Best of luck with your surgery and the PT ! Why the heck do we wait so long for this amazing surgery and technology ?

Best of luck and wishing you a fast recovery. I'm putting mine off and waiting till May for more cortisone.

Hopefully it all went well. I hear ice is your friend. Mend quickly and do the PT and you will be good to go!

Been there, done that, got the scars on both knees. Take the pain meds at the minimum prescribed time to keep ahead of the pain—don’t try and tough it out. Do the PT exercises that are directed.

Praying for you and your family. Ice machine and please do all the PT every day. Reach out if you have questions, many of us have done this in the last few years.

First, a little humor:



Also when you wake up in the Recovery Room and the nurses ask you if you are alright, just respond with, "Yes but why is my (insert which knee was operated on) is propped up they were suppose to operate on my (insert other knee)." Watch the nurses' reactions and enjoy.

All kidding aside, best wishes and prayers on your recovery. From my experience you will get to about 80-85% within a couple months but it will take a year to year and half to get to 95% or better recovery. Steady progress is much better than pushing it too hard, too fast.

Hope your surgery went well and was successful, and have a quick and complete recovery!

Good luck on the surgery!

Welcome to the club. I had mine done 17 days ago and listened to everyone who said 'ice' & 'PT'. I started the in-home PT on day 4 and transitioned to out-patient on day 13. It's making a difference since I can already walk a third of a mile without assistance and knee flex is at 124 degrees (with a bit of help and tolerable pain).

Here's wishing you a speedy recovery.

Praying for a successful surgery and quick recovery.

Positive thoughts and prayers my friend…I’ve been on the receiving end of a hip replacement and one rebuild…just follow the physical therapist’s orders and don’t rush it…my stepmom has been putting it off but it’s getting to the point where it’s not an option…hang in there and keep a positive attitude

Thanks to all for the kind words!

I am back among the conscious, have been up and walking already. Only difficulty is the epidural hasn’t quite worn off so have some weird sensations in feet and butt.

Once I pee (hopefully about 20 minutes) they will let me out.

quote:

Originally posted by patw:
Good luck to you. Are you having it done robotically? My wife and I met a doctor who uses one and it amazing how they do it. Either way, take care and let us know when it's done.

Yes, Stryker robot ”assisted”.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. They definitely make you get right to it afterward!

Good Luck, You will like the new knee a lot! Do your therapy , I ve had both of mine done...

Surgeons can place artificial valves in hearts. Why can't they put grease fittings on knee joints?
My sister had her knees replaced about a year ago. I may be due for the procedure soon.
I wish you well.

Glad to hear all went well and have a speedy recovery.

Prayers for a speedy recovery !!

You'll be just fine. I had my left knee done 6 years ago, still able to drive a stick shift.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, and as others have said...do the PT as directed.

Hey all, yesterday was one week post op and I have to say it is a bit worse than I was expecting. My knee itself seems to be “better” with the dull, constant joint aches gone. Biggest discomfort is the soft tissue from the trauma of surgery. I noticed a couple nights ago that almost the entire back of my thigh is now showing pretty good bruising.

Luckily I haven’t had too much of an issue sleeping, at least until the Oxy wears off about 4-5 hours into the night. Been getting about 8-10 hours of sleep, though interrupted at least once or twice during the night as well as a good 2-3 hour nap each day.

Been staying on top of icing, using a cold water circulator on loan from a friend. I balked at the idea of buying one due to price, but now having used one I am pretty sure I will be buying one for myself as I expect my other knee will be done in a year or two and my wife has knee issues also and would benefit from having one. It is MUCH easier than dealing with ice packs and definitely something I would recommend to folks who need to frequently ice a joint or area.



Biggest issue for me at this point is a mental one. I don’t really have a sense of “where” I should be right now. On track, ahead of the curve, behind the curve? No real frame of reference if my recovery is progressing on track. Knee fully extends out flat, I am able to go better than 90 degree on the flex. Doing the “heel slides” they say to do three sets of 10, but that doesn’t seems like much so I am doing 70-100 reps at a time 3-4 times a day.

Doc was pretty stingy with the Oxy, only giving me 42 pills at first. Started off taking 1 at a time while the nerve block was still working but that wore off Saturday afternoon and I upped it to 2 Oxy at a time every 4 hours or so. I cut it back to just 1 at a time on Monday to try and stretch the pills, but then pain during the day was getting close to unbearable.

I called the doc and was able to get another 30 pills so able to take 2 at a time (10 mg) again and stretching it out to every 5-6 hours. Makes it much more tolerable to be up and moving around on it. At night, I just take a single pill since I am not moving and it stiffens up making it sore in the morning anyway.

The exercises seem a little “light” like I should be doing more. I got a wild hair to get on the exercise bike on Monday (4 days post-op). Did a very slow 1/2 mile with no real effort from my new knee, just letting my “good” leg do the work and letting the new knee go through the motion. Pain was definitely up on Tuesday, so probably was a little too soon for that, it let me know I’ve got a long way to go.



Range of motion is the main goal right now. I have a coworker who has had nothing but problems since her surgery. She is one of those “1%” of folks whose body just didn’t tolerate the procedure and keeps making scar tissue that has to be dealt with. She is worse off than before and wishes she had never had the surgery. My biggest fear is having a similar complication so I’ve been real focused on full extension with no knee bend while resting or sleeping.

The knee slide exercises help with keeping my flex over 90 degrees since day one, and while the muscles feel tight the pain isn’t too much and I don’t feel any binding or resistance while flexing. I’m not too concerned about strength at this point, my legs are pretty strong to start with due to my cycling. Hopefully I will be back on the bike within another 3 weeks or so. Timing is good as it coincides with weather improving and increased daylight hours.



My plan is to get back to work as soon as possible, hopefully another three weeks or so, but on a reduced schedule of three day weeks. With the commute I have there is really no point in working half days. I’d rather use 10 days sick time to create five three-day work weeks and do my PT on the off days instead of having two solid weeks off.

Everything I’ve heard and read is the first week to 10 days is the worst and I am getting close to that point. In fact, today seems to be markedly better than yesterday. Hopefully once improvement starts it will continue steadily. Within the next week or so I should have a better sense of where I am at and what to expect.