Knee replacement tomorrow

tdmidget · Nov 29, 2020

Tomorrow I get my right knee replaced. I've put this off for years due to the long recovery time. In August I had had enough and called to schedule the surgery. It was easier than making a dental appointment. In at 5:30 AM and if I can take a few steps, out at 12:30. Not even a general anesthetic. Recovery 6-12 weeks. Medicine advances fast these days. Anyone else had this done recently?

Gordon Heaton · Nov 29, 2020

Good luck. Wife had one 5yrs ago, still hurts every day.

johnoder · Nov 29, 2020

tdmidget said:
Tomorrow I get my right knee replaced. I've put this off for years due to the long recovery time. In August I had had enough and called to schedule the surgery. It was easier than making a dental appointment. In at 5:30 AM and if I can take a few steps, out at 12:30. Not even a general anesthetic. Recovery 6-12 weeks. Medicine advances fast these days. Anyone else had this done recently?

Thanks for reinforcing me.

I've put this off for 15 years, mostly because it took that long for the OA to actually bother me

Not sure about 80 somethings getting this done, but we will see

eKretz · Nov 29, 2020

Good luck man, hope everything goes great. You too, John.

Ivan Vegvary · Nov 29, 2020

tdmidget said:
Tomorrow I get my right knee replaced. I've put this off for years due to the long recovery time. In August I had had enough and called to schedule the surgery. It was easier than making a dental appointment. In at 5:30 AM and if I can take a few steps, out at 12:30. Not even a general anesthetic. Recovery 6-12 weeks. Medicine advances fast these days. Anyone else had this done recently?

Had my knee done in 2002, age 59. Best thing I ever did. Had major knee problems from the age of 6. Throughout my 20's through 50's they put off replacement because I was too young and knees lasted only 8-10 years.
Fast forward to age 59. Did it, did the follow up therapy and have been happy ever since. Never think about my knee. Forget that it is artificial until I get screened at the airport.
Best wishes to you. You will be fine. One of the patients in my knee group was 83 years old (female) and had both knees done at the same time. More guts than I have.
The new surgeries are wonderful, x-rays of my knee reveal that there has been no wear or damage and will last until I die.
God bless you.

medsar · Nov 29, 2020

1) get up and walk within 1 hour of the surgery ending
2) take your physical therapy seriously
3) do the physical therapy (it will affect your long term outcomes/usefulness of the joint)
4) try your hardest to leave the hospital early and go home (you’ll do more physical therapy at home and less risk of infection)
5) take nutrition seriously

Gordon Heaton · Nov 29, 2020

johnoder said:
Thanks for reinforcing me.. . .

Oh, you'll do great. My wife is allergic to nickle, got a cobalt knee and after persisting issues the doc contacted the mfg and learned that there was nickle in the alloy, but not mentioned in the literature.

Milland · Nov 29, 2020

TD, best of luck, let us know how you're doing after the surgery.

Gordon Heaton said:
Oh, you'll do great. My wife is allergic to nickle, got a cobalt knee and after persisting issues the doc contacted the mfg and learned that there was nickle in the alloy, but not mentioned in the literature.

Gordon, sounds like your wife would have reason to get a second, non-nickel joint. What have the doctors (lawyers?) said about that? Living in pain for five years shouldn't be required if there's options.

Gordon Heaton · Nov 29, 2020

Docs said to give it a year minimum to see if she would 'acclimate' to the material. The only option mentioned is a ceramic knee, which is brittle and can fail catastrophically with certain shock/impacts. She's pretty active and at this point doesn't want either another surgery or the ceramic. Not sure what the future holds in that regard.

Milland · Nov 29, 2020

That's interesting, and a bit confusing. I believe there's quite tough (relatively) versions of zirconia ceramics available for medical use, and they're even used for dental implants:

ZIRCONIA DENTAL IMPLANTS - Pros and Cons

which I'd think are subject to greater variations of stress and load concentration than knee joints. And there's places advertising zirconia knee joints:

Advanced Total Knee Arroyo Grande | Oxidized Zirconium Ceramic Surface

I'm obviously not a doctor, and the links may contain a fair amount of advertising BS, but the idea that ceramic knee replacements are "that" fragile doesn't sound right to me.

EmGo · Nov 29, 2020

Mom did both knees, I guess when she was about seventy ? Said she shoulda done it forty years earlier ... good luck there, Mr Midget ! Do your post-operation exercises !

medsar · Nov 29, 2020

The availability of non-nickel containing joints is limited. The two main options (common options) are zirconia and titanium. Generally, zirconia joints are not considered for active people. There is some newer work around ceramic over polyethylene but I digress.

bryan_machine · Nov 30, 2020

tdmidget - I had TKA (total replacement) of my right knee in 2015 at age 55. Like above, I only know about it when I go to the dentist (take some antibiotics) and sometimes at the airport.

Thing to realize - the first part of PT and recovery is quite difficult, parts of it painful, and very hard work. But that only lasts a few weeks. Total recovery - meaning you knee stops getting better - well in my case it was 2 years before I thought - yeah, it's perfect now, can't get any better. Mind you at 5 weeks it was way better than it was before, and by say 2 months it was light years better. It's just it kept getting *even better* for a very long time.

But the very hard recovery, and the very long recovery, are not at the same time. There is a short very hard time, and then a long "it gets better every week" time.

By the way, I do things like cyclocross racing - surgeon was fine with it.

Good luck.

plastikdreams · Nov 30, 2020

Good luck...move around, even if it hurts, you'll thanks yourself later for doing so.

EPAIII · Nov 30, 2020

My wife's Facebook friend had one done recently. I believe she is recovering well.

I didn't have a replacement, but about five years ago they did a scrape job on my left knee. If I recall correctly, I was on restricted activity for about 10 to 14 days. No real pain. I have gone back for lub shots every six months or so. So far it is doing OK.

Good luck with yours.

boslab · Nov 30, 2020

Best wishes, post replacement try ( I use this term loosely! ) to get a good healthy diet, take additional Vitamins, keep alcohol to a minimum and beware the pain meds, don’t take too much, they are addictive, I got hooked on them myself, who’d guess how easy it was, (tramadol),
Take care, and listen to some loud rock music during!
Mark

AARONT · Nov 30, 2020

Good luck. I'm 36 and haven't had any replacements, but have had my ACL done twice and both knees scoped. The best piece of advice I got, was to work on flexing the muscles around your knee as often as you can. This will help once you get to the rehab.

AA+ · Nov 30, 2020

My wife had 2 knees, 2 hips replaced. Also I have known lots of other people with replacements. I found this out by other people's difficulties: Do exactly as the physical therapist says. Do no more and no less exercise specified. Anything else can and does lead to permanent pain and/or disability.

Good wishes to you, Allen Anway

R. Dan · Nov 30, 2020

Had my right knee done a year ago. I wish I had done it sooner. First few days were rough but they made me get up and walk on it the same day as the surgery. After 2 weeks it was much better than it was before.

The key is to do the physical therapy and do it religiously. As for my diet, there is no hope for me. But I did do my physical therapy and I am convinced that it really works. I have had no problems with the new knee.

Good luck.

Ivan Vegvary · Nov 30, 2020

Sure fast way to get out of hospital. (I've had knee and hip replacement, 2 major shoulder surgeries, internal bleeding etc.)
Don't take any pain meds in hospital and say YES when asked if you've had a bowel movement.
Only spent one night in all the above situations.

Knee replacement tomorrow

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