Yesterday I drove mom to her twelve (12) week follow up appointment with Dr. Finkenmeyer, the orthopedic surgeon who was able to piece her broken femur back together. One of the issues mom is having is that while she was still in the skilled nursing facility SNF, she somehow twisted her leg which has now caused a debate among who you talk to as to what is the cause of the new pain which is centered right below the knee cap at the eleven and one o’clock area. The therapist (25+) were all saying it is her meniscus and the orthopedic who performed her surgery and the one who replaced both her knees (one of them twice) both say, “She has no meniscus, she has mechanical knees.” Then we went down the road of, “maybe its this and maybe its that.” All the while mom has been saying that she thinks it has something to do with one of the eight pins or the 4″ screw that was put in to hold the 11″ plate running along side her femur in place. This issue so far has set mom back four weeks in recovery because due to the pain she has been unable to put long amounts of time and weight onto the leg to do any type of therapy. Just a matter of five minutes standing or a minor 7′-10′ of distance walking and she is out for the count in pain.
We were even told by her current orthopedic surgeon that both he and mom’s knee doctor agreed that all of the x-rays show that the mechanical knee and the femur hardware and the break are all 100% fine, with that being said they are suggesting that mom be referred to either UC Davis or UC San Francisco to have what is known as a, “Case Study” performed. A case study involves taking the person as a whole and examining everything in the patients life from health, nutrition, lifestyle, injury, everything and trying to determine if there is something else in their lives that may be the cause of the pain. In the same breath moms case worker at the SNF say that once the information is put together and presented to UC Davis (4-5 working days) it can then take up to 30 days for them to make a decision, to which they could come back on day 29 and say, “We’re sorry your not a candidate.” It’s funny, when ever someone tells us, “It’s going to take XXX number of days,” we usually get an answer quick and the opposite is also true if we told it going to be quick, we usually end up waiting. Well, we didn’t wait long, four day excluding the holiday (7/4/14) and the weekend and she was accepted and we we’re given an appointment date, only a month away. Anyway back to her leg and her 12 week appointment, we’re sitting in the hall looking at moms current x-rays and she still never remembers us telling her she broke it all the way through. UGH!! Mom, I just went through this with you a week ago!!
We are finally in the Dr. Finkenmeyer’s office and mom starts explaining to him what happened and where all of her pain is, as I’m falling asleep from hearing this yet again, nope just kidding I wouldn’t do that to my mom. He turns and throws the x-rays film (old school) up into the light box like a pitcher throwing a curve ball. Is he going to? No, don’t do it, don’t and he starts into his thoughts, “What I think is happening is the large screw that we put through you two bone pieces to hold them together, the head of the screw very well could be…. NO!!…. rubbing on a muscle or tendon and causing the irritation your sensing. Dang it he went there, now we will never hear the end of it. Christmas, Thanksgiving, even my 50th birthday party with be interrupted with moms story of how she knew before anyone else that it has the 4” screw in her leg causing her all this grief. Well I guess you all know where this story is going from her so, thanks doc.
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Just a quick FYI, she is having an out patient procedure done to remove the screw, since there is enough new bone growth over the break the need for the screw to hold the bones together is no longer needed and just a week after the surgery mom will be able to start actual walking therapy, which she should have started four weeks ago. We’ll let mom have this one, she’s coming off a long period in the SNF and having us rag on her about breaking her femur by stepping on a grape, yes it is still brought at every appointment we go to, she can have this one. Kudos mom and thanks again doc.
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