Gotta share with my friends. DH was restless all night, up and down to the bathroom, said he had to poop. He is mostly incontinent in both ways, but on occasion he knows what to do with poop. Get it all over the floor, run his walker through it and step in it. So, I was half asleep, trying to keep one eye on his travels. About 2am, I made sure he kept fresh Depends on, and went into tiled bathroom to see if anything needed my immediate attention.
I got halfway in and slipped in a huge puddle of ice cold urine..one leg out front of me and one very awkwardly on the side of my foot behind me. As I came down in the fall, I felt and heard a snap in my knee that was in a bad position. Couldn't move for quite awhile. DH told me to turn on a light. Right, I couldnt even get up out of this puddle of pee.
Went to a 24 hour store about 1/2hour away for motrin. Watched TV til about 5am with ice pack on knee. Tried to get a few winks after that.
Knee is in ace bandage, plenty of Motrin on board. Iceing it on and off. If I carefully keep knee in the correct facing position, it is not too bad, but if I am doing any sort of turn or undue stress on it, it hurts like a bugger. Keeping it bent seems best, straigtening it after being bent is a bugger, too.
Have any of you had knee injuries? Anything I should watch for? Does this sound like it will heal on it's own?
BTW, told DH he will NOT be waited on today in the style to which he has become accustomed.
Sheltifan, it sounds like you might have torn cartilage....I am fighting this right now. I fell three years ago and did much the same as you did. The knee did get better after a few days, but over this time arthritis has set in and now I am a good candidate for knee replacement surgery.
I would get to the doctor and let him look at it....you may be able to save yourself a lot of pain down the road.
You need to get yourself to an orthopedic doctor ASAP. He'll take an MRI and find out what is going on in there. I fell on my right knee a couple of years ago, and tore cartilage in the LEFT knee. It was the way the left leg sprawled out and twisted. Very painful. Doc wanted to do surgery, but the physical therapy he ordered worked - as long as I keep up with the exercises and don't do anything strenuous with the bad knee.
One thing I’ve learned to do when I run out to the mailbox or to my car I ALWAYS take my house keys with me. BECAUSE, I went out once without them & DH locked the screen door (luckily it’s the kind with a key lock). We usually lock it so the dog doesn’t get out (he has hit the door a few times when it wasn’t closed all the way & ran around the neighborhood for a while)(the dog, not DH!) . I had to pound on the door & when DH came to the door he couldn’t understand why I didn’t just come in. When I told him that he locked the door, he, of course, said that he didn’t (he didn’t remember that he did). So now I take my keys with me. Better safe than sorry.
To the doctor thee should flee and as soon as you can. I hurt my knee years ago skiing and I was lucky not to have to have surgery but it took a long time to mend on it's own. I did not have PT then. Then last May in Iceland I took a nasty fall up a steep step. I twisted to avoid hitting my head on the concrete wall..It hurt like mad but we were 2 days from leaving for the states so I did not go to the doctor there. Mistake..I got home, and still didn't go to the doctor thinking it would just sort itself out..well I have had two months of PT which helped but my sessions ran out and now am waiting to get additional time in PT and I can feel that these two weeks of a hold up and setting me back some. I cannot walk up hills and getting out of a chair at first is kind of painful. I have had films and there is not problem with the hip joint, it has to do with the ligaments. Don't wait and see about getting some help while you mend.
Argh...do any of us have TIME to take care of our own issues??? When am I going to squeeze this in? I have no doubts your recommendations are sound, but deep down I hope a dayy off my knee will do woners!
sheltifan2 two years ago I fell and landed on my knee. I saw stars and even a few planets. X-ray showed a fractured patella and doc advised immediate surgery. Told him-no way. I was taking my entire family on a cruise in two weeks-and I was going. He looked at me like I was crazy. We compromised. I went into a full leg splint with strict orders not to bend the knee. When I went back the next week the fracture hadn't widened so I was good to go. If I hadn't gotten proper diagnosis and treatment I most likely would have had life long problems. Sorry-but off to the doc with you.
The longer you wait to have anything taken care of that is a need of ours, the harder it will be to do. I can't even imagine how difficult my breast biopsies would have been if I would have waited even a year longer. You are probably thinking that you can't afford to take time out for yourself and what you need because you are taking care of your DH and that is very commendable but if you don't take care of yourself you won't be able to take care of him. I think it is strange how it works out that way because it is not what our instinct is to do but it does work.
To the Doctors You Should Go!!!!! A day off now, could result in long term problems.
And while we are on the subject of taking care of ourselves, I NEVER go anywhere without my cell phone in my pocket. I have an bad back that likes to go out when I least expect it. I have had to call for help one to many times..............
