Good luck Mollyci with your ortho appt. Hopefully new knees will be in your future soon too. Unfortunately, I will have to contend with the stairs, not sure how that will work....
Cindy, I guess my main issue with the shots is knowing they are temporary, there's always a chance they won't be effective for me, and the cost of course. Everyone that I have since heard that has had them still ended up with surgery. My surgeon said the reason he thinks new knees may not last as long is because my underlying inflammation needs to get under better control, otherwise it just continues to do damage. I don't what else I can do to control it. I've tried most everything. And I'm not truly symptomatic of the amount of damage that is occurring, which is most scary.
He did give me a local shot of cortisone yesterday, but already cautioned me that this will not be my ongoing treatment, it was mainly to help reduce the pain & swelling quickly. If I do decide to go with the OrthoVisc shots, it will be at least 6 weeks before I am able to start them. There is some difference between the SynVisc & the OrthoVisc but I can't remember what he told me as I was still in shock at that point. And for some reason, he said the Ortho ones would be better suited for me. I believe they are very similar.
I'm actually able to get around fairly good so when I came back to my office and told everyone I need a new knee, they just looked at me in disbelief! But the surgeon did say at some point that will all change, and perhaps suddenly. Which is how it all started - suddenly.
What was your mobility like when you had yours done? Were you having to use a cane at that point? Did you do the series of shots first? How long was your relief before you had surgery?
Thanks for any info you can share.
Last edited by JanetK; 04/27/11 06:30 PM.
