More Questions for Dr. Dye - March 10, Part 2

I thought through my phone call with Dr. Dye earlier today and decided I did have additional questions for him. I told my boss Sandy about the call and she asked whether I should take the day off tomorrow or not. Interesting, that had not come to mind as an option and I started to compose the following email to Dr. Dye.

Dear Dr. Dye,

Thank you for speaking with me on the phone this morning. I do have more questions regarding our conversation about my recent knee pain.

1) I spoke to my manager at work about my conversation with you. She asked, would it help if I took tomorrow off work and rested? I realize you also said it's important to keep moving and do the exercises I can do, so maybe it won't make a difference either way, but I wanted to ask. I've been careful at work and try not to get up and down as much as usual, although it is more walking and some standing as opposed to couch/rest time.

2) Has the impingement of the synovium in my knee caused the inflammation to come back the same as before the surgery? Did the multiplication of cells happen that quickly and I'm at square one again?

3) There is one other "test" Alex, my physical therapist, has been doing I want to clear with you. Same as the PT I worked with after my last surgery, she seems to always want to see increased range of motion in the angle I can bend my knee while lying on the table. I've told her it hurts to keep my bent at the sharp angle while she measures the degree of flex, but she doesn't seem concerned. I want to make sure it is OK to continue to let her do this test. Obviously, increasing my range of motion is important.

I want to do as much as I can to experience a full recovery from my synovitis. I'm very upset that I've had this setback and that my recovery may be compromised. I've suffered so long and this was the last thing I wanted to happen. I know you said this can happen and people have recovered just fine, but to me that also means some do not. I don't want to be in the 15% of people you said the synovectomy do not help, especially when it may be my own fault.

Please let me know about tomorrow.

Thanks,
Alexandra Bottomley

A few hours later, there were Dr. Dye's answers. It make me realize how long winded I am! Hey, he gets to the point, there is nothing wrong about that.

1 Probably a good idea.
2 Can't tell at this point. You probably have not set things back to pre-op conditions. This kind of thing happens and recovers all the time.
3 Range of motion should be measured in a pain free manner.

Best wishes, Dr. Dye

Decision made. I'm actually not taking the day off tomorrow, but I am going to work from home. My couch, my laptop, and me. Oh, and our sidekick frozen peas! We're all quite good friends these days. ; ) I'm very grateful to have a manager and team at work who are supporting me in this and understand how important it is to me to get better. Yes, I wish my knee wasn't hurting right now. Yes, I wish I could have done something differently to have kept this setback from happening. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to change it now. Hopefully in a few days I will feel better emotionally and physically.