Next Step, Knee Replacement

[JEBar]

in response to a couple of PM'd questions, the pictures below are of pre and post surgery X-rays

picture 1, presurgery .... in the knee joint on the left bone on bone contact can be seen .... space can be seen between the upper and lower bones in the knee joint on the right

pictures 2 & 3 post surgery .... a front and a side view of the joint after surgery .... the bright white areas are the replacement components

[JEBar]

Here I Go Again ....

just returned from an appointment with the same orthopedic surgeon that replaced my left knee 7 years ago .... X-rays confirmed bone on bone contact in my right knee .... we've decided to have the surgery sometime in late August or early September after we return from our summer trip to South Dakota .... as noted in one of the earlier post in this thread the surgical hose was another unpleasant experience .... if it had of been available back then, I have no doubt it would have used it in medieval dungeons as a torture device" .... hands down, my experience with that surgical hose has been the main reason I've never checked on having my right knee done .... when I learned last week that they no longer use the surgical hose, we booked today's appointment .... happy to have made this decision and now need to hold on until its time .... as was the case last time, I have to drop a considerable amount of weight before the surgery .... last time I had to drop from 330 to 270 .... this time its from 305 to 270 .... I've been working on it for a couple of months and am at 275 today .... shouldn't be a problem

[dave77]

What was the deal with the surgical hose? I looked back through this thread and didn't see any mention of it and don't remember anything about it from my knee replacement 9 years ago. I'm also confused, you say you're having your left knee done again because of bone on bone contact. I don't think I have any bone left in my knee that can contact. Did you just have a partial knee replacement?

My replaced right knee is still doing great. I did over do it last year digging a trench in some very dry, hard dirt and it was sore for couple of weeks. A few years back I was thinking I might need the left one replaced, Doctor x-rayed it and said it wasn't nearly bad enough for Medicare to approve replacement. Said he would give me up to 3 cortisone shots a year if needed, he gave me one and it's been fine ever since.

[graywolf]

My wife is scheduled for knee replacement first week in May. She's scared half to death about it. She has all her joint prep appointment in April. I didn't think she would have to worry about bone on bone afterwards.

[brm4450]

Had total knee replacement in both knees. Everything went great, Made sure I went to PT and my knees feel great.

[dave77]

Had total knee replacement in both knees. Everything went great, Made sure I went to PT and my knees feel great.

My doctor told me if I was religious about doing my stretches at home I wouldn't have to go to PT. Physical Therapist came to my home a couple of times to show me the exercises, I did them 4 times a day, every day and had great results. Heck, most of the stretches you can do laying on the couch or sitting in a chair.

[JEBar]

What was the deal with the surgical hose? I looked back through this thread and didn't see any mention of it and don't remember anything about it from my knee replacement 9 years ago. I'm also confused, you say you're having your left knee done again because of bone on bone contact. I don't think I have any bone left in my knee that can contact. Did you just have a partial knee replacement?

sorry for the confusion, I messed up ..... my left knees was replaced years ago and now its time to have the right one taken care of .... 7 years ago after they replaced my left knee, I had to wear white stretchy "surgical hose" that for me were extremely uncomfortable .... I was told wearing them helped to deal with any blood clots that may develop as a result to the surgery .... their surface was coarse and for me it felt like they were made out of rough sandpaper .... I've never worn tight fitting clothing and frankly I was miserable .... so much so that I made up my mind to not have my right knee replaced ..... over the last 7 years my right knee has gotten progressively worse/painful .... the day after I found out they no longer use them, I made an appointment to start the process of getting my right knee replaced .... if I hadn't of found that out (by accident) I'd of never made the call

[JEBar]

My wife is scheduled for knee replacement first week in May.

for me that's completely understandable ..... I was much the same .... after going through the first one, facing the second is very different .... hopefully her surgery will go well

[JEBar]

Had total knee replacement in both knees. Everything went great, Made sure I went to PT and my knees feel great.

really good to hear yours went so well .... the only negative I've found about my first one is it hurts to get down on my knees on a hard surface .....

[dave77]

Oh, compression socks. I was thinking some kind of hose like a garden hose. Yes, I hated them. Was supposed to wear mine for 2 weeks, I wanted a shower after a couple of days and being single there was no way I was going to get the one on my leg with the new knee back on by myself (had a hard enough time getting it off by myself) so they both got left off. I was active enough getting around the house with a walker for a few days and then a cane that I wasn't too worried about blood clots.

They must have improved metal detectors. Last couple of times I've gone to the County Courthouse my knee didn't set it off like it used to. I think my knee is titanium, it should be, I saw the itemized bill sent to my insurance and just the knee alone was around $25,000 and that was 9 years ago, can't imagine what they cost now.

[graywolf]

It's good to see both of you are happy about your results. I understand the surgical hose now also.i didnt know what you was talking about. I wasn't gonna tell wife about that. Anything I need to know ahead of time to be prepared to help? She will be doing therapy in town bout 20 miles from house.

[JEBar]

Anything I need to know ahead of time to be prepared to help? She will be doing therapy in town bout 20 miles from house.

with my first knee replacement, I was in the hospital for 3 days .... they started physical therapy a few hours after the surgery .... after getting out of the hospital I had home physical therapy for several days .... from there therapy a couple of times a week for a while .... my recommendation is for her make a serious effort to work at the physical therapy .... that therapy will involve some pain but its level will rapidly decrease and is nothing compared to what she had before surgery .... they gave us an ice cooler that was connected to a knee brace .... it circulated cold water around the knee an was worth its weight in gold to me

[graywolf]

They've told her if no problems, she will come home same day. I think when we go to the pre surgery appointments in April, she tell them then the location she want to have therapy. She will start there the day after coming home. Most everybody has been telling her the therapy is most important thing. What she's going thru now though, I think she's ready.

[dave77]

And be sure to do the physical therapy exercises they give you to do at home too. The doctor that did mine said 95% of the people that had complaints about their knee replacement hadn't followed through on their PT.

[JEBar]

things seem to be moving along nicely .... two or more sessions per week of physical therapy have been approved for between now and the end of May .... dates were requested to last between now and when we are scheduled to leave for South Dakota .... my hope is by through this therapy I'll be better prepared for knee replacement surgery after we get back ....

[dave77]

things seem to be moving along nicely .... two or more sessions per week of physical therapy have been approved for between now and the end of May .... dates were requested to last between now and when we are scheduled to leave for South Dakota .... my hope is by through this therapy I'll be better prepared for knee replacement surgery after we get back ....

Does your Doctor not recommend having a cortisone shot to help out until you get back?

[JEBar]

Does your Doctor not recommend having a cortisone shot to help out until you get back?

Absolutely .... I've been taking a shot every 3 months from my long time Orthopedist in my right knee for several years .... he recommended his partnership's Orthopedic Surgeon who did my left knee ..... I was already booked with my regular Orthopedist to have a shot a couple of days before we pull out for South Dakota .... with the decision to have the replacement when we get back, the Surgeon will be giving me that shot

[JEBar]

down to 270.2 this morning .... I've been using the same bathroom scale for many years .... yesterday after stepping on and off that scale 3 times and being shown 3 different weights, I decided it had to go ..... found a highly rated one on Amazon that came with same day delivery and ordered it .... it was nice this morning to test the scale and have it give me the same weight every time