Friday, a day of disappointments. It started with not much sleep again. When I got to PT, they told me it was going to be an evaluation. Ok, it's only been 6 visits I said. I don't see the doctor until next Wednesday. I guess the scheduling guy runs the place or something...
So I went in and we talked about mostly practical, real life aspects of the rehab process. It's sort of discouraging for me most days looking at the things they measure, most importantly, the range of motion measurements. I think I'm at about 7 degrees of extension, or straightness, and 91 degrees of bending. I can't remember the official term for that. Not really much different than when I started.
I do feel way stronger, more stabil, and better balanced when walking, standing, etc. Getting in and out of the tub, the car and everything is getting better. I go up and down the stairs to the boys room 5 or 6 times at once, multiple times a day. Those are not normal stairs either. Very steep rises, and narrow treads too. Squats and lunges are easier too.
She went back and looked at my chart from the left knee, and compared this one to the last one. Everything is really close to the same, and when we looked at the data surrounding the manipulation, it doesn't look like that really did much in the end. What I did notice was that after the procedure, is when the incision started to open up, and that took a long time to finally heal. Lots of those stitches coming out, like zits, and just open, oozing wounds. Not pretty, and it was really hard to work on that knee like that. I'm really hoping to not go through that again. We plan to talk again about it next week before I go back to see the doctor. That visit will be when we have to decide whether to do that manipulation under sedation again. That would be RIGHT before Christmas. I don't even know if they would do it then. I guess we'll know more next week.
So, after all that, I was done earlier than normal, and since I can't drive myself, I have to get a ride home. Kym is Christmas shopping somewhere far away, and Ryland and Reaghann are at work, so there I sat, in a chair in the waiting room for about 90 minutes. Not the most comfortable position for me right now. Then I call the pharmacy about my pain medicine refill that was called in Thursday. Still not done, the insurance company won't pay for anymore. I guess the same government workers who can't make a budget, or anything else they're supposed to do, have decided that they know how much pain medicine I should take, and not leave that up the doctor and patient. The doctors office doesn't want to be involved in any of that, so they just say "we don't get involved in that", the pharmacy says the same thing, and when you call the insurance company, all they do is read to you from the legal mumbo jumbo, and point back to the pharmacy. Nobody can just do their job, and here I sit with no pain medication late on a Friday afternoon.
The PA finally calls back after 7pm, and tells me that I can go get the prescription, but I'll have to pay out of pocket for it. I already heard about that earlier, it was $93! For 5 days worth! Isn't that why I work all year, to keep health insurance? "We only pay for 28 days worth of narcotics in a 60 day timeframe." I guess I'm supposed to smoke pot, or drink alcohol to manage the pain? We found an app that got the cost down from $93 to $20, and since I hadn't had any drugs all day, I decided to take a ride to Walgreens, and get it. So, I'm thinking that by the time I'm ready to go back to work, they'll pay for a refill.... After all that drama, and no pain meds all day, it wasn't a very good night trying to sleep.
So I went in and we talked about mostly practical, real life aspects of the rehab process. It's sort of discouraging for me most days looking at the things they measure, most importantly, the range of motion measurements. I think I'm at about 7 degrees of extension, or straightness, and 91 degrees of bending. I can't remember the official term for that. Not really much different than when I started.
I do feel way stronger, more stabil, and better balanced when walking, standing, etc. Getting in and out of the tub, the car and everything is getting better. I go up and down the stairs to the boys room 5 or 6 times at once, multiple times a day. Those are not normal stairs either. Very steep rises, and narrow treads too. Squats and lunges are easier too.
She went back and looked at my chart from the left knee, and compared this one to the last one. Everything is really close to the same, and when we looked at the data surrounding the manipulation, it doesn't look like that really did much in the end. What I did notice was that after the procedure, is when the incision started to open up, and that took a long time to finally heal. Lots of those stitches coming out, like zits, and just open, oozing wounds. Not pretty, and it was really hard to work on that knee like that. I'm really hoping to not go through that again. We plan to talk again about it next week before I go back to see the doctor. That visit will be when we have to decide whether to do that manipulation under sedation again. That would be RIGHT before Christmas. I don't even know if they would do it then. I guess we'll know more next week.
So, after all that, I was done earlier than normal, and since I can't drive myself, I have to get a ride home. Kym is Christmas shopping somewhere far away, and Ryland and Reaghann are at work, so there I sat, in a chair in the waiting room for about 90 minutes. Not the most comfortable position for me right now. Then I call the pharmacy about my pain medicine refill that was called in Thursday. Still not done, the insurance company won't pay for anymore. I guess the same government workers who can't make a budget, or anything else they're supposed to do, have decided that they know how much pain medicine I should take, and not leave that up the doctor and patient. The doctors office doesn't want to be involved in any of that, so they just say "we don't get involved in that", the pharmacy says the same thing, and when you call the insurance company, all they do is read to you from the legal mumbo jumbo, and point back to the pharmacy. Nobody can just do their job, and here I sit with no pain medication late on a Friday afternoon.
The PA finally calls back after 7pm, and tells me that I can go get the prescription, but I'll have to pay out of pocket for it. I already heard about that earlier, it was $93! For 5 days worth! Isn't that why I work all year, to keep health insurance? "We only pay for 28 days worth of narcotics in a 60 day timeframe." I guess I'm supposed to smoke pot, or drink alcohol to manage the pain? We found an app that got the cost down from $93 to $20, and since I hadn't had any drugs all day, I decided to take a ride to Walgreens, and get it. So, I'm thinking that by the time I'm ready to go back to work, they'll pay for a refill.... After all that drama, and no pain meds all day, it wasn't a very good night trying to sleep.
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