Dear Regular Readers (and those not so regular),
I hope this edition of our weekly newsletter finds you as bright on the outside as it does on the inside and I hope you enjoy reading the offerings that have been put together for you all this week. As I would dearly like to bring my knee story to a close this week I’d like to launch straight into attempting to do so, so without further ado, here goes …………
One thing that still sticks in my mind was when the chiropractor told me (looking at my swollen, very red and hot to the touch knee) in a way that indicated he was giving up was that he did not think he could do anything more to help me and he suggested that I just take a wait and see approach to allow the bursa to heal on its own. The reason this sticks in my mind was the fact that before he had said this he was talking about taking me through a series of treatments (massage, stretch, pulse …) which would take at least 5 weeks and now he was sort of wanting to get rid of me; I couldn’t help but wonder why all of a sudden he was changing his tune. It seemed a bit like fear and when I look back now, I believe it was. The thing is, he was not pointing me in the direction of the hospital, all he was advocating was for me to stop any physical activity which may aggravate the condition and inhibit the recovery of the bursa and to keep up the gentle massaging he had taught me to do. I can remember at that time pretty much removing the suspicion I had that my knee may be infected which turned out to be a huge mistake. What we all need to bear in mind is that chiropractors are not medical doctors and to think that they are and to accept their opinions on the same level as a medical doctor is definitely false practice: it’s something you should never do, but unfortunately I did it.
After paying my dues to the chiropractor, I headed back home carrying a knee that felt sore, itchy and didn’t look too good at all; I was feeling a deep sense on despair and I honestly felt like I had taken two steps back if that was at all possible to do. Incidentally, it was a Friday and even if I did have it on my mind, which I didn’t really, to go and see the doctor it would not have been possible as the doctor I usually see does not work on Saturday; also there were two national holidays coming up on the following Monday and Tuesday, so I thought I could hang on until my next hospital appointment which was on the Friday. Bizarrely, my son was in hospital at this time waiting to have an operation on his left leg (to remove a benign growth or tumor from a muscle behind his knee), so along with my wife I was preoccupied with making sure he had all the support he required as it was his first time to have an operation. My knee was not improving at all, it was getting worse, it was feeling hotter to the touch, but I stupidly continued to wait until my Friday appointment; during this time I was visiting my son in hospital regularly and I was doing a fair bit of walking to and from the hospital which was not helping matters.
My son’s leg operation was scheduled for Friday and I can remember visiting him the day before and joking with him that I may have to have a leg operation myself as my knee was not feeling or looking as it should. Actually, it turned out not to be joke because early the following morning I went to the hospital to see the doctor as scheduled and as soon as he saw my knee and how red and swollen it was and how warm it felt to the touch he told me in a very concerned, almost panicky way that my knee was most likely infected with the staphylococcus bacteria and he told me that he would quickly have to arrange for me to have a blood test and an x-ray. He told me that if the amount of staphylococcus bacteria in my bloodstream was beyond a certain amount I would have to be admitted in to hospital as soon as possible as he was very concerned that if the bacteria had gotten into the actual joint of the knee it could be potentially very fatal as all sorts of complications could arise; for example, I could potentially lose my ability to walk.
At this point I was feeling pretty concerned and somewhat angry with myself because I felt I could have avoided this situation if only I had acted quickly and more responsibly. As I waited to have my knee x-rayed I can remember calling my wife and my brother to let them both know about my situation and depending on the blood test results I told them that I may have to be admitted into hospital immediately. I told my wife to provisionally prepare some clothes in case I would have to be admitted in to hospital. After completing my blood test and x-ray I returned back to wait outside the doctor’s room ready to be called in to receive the results. It took some time before I was called in because my tests were being evaluated, but eventually a nurse came out and directed me in to the doctor’s surgery. The doctor, still looking quite concerned, told that fortunately the level of staphylococcus bacteria was just under the limit, so it would not be necessary for me to be admitted in to hospital; however, the ex-ray showed that the bursa of the knee was badly infected (it had turned septic and was full of pus) and as such it was necessary perform an emergency operation to drain the puss from the bursa sac. The doctor told me to come back in 2 hours for the operation.
During my 2 hour wait for my operation I popped back to see my brother in the office to let him know where I was with things and then I went to see my son in hospital, but when I got there he was in the operating theatre having his operation. There had been one or two complications, not serious ones, but complications nonetheless and this had resulted in the operation taking longer than envisaged. My son’s operation was scheduled to finish at about 15:00 and it was now about 11:30; my operation was scheduled to take place at about 12:00, so I was unable to stay very long to speak with my wife, all I was able to tell her was that, like our son, I too would have to go under the knife. Life is a very funny thing and the more you live it the funnier it often gets; if you can picture this: my wife is in one hospital waiting for our son to come out of a 6 hour leg operation and she has me, her husband, telling her that he needed to go in to hospital to have an emergency operation to remove some pus from a septic bursa sac, and she’s wondering whether or not to come with me to hold my hand (just kidding!) whilst I have my operation: my wife has her husband and son both in hospital at the same time, both with left leg issues in and around the area of the knee that require operations to correct the issues with the operations taking place at about the same time – you could not have written a better script if you had wanted to
I can remember telling my wife that I was having my operation just to let my son know that he was not going through his ordeal alone, a kind of coming out in sympathy, which she found somewhat funny, but she felt there was a better time and place for such jokes and she asked me again whether or not I needed her to be with me: my wife tends to get very serious at times. I reassured my wife I would be okay and told her to remain with my son and as soon as I had had the operation I would contact her to let her know how things had gone. It looks like I’m not finishing up my knee story this week, I’ve just been reminded by my wife that we need to go shopping for food, so I have to give way to priorities and hope that next week will be the week of knee story conclusion. Until then, have a good weekend and stay safe.