Out of surgery.

[notjustair]

Out of knee surgery. The doc thinks this will put off a replacement for a few years. I hope so too.

I have AS which is a kind of arthritis that starts at your feet and works up. As it goes it fuses all of your vertebrae together as well as your ribs. Makes being on the farm tough as I can no longer turn my neck enough to hook up implements very easily or back tractors into the shed. Eventually my options are surgery to break all of the bones apart or sit in a wheel chair. Until then I have surgery about once a years to fix something disease related.

I am thinking that the mirrors I have seen some of you put on your tractors may be a good investment.

What else have you all done to make machinery easier to use with disabilities? Could be worse - I could be old too (only 3!
 

[old]

Do as the doctor tells you or you may find your going to get cut on more. BTDT and my knee surgery worked well for about 6 months and now back to the pain
 

[showcrop]

Your situation makes one feel grateful for having the amount of health that most of us enjoy! I haven't dome anything with tractors or equipment but if I were in your situation I expect that I would have a three point adapter on each tractor, and self hooking hitches on many draw bar implements. Probably the best thing you could get is a couple of Mexicans. From my interaction with them they are good workers and easy going. For in my shop I got an old swivel chair on wheels from the transfer station and took off the back and arms. Helps me a lot on the jobs that you might otherwise have to stoop or bend down for.
 

[Walt Davies]

I have RA Arthitis it's the sh!ts to get around sometimes I use Clineral to keep the pain down but like right now it ain't perfect. Mine doesn't have the calcium build up and that helps.
But I guess we just live with what we have it's not going to better and all we can do is have a good doctor to keep us going.
Walt
 

[Nancy Howell]

Had a car wreck in 1980. Got hit from behind and have had neck issues since then.

You will learn to turn your shoulders to look behind you.

Hope you had a Merry Christmas even if you were in the hospital.
 

[steve_in_mo]

You might look into ethe kind of TV camera/screen system they use on big RV's. There are cheap sets from JC Whitney and others but I don't know how well they work.
 

[dpendzic]

I got 4 years out of my knee after arthroscopic surgery.Got a new knee this august and much much less pain--just do all the stretching exercises and it really helps with all the joints.
 

[Mike (WA)]

I've always heard that you have to really do the physical therapy when you get a knee of hip replacement- but my question is, why? Its a mechanical joint- why would doing exercises give more range of motion? Being a mechanical contraption, it should have a built-in range of motion, and I don't understand why doing exercises should affect it, one way or the other.
 

[B-maniac]

You have to do the PT and stretching etc because of all the trauma involving the knee muscles during surgery. They have to stretch them out of the way to get to the bones to cut off and hammer in the new knee seat and ball. Muscles hate being disturbed. When disturbed or injured they always heal shorter. It isn't so much for strength as it is range of motion and stretching. If ya don't do it ya won't walk correctly and Doc won't be happy ya screwed up his work.
 

[John M]

When were you diagnosed with AS? Me, late 2011. Took about 8 olr 9 years to get an acurate diagnosis as to what has been wrong woth me since i was in my early - mid 20s.
 

[showcrop]

[MO8N4ME]

Have any of ya heard about getting injections with rooster combs? A man I know here in town was needing a knee replacement. His heart DR. said no surgery. So they injected his knees with some kind of solution made out of rooster combs and they told him it might get him another couple years pain free. Just what I heard.
 

[dpendzic]

its the muscle tissue and tendons--they tighten up and have to be constantly stretched to get back your range of motion---as soon as you come out of surgery its 4 hrs day on a flex machine.
 

[huntingreen2day2]

I have had those injections. They are very expensive
and as far as I can tell did no good.
 

[showcrop]