Last week when it was icy my mother fell and banged her knee. She's hurt his knee a few times and has complained to her doctor often. They said she blew the gel out of her knee or that is her arthritis and would never send her for X rays. She is on medical disability and Medicare right now so she needs a referral for everything... but that is rant for another day.

So ... My mother has lupus, polymyositis and rheumatoid arthritis so I always just assumed that it was one of those giving her grief. Well two days ago she came stumbling down the stairs and lost her footing and as she stumbled across the room she looked like Frankenstein, she couldn't bend her knee and I told her she needed to call her doctor and get in to see him. After arguing with her doctor and threatening to go to the ER (which she was bluffing because that bill would of been threw the roof! /end tiny rant) he sent her to a Ortho.

So I dropped her off and took my nephew to Denny's and came back and waited in the waiting room and I could hear this doctor talking really loud and I was thinking how that is violating all these HIPA laws and he really should shut the door! And then I heard my mom.. The Doctor called me in the room and he was really high energy and showed me the X ray.. He said my mom has no surface left on her knee and needs a full cement knee replacement. She has "80 year old bones on a 50 year old body".

He was really pushing it, and wanted to schedule it in 2 weeks and I'm thinking to myself.. she's on a ton of meds, she can't just go off them, she's a high risk for infection because she has no immune system, she can't even have dental work with out clearing it from her doctor and he wants to put her on coumadin and cut her leg open in two weeks. He was just so darn excitable and i felt like he was just trying to push it on her, and she is all gung ho because she's been complaining all this time and she can say take that Dr. Bob! It sounds like a simple procedure and quick recovery time... But i don't know, this was the first day she's even seen this dr and with in a hour he tells her she needs a new knee! Am I just being paranoid?

Is there a chance for you to maybe beable to go to another doctor at all? Just to make sure this one isn't trying to "do" something?

And I am not sure... but sounds like if it is as bad as he says it is... might need a replacement knee prehaps =/

I have a friend who is going through med school right now and has been in there several years I can run this by her and see what she thinks about it all... I do not know much about this stuff so I really do not want to say one thing and it end up being something else, you know?

I just do not want to lead you in the wrong direction

I will talk to her tonight about it

But as for right now I think she should maybe vist another doctor comepletely just to see what he or she says... and if they are saying about the same thing they maybe consider things... This sounds terrible painful making me cringe

I got ankle problems so kind of hitting close to home... if my ankle pops "too" much the pain travels to my knee and I can barely walk... hurts REALLY bad then to the point I can not walk to the rest of the night because my leg just gives away... to much pain and to main points of supporting entire body weight

Sorry I wasn't help much Snuggs =( I wish I was because you are always helping me and I want to return the favor but unfortnatlly this is a subject I am not very good with =/

-RMS Carpathia-

It's ok Carp Her insurance wont pay for a 2nd opinion but I will scrounge it up if I have too. I might just be paranoid.

Yeah I understand paranoia... and really in my opinion paranoia is kind of good it makes you think of all options but then again it just makes you worried of all these diffrent things when it possibly could be just something simple and non-complicated... but you can never tell...

All I can say is I hope your mom is going to be okay... I am waiting for my friend to get online... or hopfully. This is suppose to be her "most busy" week in all the years of her college so far... so hope something soon... or least that is what a friend of mine said... because I haven't got to see her "too" much

Maybe you can look up for some information on the net about knees? maybe it will answer a few questions that is going through your mind... that is what I do sometimes...

I just hope all is okay... and not the worse of what we are both thinking... I am a very paranoid little Carpathia, my poor sweetheart has to deal with my paranoia ALL the time... probably why I am so thin >_<

-RMS Carpathia-

I'd go for the second opinion if you could.

2nd Opinion's are fine, but you can also ask for one from same facility, just a different doc, and you can even ask for the specialist.

Next is that, if its a knee, hip, big toe, it needs fixing.

If you look at the alternatives, can your mom survive in a wheelchair and get around? Not saying or wishing bad things, but if the knee goes totally and can't support weight, then its on with the helping tools, cruches, walkers, braces or worse a chair due to total immobility.

Hopefully things will work out.

Good Luck Ms Bug.

2nd opinion would be advised, and not from the same doctor's office. New doctor should not be told of the original doctor's diagnosis, to prevent "fraternity brother" behavior. It might be that the new doctor will be more sympathetic to your concerns, at which point it would be advisable to go with the new doctor.

F'nor, she can't do crutches and only a electronic wheel chair and will eventually have to get a chair lift for the stairs. her polymyositis shreds her muscle tissue and leaves her very weak.
Thanks guys, now I just need to convince her to get one.

Friend got ahold of me she said:

Well tell the girl that a getting a 2nd opinion is alright, but the reason she provided for getting a 2nd opinion is... yes she IS just being paranoid haha, things like that happen, my mom was told something like that too seeing a doctor for the first time, something like "50 year old with a 60 year old spinal cord" so yeah, doctors are just really impersonal but they will tell you the harsh truth, there really is no easy way to say it so they will just say it even though its so blunt. getting a 2nd opinion is up to her

-Wyrm-
-RMS Carpathia-

Snuggs are you more concerned with the procedure or the fact that he wants to do it in two weeks?

Vepl