I managed to pull a calf muscle on my non-surgical leg, and this has led to an era of disheartenment. Things that had become easy are difficult again.
Also, I feel as if I am not making good Bending Progress. I AM making good…what would we call it. AGENCY Progress. When I first came home from the hospital, my surgical leg felt heavy and unresponsive. The physical therapist would give an instruction, such as marching the leg up, and then she had to reassure me that the important thing was activating the muscle: it was perfectly okay that when I marched my leg up, the foot did not even leave the floor; just please activate the marching muscle ten times. I had to do a lot of in-between exercises, like using my hands to lift my leg up off the floor, and then trying to control its slow descent back to the floor: that works those same lifting muscles, apparently.
So it’s been three weeks and I’ve had a huge improvement in being able to move my leg without needing my hands or a scarf or a belt. I can march my leg up like billy-o. But the amount of BEND I can get from that march doesn’t seem to be any more than what I could get when I had to bend it with my hands. And the bending angle is what the physical therapist has to work on at each visit while I gasp and whimper, so it would be super good to be able to get more of that done on my own. That’s how I pulled the calf muscle: in the pursuit of more bend.
I know it varies hugely, but would you like to know what a knee replacement cost in my case? Just under $58,000. Our portion is a $150 surgical deductible plus a $30 specialist copay. Plus we have one of those exhausting notes where the insurance says the surgeon has billed us $1,500 for something he is not allowed to bill us for, and that we are not responsible for paying it. In my experience, that’s easy for the insurance company to say, and I can plan on needing to make MULTIPLE phone calls to get that straightened out, when the doctor’s office DOES bill us for it and then acts as if they have never heard of an insurance company telling the patient not to pay it, and then assures us they’ll straighten it out, and then sends a bill threatening to send it to collections.
I would expect the itemized bill to be interesting, but it’s only confounding. While I was in recovery, a physical therapist came by to show me how to use my walker, and how to get dressed and use the bathroom, and how to use stairs. My sense of time was very sketchy, but I’d estimate she spent an hour or so with me. There are four separate physical therapy charges, all just labeled “Physical Therapy,” for $388, $300, $300, and $287. There are fourteen separate charges all labeled “Hospital Services,” ranging from to $292 down to $10. There is one Pharmacy charge for $509, and one for $33. (I’m remembering when Elizabeth had her tonsils out, and they charged us $14 for the two chewable children’s Tylenol they gave her.) Three for “Med / Surgical Supply”: $16,720 (I wonder if that’s the replacement knee itself), $4,415, and $4,140.
I’m sorry your bending isn’t going the way you want it to and also about your calf muscle. Ugh, what a pain, literally. I hope things…bend soon. How much more PT do you think you’ll be having? I am trying to remember when my SIL had her knees replaced and I honestly can’t remember a thing about PT, except that she found it painful. I should hasten to add she has no pain at all now that the surgery is in the rearview mirror, and that her new knees are great.
I think it’s 6-8 weeks of physical therapy, and we’re 3 weeks in. And the physical therapist said it can be extended if goals haven’t been met, which is reassuring; she also mentioned that we can extend it by having it once a week instead of twice a week, IF I can be VERY DILIGENT about doing my exercises at home, which I CAN.
Ugh, that itemized bill! My son had surgery three years ago to implant a vagus nerve stimulator to help him with his (many, unrelenting) seizures and we had severe regret about the surgery at first, worry about infection, etc., and THEN we got the EOB and it was for $148,000! AND nothing had been settled yet, so it said Insurance Pays $0, you owe $148,000 and I thought I would crumple from the stress of it. Of course it all got straightened out but it’s like looking at those itemized charges just really takes it out of you.
I’m sorry about your calf muscle, literally if it’s not one thing it’s another! Thinking of you, pulling for you!
I’m sorry about the calf muscle. Just what you don’t need right now. My mom had the exact same problem in PT after her knee replacement. She never did get the flexion they thought she should get, but her knee was functional for what she wanted to do, so they ended up giving up on the specific numerical goal they had. Have they said anything about adhesions? That was the suspicion with my mom.
Adhesions have not yet been mentioned, but it’s early days. There is some hope that it’s that the swelling is still interfering. They have also asked delicately how flexible I was to begin with, which I thought was funny.
That’s some good insurance that you have! A relative just had diagnostic surgery and the total was $30,700. We pay $2600. Though I’m sure you must be paying more premium than us or something. I had a mole removed this month, just the diagnostic shave and our bill for that is something like $240, so more than your surgery!
Sorry about your pulled calf muscle.
We also have a headstart in that we immediately make our out-of-pocket maximum because of Edward’s Crohn’s treatments. So there’s always a surprising big bill at the beginning of the insurance year, and then everything else feels cheap!
I am so sorry about your disheartenment. I am going through something less painful but still discouraging, in that “it sucks getting older” realm, and it really does suck. Here is hoping we can both be more patient with ourselves and our progress.
And I will use any opportunity I can to broadcast this message: medical bills are often negotiable. It never, ever hurts to call and ask for a discount, an itemized bill, a payment plan, or all three. The worst they can say is no but they very often say yes.
Always fun and shocking to read an itemized hospital bill. I remember doing that when I had babies. I hate to say, “Here’s to health insurance, yay,” because Health Insurance (well, the SYSTEM) is CRAP in the general sense… but I guess sometimes it works out for the good. Fingers crossed.
Don’t worry, I’m sure your bend will come back!
Hi,
I discovered you via Nicole’s blog. Having read of your surgery, I am here to say have no fear, that bend will get better and better with time. I speak from experience, with two knee replacements done six months apart and now five years’ experience with my metal joints. I found the physiotherapists and surgeon post-surgery had very aggressive targets for increasing that knee bend, I think it was a psychological ploy to keep me plugging away at it. At any rate, I found I worked at my own pace (don’t get discouraged) and things improved to where I have full bend now. The thing I can’t do is kneel comfortably on them, but they did warn me of that. I am Canadian, so had no idea of the actual cost of this seemingly miraculous surgery, so thanks for filling that lack of knowledge in, and I am so much more grateful for the Canadian medical system, broken and failing as it is, than I ever was before. Good luck with it all and I look forward to your updates.
My mom had a tough time meeting her bending knee goal but she did eventually get there. She hated PT with a passion but she was diligent with her exercises at home.
I had 4 weeks of radiation for a cancer on my nose in Sept. The grand total for that was just over $150,000 and my cost was about $2,000