I think Walter Shapiro (http://www.politicsdaily.com/) hit the nail right on the head. Fox and other right wing media outlets will try to spin the GOP gains in yesterday's localized elections as Democratic (read Obama) losses in 2010 and beyond. But state and local elections are generally decided on local issues that often transcend party alliances. And with big job losses and rising property taxes during a recession -- New Jersey voters, at least, mostly just wanted to "throw the bum out". Chris Daggett offered some really interesting ideas but without any money behind him -- was doomed. Young people aren't particularly engaged in issues like property taxes; they will work for charismatic leaders but not for the general political good.
A year ago when the financial system nearly collapsed after Lehman was allowed to die -- who would have predicted it? A year from now? Who CAN predict it!! The one useful message to come out of this election --at least in the Northeast -- is that with Mike Bloomberg's much smaller than expected winning margin in the New York City mayoral campaign and Governor Jon Corzine's defeat in NJ -- the public is disgusted with rich politicians spending obscene amounts of money on their campaigns. Voters who have lost jobs, homes and retirement dreams are not about to endorse so-called leaders who waste enough money on ego-driven campaigns to employ half of America until NEXT November's elections.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
The Health Care Debate
I’m getting so tired of being yelled at on cable TV and talk radio and blogs by yahoos who are upset about everything and taking it out on health care. They don’t have jobs anymore or their homes have been foreclosed or they can’t use their McMansion as a piggy bank anymore because it’s worth less than they paid for it. Or they’re old and afraid of change – especially if it comes with an Obama label.
Almost no one is talking about what we as Americans should be talking about. Things like how to cut costs in a way which won’t really harm people and which might actually help them. Things like what DO we do with the 46 million uninsured Americans if we don’t have a government plan for them. Things like whether everyone has a right to the most expensive medical care and if so who should pay for it. The debate has become one about health insurance reform – not health care reform.
First off – anyone with a 3rd grade education must know that in an aging society, any program which now absorbs 16 percent http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/02/health-care-costs-opinions-columnists-reform.html of the GDP and is projected by the Congressional Budget Office to double in the next 25 years isn’t possible to sustain. Most of our health care dollars are spent in the last years of life as diseases which might have been prevented must instead be managed. We also have a growing younger population, thanks to immigration and religious groups which still encourage oversized families. Those two extremes of the age scale are real; we can’t stick our heads in the sand and pretend they’re not.
So what do we do about these escalating costs? Yes – we do need mandatory electronic medical record-keeping. And some legal restraints on insurance companies. The phrase “pre-existing conditions” should be outlawed. Profits should be capped along with top managers’ salary packages. Insurers can’t be allowed to deny payments for medically necessary treatments, procedures and drugs. A good model might exist in the Czech Republic. Although Czechs still have a form of government-run health care, they pay premiums to one of several private insurance companies. Private companies which aren’t allowed to make a profit. They also have a small co-pay for each doctor visit, day in the hospital and prescription drug. No one is denied care and Czechs can choose their doctors and hospitals. But there are no unnecessary tests or procedures. And doctors are salaried. As they are at some exemplary US medical facilities like the Cleveland Clinic.
I’m not totally convinced another Medicare-like government-run health insurance plan –at least as the Obama administration has explained it – is the right move. But if we don’t have a government plan, we need to make all health care plans portable. So you don’t have to change doctors when you change jobs or when your company decides it can get a cheaper plan from another insurer. And if you lose your job – as hundreds of thousands of Americans have in this recession – there should be some kind of government subsidy that kicks in along with your unemployment insurance. Perhaps you would have to pay back some of that subsidy through a small payroll deduction when you’re employed again. Or pay such a small deduction while you are employed to build up a subsidy fund. Something along the lines of New Jersey’s tiny but required payroll deduction for a fund which now provides a short but paid work leave when a baby is born or a parent needs care.
And now here comes the biggie. The one the very powerful drug lobbies will fight tooth and nail. And it isn’t what every other country does – negotiate drug prices down. We need that too – but it would become a lot less important if we simply didn’t need so many expensive drugs.
Right now the medical system is geared toward fixing what’s wrong with you. Instead of preventing the illness in the first place. Yes – we need to pay for preventive care. Lots of it. And it doesn’t have to be expensive. Think about something like obesity. More than two thirds
of Americans are now overweight or actually obese. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/health/11stat.html?_r=1
The Centers for Disease Control say one third of children fall into these categories. Drug companies make zillions on insulin and related drugs as fat people develop diabetes. A disease which is totally preventable in this population. Add in the anti-cholesterol drugs, the heart procedures and drugs, the high blood pressure drugs – all stemming from too much food and too little exercise.
