Today is Wednesday August 31.  I traveled from Seattle two days ago (Monday).  As you, the reader, know, I chose to have my knee done, as an outpatient, by a close friend and colleague in Seattle.  Aside from the inherent trust I had in Dr. McAllister, I also am a firm believer in his enhanced…

It is now Saturday, the 5th day after surgery.  I am well past what conventionally has been the time period where most patients and surgeons feel is the most pain.  I now have minor discomfort only.  To discuss the pain and the specific ways my pain was managed by me and my surgeon I put…

Woke up on this fourth day after surgery feeling remarkably well.  Some generalized soreness but moved the knee to 103°.  How do I know?  There is an app for that (actually quite a few.  Measuring a joint is done with a goniometer.  I downloaded an app called Goniometer by Jinfra.  Works very easy.  I Here…

Interesting day.  Been on my multimodal pain regimen- ice, Tylenol, Alleve and the pain is at best 1 out of 10 and worst- 3 out of 10.  I focused on some bending exercises and easily got to 90°:   Pain is interesting.  It is like the sound of a barking dog.  If there is a…

There is a lot of talk about patient satisfaction in healthcare.  I think that we need to do more than talk about it.  We need to do something about it.  It starts with what patients want.  I am fortunate that my surgeon is a huge patient advocate.  Lets talk about his approach to pain management…

Tylenol is a great drug (the image is the chemical structure).  If it didn’t cause liver problems if you take too much it would be the greatest drug of all time.  Relieves pain, non-addictive, does not cause constipation.  I have to say- that’s a great triad.  The problem is that there is a limit to…

I am sitting here at “home” (I am recuperating at my surgeon’s home- I guess that’s not a common patient event BTW), having had the surgery that ended at 9:30 this morning.  I was in the car and back home before 12 noon. The above picture, of course, isn’t the story.  I know I have…

Two days before surgery.  The feeling I have now is that I just want the surgery to be done.  From the surgeon’s point of view the day before surgery is just a regular day.  I would have planned all the operations a week before so all that was left would be for me to show up.  As…

I woke up this morning with a remarkable amount of pain in my knee.  This should be no surprise, right?  In three days I am getting this knee joint surgically replaced because of the pain.  As I limped across the room, though, I realized that this is how I woke up for many days over…

I finished my preoperative physical therapy this morning.  For so many years I ordered this a was never really sure of its value.  Now I am sure- it’s really great.  It lowers the fear of what to expect and in a controlled setting reviews all the exercises before you have the postoperative pain.  Alex, Amber,…

There are so many pieces to the puzzle of preparing for surgery.  No matter how many patients I prepared for surgery from this side I really see how complex it is.  The major issue is that everyone who has to prepare for surgery had a life before having to prepare their life for surgery.  Now…