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Originally posted by piqué:

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Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Did you have to do the shots in the stomach to ward off blood clots? I don’t recall what they were called.

Mrs. Miller had to do them. She hated them but got no blood clots.

OMG! No and I don't even think I can stand to hear about that. Why can't they do those when she is under anesthesia? That would be a deal breaker for me.

You have to have one each day, just like you taking aspirin each day.

It's not a big deal, probably not much different than what diabetics have to do to inject insulin. It's a tiny needle that you stick into the fat off to the side from your belly button. They teach you how to do it in the hospital and when the in-home nurse comes in the day after you get home, you can double-check your technique then.

Trust me, if Mr wtg can do it, anyone can. He's the biggest chicken and while I can't say he looked forward to it, after doing the shot once it wasn't a big deal at all.

There are videos out there that show how it's done. Look for "lovenox injection"

And if you can't give the shot to yourself, you can always find someone to do it for you. I used to give the cat subcutaneous fluids when she had chronic renal failure, and that was a much larger needle and I was working on an animal who didn't always want to keep still. I offered to give Mr wtg his shots, but he wanted to try and once he did it he realized it was pretty easy.

Yeah, I had to do the stomach injections as well. It's not that awful, unless you have a phobia of needles. The worst parts that I can recall were remembering to do it (I think I did it 2x/day) and the injection itself (the drug, not the needle) is uncomfortable for about a minute, maybe less. Not pain, just not nothing. The finger-pricks while they monitor your clotting agent afterwards were as bad if not worse.

Still, I was thrilled to be off of it.

Probably heparin. They are administering that several times daily for inpatients now. Studies showed they were killing inpatients with clotting due to inactivity.

So Pique, are you feeling better now? Improvement? How is the knee?

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It's not that awful, unless you have a phobia of needles

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Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
So Pique, are you feeling better now? Improvement? How is the knee?

This is my first day entirely off the oxycodone and the knee is a little stiff and uncomfortable, but otherwise I think in good shape. Minimal swelling, and ROM is in the ballpark for this stage of healing. I'm fighting to retrain my gait-it's hard to walk without lurching. Because my knee deformity was corrected, I now have a straight leg. I have to undo decades-old movement and muscle patterns to establish a healthy gait. It's a big job, but I'm the only one who can do it.

Right now hoping I didn't catch anything from being in that hospital. Getting that prodomal feeling in chest and throat. I've been off all my immune support supplements like vit D for a month on surgeon's orders. Time to resume.

Changing the gait is tough. My older brother had to. He and his date were hit by a car on his 18th birthday and I think his broken leg was set by a drunk plumber. The one leg was quite bowed. In his late 40s ya had it surgically corrected - nightmare process. Had to learn to walk over again essentially.

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Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
Changing the gait is tough. My older brother had to. He and his date were hit by a car on his 18th birthday and I think his broken leg was set by a drunk plumber. The one leg was quite bowed. In his late 40s ya had it surgically corrected - nightmare process. Had to learn to walk over again essentially.

Can you share more details? How did he do this? Was he successful? How long did it take?

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Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
Probably heparin. They are administering that several times daily for inpatients now. Studies showed they were killing inpatients with clotting due to inactivity.

Yes, Heparin.

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Originally posted by piqué:

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Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
Changing the gait is tough. My older brother had to. He and his date were hit by a car on his 18th birthday and I think his broken leg was set by a drunk plumber. The one leg was quite bowed. In his late 40s ya had it surgically corrected - nightmare process. Had to learn to walk over again essentially.

Can you share more details? How did he do this? Was he successful? How long did it take?

Yes. I think his was way worse than what you will experience, thankfully. He had to go in and have his leg rebroken in several places and then have the limb lengthened. . Then they put it back together correctly with pins, plates and a framework that stuck out of his legs for stability. He had these open wounds for a few months. Once he started walking it was hugely awkward as his whole body was realinged. It took most of a year to really get comfortable with the new alignment.

The rig he had looked something like this but was longer.

those rigs are amazing in getting bone to heal the length you want it but oh gosh it hurts to look at them.

A friend had a contraption like that on her arm. I helped her disinfect it frequently.

Mik, the gait relearning part--did he work with a PT? Did he eventually attain a normal gait? Were there any modalities that were especially helpful? I'm looking into Feldenkrais, for example.

WOW, Pique - away a few days - and just saw all this. How horrible. Glad you're doing better. Both of my brothers who are 14 years older than me have had knee issues in the last year. I'm marking it my calendar for when I'm 79. Hope things calm down for you.

And yes, Herparin makes the world better no matter what.

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Originally posted by piqué:
A friend had a contraption like that on her arm. I helped her disinfect it frequently.

Mik, the gait relearning part--did he work with a PT? Did he eventually attain a normal gait? Were there any modalities that were especially helpful? I'm looking into Feldenkrais, for example.

He did get a normal gait, although there was some residual damage for 30 years of being off kilter - mostly knee cartilage. I asked him and yes, he did work with a PT but no particular modalities he can remember.

I'm glad you're on the mend.