Sigh.  Today is the 9th anniversary of the fall on my knee.  There is not much change at all.  I keep a record everyday of how I’m doing in a variety of areas.  Every day I check off “knee pain” but I also have levels 1-10.  I don’t think it ever goes below 5.

Some nights I wake up with throbbing and move to the sofa.  I think maybe tossing and turning in bed makes my knee worse – I can’t do that on the sofa.

SalonPas is still my friend.  And braces and Tylenol.

This year, I hope to get that gel injection.  I’m a bit hesitant because it may make things even worse for a while and it takes 3 weeks to complete the series.  My schedule is already pretty tight and I don’t know how to work in 3 more appointments.

Our trip to Alaska (mentioned below) worked out well.  I travelled with the aforementioned SalonPas etc. and carried all in my backpack on various excursions.

Due to COVID we had to be tested before we went and show our vaccination cards several times before boarding.

I have the CovidWise app on my phone.  when we got home, I found that we had been exposed before the cruise while we were in Seattle.  I didn’t find this out until after the cruise because I had my phone turned off at sea.  It’s just as well that I didn’t know before/during.  I’m not sure what I would have done.

This year we have been to New York a few times to see our grandson.  We’ve started walking from the hotel to their home.  It hurts but it’s useful.  It’s also faster to walk than take an Uber, thanks to one-way streets in NYC.

Our Tattoo that was cancelled last year has been rescheduled for August.  I was surprised that we got a credit for this year.  I’d figured that it was a donation to the Tattoo fund.  So, we will get to walk around Scotland in August.

In September we have another cruise coming up – I will have to schedule that gel injection (hyaluronan (ORTHOVISC) 30 MG/2ML injection 30 mg), probably in July to make it work for August and September.

This is a continuation of an ongoing knee issue.  It started in 2013 with Icy Days and Mondays and Bee’s Knees I’m hoping to end my knee pain in the very near future.

Here is is July and we have a second trip to see our grandson this coming weekend and the rescheduled/rescheduled cruise in August.  That cruise started out as going to Norway a couple years ago.  That was canceled so we decided on Alaska with the train to Denali in June.  That was cancelled and Canada isn’t allowing people in, so we’re sailing out of Seattle, past Canada and on to Alaska.  We’ve seen some of the ports already but I just wanted to go somewhere, anywhere.

I’ve been having pain, bigger again and I hate to have that in NYC – or on a cruise.  It’s one thing to be kept awake with pain here at home and another entirely when you want to do things.

I had trusted that the doctor cleared that gel injection (hyaluronan (ORTHOVISC) 30 MG/2ML injection 30 mg) with my insurance company but it was a new doctor (the 5th one for my knee issues) today.  The last doctor had put the paperwork in but it never went anywhere.

Today was too soon for another cortisone shot.  I could have paid $380 for the gel and hoped that insurance would pay – but that was the first of 3 weekly injections and the doctor didn’t think it would start to help by this weekend, anyway.

He mentioned physical therapy again and/or possible surgery.  He did send me for another x-ray, which was promising.  By some fluke, his office takes my insurance but the attached radiology department doesn’t – so we went to the next-door hospital for that.

My results:

There is moderate to marked degenerative arthritis in the left

knee with joint space narrowing and osteophyte formation which is most

prominent in the medial compartment. A minimal joint effusion is

present. There is no evidence of a fracture.

After I left the doctor, a nurse called and said that I might be allergic to the Voltaren that a previous doctor had prescribed but I haven’t tried yet.  I’m supposed to try that and let them know.

I guess I’ll be taking my SalonPas, knee brace and lots of Tylenol to NYC.

“Quick kneecap recap” below from April 7, 2021:

First of all, came this article.  I’d already decided to get only one – max 2 – injections a year, with one of them being a week before a cruise.  Our cruise scheduled for June most likely will not happen – neither will our trip to see the Edinburgh Tattoo again in August.

I had been keeping up with water aerobics and the hot tub until both of those were canceled due to COVID-19.  So, my knee pain gradually started getting worse again.  Luckily, I’m not walking around so much and we don’t have stairs at home.  About 8 months or so ago, the pool opened up for water walking and lap swimming – with lots of rules, of course, but I manage to go about 3 times a week.  Often DH goes with me.  Unfortunately, the hot tub isn’t open

I’m still having lots of meetings on Zoom as well as piano teaching.  For those meetings, I’ve been using an iPad on a music stand. To be able to see well while sitting on the sofa, the stand and iPad need to be almost vertical.

My last steroid injection was in September 2019.  Thanks to COVID, I haven’t been hardly anywhere so no real (k)need.

However!, New York City has lifted it’s quarantine restrictions, so we’re going to go meet our new grandson…and I need an injection before we go.

Monday, April 5, I got that injection – and a lot of hope, finally.  For my fourth injection, I had a fourth different doctor.  This one had other options for me that no one else had every suggested.  A long-lasting gel injection, a saline/dextrose solution (I said it sounded like salty sugar water!)

On Monday, he actually used Ultrasound to guide the needle in.  He went about 2 inches above the knee from the outside to get the the inner part.  The others didn’t do that – they just went directly into the knee, just guessing where to send the steroids.

It was so cool watching him do this.  I told him my last injections had lasted maybe a couple weeks and he said they should be much longer than that, which is why he wants to try the gel injection (hyaluronan (ORTHOVISC) 30 MG/2ML injection 30 mg) in the summer.  Apparently, it takes several months to get insurance approval – and he already started the paperwork!

I had the usual extra pain on Monday night (took 3 Tylenol), and normal pain on Tuesday,  Wednesday, I was feeling pretty good but had to skip the pool because you can’t go in for 48 hours after a knee injection.

I am just so happy to see other alternatives to steroids – or surgery.

Off to NYC tomorrow!

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