I had both knees replaced in october of 2005; my orthopod had toldme that I had plenty of cartilege – he apparently hadnt wantedto spring for new scans. When I consulted with another surgeon, I was “bone to bone”. I realizethat taking up horsebackriding again in my fifties was knee-intensive. I just wasnt prepared for the real horrors involved in the surgery and what can happen in the best of hospitals.

There was a loud strike going on at the SF hospital where my surgeon did the procedures. The anesthesiologit tried 8 times to do the puncture that would allow the operation to be “local” – andwhen I woke up from general anethesia, both legs wrapped in coton wool and screaming with pain, my surgeon said “…if I had known you were on pain medication, I never would have done this procedure”. Huh? My pain meds were written in a zillion places, inclding his pre-op report to my primary care physician. I stayed two weeks in this hospital, filled with undeserved shame, vastly undermedicated by a “scab” staff who must have been told I was some kind of junkie. I cried and moaned so much I got movedto a private room. My “nurses” insulted and infantilized me, when they werent ignoring me, saying things like “..you’re a doctor, why dont youhave better pain tolerance?” (I didnt realize that if one is a health care professional, one must eschew pain meds. I would have appreciated a bullet to chew on.

I got little PT, little ice, had to beg for medicine. This is an agonizing operation, kids…dont let anyone fool you there.

I was discharged by the surgeon, who at least had the courtesy to apologize and say, by way of explanation, that he had been raised a Christian Scientist!

I wont sue anyone – it’s too time consuming and soul-killing, but I’m now paying out -of-pocket for alternative treatments like Feldenkrais and accupuncture to try to gain even a little range of motion. My knees are rather grotesquely swollen. I really get it that it’s up to me to do the hard hard work of recovering – I want to get back on my horse. I think I’m still reeling from all that happened to me – it was like a descent into hell, which even my spouse and medical profesional friends were helpless to prevent. I don’t know what the answer is, but if Western medicine continues to separate the medical from the emotional, we’re all in big trouble as we get older and have to undergo more and more procedures. At least my knees now have their own “passport” for going through medical detectors, courtesyof the company that manufactured my titanium implants.

And I agree – if I had done only one knee, I never would have found the courage to undergo tht sadistic situation again.

I had bilateral knee replacements in April, 05, and have been ill ever since. The knees work great but there’s a lot of pain and swelling. I seem to have developed a systemic or immune problem, with neuropathy that’s increasing, (all over my body)Burning Mouth Syndrome, burning knees, & fatigue. I have been tested by many doctors, who have no diagnosis ideas. I was healthy before the surgery, but now feel that the artificial joints are attacking me, somehow. Finally, the medication Lyrica (a nerve blocker) has given me some pain relief, even with the weird side-effects. I have an appointment to start with the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester MN, end of March, and am Not looking forward to the travel or the Mayo experience.
Even with all that’s happened and changed my life, I would still recommend bilateral, getting both knees replaced at one time! It’s a great way to get it all over with… to improve the knee pain. We’ll find out what’s wrong and I’ll be fine. I’m still glad I had the surgery!
Kate Nelson

I am so happy I found this blog on Google! I have felt some and much of what has been shared. My surgery date for bilaterals was March 28th 2006 and I actually was in very little pain right out of surgery as my doctor at Lennox Hill shoots you up with all sorts of pain meds in the knee and had a been given so much pain meds morphine an oxycodon that my respiration was difficult. What I did not expect and can’t believe i didn’t get told was the pain in my muscles in my legs and unable to move at all without excrutiating pain in my muscles. I felt like James Caan in “Misery” and at the mercy of sometime very impatient nurses aids who had to be told to move my legs carefully to roll over for the bedpan and then replaced gently. So many times it was torturous to be moved and pain meds did not always cut it. I felt it has become such a common procedure that there is a bit of insensitivity to the patient’s pain issue. I am now in PT and it is hellish. I am still on pain meds twice a day and I don’t care if they don’t like it. Arthritis Tylenol does not help if I am going to PT. I am shocked at the fact my legs feel like robot legs bending them and only pray that I feel they become less like this. I am happy I had the surgery as reading the outcomes one year later I would love to ride a bike again, and do some of the sports I had to suspend for years. And lose weight I gained which is coming off as the pain meds do kill the appetite. I was lucky in that I did have DVT in small veins and it slowed down the agressivenss of the acute care facilityl. It was only when I pushed and cried about the pain in my calves did they provide a Dopler and then when I asked the technician to look under my legs which were on the table did the blood clots get discovered. My word of advice- you must be your own advocate and really articulate strongly when something is not right. Why so much pain, why the stiffness, and why cut back on narcotics which are pumped into you 24/7 every three hours including morphine patches like it was a candy shop and once you are released they think tylenol will suffice with limited pain meds. I am not a junkie but the other blogger does make a point that they feel you have to be tougb which we are to do both knees, but hey, this is no joke. I was not prepared properly and I had a awesome doctor world reknowned. I am writing a lettter to him for hopefully other patients to be more sensitive and prepare them. Also to train nursing staff better on handling bilateral legs. Wow this is great I needed to get this out and read your comments. thanks. and good healing to all of you!!

