Dear Newsletter Readers (old and new),
Welcome to yet another edition of our long running, some may say, too long running, newsletter and I hope by the time it reaches your inbox later today you have time to click open some of the items and articles featured and at your leisure with a cup of tea (or something a tad stronger) in hand read them through.
BTW, I did manage to make the banana bread and it came out quite successfully, even if I do say so myself, but that little story (together with pictures) will have to wait until next week as this week I want to launch straight in to trying to complete my (seems to keep going on forever, when will it come to an end? It’s not even that good of a read. Yawn! Yawn! Yawn!) knee story, so without further ado here we go again …………
Well, did my condition improve after receiving my last hydrocortisone injection? The answer to that is ‘yes’ it did, it improved quite a bit, the knee became less swollen and somewhat less painful, it generally looked better, not perfect by any means, but better and what’s important it gave me confidence and hope. I continued to religiously bandage the knee using various wrapping techniques I had devised, as I had been doing up to receiving the last hydrocortisone injection, and of course I continued on with wearing my elasticated sports supporter and I even continued to apply my bag of frozen eda mame (Japanese beans) for 20 minutes every hour or so when working in my office. I was in to a routine and I was determined to see a result from sticking to it so strictly.
I basically carried out my daily working duties with my knee bandaged up without too much difficulty even though my work does include a lot of walking up and down hills, and surprisingly the fluid did not fill back up in my knee as it had done in the past and there was reduced swelling, it remained as I had now become accustomed to seeing it : a lot less swollen with less fluid build-up and not as much discomfort when bending my leg. Also, I decided to add massaging in to my daily routine: I would gently massage around my knee on a daily basis for about 10 minutes or so 2/3 time per day; at first I was hesitant to do it as I was a little concerned that I may aggravate the condition, but the massaging provided some relief and it kept the hope alive that it may even help to send the fluid back to where it came from.
When it was time to visit the doctor again about two months had passed and I wondered what my next course of treatment would be, would the doctor suggest a continued wait and see approach because the inflammation and fluid had reduced or would he ask me again (knowing that even though I had some reduction in inflammation and the knee itself was looking a damn site better than it had since the first time he’d seen it the core problem still remained) if I wanted to have the bursa removed. When I went in to the doctor’s surgery it was the usual routine: Me: How are you doing? Doc: Do you have any good news to report? Me: What do you think? Doc: Erm… no? Me: Actually, yes. Doc: Really? Me: Yes, really, here take a look. I then sat down and rolled up my left trouser leg to reveal to him a much flatter, less inflamed and less swollen looking knee. The doctor was surprised, he hadn’t imagined the hydrocortisone would have had as much effect as my condition is chronic, but we both agreed that sometimes miracles can happen.
The doctor inspected my knee very carefully and told me that it was likely that even if I were to continue on with the routine I had been following for many months now of bandaging, massaging, stretching and icing the knee the situation would not improve beyond where it was now: it wouldn’t get any worse, but it wouldn’t get any better either. He emphasized how unusual it was to see such an improvement, but he also emphasized that it really was no indication the knee would recover, he told me that it was most probably the hydrocortisone that was helping to reduce the inflammation and once that wore off it was likely the knee would fill back up with fluid. However, after saying all that, he then asked me if I wanted to have another hydrocortisone injection to see if it would improve the condition of the knee further, but fearing that it may have the opposite effect I declined; I told the doctor that I would prefer to see if there was any part of that miracle out there that may just decide to occur in and around my knee. The doctor had a laugh and asked me if I wanted to have the knee aspirated, but I declined the aspiration and instead I told him that I would give it a couple more weeks of trying and then return to see him again to reevaluate the situation. The doctor gave me the date and time of my next appointment and told me to try praying for that miracle to happen. In my heart of hearts I knew that the chances of the knee recovering completely without having an operation were very slim indeed, but I’m not one to give up without exhausting absolutely all possibilities as I’m sure you’ve already gathered: praying for that miracle to happen seemed like an option worth exploring.
Would you believe it? The frame of my glasses has just broken leaving me with one lens in the frame and one lens on the floor; it seems that I may be destined never to finish this bloody story. I’m having a fiddle here trying to put the lens back in to the frame, but as I don’t have another pair of glasses I cannot fully see what I’m doing, I do have another pair of old glasses at hand, but I cannot see a thing with those on (just goes to show how much my eyes have deteriorated over the last 5 years). I have no choice but to leave it there for this week, until then keep safe and if you’re a glasses wearer like me always make sure that you have a spare pair of glasses in case one pair breaks, unfortunately, I’m not very good at following my own advice, or so it seems.