I fell several years ago and crunched my patella. I did nothing about it other than ice it....thought it would get better so I didn't go to the doctor for a long time. After a patella replacement which may have been avoided if I had gone to the doctor right away, I ended up with a total knee replacement.
I have a key hidden outside. I am afraid that something could happen to me and my kids wouldn't be able to get in the house because my dh would panic and forget how to unlock the door.
I tore the medial and collateral ligaments in my left knee and needed surgery to have it fixed. It never was the same after that and now I need a knee replacement from the arthritis (although that was probably there all along, the injury just made it rapidly progress). Get to the doctor. I walked on mine for six months before it was fixed; maybe that delay made a difference.
I agree with all the above - get to a doctor ASAP. I'm looking forward to having a shoulder replacement and a re-do of a knee replacement sometime this year. I will find someone, either paid or our kids, to take care of my wife while I have it done.
Juditykb.. I understand your post, but please edit it to get rid of the sensitive info ...you are basically telling the world where the key to your house is...Please change the location and be non specific. I am sure someone could figure out where you live, and then find the key....Just a word of caution..I keep an outside key also, because I got locked out so many times by my dw....but it is well hidden and I don't reveal its location. Only my kids know about it....
Thank you all for your wisdom and experiences. I have no caregivers Sun or Mon, so yesterday I wrapped it up, iced it on and off and just tried to stay off of it. Took a sleeping pill last nite. I called today and my only option is the ER or urgent care. My doctor is not in today. There is no way on God's green earth I am taking my husband for a few hour wait in a ER or urgent care. My knee is improved today, so maybe I just sprained it. I dont notice any swelling. I can extend it fully once it is warmed up a bit. The worst pain is when it has been at rest and I need to move it again. Then it warms up and is not so bad.
What a scare! and a major wake up call for what happens to US in the middle of the night and we need help? I am only 53 and I was completely on my own with a painful injury and lying in a puddle of pea. Jeez...
How's it going, sheltifan? For those who have banged their knees - I hear ya. About ten years ago I fell forward off the last step coming downstairs in the dark maybe ten years ago, hit my left knee big time. Didn't see anyone about it. It healed, supposedly, but was on and off painful again and this year was painful pretty much constantly. Really interfering with my walking. SO I finally bit the bullet and had the estimable Andrew, CNA, stay with my husband (when my full-time working daughter wasn't there) and had the knee surgery. Two months later I am essentially back to normal, though still some stiffness - but NO PAIN!!!! Medicare paid for it all - I'm 75. Wish I hadn't waited so long!!
Sheltifan---getit chckd out. Inconvenience be da**d. My first important knee injury hurt like H** but didnb';tseem bad. Went to Ortho. Clinic. One my file they wrote: anterior cruciate ligament tear. No sense in doing arthroscopy because of patient's Charcot -Marie -Tooth; put me in a full leg splint and gave me a home PT plan. It took me nearly a year to get completely out of the splinbt nd walking confidently on that leg. TRhat was a whole year of reduced mobility, which I didn't fully recover because of the CMT. A couple years later I got the same knee again, only the medial collateral ligament and a meniscus tear. A splint for some weeks, soe PT, and a home PT plan. Then, a couple years later, for variety, I tookout the other knee--medial collateral. After that, at a clinic for CMT, I saw a physiatrist--a specialist in all the components that go into body movements. He told me "It doesn't matter whether you're an Olytmpic Athelete or someone like you with only 60% function, these type injuries need to be repaired and the go through therapy ASAP. When repaired followed by therapy, recovery of nearly all ability is probable." It's too late to repair mine, and because of malformations caused by my cockeyed CMT affected walking, the lack of muscle strength and the ligament damage, pluis now osteoporosis, I run the risk of breakibng them if I fall, and I am not a candidate for repair or replacement.
GET THEE TO A DR. YOU CAN'T TAKE CARE OF YOUR LO IF YOU'RE BROKEN.
While my knee healed up from the bruises and felt a bit better each day, I am now left with deep aches and SHARP SHARP pain if I move it wrong. It collapses on me and feels like it bends too far back...instead of straight up and down, it heads too far the "wrong" direction..like over-extended.
Off to the Dr. next week. Got the appointment. I am so stubborn....
I fell last year on my knee. It was very painful hurt and was swollen, I went to the ER, they took and Xray and found nothing. Said to keep it elevated and use ice packs for swelling. After a week or so good as new.
Ky caregiver--You were smart--had it checked out. Had there been any serious damage, it would have been dealt with early, and likely with good results.