Good News & Bad News-NOT

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

I wish I had good news and bad news, but the good news seems to be either sparse or nonexistent. I just got back from my doctor. For the bast few mouths, my Lap-Band has been defilled to empty. I have gained over 30 pounds because of lack of band restriction, lack of will-power and because my right knee has stopped me from exercising or even walking more than a few minutes. My right knee has been scoped thrice and my left knee twice.

I had an MRI last week and went to see my doctor about the results today. I need a new knee. I was hoping to go back to work and had a job offer that would have allowed me to put at least $25,000 in the bank between now and my 62nd birthday, when the 6 month contract would have been completed and I would have stopped working and applied for Social Security.

“Forget that” said the doctor. Too much damage to the knee. One missing cartilage, one cartilage torn, a lot of arthritis and a Baker's cyst. I started on “chicken beak” injections today. Actually they are called Hyalgan injections and they are made from the combs of roosters. The series of 5 weekly Hyalgan injections are supposed to fill in the gaps between the bones in the knee joint so that there will be some relief.

Hopefully, I can start exercising, get a fill, lose some weight and be in better shape to accept an artificial knee in a year or so. I now have to figure a way to make some money without doing manual labor or constant walking. How would I look as a 61 year old Dominoes pizza Delivery Boy?

[MeganA 35]

Tired old man-

So sorry to hear of your problems! I, too gained weight after an unfill so I understand that frustration. I sure hope your knee feels better after the rooster comb injections. How weird is medicine these days?

Best of luck!

megan

[CCBSTX 0]

What a bummer! It's so frustrating to want to do something and you can't!!! I hope the rooster injections make your feel better.

Why is your band deflated? I must have missed that part.

Take care. Shawn

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

My band was emptied because of gastric reflux and inability to hold down food or eventually even liquids. I posted about it a few months ago.

I was hoping to put away a little more to our retirement nest-egg. My wife has medical problems and can't work, so I figured this contract would be my last chance. Doctor says "Never again" can I expect to do that kind of work. The jobs around here are all manual labor jobs paying very little.

Thanks everyone for your support.

[Sis 0]

Hi Tired... I'm new, so you don't know me, so take this with a grain of salt.

Whenever I've been "blocked" from something I really, really thought I wanted or needed, I've often been surprised to find a better result was waiting ... just out of sight.

Perhaps being blocked from "what is available" will lead to you discovering another talent or area of your life that needs attention. I hope so.

Your posts on this forum are very helpful to me, especially in light of complications you've encountered. I appreciate your patient, measured approach to living with the band. Thank you.

[green 6]

This is bad news indeed. I suppose that there is no way that the operation can be pushed up to ASAP in order that you can be through physiotherapy and able to get another few contract gigs under your belt further down the road. Also, I don't know how any of this works stateside. Will this operation be covered by health insurance? I live in Canada and your medical procedure would be covered by the state because it is a necessary one. As you may know, we have socialized medicine up here. My mother had her knee replaced when she was 82 and this was covered by the state. I, on the other hand, had to pay for my lapband operation as this is deemed a vanity procedure.

Your knee certainly sounds very painful and you have all my sympathy. You are receiving a number of body blows at this time.

[tomorrowsdream 0]

I would be leery of a Dominoe's pizza guy that "crowed" like a rooster.

[PamRN 0]

I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties, we all have such high hopes that with the band the weight we lose is gone forever. I haven't had another fill since banding 2 years ago, so have also gained over 30 pounds...bleh...but my own fault. (I've already purchased my flight tickets, I go for a flouroscopy, and if all is well, will get a fill Oct 16th.) ANYWAY...

My husband is a lifetime long distance runner, and had the round of hyalgan injections to both knees in the spring of this year. He feels he had good results, and was pretty much pain free for several months. Now his knee pain is gradually returning, but is only in one knee so far, and still much less than it was pre-hyalgan. He feels the treatment was worth the cost, and the shots weren't as bad as he'd imagined they'd be. I wish you good luck and great results.

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

I'm sorry to hear of your difficulties, we all have such high hopes that with the band the weight we lose is gone forever. I haven't had another fill since banding 2 years ago, so have also gained over 30 pounds...bleh...but my own fault. (I've already purchased my flight tickets, I go for a flouroscopy, and if all is well, will get a fill Oct 16th.) ANYWAY...

Good luck and thanx for the support.

My husband is a lifetime long distance runner, and had the round of hyalgan injections to both knees in the spring of this year. He feels he had good results, and was pretty much pain free for several months. Now his knee pain is gradually returning, but is only in one knee so far, and still much less than it was pre-hyalgan. He feels the treatment was worth the cost, and the shots weren't as bad as he'd imagined they'd be. I wish you good luck and great results.

The nurse trainie was cringing as the doctor injected me, but needles do not bother me and I was cheering her up. I had a round of 5 shots each knee after my last scopes late 2004. I had my right knee scoped the Monday before ThanksGiving and my left knee scoped the Monday after Christmas.

[BJean 16]

Well T.O.M. I didn't read when you posted about your rooster comb injections, but I wanted to tell you that I've been through a similar experience. Both of my knees are shot - arthritis, cartiledge injury to both knee caps, I've become bow-legged, etc. In one year, I have gone from working out 3 x per week, to hardly being able to walk any distance at all without pain, and being unable to climb stairs unless I use all fours like a dog.

