👯‍♀️ 👯‍♀️ Hips and knees Part 5 👯‍♀️ 👯‍♀️

Thanks, Loopyloo, for bumping this up. I will keep my eyes open until NannaPlenty finds us.

Apparently, my car is not a write-off, and the new parts are arriving next week. I have never encountered a garage this efficient in my life, but the insurance company recommended it.

Just bumping this thread up.
Hope your car is reparable.

MaizieD It is a good job I am sitting down or I would fall down. I have not been able to see a GP using the usual method since before Covid. Before Christmas, I ended up ringing 101 or whatever the number is. I spoke with a doctor, and he told me what to do (I did know!) and to ring my GP on Monday. I said it would be easier to make an appointment with the pope, so he organised a telephone appointment, and I ended up visiting x3 a week for 3 weeks.

As soon as my present problems have been sorted I will move GPs.

At least the next GP is closer to where I live, as I will find out tomorrow if my car is a write-off.

Receptionists should not be triaging patients. I deliberately use medical language and it works.

Spring is not far away but I cannot guarantee the weather.

That sounds very like our surgery, Grammaretto. Also, with ours, if you’re mobile and turn up in person at 8 p.m you’re bound to get an appointment that day or a phone call from a doctor.
I know we are very lucky. No long waits for hips or knees and relatively little difficulty in getting GP appointments.

I know Redcar it is frustrating.
I have been making the most of having DS staying here for a few days. He's left now He drove me to the cinema yesterday A complete unknown, the story of Bob Dylan when he first emerged I enjoyed it.
He drove me to the GP today.
I should explain.
1. I call the surgery
2. The receptionist eventually answers once you've listened to all the choices.
3. You tell her your symptoms and she says a doctor will phone you back.
4. In this case, he did.
5. I told him my symptoms and he said he'd like to see the hand.

I suppose our GP service is rather good but then the population is not too dense here.

I really hope you get an appointment soon Silverlining

grammaretto I’m doing my exercises indoors and sometimes walk down the garden. I use two crutches if I’m outside and only go for a walk on the pavements if the weather isn’t too bad. I don’t go out in the gales and rain (although I got caught in a heavy shower this morning)., and definitely not if it’s frosty or icy. Hopefully spring won’t be too far away, but it’s frustrating to be stuck indoors day after day.

It’s a blooming nightmare isn’t it Cha rleygirl. Our old surgery cut its econsult off every day at 8.05 am after 5 minutes online and you then got a message to try again at. 8 the next day. … So everyone rung at 8. I was no.42 one day, waited ages til I was no 2 and it suddenly pcut off. Rang again and was no 53. Gave up. Prior to Covid this was for 34 years the best surgery we had ever been with.
So we changed to what we have now, it’s just as bad.
So disappointing, especially as I am starting to need to see a d r more often than before. I don’t understand why it’s so hard.

silverlining I would pop a 9 before the 2 and that would be too low.

You have econsult? That was removed, and we only have a phone that is rarely picked up, and if one does go from number 12 in the queue when one reaches number 1, the phone just rings and rings.

I have gp envy. You popped in this morning…..?
Our surgery should be renamed Fort Knox.
I completed an econsult on Thursday. They said I would hear from someone by 6 pm Friday. I stayed in, all day, carting my mobile and house phone around, with glasses and my notes, didn’t want to miss a call, went to the loo very quickly, taking it all in with me. 6 pm came and went …. I did something online and was , promised before 6 on Saturday…..then Sunday……Monday …Tuesday….
I am still waiting……
I complete a monthly office of National statistics ( ONS) who report that 98% of the population are happy or v happy with their surgeries, I contacted them to query the accuracy if this but they replied saying their info was correct.
Clearly am in the 2%.
Happy fir you though x

Well thankyou Charleygirl for giving me the push I needed to make a couple of phonecalls.

My GP a new chap looks about 20
Very keen to look at my hand so I popped in this morning. Meanwhile I called the hospital to ask about physio. Yes we usually arrange that from 6 weeks post op. Ah I see, yes you told me that. Then she said I hadn't been referred but she could do that right away. I mentioned the hand. I've never heard of that before said she but if nerve damage it could take months to ease.

The GP next. He examined the hand and made me wiggle my neck and make fists. He said sometimes fluids through a cannula can leak into your bloodstream sounded like that and affect your nerves. I think he agreed it could be nerve damage.

So I came home and had a hot bath.
I'll soon be able to climb on a horse at this rate 😂🤣😅

I agree, MaisieD. You also need to know the correct way to get on and off the horse. I think it would have been well worth the extra physio.

