Knee Surgery and Psoriatic Arthritis (Part 2)

This past April 2021, I wrote an article about having to have knee surgery. I will give you a quick recap: it turned out that the pain I was feeling in my knee was from a torn meniscus. That tear required surgery to fix it because once it tears, it will never heal. Fun times to be had all the way around.

I was not sure what to expect from the surgery. All I knew was that the surgeon would be making three small incisions in and around my knee to insert a medical arm to fix the problem. Doesn't sound too drastic, right? I mean compared to the surgeries of yesteryear I have to admit it was better. However, I still wasn't as prepared as I came to find out.

Coming home after surgery

Let me start out by saying everything went well. I was put to sleep and everything was over in a blink of an eye. When I looked at my knee all I could see was a big ace bandage wrapped from half up my thigh to half down my leg. I wasn't in any pain, unlike some other surgeries I have woke up from. I was definitely pleased about that.

Before I knew it, I was being released to come home. However, to my amazement, I was not sent home with any crutches to use. You read that right. No crutches. I was made to walk out on my own with a nurse trailing behind me until I got in the truck. The worse part about the surgery was the fact that we live an hour and a half away from there.

The impact on sleep

As you can probably imagine, I did not sleep well that first night. It had nothing to do with pain. To my surprise, the doctor had given me some pretty heavy painkillers. What kept me from sleeping was this big, encompassing bandage that my leg was wrapped in.

This has actually been one of the times that I am glad our hallway is not so wide. I depended on the wall on one side and the washing machine on the other side to help balance myself when I needed to go to the bathroom.

My joints hurt worse!

It has everything to do with psoriatic arthritis. I have always done what I call a yo-yo act with my psoriatic arthritis. I get up if I sit too long and then sit down if I stand up to long. Like a yo-yo. It helps keep my body from not hurting so bad.

The problem I encountered with the knee surgery is that my trusty yo-yo act was not doable. For the first week, the doctor basically wanted me off my leg. All that sitting and laying around did nothing to help my psoriatic arthritis. No matter which way I turned my back was hurting. The amount of pressure it put on my hips along with the backache and I have been miserable.

Ready to get back to normal

Time sure passes fast. I just went for my one-month follow-up appointment. The doctor is really pleased with how well things are going. Honestly, so am I. The pain I was feeling in my knee is no longer there.

Being able to be up on my leg more I am back to my yo-yo act. Up and down I go. It is the only way that works for me. I am set to start Otezla soon so it is my hope that the yo-yo act will become a thing of the past just like my torn meniscus.