I am due for a bi lateral replacement in two days and abject terror is setting in. I have had very little input from the surgeon (too busy I think) and the fear for the ongoing pain and disability is growing. I am also told that I will have an epi dural and this is causing some anxitey as well.
Planning for the return home has me a bit baffeled and as my husband is very busy I think I might starve to death!

I had a knee replacement a year ago. It swells, it gets very stiff and make it hard to walk up of down stairs, painfull all the time, and makes it hard to sleep at night, it still pops really bad. The pain is getting worse. The pain is not in the joint as before surgery. It is now all around the knee. Right after surgery my knee and leg swelled so bad they did a doppler to see if I had a blood clot. I had seveere itching on my knee. It got really red. I then got such a headache and was sick to my stomach the next day. I also ran a fever.
At first when they were going to do surgery they tried an epidural and it did not do the job. They finally had to put me out. I did not get morphine after my surgery. They gave me oxycotin. I was in the hospital 4 days. Two days after coming home went to emergency room with seveere headache and vomiting. They had no clue what caused it. I think it might have been the epidural. I had therapy about a week and a half after surgery. The therapist called the doctor to came over to therapy because my knee was so red and swollen. I was told I was allergic to the glue they had used to close my knee.
Xrays have been done quite a few times since surgery doctor says things look okay. I just got a bone scan done. I’ll get the results Aug 9.
My doctor gave me a perscription for Vicodin and Ultram and told me to use the ulternatingly. I only use the vicodin when I have to which has been more often lately. There have been time I have had to resort to a cane or crutches.
I been searching the net for answers. I did find that alleries to metal can cause these problems. I do have allergies to indoor outdoor type things. Something I really didn’t think about is I cannot wear types of Jewlrey. I was also told to be checked to see if I may be allergic to the cement glue they used.

I had a knee replaced almost a year ago. Am glad I did it – I was only 51, but could barely take the dog for a walk beforehand. Luckily for me, I told the surgeon beforehand I’m allergic to metals like steel and chromium, so my implants have a ceramic hypoallergic coating.

It’s been a long haul, and the healing process hasn’t been linear and it isn’t finished. Did all the PT – some of it was painful. Despite my attempts to use a non-opiate (alternative to Vicodin/hydrocodone) painkiller for the first couple of months, the alternative made me horribly nauseated. As I expected, I became quite addicted to Vicodin (and I am NOT an addict of any kind), which previous experiences had shown also makes me irritable and depressed, and I had mild panic attacks as I was tapering off. Fortunately, my internist was ready for this, and helped me taper off using a very weak solution of Vicodin so that I could adjust and lower my dose very gradually.

Developed some “soft-tissue” issues at about 7 months post-surgery: bursitis, possibly from overdoing it on the rehab after my 12 weeks of physical therapy. My kneecap was not healing or tracking in quite the right position… Fortunately I am working again with a good, caring, competent physical therapist, who does ultrasound for the bursitis and performs massage and manipulation once a week to loosen up my patella and get it tracking properly. I still have a lot of clicking and clunking of my patellar prosthesis, but I was able to go rafting this past summer much freer of pain, and can now bicycle outdoors for brief periods… Still icing the knee pretty regularly, but much frequently overall, depending on the bursitis.