If I have my hip replaced, it will be for pain relief and, as you said, walking normally. I cannot walk far, but nothing will change that as my age has caught up with me.

I had my THR ‘on the NHS’ but in a private hospital. The NHS doesn’t offer post op physio any more so I had a few private sessions with the physio at the private hospital. They were well worth it for measuring progress, reassurance and a chance to ask questions.

I think that if you want to be able to do more than just walk comfortably post op (like I wanted to be able to ride a horse again) you need something to ‘retrain’ the muscles involved.

I had physio visits after each knee replacement. Each area is so different.

Grammaretto Your hand should not be painful and numb. You should visit your GP so that it is documented at the very least. He may say wait a while, fine, but get it from him, please.

You will have to use your house and garden for exercising. You cannot risk your new joint. Spring is around the corner—I saw a glimpse of the sun today, although it was perishingly cold outside.

I have lots of leaflets and a few exercises I do each day but I had hoped for more.
The physio at the hospital who phoned me 2 weeks ago, said she
could arrange physio for me in my area but to wait until after week 6.

I will try that. I would like to walk more but the pavements here are treacherous with ice or other obstacles.
I don't want to become a horror story 😯 🦿

I had my first hip replacement on the nhs but in a private hospital. All patients were given an exercise booklet, had several sessions in hospital before discharge. Then had two hour long group physio sessions in the following 6 weeks. The second operation I had in the same hospital but as private patient. The treatment was the same but the post discharge physio was two x one to one sessions with a physiotherapist. In my opinion the group sessions were better! This is in Essex. grammaretto perhaps contact the hospital and ask about physio? Or, as others have suggested, pay for a couple of sessions?

Same here grammaretto, no NHS physio offered to me post TKR, just an exercise sheet from the hospital. I’ve been treated by a private physio for spinal issues on an as and when basis for over ten years and found a few (only 3 I think) focused sessions with her invaluable. As nannyt says so much less cost than private surgery and yes, very reassuring. Aren’t areas so different in provision? It sounds reasonable that nerves were impacted by a cannula in your hand, here I could send a query via e-consult to the GP about it and think I would if it bothered me. Wishing you well.

Here in Suffolk we get a 28 page exercise plan and one phonecall. I have found a private physio who has been immensely reassuring and also massaged my sore quads. Not that expensive, when you think how much a private TKR would have cost.

Gramaretto no physio? That’s awful! I know Aveline isn’t a great believer but it’s helped me enormously. Chase the hospital, even a written sheet of exercises is better than one. I’ve had around six one-to-one sessions since the middle of November, next one in three weeks. Admittedly, this isn’t NHS but I thought even they provided written exercises.

Grammaretto I hope your hand settles soon. These nerve niggles are strange. My knee scar has numb bits, sensitive bits and odd normal bits. It will be interesting to see how that develops.

I don't expect a 6 week checkup. I am due a video call at 13 weeks so the end of March.
I haven't been offered physio. Should I ask? Who should I ask!

Flur your fat knee sounds painful.
I hope it eases soon.

I have a strangely sore hand with numbness. It's where the canula was connected during my operation so I wonder if nerves have been damaged.

Hope everyone has a good night's sleep 😴

I never had a check up after my hip op. All I had was a phone call from the surgeon at 8 weeks. It was during COVID. Luckily all was fine.

nannytopsy due to the Christmas and New Year holidays, my six week check up actually took place 8 weeks after my operation. With my first hip replacement at the end of 2023, the 6 week check took place after 7 weeks, so the 6 week bit isn’t rigidly adhered to here in Essex. I think it’s ok as long as there aren’t any problems.

Nannytopsy On the whole, yes, but it sounds as though everything has gone to plan, so the odd week out should not matter.

We need some warm sunshine now.

Afternoon! It’s a beautiful day in Suffolk although cold. The little family went home after brunch and we had a doze until the rugby started. I’m still taking some cocodamol, so I fall asleep very easily.
Physio was pleased on Friday and said my surgeon should be impressed! 😊
No date for my 6 week check up yet. Are they usually done on time?

Hope you get your phone call soon Silverlining. I was very lucky and got a face to face appointment with a GP yesterday. He says the swelling around my knee isn't fluid it's fatpad or Hoffa's impingement caused by inflammation. Everybody has these fatpads cushioning the kee joints, unlike normal fat it's has a very rich nerve supply which explains the pain. He said there was no treatment just I.C.E. if the pain is severe but it might settle down. Strangely I feel more optimistic. Luckily I am not fat anywhere else just the right knee