Total knee replacement

[+ robear]

So ten days out from TKR surgery. All is going well, although a little surprised at how slow basic recovery is -- I'm aware that full recovery can take up to a year. Also had a hip done five years ago which was waaaaay easier. Share your TKR stories!

[+ Axiom2001]

I read that knee surgery (along with another that I can't remember) is rather intricate; thus recovering from one takes some time.  One's being patient is the order of the day/night.  

I'm to have knee surgery on both knees but am in the process of having to select a new orthopedic surgeon, for although my current one has been in the field for a while, I have been disappointed with him.  

Yesterday I canceled future appointments with him and will seek a new one.  I want a surgeon whose practice is miles away, but this would entail my asking someone to drive me up, stay overnight, drive me back and go from there.  

So I will probably obtain a younger and newer orthopedic surgeon in my area in hopes of solving my omnipresent discomfort, etc.

[+ sync]

@robear and @Axiom2001,

Best wishes to you both for speedy and full recoveries.

I recently recovered from just a twisting of one knee, a mere nothing when compared to your ailments, but the discomfort and frustrations are still fresh in my memory.

On the upside. There are some really hot physical therapists.  😉

"Keep on keeping on."

[dutchal]

Have heard that hip is the easiest, followed by knee, and shoulder is the toughest recovery.

Have had a total hip replacement.  Was commuting again by subway within less than three weeks.  Fully recovered, can't tell one hip from the other (other than the pale 4" scar).

My mother had a TKR in her late 80s.  Had some rapid scar tissue formation, a known complication in a minority of cases, which necessitated a second surgery.  She achieved maybe 85% recovery, but only after switching physical therapists.  P.T. is a key aspect of recovery, and I give my P.T. team a lot of credit for the quality of my recovery.

[+ robear]

Axiom, good luck to you.  You are right to seek a new provider if your current doctor doesn't have your full confidence -- for whatever reason. Not only the surgeon, but their team, surgical facility, and rehab support are crucial. As they say, do your research. If you've identified someone you really want, I urge you to try to make that happen. I know logistics can be difficult, and your circumstances may make it impossible, but peace of mind is gold. Note my procedure was day surgery, operating room at 8AM, out the door by 2. That's definitely not always the possible, so YMMV.

[handiacefailure]

Good luck with your recovery.   I had a nasty fall back in 2013 and the paramedics thought I broke my hip and it was my femur.   That was a real pain to recover from, (They did a metal rod) and I was on a walker/wheelchair and couldn’t weight bear for a least two months (was in a hospital rehab for almost a month) and lived along in a three story townhouse at the time (made me aware I needed to be in a one story condo with no steps which is what I moved into) and lived alone.

I was telling the ortho surgeon that the paramedic thought it may have been my hip and he said if it would have been my hip I would have been able to be up the next day and recovery would have been a lot faster, but if it would have been my hip, I was only in my 40s at the time, and said a hip replacement only last for so many yearss and if I lived long enough I would be going through the surgery in my later years where a femur rod, I wouldn’t have that worry. 

[BrickBuilder]

Two replacements within 5 months of each other.   Had a great doctor.  Physical Therapy was the key...it was extremely difficult but after 6 weeks (3 at home and 3 at office) I was back up and running for both knees.  I was also back to all my sporting activities 2 months after my second replacement.

Best decisions I ever made.  7 years later I have 0 regrets.  The only change in things is that kneeling or supporting weight on the kneecaps is really weird (as in a strange sensation).

It helped that my randomly assigned Physical Therapist for in home was a total piece of eye candy as well as being extremely good at his profession.  

[Whippoorwill]

Two stories here. First, my experience in 2007 when I was 64. Then, what it's like today with the great advances in medicine. 