I had rooster comb injections (Synvisc), starting in march. A series of injections (only one per knee, per visit) over a 3 week period. The first week the shots weren't very painful. The second week, I thought I was gonna die and afterwards couldn't stop crying. The third visit, the shots didn't hurt at all.

At first the Synvisc helped a little, then in late May we went on an Alaskan cruise and they seemed to help some during the cruise and just after. Then about 3 weeks later, I was almost pain free. It was fabulous!! Now the pain level is slowly creeping back in, although I am not taking the Naproxyn daily like I had been pre-LB, so I am sure that's part of it.

I am completely terrified of knee replacement, but I will probably have no choice if I don't want to wind up in a wheelchair. I'm hoping that the weight loss from LB will help alleviate some of the pain and allow me to postpone the knee replacement surgery for at least a year or so. However, I think there is wisdom in getting it done while I'm still strong enough to be able to go through the rehab and become functional again. (I'm the same age as you.)

Right now the only exercise I am told I can do without causing more injury to my knees, is under Water walking and simple leg lifts, etc., under Water. I'm too embarrassed to be seen in public in a swimsuit, so we've managed to build (almost completed) an exercise pool in our backyard (we BOTH need the exercise). This pool const. debt and my LB surgery debt are pretty depressing since it's all come out of the funds we had set aside for retirement. My DH will undoubtedly have to postpone retirement for another couple of years. Not good news either!

Hearing my story isn't helping you in any way, I am sure. But I want you to know that I think I understand a lot about the pain you endure every day, and the inability to be able to do a job that a few years ago would have been a snap. My heart goes out to you and I hope like everything that the rooster that donated his comb provides a perfect specimen for you and that you'll be much improved as a result!

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

Hearing my story isn't helping you in any way, I am sure. But I want you to know that I think I understand a lot about the pain you endure every day, and the inability to be able to do a job that a few years ago would have been a snap. My heart goes out to you and I hope like everything that the rooster that donated his comb provides a perfect specimen for you and that you'll be much improved as a result!

Hearing your story did help me in many ways. It gives me hope in that I want to think that the world still has people with empathy and caring. It gives me reason to stop being down on myself. When I see the love that your husband is sharing with you by postponing his retirement, it gives my heart a feeling of joy. I and my wife are always criticized for our symbiotic relationship. We act often as one, though we are very different in so many ways, but by sharing our lives and our love, we have found a oneness that allows us to be more than the sum of two. I feel that you and your husband are living that same experience. Success very seldom brings much growth within us, but adversity makes us stronger and the weaker we were, the stronger we will become.

Thank you for your much appreciated words. Thank you for sharing, for we have nothing more valuable than ourselves to give.

And please take care of yourself and I hope you feel better.

[BJean 16]

Gosh T.O.M., I am continually amazed at your insight! My husband and I are probably as opposite in every way as any two people could be. Sometimes I think that's WHY it works. I absolutely feel like one of the most loved people on this earth, but I also have felt very selfish in this whole health care costs issue. He has done everything in his power to reassure me that our health is the most important thing we have!

I loved hearing about your and your DW! To think you two are sharing in a similar experience is very gratifying for me. I sometimes wondered over the past 32 years if we are freaks of nature! So thank you very much for opening up a little with me. This knee thing has been something that has been an unbelievable challenge for us. You and I are both fortunate to live with a spouse who understands and loves us enough to just deal with it.

It is easy to get depressed when your health is compromised, but just think how much harder things would be if you didn't have Mrs. T.O.M. to, if nothing else, commiserate with. That sounds trite, but for me it sure isn't.

You're a wonderful, very smart, quick man, and you haven't stopped contributing to society - believe me, you are educating a lot of people and providing a lot of support to many people on LBT. Just because you can't see their faces, doesn't mean they are aren't important, caring members of society in America.

P.S. I don't think I've been to Stuart. We lived in Orlando for 16 years. I never got used to the humidity - or the packs of tourists~!

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

I try to emulate Christ in my dealings with other people, rather than follow the teachings of the Jerry Falwell's of the world. The golden rule is simple, but hard to follow, because so many people reject it.

I have been accused of doing or saying nice things in order to fool people into liking me so that I could abuse them at a later time.

If people learn from me, I am happy. When people attack me, I feel sorry for them because, it is our world and when we lose it, we will all be the worst for wear.

By the way, when my wife and I were married, many of my friends told me that we would not last more than a year or two before we broke up. That was 39 years ago. And you know, they were right. The two people who said "I do" that day would not have lasted more than a year or two if we hadn't changed. We both grew and learned to compromise.

Many people have told me that my wife has already been canonized as a Saint. Her seat in Heaven is right next to Mother Teresa's seat. Mother Teresa is waiting with baited breath to ask my wife the secret of her patience.

[BJean 16]

That was quite a tribute to your wife. Seems to me that she's a lucky lady having a man who recognizes her saintly ways and shares them with others.

I don't doubt for a minute that you have the ability to abuse someone with your words, but I do doubt that it is in your heart to do follow that path.

Don't get me started on Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson!

[Tired_Old_Man 1]

The main form of perceived abuse (of my wife) is from the quantity of words that flow from my mouth.

I try to make sure that I am understood. Many people miss the subtleties of the spoken word and the ease at which a simple sentence can be misinterpreted.

My poor wife's burden is having to hear me make sure that I am understood.