This is a good surgery, by and large, but people vary a great deal in their recoveries, and it can take up to a couple of years for some. I’m pretty fit and active, and working with a physical trainer twice a week to stay in shape despite the knee issues, but still it’s been extremely draining emotionally. TKA patients must be very proactive in their recoveries and insist on being taken seriously by the docs. I also found acupuncture, massage, and Feldenkrais helpfu during the first few months. Your PT can be one of your best advocates, and an invaluable source of support. Uncaring or unhelpful PTs or surgeons have no place in this process, as far as I’m concerned–my surgeon is excellent, does hundreds of these a year, and is compassionate besides. The nursing staff who cared for me in Spokane were reasonably good, if terribly overworked.

It takes a lot of energy and support to recover from knee replacement for some people, and you have to take charge of your own process. It pays do to a lot of research, because you’re likely to be turned loose by the surgeon and PT long before you’ve really recovered. Be aggressive, ask questions if things don’t seem right, and seek support .

Best of luck (and quick healing) to all…

Well, I am among the unusual I guess. I had left knee replacement done in 2000. It is perfect, after some considerable anguish. That knee was done in Ma. by a doctor who does hundreds of knee and hip replacements a year. After retiring and moving to Maine I had my right knee done in October, 2003. It seemed to go well. I shouldn’t have been so confident. Last fall I got out of my car at the local medical center (I was seeing the surgeon who had done my rotator cuff surgery), and I had to ask a woman in the parking lot to send someone out with a wheelchair, as I did not have use of my right leg at all. The knee simply didn’t want to hold me up. My physician took an X-ray and said the knee was fine, and to go home and elevate it and ice it—what???? Seems like that is all I did before my knee replacement which I thought had gone well. Since then when I move my knee to the side to get out of bed in the morning it feels like the joint was separating but I was able to walk o.k. On Mon. Jan. 8, the knee once again became unstable and so I made an appointment with the surgeon who replaced the knee. He again did x-rays of both of the knees, and once again said everything was fine, but if that continued to happen I should elevate the knee and ice it. The knee got better for four days and then on Sat. night, I was sitting on my sofa and talking on the phone. I went to stand up and I had so much pain in the right knee I couldn’t put weight on it. I almost cannot believe this situation. I called a friend who lives in N.H. who is a retired physical therapist and she of course said get to another physician right away, and that I should use crutches and not the cane I was told to use, in order to remove all weight off the knee temporarily. I can see that life is full of uncertainties but this is kind of ridiculous to have this situation after three years . I noticed someone talked about a doctor not wanting to properly medicate after knee replacement. Well, the surgeon who did my knee only gave, Davron and Ultram and a muscle relaxant. The pain was sooo bad that I thought I would pull my hair out. Honestly, what is wrong with these characters. I could write a book about my experience, especially after being wheeled into recovery and after telling the nurse prior to surgery that I could not take any narcotic meds without taking Vistaril or the generic of it to get rid of nausea, what did they do, gave me morphine (and I told them that did not work on me)without the Vistaril, and then came nausea. I heard the doctor yelling that he wouldn’t give me the drugs the ways I needed them. What a bleeping horror show it was. Then when they did get me medicated, they over medicated and I don’t remember the next 3 days in the hospital. I only remember being transferred to rehab. Talk about treating patients like a piece of meat. It was demoralizing. Now I will never return to that surgeon, I will ask my physician for a referral. I don’t even know if a problem like this can be fixed!!!! Think twice before this surgery, and make sure the surgeon has done many hundreds of replacements. The doctor who did my left knee had. That seems to be the difference.

Carolyn

I too, had BTKR,back in 2005. The recovery time is between 6-12 months. My ortho. didn’t prepare me for this long & painful recovery. In July 2006, tripped on mat in gym(going for my last time at p/t) fell on both tkr, had revision surgery, which was worse than the btkr. My knee is still swollen & painful, can’t drive for long periods of time, & sleep is almost non existent for me.

I had bilateral knee surgery on January 30th 2007. I am 5 weeks out of surgery as of today. I was told I would be home on the 4th or 5th day but did not get home until 3 weeks after the surgery. I got very sick from what they now determine was the medication, femoral block and morphine that they gave me. I could not even get out of bed for 6 days. After 4 days, they transferred me to another hospital’s rehab center where I was still sick for 2 more days before they figured out what was making me sick. It was all a blur to me. I can remember very little of what happened I was so sick and drugged up.

