Half a NANA is better than none...

[NanaABC 0]

It all began last fall (2016) when I was enjoying the outdoors and walking a mile or two each day 🤗. In November my right knee started really bothering me 😕 so to be proactive, I decided to go to the doctor and find out what kind of knee support would be the best. 😊 My doctor x-rayed my knees and said that both knees were bone on bone....which means there was no cartilage left (sigh)... no cushion in the joint. She referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. He took one look at my x-rays and said he would put me in an unloader brace (I weighed in at #296 😳) but that really wasn't the issue 😦Say what????? He announced that he was going to inject 💉 both knees with Cortizone 😳 and hope that it helps however, knee replacement is my only option at this point 😭. The really bad news.....what? 😳 there's more??? "You are way too heavy (FAT) to be a candidate for knee replacement. You need to lose at least 100 pounds 😭🏋️ 😭🍔😭🍟😭🍦😭🍕😭🌮😭🍰😭🍩😭🍫 no...no...not chocolate! He then said that he thought I was a good candidate for bariatric surgery ✂️👨🏻‍⚕️🔪 ...and I thought no way, nada, nope, sorry, but not for this OLD lady pushing 70!

(Update: injections did help my knee pain and I resumed my daily walks 🤗)

When my regular doctor received the information from the orthopedist, she concurred and said she thought I was a perfect candidate for bariatric surgery 🙁 ...really? She added that I was in good health for my age 👵🏼 and weight ... I was reasonably active ... and the medical issues I do have are directly a result of my obesity🤔. Reluctantly, I agreed to allow her to ask for pre-approval from my insurance company with the stipulation that I was not agreeing to actually go through with it 😤. In February the surgery was approved and I began a reluctant journey 😖....lots of medical testing to weigh my suitability for the program. Psychological test (to see how crazy I was...am....crazy normal or 🦇💩 crazy) breathing test, sleep apnea test, blood tests, X rays, EKG's, heart stress test, nutrition classes and so on.

Meanwhile my cortisone injections wear off and my knee pain returns in April and I can no longer go for walks 😞 so I made another appointment with the orthopedic surgeon. I received cortisone injections in both knees for the second time. This time it helped on one knee but not the other .... so I seriously decided to change my diet and lose some weight. Good news is that I've lost nearly
#40 since mid April (all by myself 🤗🎈🎉⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🎉🎈🤗 ...bad news is that my knees are much worse. Now that my mobility is seriously threatened I have had to rethink my options. Soooooooooo, September 12, 2017 ..... yikes😬 next week🏨 ✂️👨🏻‍⚕️🔪💉📋 🛏 ...I am reluctantly having gastric bypass surgery 🙏😬🙏. This will speed up my weight loss and hopefully save my knees for a while. Wish me luck...🤞🏼🙏🙏🙏

Had my gbs 9/12/17 by Dr. Gupta 🤗 at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue, WA 🤗

I'm 67 Years old 😬

Highest weight 11/2016 #296 🍔🎂🍟🍦🌮🍩🍞🍕

weight at surgery #258 🍏🍐🍎🍊🍌🍑🍒🍓🍇🍉🥝🍍🥑🍅🥒

Dr Gupta ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

insurance. Kaiser Permanente ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Today is my 6th day out...feeling better every day💜

[Diana_in_Philly 1,426]

To show you some light at the end of the tunnel. I am 56 years old and almost 13 months out of surgery. I have been bone on bone in both knees for a long time (as in since my 40s). My orthopedic surgeon has wanted to replace my knees for the last 10 years. But I was too heavy. So I was getting by on the combination of cortisone and Synvisc (if you haven't tried Synvisc - do discuss it - I have found it helps.)

Fast forward - I'm down 102 pounds. I know I'm still bone on bone, but I no longer have to take narcotics for the pain. (As in my knees were so bad I was at least 1 Vicodin a day to control pain.) I use Mobic (meloxicam) for my pain (it is a Cox-II Inhibitor - like celebrex) daily.

