Totally cheating

I'm up and mobile.  Still dealing with slight pain and swelling.  Went out to a movie last night and that was a challenge to keep my knee bent for 2 hours.  Very uncomfortable.  I did start driving for the first time day before last.  A bit of a challenge but as long as I'm not city driving I'm doing ok. 

Depending on others to feed me during the first few days of recovery proved to blatantly go against my strict diet requests.  I was fed a lot of eggs with cheese and buttered toast.  Not what I requested but because food was prepared for me so infrequently I relented and ate small portions of what was presented. 

Once I was able to move around on my own, the kitchen was not stocked according to my requests of fruits and vegetables.  My mother did attempt to prepare a plate of beets for me.  However, the beets had been in the refrigerator for several weeks and I did not know the condition of the beets before they were prepared and my mother has a habit of cooking up whatever without the alarm of any kind of risk.  She has been known to give a few people food poisoning.   So I did not eat the beets.  I just kind of didn't eat very much while she was here.  But because I was subjected to what was left in the kitchen after she departed, my diet choices were not what I was hoping.

So as far as my attempt to eat a strict diet of fruits and vegetables has gone out the window.  Also I'm trying to avoid foods that are known to be GMO but that is becoming problematic because of the absence of labeling.   Each time I think I'm GMO free, such as a papaya I purchased before surgery, only to find an article of the newest GMO foods to keep away from.  Such as said papaya. 

Although I would love to live off what grows in my garden, it does not yield enough produce to live off of.  So as much as I would like to think that I'm avoiding GMO's I highly doubt that I am. 

And because I don't recall an actual traumatic incident to my knee, which some PVNS sufferers report as an instigating cause, I'm starting to suspect that past GMO consumption could be probably cause of the diffused PVNS I obtained.  I do suspect that because I do attempt to be aware of my diet choices, it could be a dramatic factor in why my PVNS seemed to grow much slower than other cases I have heard about.

It remains to be seen if my PVNS was completely eradicated by the arthroscopy performed.  So I will continue to try to avoid refined foods and GMO suspects as well as start acupuncture treatments to see if that has any effect if the PVNS returns.

Stay tuned...

Post-Op (warning, graphic content)

I went back to the doctor this morning to have my drain tube removed.  Doctor said if I hadn't had it, then I would have that much more swelling to deal with.  Because he is a genius for keeping the drain tube in overnight, I have no swelling.  Just the pain of the incision points.  I'm able to bend my knee with a little effort.  Lots of ice and steadily taking the pain meds.  I get a little worried about taking too much because I had a bad reaction from taking pain meds from a car accident about 20 years ago.  So I get really freaked out about taking pain meds.  Also I would not want to be addicted to this feeling. 

When I took this photo after the doctor removed the drain tube, he said "you're sick".  We both giggled and I told him about wanting to share it with others and that my photo wasn't half as bad as some of the photos that I have seen.  Yeah it's a little bloody but the difference of the shape of the knee from the before photo just makes me really happy.

Surgery complete

This morning I took this photo before I went to the hospital.  It was all performed effortlessly.  My surgeon told me during the pre-op yesterday that he has performed this procedure on a PVNS patient before.  He could not guarantee that I will be free from PVNS. 

Another PVNS sufferer that lives in my state said that he just gets a routine scope annually to clean it out again and will continue to do so until he needs another Total Knee Replacement (TKR).  

Also I know of another case where a TKR was done back in September in Seattle and already is having problems from the PVNS.  I still feel like I have been lucky to have this be my first surgery.  I don't feel much pain other than the points of incision.  I feel like I can move my knee which was difficult to do prior to the surgery.

It became humorous to see the faces of staff cock their head to the side with confusion when I tried to explain what PVNS was.  Many hospital staff got a lesson on a rare disease today.

I have friends and family to take care of me during my recovery which they are saying about 5 days.

Tomorrow I do have to go back and get my blood drain removed.  It makes my best friend woozy to look at it so I have to put it in the pocket of my sweatshirt.  I pretty much went to the hospital in my pajamas.

There was a boy there getting surgery, he couldn't have been more than 2.  My heart went out to him.  I don't know what he was having done. 

The waiting was the worst but there was a humorous hermit crab in the aquarium that couldn't decide which shell to use.

I am speaking very sporadically because I'm heavily medicated.

Counting down to surgery

In 2 days I will be recovering from my first surgery for PVNS, an arthroscopy.  I'm beyond ready.  I can barely walk and can't bend my knee very much.  Last night when I stretched I could feel all of the extra tissue straining and it was very uncomfortable.

I'm so ready for this surgery that I keep thinking it's Tuesday but it's really Monday.
I have plenty to get done before the surgery so that time should fly right on by.

I'm excited and nervous but ready more than anything.  I'm committing the next two weeks to relaxing and studying at a friends house so that I have someone to take care of me.

I had said that I would commit to the diet officially on June 1st but I keep thinking that I just don't want to commit yet.  So it might be hard to switch but I won't really know until after the surgery and faced with the convenience of my kitchen once again. 

I just have to find a way to commit to only buying things I will allow myself to eat.  Then I will have to learn how to navigate restaurant menus and BBQ parties.

I do find that because I'm not yet committed, I'm allowing myself to eat all kinds of nonsense.  I don't think I would be able to stop without reason, so I am using the surgery as the reason.