I have been home now for 2 weeks using a walker and going to PT 3 times a week. I spend about 1 hour, two times each day doing the exercieses they have recommended for my improvement. As of yesterday I was bending my left knee only about 78 degrees and my right leg about 85 degrees. My surgeon has told me that if I cannot bend them both at least 90 degrees by March 12, he wants me to go back in the hospital for a “manilulation” treatment that he says will take about 5 minutes where they will bend both knees to 130 degrees. I will have to be put asleep to have this done and he admitted there will be discomfort when I recover from the anesthetic. He says that because I was so sick for 6 days after surgery, that scar tissue may have built up in both knees that is preventing them from bending to 90 degrees plus. He said that by manipulating them to 130 degrees that it will break up that scar tissue and allow the legs to bend. Has anyone been throught this “manipulation” and does it work?
I have to admit that I am feeling stronger and having less pain. It is at least bearable.

I do not think I will regret having both knees done at the same time, but I would never want to do it again. When I was at the hospital rehab center for over two weeks, they told me that many surgeon will not allow there patients to have both knees done at the same time. I am confident that in a few months I will not regret having both knees done at the same time.

Well, I am now 7 weeks out of surgery. No, I did not have to go through the “manipulation” procedure my surgeon had been thinking about if my knees did not bend to at least 90 degrees by March 12. Thanks to my PT, we achieved getting both knees to bend to 90 degrees just before I saw my surgeon. He now thinks I can get the rest of the way with additional PT, so he has scheduled me to go all the way through April. And it is working. Today, we got my right leg to 98 degrees and my left leg to 95 degrees. We are going for 100 on Friday.
My pain has eased considerably and I now only take 1-4 Darvisets a day. I also have a recumbant exercycle that my PT recommended I use to move my legs back and forth. Up until this past weekend I could only go one fourth to one half a revolution, but on Saturday made it all away around, be it not without pain. However, I now can go up to a mile on this recumant exercycle and I think it will really make a difference if I keep doing it 20 minutes a day. I am very optimistic that we will get to 120 degree bends by the time my PT ends in April.
My knees are still swollen as expected and I know this will take more time, but I think the overall outcome will be fine, particularly in light of how I started out with my after surgery problems. Never give up, but there is no doubt that a good surgeon and good PT is necessary to get a great outcome.

My cousin had scar tissue surgically broken after an ACLU & it worked: there is a leg bending piece of equipment that goes with the process.

Help, I had bilateral knee surgery on 9/17/06. Did everything I was suppose to . They informed me that epidural would be best and the least problems. well right after surgery I came out with peroneal knee palsey on my right knee. Had no feeling in my foot up to my knee. could not lift up my foot so a special foot drop brace was made. extensive rehab for a week after surgery, electrodes on the foot and leg to stimulate the nerve again. Asked docter what this was from, he informed me my nerve stretched. now remember I never had this problem before surgery. I researched and found out it most likely was from the anestegiologist from compressing my knee either too long or postioned me wrong. I’m finally getting some feeling back. still numb on the top of my foot and I cannot lift my foot as well as my other one. walk on and off with a cane. Has anyone ever incurred this after knee surgery. I know it is not too common. Was never told of any risks. I’m wondering if I should sue. I just want to be normal and walk and run and smell the flowers if you know what I mean. It has been a very painful and frustrating journey. thank you for your input, feel all alone on this problem and would appreciate any feed back. thanks and God Bless

I want to know about knee replacement. I wonder I can back to sports – Track and karate. I do not decide yet. I think about but I delay it until I get old. I use 2 different painkiller medicines – almost rest of my life. I try delay my arthritis in knee instead of knee replacement. I am only 42 years old. I prefer wait until 60 or 70 years old. My surgoen said my knee is very bad and need knee replacement.
Please let me know. Thanks!

I do want to add to my previous comment…that the Dr I went to seems to tell everyone that they need knee surgery! He doesn’t try to help them with the pain and see if the surgery can be put off. He just want to do that surgery!!

