Calling WigWamBam: how's your dad?

[juliab]

Hi WigWamBam. Hope you're around today. Just wondering how your dad was doing now. How's his knee?

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He's doing pretty well, once the initial shock and pain wore off his stubborn side kicked in! He came home pretty quickly, and once he was out of the hospital he felt less depressed, which made a huge difference. Once the pain lessened after the first couple of weeks he was much better in himself, which helped him cope much more with the pain.

He's getting around the house without sticks, although he's still using a stick to walk with outside. He's still in some pain, but the knee is now less painful than his other knee is so some real improvement there for him. And because his recovery has been so much quicker than it initially seemed it would be, he is now happy to go ahead with having the other one done.

Thank you for remembering and for asking!

Oh that's great news! So pleased to hear it
My mum's thinking about having her other knee done too - they're talking of giving her an epidural this time rather than a general. Is that what your dad had? I remember he had a bad time...

They gave him a general and an epidural, which was what caused part of the problem with the shock and depression, I think. They told him that the epidural was for pain relief afterwards rather than as anaesthesia, they gave it to him before they gave him the general because it would have been difficult afterwards, but he woke up part way through it and wasn't able to alert them to the fact that he was awake. The epidural stopped him feeling pain, but he heard and felt a lot of what was going on that maybe he wouldn't if they had realised he was awake.

Someone on the original thread said that a relative of theirs had had an epidural and just found the whole procedure hilariously funny! I would imagine that if you were prepared for an epidural and knew what to expect, it would be fine.

God, how could I have forgotten that, WWB? Makes me shudder all over! Thanks for reminding me. And here's to two sprightly, doubly-new-kneed parents!

Oh, absolutely! I'm really pleased that he's seen sense - he has had awful knees since he was in his 40s, and probably should have had them done much sooner than this.

Hope your mum gets on OK too.