The 2nd Knee Replacement

 

Looks painful, right? 

Bob's right knee replacement this past August went really well for him, I was a wreck. This left knee went much better for me, but Bob did not do well.  Above is NORMAL, so the ugly bruise is not part of his problems. Surgery was successful and the knee is fine or will be in a few weeks. 

"Cliff Notes"

6 days before surgery, Cardiologist added RX

Within 12 hours, he had horrible hiccups

24 hours confused, dizzy, lethargic, lack of desire to move, no appetite, stopped eating.

All listed as normal, except for hiccups.

symptoms worse the day he came home.

together using hindsight, we figured out why and I called Doctor and told him we were

stopping the RX.

We did and the side effects were gone in 24 hours, he never had hiccups after we stopped the pill.

His problem now, due to mix-up by doctor office he has had NO therapy and will not until Thursday.

This past August, by the 6th day, which is today he was walking without walker and now he can barely walk. He had 3 hours of therapy in first 6 days in August.

  you have my permission to skip my bloviating version below. 

The surgery was quick and successful and as it should be with no glitches. The problem started on Dec 14th, when his Cardiologist gave him a new pill to take at night.

The next day, he started with horrible hiccups, they woke him up at night. He said this new pill makes me feel confused and dizzy. I checked side effects and confusion and dizzy was in the long list. He decided to keep taking it and see if it adjusted.

6 days after starting the new meds, he went in surgery feeling tired, no desire to do anything, loss of appetite and hiccups.

After surgery he came home and got worse, compared to recovery 4 months ago, he was much worse, could not walk well even with walker. 

On Wed we sat and with HINDSIGHT figured out the way he was feeling had started 1 week before the day he started the med.

I typed in Google Search Hiccups and Losartin..  the first 3 things that came up said Males over 60 sometimes get hiccups. his shook the bed at night enough that they woke me up.

I called the office and said, please give the Dr. a message that we are stopping the losartin because of these symptoms.  15 minutes later he called and said I have never heard of hiccups as a side effect.

I REFRAINDED from asking him did he have access to Google Search and said, We have stopped the meds, we will wait a week and if he still has the symptoms we will call for an appt.

I did not give him his 5 pm and since then he has not had hiccups once, it took 3 days for the other side effects to go away and today on Christmas Day he ate the first normal breakfast since the day he started the meds...   Christmas day he went outside, walked with walker, and is reviving quickly.

THE OTHER PROBLEM... the Dr Assistant Forgot To Schedule Us for Therapy at their facility. My first clue was the call from the hospital home health nurse wanting to set up times to come to our home.

I said no we do not want anyone coming in our house 3 times weekly, we are doing in facility. She put me on hold, called the facility and came back and said she doesn't answer, I left a message, This was at 3:30 Monday, the day of surgery. No Call,. I called left THREE messages, and by Wed was LIVID. 

NO CALL BACK. I started by calling every dept in the building and telling my story. The last person I talked to I said just forget the therapy. I know what to do, we will do it ourselves and hung up the phone.

15 minutes later the Dr Assistant called and all she said was, I hear you want to come here, we have 3 spaces available next week, I will give you the time and you pick the 2 you want.

I was no upset over her forgetting or missing it, but the fact i had no call back after 5 messages.

Now he is a week behind in therapy except for what I AM MAKING him do. He starts Tuesday with visit for evaluation on what needs to be done and actual therapy on thursday, 11 days of no therapy.