Know what else - I fence 5 hours a week (as in en garde). I do TRX one hour a week. I do yoga and pilates. I have run a 5k (i won't do that again because I don't like running.) I can walk 15 or 20 miles before my knees really start bothering me.

Really, it gets better. Down the line will I likely have the replacements done -- sure. But I'd love to make it 10 more years before I do.

You can do this.

[Black911 87]

Hi Diana, congrats!!
I, too, am walking bone on bone in right knee and it has been extremely painful.

I'm do to get my first synvisc injection tomorrow. I am praying this works!! This pain has been unbearable since February 2017.

I had surgery May 30th. I believe I'm down about 45lbs. The weight loss appears to be slower than anticipated; however, I'm happy the weight is coming off regardless. I started at 300 lbs and last weigh in was 271 lbs. I have doc appt next week.

I started Water aerobics a few weeks ago and have been enjoying.

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[NanaABC 0]

Good luck tomorrow🙏 Please let me know if it works for you. My doc said it's One injection for a week for three consecutive weeks. I need to make an appointment to have mine done but figured I better wait for my two week postop visit and then go back to working on my knees . I'm in WA State...you?

[Black911 87]

I'm located in the Washington DC-MD-VA Metro Area.

Doc explained he had to fet authorization from insurance and explained it will be weekly injections for 3 weeks. I'm nervous as heck about possible pain; however, I have to try for possible relief. PAIN IS SO UNBEARABLE AND I'M TIRED OF HOBBLING AND LIMPING.

I will definitely keep you posted. Take care. Departing work now to head for Water aerobics.

God bless,
TeResa

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[shedo82773 1,236]

Talking about knee's, here I am!! I have had steroid shots in both knees. But I can tell you this much, I had ULTRASOUND guided GEL shots and at first, I was so surprised IT WORKED> I had 2 series and then Medicare decided that they aren't working enough for them to pay for it. They are kind of expensive. BTW I weighed 249#'s before my RNY. I had got as high as 285#'s!! I had not one problem with my knees until I lost 124#'s!! When I ask my PCP why am I having problems now, he told me if I hadn't lost my weight I would be in a wheelchair!! Scary stuff!!! Back to my knees. Now he wants to draw out my own blood from my knees and then they would spin it down to get all of the marrow (I think that is what he called it) then put it back into my knees. YIKES That scared the heck out of me!! Now I am just trying to nurse my knees while I do what I can for exercise. I am not bone on bone yet. He also told me that it is Osteoarthritis. I hope and pray it holds out. Sometimes I have to just push thru the pain. I hope you all get the relief you need to KEEP ON KEEPING ON!! Good Luck!!

[str8updave 1]

On 9/18/2017 at 3:45 PM, Black911 said:

I'm located in the Washington DC-MD-VA Metro Area.

Doc explained he had to fet authorization from insurance and explained it will be weekly injections for 3 weeks. I'm nervous as heck about possible pain; however, I have to try for possible relief. PAIN IS SO UNBEARABLE AND I'M TIRED OF HOBBLING AND LIMPING.

I will definitely keep you posted. Take care. Departing work now to head for Water aerobics.

God bless,
TeResa

Sent from my SM-N920V using BariatricPal mobile app

Teresa, I was having so much pain I could hardly walk. It was found out that I was bone on bone left hip. I reluctantly scheduled hip replacement surgery on Dec 20, 2017. Well Im almost 6 weeks out and the pain is almost totally gone. I still would like to be able to take Celebrex because I think it helps a bit. Good luck to you but I would encourage replacement. Hope that helps. You deserve to be able to walk without that excruciating pain. From my experience those injections do not work and they are usually done first because insurance wont pay for replacements until all avenues are exhausted. Do the research and find the best surgeon with the best record and get scheduled to be seen with them ASAP.

Allmybest!!

Dave