact on my progress than massive doses of iron on their own). And also make sure he has a nice high-fibre diet