The good new is that in all medical procedures we aim to first do no harm. No harm done. My experience was pleasant, spent at least 45 minutes with my Doctor reviewing the procedure, my expectations and post operative concerns. I guess that’s part of the beauty of a cash pay option for these sorts of services. There is obviously no pressure to be rushed through and produce numbers to satisfy a large corporate structure.
Pre-op IV for sedation went well. This is conscious sedation, in other words not out-like-a-trout with intubation but enough sedation you are essentially asleep and cannot remember a thing. I did have several photos taken of my procedure, if you would like to view them, respond to this post.
First is lying flat on my face so that a specimen of platelet rich plasma can be extracted from the bone marrow of my hip. They then take this over to a centrifuge where the important stuff can be spun down and separated for injection into my knee joint. As you may recall from your high school anatomy, the bone marrow is where many of the products contained in blood are produced. Or maybe you were too busy passing notes to a friend and waiting for lunch hour.
Next is roll over onto my back (not sure how they did that; I weigh 200 pounds, and thank them for not letting me roll of the table). Amnion Allograft and Human umbilical cord tissue is next introduced along with my own PRP. This human product is donated tissue not derived from fetal tissue in any way. The umbilical tissue is probably the richest source of stem cells that can be harvested. The idea is that my own material combined with the other 2 products will rally a response to repair, reduce inflammation and relieve the painful arthritis of my knee. In many cases this combination of material has been shown to actually allow new cartilage growth. I spent hours reviewing animal studies and some of the results are stunning.
I awoke, no ill-effect and was ready to drive over to Starbucks for my coffee and a breakfast (I was super hungry, no food or fluids 12 hours before the procedure). No driving allowed, so the COO of the clinic drove me back to my hotel. Think that would happen in any other insurance-based setting? Not likely. So after she dropped me off, I took care of my coffee and breakfast and drove over to Great Clips for a haircut. Covid 19 closed all the salons in Reno, but Texas had just opened. I sat and waited with a bag of ice on my knee for 4 hours for my haircut. Worth every minute of the wait.
I’ve had numerous orthoscopic procedures over my 64 year lifetime and with each one the rehab was longer and more painful. This procedure allowed me to weight bear without discomfort and I have little to no swelling of the knee.
My back however, where the Platelet rich plasma was taken felt as though someone punched me there (they actually do use a bone punch to access) but this was a dull bruise-like sensation that is nearly gone as of this writing.
No nausea, but one criticism I would have is the choice of prophylactic antibiotic. I was given Clindamycin to take for a 3 day course. This antibiotic is notorious for being hard on the digestive tract and I could only stomach 2 days of it. It caused abdominal cramping mild pain and diarrhea, so that was cut short. In fact, clindamycin is also famous for being a problem in the rise of C difficile colitis. (Not a good thing).
Today, I feel great, my knee is at or below the pain level I had going in to the operation and I am going to continue to document my progress going forward. This is a long haul process and time will tell how this this work, but thankfully no harm done so far.