David B, I have sympathy pains for you, brother. I had both of my knees scoped five years ago due to torn ligaments and chondromalatia (soft cartilage). I went under completely, and I will go under again when they do my reconstructive this winter (I’ve been putting it off for as long as I can), but I don’t want to know a thing of what’s going on. I couldn’t handle that “you know but don’t really care” crap. It’s a personal decision though, and if you don’t want to take the risks, go with the epidural.
Incidentally, I think I win the “youngest old geezer” prize; I’m 22, and I’ve had arthritis in my knees since I was sixteen.
Jeez, Althea, and here I was feeling sorry for myself. You ruined my pity party!
Anthracite: Yeah, I gotta admit that the whole fear-of-death thing doesn’t thrill me either when it comes to going completely under. I’m sure that’s one of the things that’s tossing around in my mind as I try to make this decision.
JimB: Well, I don’t think anything that bad has happened to my knee, so I’m sure hoping it will be the standard 30 min. procedure. If it’s not, they’ll probably knock me out all the way (I may mention it to them ahead of time).
As I mentioned earlier, I’m pretty set on the epidural right now, mostly because of my asthma (even though it isn’t all that bad). Besides, this way I can tell my wife I went through the same thing she did when she had the babies (the epidural was the part she complained about the most).
Slower, more errors (you have noticed all the really stupid typos in my posts, I assume), and stops to work the pain out. Alleve(naproxen) is my wonder drug. I generally take 2 X twice a day. Those “joint support” vitamins/food supplements do work, and help a lot. (Glucosamine, and chondrotin)
Well, they’ve already got me on Naproxen (prescription) for my knees. I think it works but since the pain comes and goes, it’s hard to tell for sure.
I’ll reserve judgment on the supplements. Anybody who knows me knows how I feel about that stuff, and the latest studies I’ve read indicate that they don’t really help.
Actually, Consumer Reports says they do. Besides, they are reasonably cheap, and they can’t hurt. This is not “mumbo-jumbo” or psuedo-science, dave. Trust me.
There were plenty of problems with the Consumer Reports article if it’s the one I’m thinking of. And the studies I saw post-dated those and were based on actual scientific research, not just asking people if they felt something worked for them.
So much of the hype about supplements is indeed pseudoscience and mumbo-jumbo that they’d better have some damned good evidence if I’m going to believe their claims, and right now they don’t.
David, I don’t suppose that you considered letting Jesus heal your knees? I didn’t think so. Anyways congratulations on breaking the 5000 post barrier.
Well, Adam, I would have let Jesus heal my knees, but he didn’t volunteer. Screw 'im.
Anyway, I’m back on a limited basis (obviously).
As I indicated above, I had been set on an epidural (which was actually wrong – it would have been a spinal). But when I got in there and talked to the anesthesiologist, we started talking needles and shots and I wasn’t liking the sound of it. He assured me that he worked on people with asthma all the time and never had any problems, and that with general, I’d be out in a flash and when I woke up, I’d be done. So I changed my mind.
What a mistake!
Apparently, I’m one of those people who has a really nasty reaction to general. My outpatient surgery became an overnight stay, and I’m still a bit dizzy when I sit up for long periods (I had it done Friday) – in fact, that’s why I’m only back on a limited basis, 'cus the screen is moving around on me as I type this message.
Anyway, I’m hobbling around now and there isn’t too terribly much pain, but I’m home and being waited on, so that part isn’t too bad.
Yikes, David, that sounds icky. But I’m glad you’re back and all good and okay and all. It’s really a pity you didn’t get the epidural. I’m terrified of needles and I was terrified of getting one when I had my little boy, but one little prick and then it was done. And I felt nothing during the birth. Of course, I tried to go to the restroom later and passed out for a few moments on the floor with the nurses chuckling at me, but at least I wasn’t screeching in pain for hours on end.
The only time I had surgery, I was down for the count. Of course, you don’t want to watch with the surgery I had. You don’t like to imagine things being within a mile radius . . . ::shudder::
TaleraRis: Yeah, my wife had an epidural both times as well. For this, though, the anesthesiologist said it would have to be a spinal to block out the pain. When he started discussing putting needles in my spine (as opposed to just “near” my spine with an epidural) and how I might get a spinal headache, etc., I chickened out. He just made being put out completely sound so much easier. And it was – til I woke up!
I talked to my ortho doc’s nurse yesterday, and she said she was mighty surprised to see me asleep when she walked in to the surgery, because we’d had several discussions about it and I’d told her I planned not to be under.
