New Knees a year later

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?

I’m 3 months postop for a Rt TKR. My experience was good. Everything was explained to me in detail. The hospital was excellent and my surgeon great. My saving grace was my husband and my darling PT worker. My husband waited on my hand and foot for 4 weeks. Fed me and got my pain medicine. I’m still on Darvocet.
I an 69 and not overweight and have been active all my life. I was determined to do well and have done my PT regularly. My knee still feels numb sometimes and hurt (level 2) most of the time. I can’t get groceries without using the store’s electric cart. I get my shopping done , get it in the car, get home, put my food up and then I have to ice the knee and rest for an hour. I am looking forward to getting my endurance back and being able to run after my granddaughters. (and catch them!) I went out and hit a few golf balls the other day and did okey. BABY STEPS. My advise is to rest and exercise and keep a positive attitude. All in good time. I’m impatient and wanted everything the minute I woke up from surgery. It’s taken 69 years to get my knee in the shape it was in and it’s going to take some months to get it better. Hang in there. I may get my left knee done in six months.

I had arthroscopic surgery on August 7, 2009. It is now July 29, 2010 and I still get on and off sharp pain in my knee. When will this heal? Is there anything I can do to fully recover. I have had months of therapy and a cortisone injection above the area of pain. Also I have some arthritis in back of the knee that was repaired (a small meniscus tear).. I'm over 50 and was told that it could take up to a year to heal. At this point (nearly a year) I need some help or perhaps treatment. Any suggestions or help here would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time in reading and perhaps answering my plea for help.
Nathan

I current have a medial partial knee replacement in my left knee and a lateral partial knee replacement in my right leg. The medial side of my right knee is becoming painful and I have recently consulted with the orthopedic surgeon that has been responsible for the past two surgeries described. He has suggested a medial partial be place in the right knee alongside the existing lateral partial in the right knee (two partials in one knee).  
I have pursued a second professional option which strongly opposed two partials in one knee and stated I should only consider a total knee replacement as my next step. He further stated that partial knee surgeries make it much more difficult to perform a total knee replacement because the end of the bones are now altered making conventional locating and fixturing points are nonfunctional.
I’m unable to find any information on two partials in one knee and I realize this is an unconventional surgery but biomechanically, invasively and general recovery seems to me to be advantaged. The original surgeon has done a fine job by me and did tell me this was an unconventional surgical technique. He stated he a successful performed this particular surgery on 25 patients with positive results. 
All opinions, statements and / or recommendations would be appreciated.

Has anyone had problems with the prep iodine they used for the operation?  I had massive blood blisters right after and still have nerve pain and swelling.

It has now been a year since my surgery.  I am so blessed to be walking and enjoying normal life.  I still am in constant pain from my knee down to my toes.  Because of the disinfectant they used during surgery, I came out with massive blisters all over my lower legs from being burned,  The doctors had never had this happen before and called in many consultants,  There is total sensitivity in my legs and a tightness in my foot and anklle.  Nights are the worst to deal with.  Sometimes I feel like my knee and I are in our own little world.  I will always be thankful for my husband never leaving my side for my three week stay in the hospital.  He made sure I was never in need of anything.  I'm still glad I had the surgery done, but I did get tired of finding no answers to the aftermath of burns.  My prayers are for all of you that are having problems.
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