If we spent just a little money on health education –starting in nursery school – it would pay off big time. Instead of the current emphasis on expensive team sports – which benefit only a few well-coordinated athletes, let’s teach every kid lifetime personal nutrition and exercise habits. Instead of letting school districts slash physical education classes when budgets get tight -- make them mandatory. As sacrosanct as basic English grammar. The proposed tax on sugary soft drinks and fruit drinks would be a good start toward paying for that. A similar “sin” tax has certainly helped reduce cigarette smoking even as it helps pay for smoking-cessation programs and the health ravages smoking causes.
Let’s give doctors financial incentives to push their patients into healthier lifestyles instead of simply handing out prescriptions. And if all doctors had the same incentives, they couldn’t complain that their patients will simply find another doctor who’ll let them take the easy way out with a pill for high cholesterol instead of a prescription for fewer burgers and fries.
If we simply make good health a national passion, instead of an afterthought, medical costs will stop rising. And eventually, as new, healthier generations come along, costs will fall. Fixing the broken health care system doesn’t require brain surgery. Just a little brain power. And some heavy lifting.
Almost no one is talking about what we as Americans should be talking about. Things like how to cut costs in a way which won’t really harm people and which might actually help them. Things like what DO we do with the 46 million uninsured Americans if we don’t have a government plan for them. Things like whether everyone has a right to the most expensive medical care and if so who should pay for it. The debate has become one about health insurance reform – not health care reform.
First off – anyone with a 3rd grade education must know that in an aging society, any program which now absorbs 16 percent http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/02/health-care-costs-opinions-columnists-reform.html of the GDP and is projected by the Congressional Budget Office to double in the next 25 years isn’t possible to sustain. Most of our health care dollars are spent in the last years of life as diseases which might have been prevented must instead be managed. We also have a growing younger population, thanks to immigration and religious groups which still encourage oversized families. Those two extremes of the age scale are real; we can’t stick our heads in the sand and pretend they’re not.
So what do we do about these escalating costs? Yes – we do need mandatory electronic medical record-keeping. And some legal restraints on insurance companies. The phrase “pre-existing conditions” should be outlawed. Profits should be capped along with top managers’ salary packages. Insurers can’t be allowed to deny payments for medically necessary treatments, procedures and drugs. A good model might exist in the Czech Republic. Although Czechs still have a form of government-run health care, they pay premiums to one of several private insurance companies. Private companies which aren’t allowed to make a profit. They also have a small co-pay for each doctor visit, day in the hospital and prescription drug. No one is denied care and Czechs can choose their doctors and hospitals. But there are no unnecessary tests or procedures. And doctors are salaried. As they are at some exemplary US medical facilities like the Cleveland Clinic.
I’m not totally convinced another Medicare-like government-run health insurance plan –at least as the Obama administration has explained it – is the right move. But if we don’t have a government plan, we need to make all health care plans portable. So you don’t have to change doctors when you change jobs or when your company decides it can get a cheaper plan from another insurer. And if you lose your job – as hundreds of thousands of Americans have in this recession – there should be some kind of government subsidy that kicks in along with your unemployment insurance. Perhaps you would have to pay back some of that subsidy through a small payroll deduction when you’re employed again. Or pay such a small deduction while you are employed to build up a subsidy fund. Something along the lines of New Jersey’s tiny but required payroll deduction for a fund which now provides a short but paid work leave when a baby is born or a parent needs care.
And now here comes the biggie. The one the very powerful drug lobbies will fight tooth and nail. And it isn’t what every other country does – negotiate drug prices down. We need that too – but it would become a lot less important if we simply didn’t need so many expensive drugs.
Right now the medical system is geared toward fixing what’s wrong with you. Instead of preventing the illness in the first place. Yes – we need to pay for preventive care. Lots of it. And it doesn’t have to be expensive. Think about something like obesity. More than two thirds
of Americans are now overweight or actually obese. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/health/11stat.html?_r=1
The Centers for Disease Control say one third of children fall into these categories. Drug companies make zillions on insulin and related drugs as fat people develop diabetes. A disease which is totally preventable in this population. Add in the anti-cholesterol drugs, the heart procedures and drugs, the high blood pressure drugs – all stemming from too much food and too little exercise.