[...] all the details here [...]

i can’t believe that now i find this blog … i am 9 and a half weeks out from TKR on the right. extension still 15 degrees shy, and flexion at 100 after pt. Things seemed to go pretty smoothly at first, except for the pain of course, until returning to work part-time as a manager of a fairly large coffee house/restaurant. No one told me before-hand, that the younger you are the harder it sometimes is …i am no stranger to rehab/pt having gone thru 6 other knee surgeries plus an internal fixation of my right femur years ago …so the pain i was prepared for … the time – well not soo much. Next week i have a MUA scheduled and am dreading a return to the hospital, let alone the procedure . i am 49 year old female, and feel like life is suddenly not quite so sweet. No magic bullet, no quick answers ….. trying to find some reason for the slow recovery, and to be able to deal with it in a humorous, content way … but my god …. this is awful. Thanks everyone for helping to not feel so alone ….

As many others have stated, I wish I had seen this before I had my knee replaced. I am almost 11 weeks post replacement of my right knee, and I am still waiting to be glad that I did it. I am a nurse and did enough research to know what the procedure was but not enough to scare me from doing it. My ortho, who I feel is very competent and has done many procedures like mine, refused to both knees at the same time. He said that the risk of serious complications went way up when doing both, and he had only done both for two patients who had insisted, so I just had one done and doubt that I’ll ever have the second one unless my recovery has a dramatic turn-around in the next few months. My leg feels so weird, it clicks and the patella “floats” and stairs are murder and my house has four levels, but I can avoid the basement and bonus room. I had PT daily for six weeks starting with the day of surgery, and it went well from the outside looking in-I achieved flexion of 120 degrees and extension of 0, but that varies. I continue to do my exercises and ride a recumbent bike and can get around without a cane, but my gait is problematic and even though I can bend my leg, I walk stiff legged. D I try to bend it, but somehow it doesn’t translate. Driving is really uncomfortable, too. In therapy, I was told that I was trying to be too much in control and that I was a perfectionist and that was the problem. I have a high pain tolerance and didn’t have the femoral block and discontinued the pain pump for oral meds, but I am still on them. They run out tomorrow and I’m not getting anymore. I’ll go back to Aleve or Tylenol. Again. It is a weird “pain” if that is what you want to call it, and I get these strange twitches and jumps in my leg-maybe nerves regenerating? Someone mentioned a robot leg and maybe that is a better discription-I have lots of nerve damage on the surface with loss of sensation, and the knee area feels heavy and stiff. The scar feels like it has to be broken free every time I stand up, and it stings something fierce. Everytime I sit, it is like learning to walk again for a few minutes and when I get out of bed-this sounds really odd, I know, it feels like my right won’t reach the floor-but it does. I just hate that I did it-it has consumed my life and I feel like things will never be normal again. I do have a supportive husband and family or else I’d have gone totally nuts!

… particulary to Stoney 2 posts ago … the floating feeling will get better. i’ve been told by pt that that is coomon as nerve endings are destroyed that enable your brain, to know where your knee is in relation to the ground and where exactly to place your foot in relation to everything else …. i’m 6 months out now from my right TKR and that is finally improving, though the slightest thing can wack that out agin : i.e. head cold, allergies, etc… the body is constantly adapting it seems. twitches & jumps of surrronding muscles & nerves are very common also. that has diminsihed as well. i really admire your devotion to pt and can honestly relate to the driving, robot-like sensations ! it does consume ones life, and i really should check these posts more, as there seems to be quite alot of folks out there suffering with similair storyies. i’m currently feeling like i’m dropping the ball some how. in not pursuing a second opinion before the year anniversary mark that my surgeon wants to wait for ….. it is a life changing experience .

I received some very bad news from my knee specialist — I have to have total knee replacement. This is no surprise to me because I have known for quite awhile that the arthritic damage in my knee was going to lead to this. In 1992 I had ACL reconstruction but the damage to the cartilage caused a constant deterioration that couldn’t be stopped.

I’m a 52 year old male.

One thing I have noticed is that there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to get some objective consumer information on the types of artificial knees – sort of like a Consumer Reports. I have talked to two doctors, and of course they both think the knee they use is the best. I asked them if they have some objective evaluations – but they said they aren’t aware of any. Sounds like B.S. to me!

The other thing that is most irritating is that the replacement surgeon I talked to takes a very cavalier attitude about things. He doesn’t want to spend the time to tell me what I can expect post-op, and his nurse isn’t much better. Basically their attitude seems to be: “let’s get your surgery done and worry about what happens when it happens”.

Now that attitude might be find and dandy for them because they don’t have to live with the pain and other consequences to the lifestyle. Every time I talk to them I feel like I’m talking to a used car salesman.

