Hello to my cyber-friends,
It has been so long since I have posted that I now have loads and loads to talk about and don’t know where to start.
Let’s start with the operation as that may be of interest to anyone who has been offered orthopaedic surgery. The speed and efficiency with which elective surgery patients are slashed and dispatched is staggeringly impressive. The turnover being so fast that it has an almost conveyor belt quality to it and for those of us with far too vivid an imagination, pictures of worn-out joints being collected and turned into bone meal spring to mind. Actually, that would be a fantastic idea coming to think of it! Put those old bones to use and give something back to the earth – I think I might be on to something here.
My day started very, very early with the special pre-op high glucose drinks I had been given many weeks previously. They had been sitting in the cupboard looking at me and reminding me that the hour was nigh so it was sweet revenge to finally drink them. My son arrived bleary eyed to collect me at 6.30 am and sat quietly and calmly next to me while we did nothing for several hours. Eventually though, I cracked first and told him to go home so that I could doze off for a while. Naturally, the minute I did so I was called to see the anaesthetist. They had ruled out an epidural with me because of my spinal problems but said that they would do a ‘block’ through the top of the leg as well as a general anaesthetic. When I asked why I needed the general as well as the ‘block’ he replied that it was because I would feel it otherwise –‘fair enough’ I thought.
My consultant then arrived to draw an arrow on the appropriate ankle and to discuss again what he was going to do. I was pretty well informed by this time because as some of you may remember, I had been asked to be a ‘voluntary ankle’ for a training course just 2 days prior to this. I did mention to him that I was disappointed he wasn’t going to straighten my big toe which had developed its own jaunty 90 degree angle. His main concern about doing it was the length of time my leg would have to be in a tourniquet if he extended his op. Apparently 2hrs 15mins is the longest they will go before having to remove it and wait another 15mins before re-inflating it. As there was a possibility I would need a bone graft from my hip (good luck in finding it!) he felt it would be too much to do. I told him of my need to do ballet again though so he promised he would try.
I remember coming round to a voice saying ‘I’ve done your toe for you’ So, he had fused 3 bones in my ankle (without graft from hip). Fused a metatarsal (I think) and put a rod in my big toe to straighten it – Oh you lovely, lovely man, thoughts of open-toed sandals sprang to mind and made me realise how much I had hated my deformed feet. Pain was non-existent as the block was so effective that I needed a catheter for the next couple of days (they didn't tell me about that beforehand). Once that wore off paracetamol, codeine and pregabalin did the job. To be honest, I was in so much less pain than I had been for several months because the sciatica was not being aggravated that I felt almost liberated.
The message on the elective surgery ward is very much about getting on your feet as soon as possible. I saw people who had come in for hip replacements and knee replacements get up and walk to the bathroom the next day and go home the day after. It was an almost brutal process but done with such efficiency, professionalism and kindness that left cynical old me absolutely full of admiration for the staff. Unfortunately this process did not apply to me as my right knee could not take my weight to enable me to hop and I very quickly realised that going home or even to my sister’s house for rehabilitation was not going to be an option.
Foot surgery in rheumatoid arthritis 
Message from Rhuematology, COVID-19 treatment, for Portsmouth area.
Poor service from health care at home