If we spent just a little money on health education –starting in nursery school – it would pay off big time. Instead of the current emphasis on expensive team sports – which benefit only a few well-coordinated athletes, let’s teach every kid lifetime personal nutrition and exercise habits. Instead of letting school districts slash physical education classes when budgets get tight -- make them mandatory. As sacrosanct as basic English grammar. The proposed tax on sugary soft drinks and fruit drinks would be a good start toward paying for that. A similar “sin” tax has certainly helped reduce cigarette smoking even as it helps pay for smoking-cessation programs and the health ravages smoking causes.
Let’s give doctors financial incentives to push their patients into healthier lifestyles instead of simply handing out prescriptions. And if all doctors had the same incentives, they couldn’t complain that their patients will simply find another doctor who’ll let them take the easy way out with a pill for high cholesterol instead of a prescription for fewer burgers and fries.
If we simply make good health a national passion, instead of an afterthought, medical costs will stop rising. And eventually, as new, healthier generations come along, costs will fall. Fixing the broken health care system doesn’t require brain surgery. Just a little brain power. And some heavy lifting.
Czech Politics Unczeched
Sitting here in New Jersey -- wrestling with our own US train wreck - health care reform - it's hard for me to criticize the politics of another country. Or the voters here or in the Czech Republic who, it seems, are too easily led or too apathetic or too uninformed -- or all three.
But truthfully -- if someone were trying to write a political whodunit novel--- he or she couldn't possibly imagine the current Czech political disaster. For those who haven't been following the debacle --it started last spring in the middle of the Czech Republic's 6 month rotating Presidency of the European Union. CSSD (center left Social Democrats) called a vote of confidence in the lower house of Parliament which failed and brought down the center right government led by ODS (Civic Democrats). A caretaker government of supposedly apolitical technocrats was appointed to serve until early elections set for October. About a month ago the election campaign began. Then a deputy challenged the early elections in the Czech Constitutional Court, claiming he had the constitutional right to serve a full term. The Court ruled in the deputy's favor. Chaos ensued. Politicians hatched another plan for elections in November but then that was torpedoed when CSSD withdrew its initial support. Are you dizzy yet? Now no one knows what to expect.
I've seen all kinds of unsourced editorials and columns from Prague about which party or corporation or lobby influenced the other and why CSSD (The Social Democrats) changed its stance on early elections and what the true motive of the Czech Constitutional Court might be etc. etc. I hope one of the more journalistically inclined newspapers or magazines or even TV operations has a crack team of investigative reporters hard at work to peel back the opaque political layers and get at the truth of what happened and why. Most importantly why!!! I'm returning to Prague in November to watch what I hope will be a big celebration for the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution which ended Communism in then Czechoslovakia. But if this political circus is all 20 years of "democracy" has wrought --- Czechs themselves may well ask -- "why bother?"
But truthfully -- if someone were trying to write a political whodunit novel--- he or she couldn't possibly imagine the current Czech political disaster. For those who haven't been following the debacle --it started last spring in the middle of the Czech Republic's 6 month rotating Presidency of the European Union. CSSD (center left Social Democrats) called a vote of confidence in the lower house of Parliament which failed and brought down the center right government led by ODS (Civic Democrats). A caretaker government of supposedly apolitical technocrats was appointed to serve until early elections set for October. About a month ago the election campaign began. Then a deputy challenged the early elections in the Czech Constitutional Court, claiming he had the constitutional right to serve a full term. The Court ruled in the deputy's favor. Chaos ensued. Politicians hatched another plan for elections in November but then that was torpedoed when CSSD withdrew its initial support. Are you dizzy yet? Now no one knows what to expect.
I've seen all kinds of unsourced editorials and columns from Prague about which party or corporation or lobby influenced the other and why CSSD (The Social Democrats) changed its stance on early elections and what the true motive of the Czech Constitutional Court might be etc. etc. I hope one of the more journalistically inclined newspapers or magazines or even TV operations has a crack team of investigative reporters hard at work to peel back the opaque political layers and get at the truth of what happened and why. Most importantly why!!! I'm returning to Prague in November to watch what I hope will be a big celebration for the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution which ended Communism in then Czechoslovakia. But if this political circus is all 20 years of "democracy" has wrought --- Czechs themselves may well ask -- "why bother?"
