OT: Building in isolated location

[RSG]

Wow! Hope you get feeling better and that it doesn't slow down your progress too much!

Sounds like you may have benefitted from the ladder safety training program I used to set up for my guys "Three points of contact" driven into their heads.....

[NP317]

"For now I refer to remain ignorant of what goes on in those surgery rooms."

Agreed.
I wisely waited until after my right knee joint replacement to view the surgery films.
Yikes! No wonder I hurt in places far removed from my new knee!!! They beat the crap out of me.

Recover quickly, Bill. You have my sympathies too.
RussN

[liveaboard]

They said they could do my knee surgery [cruxiate ligament replacement] with a local so I could watch; I declined.
Put me out and let me know when it's done!

[BadDog]

I wisely waited until after my right knee joint replacement to view the surgery films.
Yikes! No wonder I hurt in places far removed from my new knee!!! They beat the crap out of me.

Going OT: May be a bit graphic, but given the demographic, I don't expect so.

Not me. When I had my bilateral knee replacements (2016 I think?), the doc told me what type of joint they were going to use (forget the technical name now). It was custom made from a high resolution MRI of my lower body. That was converted to CAD where they adjusted to correct for the 1/2" I had lost due to wear and tear on knees, straightened my left foot that was crooked (from when they reattached the lower leg), and removed some bow-legging that resulted from the wear. They then custom machined the joint with a multi-faceted interface and matching 3D printed fit/cut jig that was referenced to unique bone features/profiles.

With that information, I looked up videos of the actual procedure right away.

Once they get it all opened up and "disconnect" the existing joint, with that cutting jig temp attached (with screws), they use it to guide a saw that cuts the facets on the end of my bones, then remove the jig. Next they use the resulting facets to index the knee perfectly every time. But here's the surprise, there is no mechanical attachment. They use a quick setting glue! IIRC, the working time is only 5 minutes or so. In the video, they "tested" the joint only minutes (timer) after applying it, and it clearly held strong since they couldn't break it loose! The faceted socket has a sort of tiny dovetail grid inside. The glue is calcium based and biodegradable in about a year. As it degrades, the bone structure actually "heals" into the grid, locking the prosthetic in place.

Of course the video was a bit gruesome seeing how they treat the leg, particularly when the knee is out and the prosthetic is going in (note: top/bottom parts have a sort of twist-lock connector in the hinge). But I found it fascinating. Next time I saw the doc I could talk about process specifics, and he mentioned that most don't want to see it before surgery. For me, I already knew intuitively about what they were going to do, so no surprises in the general procedures. But seeing how current procedures make it almost like changing parts on a car, and thus near zero chance of the screwups/problems that used to be so common, actually made me more comfortable with the whole thing.

I also asked for (and have) both the 3D models of my (clearly!) damaged joints, and an unused (backup) set of the printed cutting fixtures. My feet alignment and joint motion/stride is better than it's been in over 3 decades (since the original event).

[NP317]

My knee replacement used the computer-alignment method.
Still, my right foot ended up rotated outward about 2 degrees from pre-surgery. The Doc had no explanation for that!
I think it should not have happened.
And my leg muscles took a full year of hurting before they adjusted to the new rotated position.
Seemingly small changes had big effects.
Still, the results are a huge improvement, and I'm glad I had the joint replaced.
RussN

[BadDog]

Best of luck to you, it has been well worth it to me as well. It had gotten so bad I could barely function, and was doing almost nothing in my shop for the preceding year or more. The initial pain and recovery is just the first step (so to speak), knee recovery takes a long time. My alignment is perfect within my ability to determine it. I really don't fit on my surface plate, and doubt I could read the measurements from that angle.

At just over 2 years, I'm long recovered all I am going to. My left knee, which has for 30+ years been my "bad knee" (really leg) ever since I ripped it off just below the knee. They put it back on, and I only have one bone from the knee to ankle because about 4" of the small bone was missing (I like to think some dog likely enjoyed a nice treat), and the doc decided with my reconstructed/prosthetic knee reattaching my lower leg and rearranging what was left of the muscular systems, it wasn't really necessary anyway. This was absolute bleeding edge technology in '83, and I was the second person in the US to get what they were calling "artificial skin" in a trial (also new nerve reconstruction/reactivation trial). They said a month earlier, a different hospital, or not being in very fit shape at the time, any one of those would have resulted in a no question cleanup of the traumatic amputation. But the stars aligned that night.

Anyway, THAT leg is now unbelievably good, better than I ever dreamed possible. It exceeded the docs best estimates! However, the right, which was only broken 5 times (that time) and has been my primary functional leg for all that time since, is now giving me a chronic but somewhat variable ache (I put it a 2-4 on their pain scale), never goes away. I had one of the best ortho docs in the country do mine because he specialized in what they call "non-standard anatomy". (LOL) The others I saw didn't want to touch that left leg. Anyway, he says somewhere around 5% of such replacements have non-specific pain to varying degrees that just persists. Medically, there is nothing wrong they can find. Lucky me. But there is a small possibility of something far worse, and has the same symptom. If you didn't want to watch the video before surgery, you don't want to be searching on that topic. The possibility chills me to my core, and that takes quite a lot...

[NP317]

So Bill:
These descriptions of others' various pains and orthopedic disasters are all designed to hopefully allow you to feel better about your fall and injury!
Wishing you the best recovery,
RussN

[BadDog]

Same

[spro]

Yes same!

[seal killer]

Russ, Russ and spro--

Somehow, I missed your well wishes.

Thank you for thinking of me and I am doing very well. The surgeon took more xrays at the two month mark and said he was surprised to see that I had healed more in two months than he expected in 4 to 6 months.

The removable cast was removed for the final time at that time. I still have to baby it in certain situations. I have good feeling in my little finger and I think the feeling in my ring finger is returning. The other fingers are pretty numb.

Ironically, during a visit to my dentist, my hygienist showed me her wrist; a plate with six screws. (I got her beat by four screws.) She gave me more good info on the healing process than ANY of the professionals involved in my care. She said it just takes time.

--Bill

[seal killer]

All--

The shop is nearly complete. We started installation of the garage door, yesterday.

This door is located inside the garage. It opens off the drive-through bay of the garage. I needed a big door to get stuff in and out. I thought about a garage door and a man door and decided I didn't want to waste the wall space for the latter.

The shop is now completely painted, also. After the garage door is installed, I will bring my machines to their new home. I am really tense about that move!

--Bill

[pete]

With surgery Bill you'll have nerves within that area that get cut. My surgeon told me that numb feeling is caused by those severed nerves. If my memory isn't faulty I think he mentioned those nerves grow back at approximately 1 mm per day. However it can happen sometimes that the nerve never completely grows back and that numb feeling will remain. Only that time will say for sure how well yours grows back.

And fwiw there's more than enough experience of moving heavy items and machine tools on this forum so I'm sure we can walk you through anything you have to move without much trouble.