Maybe you already know that Kathie had surgery on both knees on April 8th. The title of this post is the name of the surgery--bilateral (both knees), arthroplasty (procedure to restore the integrity and function of a joint), patella femoral (involving both the femur and the patella).
Since birth, Kathie has had unusual knee caps (patellae). They have never tracked properly, instead having a somewhat circular motion to the outside of each leg with each step she took. Over time, the patellae have ground down, especially on the outside edges, and were bone on bone with the femur. This led not so much to pain, although there was certainly some of that, but to weakness, as her muscles (especially thighs) tended to hold back.
Gory details: The surgery was done by Dr. Amendola in the UI Sports Medicine department. After the surgery was completed, he came to meet with me for an interesting, illustrated discussion of the actual procedure. He first emphasized that the regular joints between each femur and tibia were in excellent condition--great news. Expecting some arthritis where each femur had been rubbing its patella, he found none, though the patellae were quite worn away. Each knee cap was reshaped on its back side. Some kind of plastic piece was then glued to the back to bring the knee cap to its more usual 18mm thickness. Three small holes in the back of the patella were mated with three pegs in the plastic piece to anchor the component. Next, the front of the femur was shaped to accommodate a metal piece, which was also pegged and glued to the femur. Also, this was all done so that the outside edge of the femur would be slightly high to help keep the patella from pushing out. This means that Kathie should enjoy proper tracking of her patella in the future. Now, aren't you glad I shared all of this?
After the three hour surgery, she was wiped out, though before the night was through, she had a serious bout with pain. Fortunately, that has only occurred this one time. Since then, her pain has been managed quite well, although her at-home nurse (that would be yours truly) didn't do a proper job of keeping her knees elevated above her heart when she went to bed last night, and that resulted in some swelling and more pain than should have occurred. We got that under control after a phone call to a nurse and a doctor at the hospital.
She stayed two nights at UIHC, where the care was outstanding. I asked her to smile for me for this picture, but you can see she is maybe still not quite her usual cheery self. All in all, I think she has done an amazing job of preparing herself for this procedure and working through the process. I know she is looking forward to having much improved leg strength once the rehabilitation is behind us.
UIHC staff have been great throughout her surgery and stay. They are cheerful and encouraging. Her physical therapist really helped with an exercise regimen and had Kathie up and moving pretty quickly. I was amazed yesterday morning with how mobile she already was. She did a long walk in the hospital corridor.
We are home now (came home yesterday afternoon), and except for the one slip-up on my part last night with elevating the legs, things are going well. Her pain is under control, she is doing her exercises, and she is getting lots of naps. Tighe is very happy to have her home. Thanks to everyone for their expressions of sympathy and concern!
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