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The Woman Who Gave Me Hope
I’m home now from what is becoming my new normal: summer in Prague. Two months to teach about news and news video at a small, English-speaking Czech university called Anglo-americky Vysoka Skola – or Anglo-American University http://www.aauni.edu/ for the non-Czech speaking world. Two months which also include a seminar for Czech businesss managers on Presentation Skills or Media Training or Communication – modalities which flow easily from a reporter-anchor-interviewer’s knowledge. Two months to live as Czechs do, in an apartment my husband and I bought several years ago in what I call the Queens of Prague. In other words, in one of the unfashionable but eminently livable neighborhoods on the city’s outskirts where there is lots of greenery, the best park in Prague, and almost instant access to trams, buses and the Metro.
But this summer was different. This summer I could walk again. And run a little. And climb. And carry groceries. And stand for hours. In short – I was me again – as active as I wanted to be, full of energy, bounding up and down the steep hill to our apartment like I would have 10 years ago – before my knee started on its inevitable journey toward replacement.
But I never found the Prague woman who set me on my new path. I wanted so much to thank her, to hug her and show her my new knee scar and even without a shared language – tell her in ways women understand how much she helped me. She found me last summer – both of us working out at the gym. A woman who was maybe 50 or 55 – full of energy and in great shape She saw me limping around and came striding purposely over – pointing to her knee. I knew enough Czech to understand she had had her knee replaced 8 months before and had already returned to her passion – skiing. She even danced a little for me – just to prove what was now possible.
Through the summer and fall I thought about that woman – and how she had gotten her life back. And slowly I began to think that maybe I too could get my life back. Maybe I too could get a knee replacement.
When I came back to Prague – and the gym in June – I looked for her every day I was there. But I never found her. One of the personal trainers who speaks English thought she knew the woman. And said she would tell her for me. I hope she has. I hope this woman knows that without her very kind overture to a perfect stranger (something Czechs, who are a reserved people, don’t usually do) I might still be miserably limping around today – instead of looking at photos of the Czech mountain I easily climbed 2 weekends ago. I hope this woman knows that she changed my life. And I hope that somehow – she knows that I will never forget her.
But this summer was different. This summer I could walk again. And run a little. And climb. And carry groceries. And stand for hours. In short – I was me again – as active as I wanted to be, full of energy, bounding up and down the steep hill to our apartment like I would have 10 years ago – before my knee started on its inevitable journey toward replacement.
But I never found the Prague woman who set me on my new path. I wanted so much to thank her, to hug her and show her my new knee scar and even without a shared language – tell her in ways women understand how much she helped me. She found me last summer – both of us working out at the gym. A woman who was maybe 50 or 55 – full of energy and in great shape She saw me limping around and came striding purposely over – pointing to her knee. I knew enough Czech to understand she had had her knee replaced 8 months before and had already returned to her passion – skiing. She even danced a little for me – just to prove what was now possible.
Through the summer and fall I thought about that woman – and how she had gotten her life back. And slowly I began to think that maybe I too could get my life back. Maybe I too could get a knee replacement.
When I came back to Prague – and the gym in June – I looked for her every day I was there. But I never found her. One of the personal trainers who speaks English thought she knew the woman. And said she would tell her for me. I hope she has. I hope this woman knows that without her very kind overture to a perfect stranger (something Czechs, who are a reserved people, don’t usually do) I might still be miserably limping around today – instead of looking at photos of the Czech mountain I easily climbed 2 weekends ago. I hope this woman knows that she changed my life. And I hope that somehow – she knows that I will never forget her.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
On Running the Boston Marathon
On Monday my husband will run the Boston Marathon. Every American marathoner’s dream. And I will be there to cheer him on.
We always said as we slogged through our middle of the pack marathons that if we lived long enough we could qualify for Boston. Well a few years back the Boston Athletic Association broadened the time requirements - especially for older runners. And this fall – after running two marathons under that time limit, my husband made it.
He will be running Boston for both of us because my marathoning days were cut short over a decade ago by knee problems. But I managed to finish 28 marathons before the end and I will always be – in my mind and in my job description – a marathon runner. A very slow marathon runner. Who probably would never have qualified for Boston if I lived to be 80 – the most elastic time limit. So it’s OK. I will be there to cheer him on and support him in all ways and my running alter ego will be there a few miles behind him (as always in the marathons we ran together) as he covers the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to the Copley Square finish. As I said – he will be running Boston for both of us.
