National Arthitis Week and an Update on Me!

This weeks marks national arthritis week, a cause very close to my heart. Arthritis research are running a survey which I would encourage anyone suffering from Arthritis to complete.

As any of my regular readers will be aware, I suffer with several issues with my knees; I have maltracking of my knee that's causing my joint to wear out, as well as having a rare condition called PVNS that I wrote about here. 

Last week I met with my latest specialist consultant who by all accounts is one of the best and leading surgeons for people suffering from the conditions I have. However the appointment didn't quite go as planned; the consultant was 40 minutes late, which I understand was because he was in theatre; I have no problems with this at all but an apology from him would have been nice!. My consultant also seemed to get out of bed on the wrong side as his bedside manner was somewhat none existent, at a time when he should be putting my mind at rest, he's actually made me more nervous. 

I have agreed with my consultant to have two operations and possibly more to hopefully help me; unfortunately I couldn't ask all the questions I wanted as I felt uneasy in his company. We did however discuss the day of surgery and how I want a spinal anaesthetic and under no circumstances do I wish to have a general anaesthetic; he wasn't too happy about this mainly because he's never performed an operation on someone who is wide awake. I told him about my previous operation where I was awake and how I am not squeamish at all. I have more questions about the recovery, how I will cope looking after two children, being unable to drive etc. I will be sending a letter to my consultant to ask the questions I didn't ask at the appointment. I just hope my consultant has better skills in theatre he does bedside manner!