They didn’t even tell me that I probably couldn’t drive for 6 weeks. Wouldn’t I want to know that to make sure somebody in my family could? I haven’t been able to get any other useful information about what other inconveniences I will have – like for instance will I lose my job because I can’t work (fortunately I have a desk job). It seems that unless I can think of a very specific question, I will get no other information.

Oh, yeah – they never talk about pain.

I was an avid tennis player before my knee started to hurt too much, so one of my questions is when or if I could ever play again. I get evasive answers that don’t make me feel comfortable.

This blog has definitely convinced me that more research on my part is necessary, but I’m not sure where to get good information.

I had a TKR last April. Seems to be working great. A little tender around the knee cap at times is all. I have been working out with an elliptical trainer and some regular walking. Will start riding the bike soon. My hospital treated me great, nurses were great. Pain was tolerable with regular doses of Vicadin and Ibuprofen. Take every 4 hours like the doc tells you otherwise it will become very painful. Pt was great. The first week they came to my house because I couldn’t drive myself as my husband was working. 2nd week I got rides. Pt was down stairs, now if that isn’t therapy! They treated me excellent and got me going great! I had x-rays 6 months later and said they were beautiful and will go in for 1 year check!

I had a bilateral TKR on Jan 8 , this year and have to say that I am optimistic that the soreness around my knees and slight swelling will EVENTUALLY subside .
I still take Ibuprofen a few times a day , walk at least 1 mile in my neighborhood and try to use a recumbent bike 2-3 times a week.
My main discomfort is getting up and down from seated position and stairs.
I know if I had not had the surgery , my discomfort would be PAIN .
I get impatient and then realize that the days ahead will be better.
I am 70 yr. old female , retired RN and love gardening and my grandkids.
I’m hoping for many good years enjoying both !

I went in for my one year check up and was told that everything looked fine on
the xrays. I told the Dr. I still had a hard time getting up and still had a “warm” knee along with swelling and pain. I had a Dr. who was substituting as my Dr. was called out. she said I would not get much more movement out of my leg after a year. Stretching it anymore at this point would not get me anywhere. I feel like the fact that my other knee is also giving me a lot of pain has deterred my progress. Maybe it is a good idea to get them both done at the same time. I intend to put up with the pain in my other knee for as long as I can because I just can’t imagine at this time anyway, wanting to go through the past year AGAIN!

Had my left knee replacement done March 5, 2008, about 3 and a half months ago.
This has been a frustrating experience for sure. I think the hardest thing is never knowing what is normal and what is not. I have done a lot of worrying and agonizing. Though I don’t have terrible pain, I never feel very comfortable. It’s hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t been here. I am continually restless and have so little energy. I have very little stamina. And Im so tired of people giving comment when they should really just keep it to themselves. I’m 58 years old.

It is now 6 mos. post op BLKR and I have to say that my knees are still a little stiff and my hanstrings a little tight , but went to the Dr. and he said all was normal .
I went to Ireland 4 mos post op and could NEVER have made the trip and did the walking and climbing that I did , if i had not had the surgery .
Life gives us opportunities and we need to get all the info we can , make a good call for ourselves and do all we need to do to have a good outcome .
I credit a wonderful DR. Wonderful support from family and friends and a strong determination to get well .
Looking forward to feeling even better at 1 yr post op.

I am 49 yrs old, had right tka on October 1, 9 1/2 weeks ago. My implant is a Zimmer Natural Knee II. I was given an epidural and a femoral nerve block for the surgery. I was in the hospital for 5 days. While painful, what really bothered me for the first week or two was the feeling of helplessness. For the first week I questioned (as I’m sure many others have) if I had made the right decision in having my knee replaced. There was a communication issue with the staff on my first day post op re: pain meds. I was on a morphine pump, which I would pump, fall asleep and then awaken in pain, pump, sleep, wake up. I had a great nurse who said that I should have also had a “baseline” pain med so that I wouldn’t wake up everytime the morphine wore off, so, he’d come by regularly and pump the morphine for me. Good nurse. The only other issue in the hospital was the “student nurse” who stated that she’d never removed a catheter but asked if she could remove mine. Apparantly she didn’t know to deflate it first. Yikes. Since I’m fairly young, my Dr. chose to install a larger polyethylene spacer, presumably to last longer. Unfortunately, this caused some difficulty in getting my foot flat on the ground when walking for a couple of weeks. Understand that walking stiff legged for many, many years causes ligaments to get very tight. That said, physical therapy is critical! I had in home therapy for two weeks followed by out patient therapy. I have been blessed with very good therapists. Manual manipulation of the scar is important to prevent scar tissue formation as is frequent stretching. One thing not mentioned much is that many surgeons prescribe Lovenox injections (blood thinner) for two weeks post op. Doesn’t really hurt, but I couldn’t bring myself to give the injections. Fortunately my wife did those for me. My Dr. and his staff have been awesome. He always says “Don’t be stoic, take your pain meds” and has me on relafin for inflammation too. Range of motion is good and knee is better every day. Would I do it again? Probably.

