An Eventful January Update - Pacemaker Delayed

Hello, I could sense trouble brewing last Friday when one of my knees became inflamed to the point I could barely walk over the weekend. All the signs are that it's gout, first time for my knee and it hurt's like hell.

Had the replacement Pacemaker Pre-op this morning, INR was at 4.4, when the Consultant wants it at 2.5 so not a good start to proceedings. Missing a daaily dose would bring it down, but, it was never likely to be by enough. One of the biggest risks is always infection, more so for someone who's had Endocarditis, so when the blood results came back with the C-Reactive Protein (CRP) raised it just rubber stamped that it was a non-starter for Tuesday's op, so it's now delayed until mid-February. I'll have to ring for an appt with the GP and hopefully get the inflammation sorted.

My current PM works happily enough, so its not the end of the world that it's delayed.

February calendar is filling up nicely with appts for CT Scan, Chest Consultant, Heart Failure team and now the PM.

[BeKind28-]

Hello

I saw the title and thought what bad news for the poster then saw the poster was you and thought if anyone is going to cope with this news they will

However I am sorry that your knee has flared up and it has had to be cancelled but as you said February was quite empty even though I do not want you to try and fill it up

I really hope you manage to get it done then though and let us know how you get on x

[Hidden in reply to BeKind28-]

Hi BeKind, As the Cardiologist said, 'It's better to be safe than sorry'. Just bad timing, but, in the grand scheme of things, what's a few weeks delay, although my Wife is a touch concerned that it give's me enough time to pick something else up off my Medical Bucket List😄

[BeKind28- in reply to Hidden]

Hello

I can only imagine how your wife is feeling she may have thought February was going to be a free month but then again she should know you by now that you would fill it up

You are right though even though calm about it but a good job they did pick it up and in a couple of weeks I am hoping to see a post saying you have had it done x

[DWizza]

Hi , sorry to hear about your troubles . Have you been diagnosed with gout ? Was it just on uric acid levels or have you had a joint aspirated and confirmed that crystals are present? Could any of your meds be causing issues ? I wish you well, I am familiar with the pain of swollen joints .

[Smitty1956]

Hi, Heedio61,

I am really sorry to hear about your inflamed knee. Those can be incredibly painful! Have you had a diagnosis of gout?

In 2004, I developed a problem with knee inflammation and serious pain. It turned out that I had torn the meniscus in my knee. Things got so bad that my knee was swollen about 3 times it’s normal size, and I could not put weight on it to walk. I had to get crutches for walking and the pain was awful! I was put on Celebrex and Vicodin for pain. Once the swelling was managed and the pain, I took physical therapy for several weeks

I asked the orthopedic doctor about this because I could not remember having an accident, or event that happened that caused immediate excruciating pain. He told me that at my age ( I was in my later 40s at the time.), I might have simply stepped off a curb the wrong way and torn the meniscus. They diagnosed the torn meniscus with x-rays and CT scans.

Anyway, I hope that you can get this all sorted quickly, but these things usually take several weeks to resolve.

I was on the drug therapy and checkups for about 6 weeks with limited mobility. Then, I started physical therapy for about 6-8 weeks. I had asked to stop the drugs after the 6 weeks. I did improve and gained back most of my range of motion in that knee.

Good luck with your pacemaker surgery and your knee problems. Sometimes it does seem like everything hits all at once. 🙏🙏❤️