broken patella? no, not me

[rocknrollgirl]

Yikes,
I am really sorry to hear about your Mom. I hope you get her some help asap. I can't belive they sent her home like that. Visiting nurse service saved me when my Mom was sick. That sounds like a good plan.

[KnottedYet]

With no shoulder or shoulder girdle muscles, a walker might not be the best choice.

Hopefully the visiting nurse will figure things out.

[mimitabby]

i hope so. we're going over there at noon, and i will be as pro-active as possible.

thanks Knot, that's good news.

[KnottedYet]

thanks Knot, that's good news.

Well, it's only good news if they sent over crutches for her to use instead. One crutch, depending on the other shoulder strength. She might not have good luck with two. Maybe a wide-base cane. Depends on her strength, really.

But someone trying to use a walker who only really has weightbearing strength on one arm is likely to tip the walker over and fall. Walkers are only steady when pressure is even on both sides.

[surgtech1956]

mimitabby. When the patella is split in half, they usually just wire it back together. The only problem with that is you usually feel the wires under the skin and its annoying. Sometimes they remove the patella, and replace it with a prostesis. They don't like to remove the patella because you tend to have problems with tracking(the patella slips to one side). I fell at work off a lift onto my right knee(5/06) and had an incomplete patella fracture(just split in the center), mine just healed on its own. From my fall I had bruising in the patella-femoral joint - which I still have. Was your mother's knee flexed when she fell? They should have had someone from the PT department come down and show her how to use the walker. I would assume that's where it would have come from in the first place.

[mimitabby]

Hi Surgtech and Knot
My mother really didn't want crutches, it didn't work at all when she broke her heel 10 years ago (on the other leg)
no one knows what position she was in when she broke the patella though.

while we were there, she demonstrated going from the sofa to the bathroom. AGH, what a slow painful process. yes, it's really hard when you can't balance. She wanted ME to tell her how to do it. And i'm clueless!!! raleighdon being more of a natural expert (and someone who has had several surgeries on knees and so knows what it's like to have only the ability to bear weight on one leg) was giving her pointers. She did get a nurse on the phone, who told her that when she calls tomorrow she can get someone to come out and help her. godforbid if you hurt yourself on a weekend! in a major metropolitan area!!!!!!!

[surgtech1956]

I hated crutches. A friend gave me a cane - that was my best friend for awhile. Hopefully your mother can get into an Orthopaedic Surgeon quickly and fixed quickly. Everything happens on the weekend. Keep us posted.