But I have my own victory to celebrate as I bounce through Boston this weekend. When I set my total knee replacement surgery date for January 21st, my goal was to be able to walk comfortably around Boston and stand for as long as necessary at the finish line to cheer him in. And I have reached that goal and more.
So this Monday will be a celebration for us both. Frank’s – for making the cut. Me – for recovering from the cut. And there’s something else that makes it special. I was born in Boston and as a little kid – watched the finish of the Boston Marathon as it came past my parents’ music studio windows on Commonwealth Avenue – the old route. I marveled at the men in shorts running (it was all men then). I wondered why anyone in his right mind would ever want to run a marathon.
Well – I’m not sure marathon runners are ever in their right minds. I’m not sure we would want to be. But on Monday April 20th, my husband will be running Boston. And I’ll be there watching. And another of life’s full circles will close protectively around us.
We always said as we slogged through our middle of the pack marathons that if we lived long enough we could qualify for Boston. Well a few years back the Boston Athletic Association broadened the time requirements - especially for older runners. And this fall – after running two marathons under that time limit, my husband made it.
He will be running Boston for both of us because my marathoning days were cut short over a decade ago by knee problems. But I managed to finish 28 marathons before the end and I will always be – in my mind and in my job description – a marathon runner. A very slow marathon runner. Who probably would never have qualified for Boston if I lived to be 80 – the most elastic time limit. So it’s OK. I will be there to cheer him on and support him in all ways and my running alter ego will be there a few miles behind him (as always in the marathons we ran together) as he covers the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to the Copley Square finish. As I said – he will be running Boston for both of us.
But I have my own victory to celebrate as I bounce through Boston this weekend. When I set my total knee replacement surgery date for January 21st, my goal was to be able to walk comfortably around Boston and stand for as long as necessary at the finish line to cheer him in. And I have reached that goal and more.
So this Monday will be a celebration for us both. Frank’s – for making the cut. Me – for recovering from the cut. And there’s something else that makes it special. I was born in Boston and as a little kid – watched the finish of the Boston Marathon as it came past my parents’ music studio windows on Commonwealth Avenue – the old route. I marveled at the men in shorts running (it was all men then). I wondered why anyone in his right mind would ever want to run a marathon.
Well – I’m not sure marathon runners are ever in their right minds. I’m not sure we would want to be. But on Monday April 20th, my husband will be running Boston. And I’ll be there watching. And another of life’s full circles will close protectively around us.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
My New Knee
My surgeon stood at the foot of my bed the day I was sent home from the hospital with a new knee. “You’ll lose 10 or 12 pounds; everyone does,” he said, “but don’t worry about it; you’ll gain it back when you get more active.” Since I had regained my appetite about 5 minutes after coming out of anesthesia in the recovery room I didn’t put a whole lot of faith in his promise. And sure enough I never lost an ounce. I blew my one chance in life to eat as much chocolate cake and ice cream as I wanted – gaining back those “lost” pounds.
And that’s sort of the way it went. It’s been almost 3 months now since I had right total knee replacement surgery. I was sure my recovery was going to be spent in a miserable, sleepless haze of heavy duty pain pills. After all that’s what almost everything I read suggested. I even bought a mindless autobiography to read, thinking my fogged-ed up brain wouldn’t be able to handle my usual diet of business and global news. But the pain pills went the way of the walker, crutches and cane before the end of the first week. I had incredible luck -- basically no pain and only moderate swelling. So I was able to start my rehabilitation -- simple exercises and knee bending to restore range of motion (ROM) immediately.
I started to write about my experience about 9 days after surgery – started and never finished. I was in a kind of comforting cocoon where work couldn’t get to me. Time consuming exercises had to be done 2 or 3 times a day followed by periods of icing and lots of catch-up sleep. My body needed to recover from this serious operation – even if my brain thought I was feeling “fine”. I wanted to craft any blog piece about my experience the way I usually do -- because I’m hoping that someday the writing on this page may provide a “published” body of opinion pieces.