I had thr (right hip) on March 17, 2008 and then tkr (left hip) on July 7, 2008. The hip was a piece of cake. I had been experienced terrible back pain prior to my surgery and had an MRI to discover what if anything was casing the pain. What was found was sever degeneration in the hip. Following the surgery I woke up with no pain! The hardest thing about having thr was being so helpless at first because you are limited by what you can do due to the hip being non-cemented. Laying only on my back was very difficult as I had always slept on my side. I became depressed by about 3 weeks but starting PT at 4 weeks helped. By three months I was walking about 3 miles a day. I do watch how far I bend and sometimes putting on my sock is still a little difficult, but I am able to do almost anything including sleeping on the hip, laying on a carpeted floor on that side, and most exercises.
Tkr is a different story. I was walking the halls in the hospital the day after surgery with hardly any pain. I enthusiastically started pt a week later and found due to pt following my hip, the exercises were easy and I had good strength but range of motion exercises was another thing. They were grueling and painful. Pt was able to get me up to 115 with much work but on my own I am only about 95 even now. I constantly work at range of motion and I am almost six months from tkr. I ride a stationary bike daily, rocking in a rocking chair is a must, I also swim and do various pool rehab. I live in a split level home with many stair to climb and find going is easy but going down with both feet is difficult and painful. One thing I discovered following my surgery was that I had varicose veins. These cause most of my problems along with swelling of the knee. If I had to do the surgery again right now I wouldn’t. If I had known my varicose veins were such a problem, I would have had them taken care of first. I also find laying on my back and bending my knee while laying is painful. I experience stiffness most of the time and always work to limber the knee. I sleep with a pillow to prop my leg at night. There are many things I can do now that were difficult before, such as kneel. I do find that I am better than I was before my hip surgery but not better than I was before my tkr. I will say, at this point, if I had known that the knee was going to be so difficult, I would not have done it.

I am only three weeks post op..feels like the operative knee is longer that the other leg..so now i have serious back problems from limping. Operative knee is stiff and do bending like it should.. i have been doing my exercises. now need to go to outopatient PT.

sure hope i haven’t traded the pain of bad knees for back and. knee pain

It’s been five weeks since my knee replacement. I thought going into this it would be a breeze. I’m 45 in fairly good shape, active, outgoing, and healthy. Today I’ve been placed on bed rest for the next five days. It is really crucial to not over do it. For me, I tried to resume my normal lifestyle: shopping, exercising, walking, stair climbing…slow down is what I’ve been warned. I’m not going to lie. The pain is incredible! I wish I would have read what to expect following post-op. I look forward to the day when I can walk again and sit for longer than 10 minutes without pain.

I had a TKR over 5 years ago and it has never worked i was 45 the doctors that I have went and seen say the bottom bone was put on 32degrees sideways and knee cap too low and the main tendion was cut too short so all i can bend the knee 65 degrees and it always hurts no matter what way i hold it! I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem. Also the doctors all say nothing can be done with it that includes making it stiff or amputation.They say the phanton pain would be too much to bear. I have seen 5 other surgeonsI would like to have some input in this. thank you

