And the results are in.....

Glad you had a doctor you like - when I was in my late 30's my right knee was giving me a lot of trouble and yes, I was morbidly obese - the first surgeon I saw actually said to me 'If you were 20 years younger I'd fix it - if you were 20 years older I'd replace it - go home, lose weight and it will be fine'. Okay...so I went home and tried to lose weight, but the fact of the matter is when your knees start to ache and hurt you move less and gain more! I finally went back to my PCP and asked him to refer me to someone else - when I saw the new surgeon his first question to me after seeing my x-rays and MRI was 'what took you so long getting here?' - so you just never know.

There are many things they can try before surgery - the cordizone shots, Synvisc shots (which aren't pleasant but are meant to cushion the knee joints - I didn't have much success with that but they may be improved by now).

Bottom line is Mary, please take care of your knee now - don't be foolish like I was and think it'll just get better, because mine didn't and now I have bi-lateral knee replacements. I certainly don't regret getting them because it literally gave me my life back, much like the RNY, but I'm sorry I waited so long and let them get so bad. And believe me, if you don't take care of the one giving you trouble now it will only aggrevate and make the other one worse, because you'll start depending on that other knee to bear the brunt of everything.

Best of luck to you...sounds like you have a good doctor to work with.

Kathy

Excuse my ignorance - but was it based soley on your previous weight or are there other "things" that can contribute to the deterioration?  Like running, or increased vitamen D, or something that most people would not think about???

-GD

Thanks for the concern everybody!

There's going to be an MRI in the next week or two. Even if Mary balks at the idea of some of this stuff, fortunately for her (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), she has a crabby old man in her life who won't let the issue go unaddressed. :)

And yes, they did mention the chicken stuff.

The Doctor mentioned something about "pulling fluid out of the ****'s comb" at which point I had to try really, REALLY hard to not snicker like a 9th grader in health class.

I'm glad she has you too, you crabby old man!  Ok...I give you a lot of credit for not cracking up at the ****'s comb comment...I would have been peeing my pants laughing!

HG

Oh let's be realistic...you would've just been plain old peeing your pants

yeah...just wait until I am as old and cranky as Norm...

you're not?????

She's older, but not crankier.

That's good news (like the doctor, know what the issue is).  You've inspired me to go see an ortho.  I thought my knees were going to get better after the weight started going down.  Now they are worse.  They "crunch" when I walk upstairs and I can't kneel on my right one at all or it collapses.  Sigh.  I need to have it checked I see.

k

Mary,
I am so behind on reading the boards  - but saw yours about your knee. Just wanted to tell you that my mom got the cortisone shots and loved them. She would get the shot and would be able to run around like a kid within a couple of hours. I hope they work as well for you. Will say a prayer that they work for you.
Tammy