I had had knee bone-on-bone pain for many years...which periodic injections of a synthetic steroid sometimes helped for awhile (sometimes for two years, but sometimes for two weeks). What convinced me to get the TKR was an article in Consumer Reports...yes Consumer Reports. They did what the medical profession never does...they asked a couple of thousand people how it went. And their advice, based on that, was twofold: (1) get the operation when the pain affects what you can do an not do, and (2) the results are better if you get the operation sooner rather than later. The longer you live with pain, the more you favor that knee, which then throws your whole body out of kilter. Just the opposite of the medical profession's "watchful waiting". 

My knees were equally bad so they both had to be replaced. I opted to do both at once, because (1) I had seen too many people who needed both done have the first done, and then never go back for the second because the extreme pain in recovery (and really throwing their body off kilter) and (2) I was still working and wanted to get the recovery all over at once. There were two surgical teams, one on each knee. I spent three nights in the hospital (this was ancient history) and a week in a rehab center, and then home with PT coming in twice or three times a week for a few weeks, then months of PT at the hospital. I called my Physical Therapist my Physical Terrorist. 

I thought I was better after two or three months, but every month I got even better up to about a year, when everything was perfect. I can do everything, including hours on my knees giving blow jobs, and pain free...titanium doesn't have nerve endings. Best thing I ever did. But oh, the pain was terrible at first. And incidentally, when I saw the X-Rays after surgery, they put a different part in each knee. I asked if they ran out of parts. The surgeon said no, they found a different condition in each knee. He said that sometimes they have the Rep from the titanium parts company in the surgery to help pick out the right part. 

A few years later I had a friend with equally bad knees, and I advised her to get both done at once because so many people never go back and get the second one done because of the pain. She told this to her surgeon who said "I have never had a patient not come back for the second one,." Indeed, he was pioneering a new method. My scars are about 4" long. This means they cut the muscles holding the knee together, and the pain is muscle pain. The new method is the scar is about 8" because instead of cutting the muscle, they just move it to the side during surgery. No muscle pain. This is now standard practice, at least here in a major metropolitan area, with A+ med schools. I have had several friends who have had this done and they are walking on their own power without so much as a walker in three days, with very mild pain and a quick recovery. And it's essentially an out-patient surgery. 

The only person I know of who did not get full range of motion afterwards was someone who refused to do his PT. I did regular gym exercise up until the 2020 shutdown, but since then have never gone back to the gym. 

BTW, my mother had a hip replacement at age 92. I said to the surgeon, "You're not really going to do a person of her age are you?" He replied, "Oh I've done many people lots older than this." It was much easier for her than the knee replacement she had decades before. She is one of the people who never went back to get the second one done, which ultimately led to her not being able to walk unassisted, her body was so crooked. 

Regarding doctor selection, my choice is usually to go for younger ones. My theory is if they have recently gotten out of Med school, they have been taught the latest techniques. Totally unscientific opinion, of course.  

[jeezifonly]

Recovering currently (1 wk) from left TKR - right knee to follow in the next 12-14mo.
both were bone-on-bone. 
Excellent surgeon, a celeb of the art, I was his 4th surgery that day - strong follow up care, good home PT over next month to be followed by outpatient treatment as long as it takes. Surprising pain from bad bruising in upper thigh where tourniquet is used during procedure - may have to extend pain med a week. The second knee will be minus that surprise, and I already know I won’t regret anything (aside from not sneaking in one last massage before  the surgery…) I do not have a clue how anyone can recover if living alone, I’m lucky to have the Huzz. 

[Rudynate]

I had a hip replaced 3.5 years ago.  I have to resist saying I regret it, because I had end-stage osteo in the hip and was in so much pain that I didn't see an alternative.  I was expecting to have Duchal's experience- everyone I talked to said the same thing -"I was like new in just a few weeks."  I had a long, difficult recovery that took over a year.  I was still using a rollator more than a year after the surgery.  I'm afraid I'm going to need the other one done within a year or so.  I will do it if I have to, but I'm hoping that if I really dedicate myself to retaining mobility in that hip, I can avoid it until some of the new regenerative therapies come online that eliminate the need for joint replacement.

Edited June 3 by Rudynate

[Twinkslover]

stay healthy