But this has turned out to be somewhat different. This is about my life. And getting it back again in a way I really never expected. I want to shout from the rooftops in a very uncrafted way. For weeks now I have been able to walk miles. I can hike with my husband – up and down trails and some pretty steep hills. No I’m not ready to hike up Mt. Washington again -- but that will come. Along with everything else including – in a year or so – running again. I’ve been back at my gym – mixing it in with physical therapy – since the staples came out at 2 weeks. And 3 weeks ago my physical therapist threw me out – after transitioning me to my usual gym routine – slightly modified as I slowly gain back muscle strength in my operated upon leg.
At 9 days out from my knee surgery, I wrote that my brain had almost forgotten how badly my old knee worked – almost totally accepting the piece of metal and heavy duty plastic that replaced it. It is – I wrote then -- truly amazing. And it just gets more amazing as time goes on.
I was also lucky in another way; trolling the internet for pre-surgery information, I happened on a British website called BoneSmart http://www.bonesmart.org/public_forum/index.php. It’s co-moderated by a retired orthopedic nurse who just had her own knee replaced and has an amazing store of knowledge. The other co-moderator is about 13 months out from her TKR. People in all stages of recovery share their experiences and provide a body of shared information that helps just about everyone get through what is always a highly individualized recovery. I know the forum helped me understand the process and what was “normal” – a wide range of events and feelings. And now I hope I can help others with some of my own experiences and reactions.
I am convinced I had such a easy time of it because the pain mediation practiced by my surgeon and the hospital was so good. If you aren’t in pain it’s a lot easier to do the exercises and knee bending and muscle stretching that are crucial early on – and key to a good outcome and fast recovery. So I plan to write more about this aspect of total knee replacement. Some surgeons still don’t seem to care about pain mediation – and at this point – there can be no excuse for such callousness.
More – later.
And that’s sort of the way it went. It’s been almost 3 months now since I had right total knee replacement surgery. I was sure my recovery was going to be spent in a miserable, sleepless haze of heavy duty pain pills. After all that’s what almost everything I read suggested. I even bought a mindless autobiography to read, thinking my fogged-ed up brain wouldn’t be able to handle my usual diet of business and global news. But the pain pills went the way of the walker, crutches and cane before the end of the first week. I had incredible luck -- basically no pain and only moderate swelling. So I was able to start my rehabilitation -- simple exercises and knee bending to restore range of motion (ROM) immediately.
I started to write about my experience about 9 days after surgery – started and never finished. I was in a kind of comforting cocoon where work couldn’t get to me. Time consuming exercises had to be done 2 or 3 times a day followed by periods of icing and lots of catch-up sleep. My body needed to recover from this serious operation – even if my brain thought I was feeling “fine”. I wanted to craft any blog piece about my experience the way I usually do -- because I’m hoping that someday the writing on this page may provide a “published” body of opinion pieces.
But this has turned out to be somewhat different. This is about my life. And getting it back again in a way I really never expected. I want to shout from the rooftops in a very uncrafted way. For weeks now I have been able to walk miles. I can hike with my husband – up and down trails and some pretty steep hills. No I’m not ready to hike up Mt. Washington again -- but that will come. Along with everything else including – in a year or so – running again. I’ve been back at my gym – mixing it in with physical therapy – since the staples came out at 2 weeks. And 3 weeks ago my physical therapist threw me out – after transitioning me to my usual gym routine – slightly modified as I slowly gain back muscle strength in my operated upon leg.
At 9 days out from my knee surgery, I wrote that my brain had almost forgotten how badly my old knee worked – almost totally accepting the piece of metal and heavy duty plastic that replaced it. It is – I wrote then -- truly amazing. And it just gets more amazing as time goes on.
I was also lucky in another way; trolling the internet for pre-surgery information, I happened on a British website called BoneSmart http://www.bonesmart.org/public_forum/index.php. It’s co-moderated by a retired orthopedic nurse who just had her own knee replaced and has an amazing store of knowledge. The other co-moderator is about 13 months out from her TKR. People in all stages of recovery share their experiences and provide a body of shared information that helps just about everyone get through what is always a highly individualized recovery. I know the forum helped me understand the process and what was “normal” – a wide range of events and feelings. And now I hope I can help others with some of my own experiences and reactions.
I am convinced I had such a easy time of it because the pain mediation practiced by my surgeon and the hospital was so good. If you aren’t in pain it’s a lot easier to do the exercises and knee bending and muscle stretching that are crucial early on – and key to a good outcome and fast recovery. So I plan to write more about this aspect of total knee replacement. Some surgeons still don’t seem to care about pain mediation – and at this point – there can be no excuse for such callousness.
More – later.
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