I had a total left knee replacement done on July 16,2007 I was only 48 years old but had no cartiladge and was in alot of pain so I had to have my surgery done hoping to have some kind of relief from all the pain. Well two years later I still have major pain. I was told before going into surgery that I would come out of recovery with a drainage on my leg and with my leg in the range of motion machine. Well I came thru my surgery and was brought into my room with NO drainage and No machine on my leg. I was on major pain meds which I’m thankful for but my surgents carelessness has messed me up for life. I was in the hospital for FIVE days, was sent home on a Sunday morning and Monday morning when the nurse came out to the house to check on me I had spent the night in major pain and when he asked me to stand up and try to walk using my walker, I was unable to cause of the severe pain in my calf and the nurse said it could be blood clots so she called an ambulance and I was rushed back in with an ifection and and was back in surgery the following Thursday. So as you can see do to doctors carelessness we end up paying for it in the end.
Now nearly two years later, I still can’t go up and down steps without major pain cause my knee hardly bends. I still can’t sit or stand for long periods of time cause of the pain, I can’t walk the mall like I used to, I can’t ride a bike cause of my range of motion not being good at all, I definitely can not kneel, and I have constant pain in my calf alog with constant swelling.
I know I needed to have my surgery cuase my knee was in so much pain and was constantly giving out on me, but had I known I would still be hurting and wish limited used of my leg, I would have done more research as far as surgents go.
My right knee also needs replaced and I have tons of pain with it and it gives out on me when I least expect it, but after what I’ve gone thru with my left knee I am putting off my right knee for as long as I possibly can.
Anyone out there going thru what I’m going thru after two years please let me know.
Oh, and as for the blood thinner shots they want you to use before your surgery, I would be very careful If I were you. Cause of the use of the blood thinners when they took my back into surgery to take care of my infection, I bled profusely and they had a hard time controlling my bleeding.

It is now 1 year and 7 mos. post op BTKR.

I’m reading the posts and hoping that everyone will keep exercising , stretching and trying to be positive .
I am going to be 72 in Oct. and am so happy to be enjoying life without the problems of ” bad knees “.
It’s worth it !!!!!!

I have had 5  procedures, 4 surgical, on the same knee in 3 and 1/2 years.  The arthroscopic surgery for miniscus repair in May of '06 was not successful in that by March of '07 I had a TKR.  This was not successful: great pain, narcotics, a manipulation in July, 07, more pain, swelling, narcotics.  By May of 2008 I was told that the cement had separated from the apparatus and I would need a "revision"…a polite word for a "do-over".  This time it was a huge success, and after 6-9 months I no longer gave a second thought to my  knee.  Much acupuncture, dance and water aerobics and yoga made the knee totally comfortable.

Well!  3 weeks ago the knee buckled, the squeeked then started locking daily, sometimes in the process of going down steps.  I nearly went head first on several occasions.  I went to my surgeon and the digital x-ray he took showed that a screw had become more than 50% loose!  2 days later I had surgery yet again. Nearly total reopening of the 8" scar. "Luckily" for me, (hah!) the screw was not good but the hole it went into maintained its integrity and I avoided another TKR.  It doesn't mitigate the pain, risk of general anesthesia, down time from work, paid and PT all over again!

I trust my surgeon implicitly and he said it would not happen again.  What are my assurances…THIS was never supposed to happen.  In  his 15 years of being a top notch surgeon he had never seen this.
Can anyone speak to this?
 

I was operated on November 23rd, 2009, had a renowned surgeon, stayed five days in hospital, went directly to a nursing home for rehab, did PT 2x daily in the nusing home. Pt hurt me very little, and they said I was a wonderful patient. I was so good I never even took the Vicodin pain pills which I have at least 60 of. I was up to 120 range of motion three weeks after operation. Everything was going so wonderfully I was surprised and very grateful. Then one day about three weeks ago after coming home from PT, I was walking up the stairs into my home when I involuntarily let out a yelp that could be heard from here to China. I was never in so much pain in my life and was crying and yelping so loud I thought my neighbors would think I was being robbed or worse and woud call the police. I called my doctor and he told me to ice it continually for 20 minutes each time about three times daily. I did and it helped enough that I wasn’t yelping, but was still in one heck of a lot of pain. I take Vicodin about twice daily to ameliorate the pain, and am still feeling pain in the back of my leg and down around the front near the ankle. The knee hurts on either side too. My doctor seems pretty calm about all this and tells me it should go away soon. The icing helps some, but not much and I have an appt. with my surgeon next Friday. From the sounds of all this info on this blog, I wonder what he will say and whether all this misery will go away. I am now in about as much pain as I was when I first came out of the hospital and into the nursing home. I am right back at the beginning. I can’t even do PT because I can’t put any weight on my leg. What gives?