"Pain" is a four-letter word.

Being in chronic pain creates a lonely existence. Unless you are a sufferer, I don't believe you can even imagine what it's like. It is not visible to others, and there is no diagnostic test that will show a doctor (or anyone else) just how much you are suffering. There is no thermometer, no x-ray, no MRI to give the doctor a hint as to how to proceed. Some doctors will be quick say, "Just live with it." Some doctors won't believe you, or believe you are exaggerating the extent to which this is affecting your life.

I have suffered chronic pain for as long as I can remember, but it didn't stop my life until the knee replacement. Not only did it stop, it came to a complete standstill. The cruel irony, is that I agreed to this surgery in order to reduce my pain, and now I would gladly go back two years ago and continue on with the pain I had. Okay, I wouldn't be dancing or taking long walks, but I would be working, driving, essentially living life. I often feel as if I am in hell.

To continue with my story, I went back to Dr. D in November of 2007. He gave me some grim news. Because my knee prosthesis was infected, I would need a series of at least two major surgeries. You can't treat the infected knee replacement with antibiotics because antibiotics need to travel through the blood stream, and there is no blood flow in the device.

The first surgery would consist of the removal of the prosthetic knee. Biopsies would be performed in order to determine the organism causing the infection. The surgeon puts antibiotic spacers into the knee. Because there is no prosthesis, you can put no weight on the knee while the antibiotic spacers (two blocks of cement) are inside. As long as there is infection, the knee cannot be replaced. In addition, the patient must administer IV antibiotics to herself at home for a minimum of six weeks . This is made possible via a catheter inserted into the patient's vein. One end is near the heart, and the other comes out of the arm so that the antibiotics can be administered. At the end of the six or so weeks, the antibiotics are stopped for two or more weeks, and various tests are performed to make sure there is no sign of infection. If there is any sign of infection, the spacer surgery and IV infusions are repeated.

When there is no sign of further infection, the patient returns to the hospital for revision surgery. The spacers are removed, and replaced by a new prosthetic knee. Even after this, further biopsies are performed with the hope that all is well. If, again, there is any sign of infection, the knee will have to be replaced with the spacers again, and the IV infusion repeated.

I sat in the office trying to absorb all of this new information. I asked, "Who does this series of procedures? Do you?" Dr. D's first words were, "Well, that is a problem." Gee, what else is new? Apparently not a lot of doctors are willing to travel this journey with the patient because it requires so much work and patient care. It seems Dr. D was in the process of moving his practice and he would be unable to devote the kind of time and energy that would be needed for this process. He recommended two other surgeons, and suggested that this set of procedures should begin fairly quickly.

I made an appointment with one of the recommended doctors. Surprise! I'll call him Doctor E. If you think things can't get worse, you would be wrong.