r/Kneereplacement

How did you feel during surgery and afterwards?

I'm starting to feel apprehensive!

edit: Well! I am certainly feeling much encouraged by all the stories!

For me, I started at 470 and lost 125 pounds in 11 months. My weight was officially tracked throughout so my surgeon was able to get me into surgery at 345lbs. Has anyone had it done this heavy? What challenges do you feel you faced that were different than those who get it in the typical covered weight range (bmi 40, as opposed to my 60)?

And, yes, I plan on continuing to lose weight. Both knees are bad and I'm hoping that, even at 60yo, having decent knees will help me lose even more

I have a few trips planned and paid for. I have been getting knee injections and it was working. I got 2 today . Knees were killing me the past 2 weeks. Weather could be contributing however bone on bone on side and a lot of arthritis under knee cap. So now I have to wait 90 days for replacement . Could get it August 21. But we have a trip planned week cruise from Oct 3-10. From your experiences am I crazy to think I can do it

I’ve been following this group for awhile now, since I got my surgical date; this is my first post. Big day is tomorrow, right knee replacement after 40+ years of pain. Following C3-7 y L5-S1 fusions and a left hip replacement, that knee stepped to the front of the line. I’ve been putting it off for the last couple of years, getting steroid shots every 3 months or so, but it’s time to get out of the wheelchair y get my life back. My surgeon is a rockstar, having done thousands of knees at this point. He did my hip replacement and I woke up in the post-op crying tears of joy because my pain was GONE, y ROM was back. I will reply with updates, but I just wanted to thank everyone for all the advice, info, y insights. I’m a godless heathen but all prayers for a speedy recovery without complications are gratefully accepted.

But, went to primary and am now taking gabapentin because of nightime cramping/restless leg. I still need to get up to ice because of IT band pain, but I am able to go right back to sleep. Going to try dry needling for the IT band issue. Also working with regular PT. It's a more of a burning pain which Tylenol doesn't seem to touch. Ice seems to help the most.

I’ve heard confusing reports about dentistry before having a TKA. Is there any concern with getting my teeth cleaned a couple weeks before my knee replacement? No issues, just my usual 6 month cleaning.

Need some words of encouragement or success stories after my mom's really rough recovery from TKR. She is 71 years old.

For context, she had her left knee replaced a few months ago and did amazing. She was off the walker in a few days and resumed normal life with minimal pain.

Fast forward to April 30th and she got her right knee done. The first few days I helped her recover at home and she fell once which required EMS assistance. I chalked it up to the pain and oxycodone.

However, as the week progressed it was clear she was not getting much better. She was still weak, falling, lethargic, confused, but refused medical attention against the wishes of me, the EMS, and her visiting PT. On top of that, she was abusing her Ativan while also taking Oxycodone 10.

Finally on May 10th, 10 days after surgery, she fell twice requiring EMS assistance and the second fall broke open her incision so she accepted a hospital visit. They diagnosed her with a UTI and admitted her for four night.

From there, because she lives alone and she was a fall risk, they discharged her to a skilled nursing facility for dedicated PT sessions every day. Well the nursing home facility has been a disaster for a bunch of reasons, and my mom is really struggling with the loss of her independence and being told what to do. She is crying and wants to leave so bad. I worry that her tanking mental health will make her recovery even worse, not to mention her reliance on ativan and oxycodone even though she has a history of substance abuse. They have her in a wheelchair because she is a fall risk so she doesnt do much walking outside of an hour of PT.

I was hoping she could be discharged this weekend which would be a week after she entered the nursing facility but I just found out she had another fall tonight (May 17th) because she got up on her own and tried to use the wheel chair for a walker.

Is it normal to be falling almost 3 weeks after surgery? Unable to walk even with a walker? Has anybody had a similar experience and gotten better? I thought she would recover after her UTI was treated, and she has been on antibiotics for 10 days. I know it's a long recovery but it's hard not to fear for the worst.

https://preview.redd.it/g64ycs1k052h1.jpg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=46b658487863e39e9e6f2ba211d632c34ea62001

As of this week, I (now 55M) am 2 years post-op on LTKR; my first of both at 4.5 months apart. For the most part, things went well. Found this sub near the tail end of that knee, been lurking ever since. I did 750 miles on a spin bike for prehab and reaped the rewards along the way. Not so much for the 2nd knee. I shared my 1 year report, but thought I’d change it up a bit.

For those of you planning to have your first, just starting out, or 3 months+ post - Ask Me Anything… I’ll do my best to answer. 2 years may sound like a long way away for some of you… but for me, it’s gone pretty fast!

I had surgery May 13 at 2 o’clock. Today is May 19 at 11 o’clock. So I guess I’m on day six. I have a fair amount of swelling. But I’m icing it and using CBD ointment. I’m cutting back on my pain meds. I’m able to maneuver around a bit. I’m up with crutches, but can also surf the counters without crutches. Super tight in the calves in the tendons in the quads. I am 180° flat. My bend is super stiff but I can get it to about 70% and keep it there if I have support I can’t keep it there if I don’t. And I can’t pull it there myself I get shrieking pain down my tendons, but I can use my leg puller to pull me into that place and then keep it there. I can sit in a chair. OK so my two best friends are Physio and they are wonderful of course. Lucky lucky lucky me of course. But I’m getting pressure from the one of them is coming over today cause she wants to get me to 80% and they’re both saying that I’m not moving enough. But then I look on Reddit and I think I’m doing fine. I pushed back on them today. I said who made up the 80% number and doesn’t matter if I get there today or tomorrow or next week? And the answer was yes it does matter that the faster you get back your mobility the better it will be the longer you take the harder will be. But the whole point of this is that each person‘s journey is personal and at their own pace, right? I think I would do much better once the swelling goes down currently my one leg is about 50% bigger than my other very tight.. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just here to bitch, but anybody have any thoughts other than to tell my friends to stay out of it?

What's everyone's experience with traveling and going through TSA checkpoints post op. I went through one last Sunday and I expected that I'd have to do the body scanner. I was correct, no metal detector. I then got a TSA pat down of my legs/groin.

Is that typical? Do you tell the TSA agent you have a joint replacement? After I lined up for the body scanner, the agent offered to let me do the metal detector until I told him I had a joint replacement.

I woke up yesterday with a toothache, of course. My surgery is the 27th and my doctor approved two removals and a bone graft. Has anyone done this so close to surgery?

I’m also feeling a lot of fear creep in. Both my husband and I are widows. We were reviewing statistics and I started worrying about dying. I know there is risk with every surgery. I feel like I’m backing out. Just about everything has gone wrong. I’ve also what a cold and a leak in my casita. Just really feeling overwhelmed. Any advice?

Edit: I had the teeth removed yesterday. Sorry. I left that out.

My father (65) just had knee replacement surgery on Monday. The plan was to bring him home today, but that’s not going to happen. When I spoke to him later in the day Monday, he mentioned how the pain was so bad in his knee as well as the anesthesia shot that he got in the back. He was maxed out on pain meds.
The nurse told me today that he doesn’t want to do rehab (which I really know he should). They’re going to see how he’s doing tomorrow and maybe he can come home. I have questions like has anyone else on here had a set back like this? Did the pain get better on day 3? Or when? Did your anesthesia shot hurt after you woke up? How long did it last?
I’m sure I’ll have a chance to speak to someone when I get him, but if anyone has any advice on taking care of him and how to help with his pain I would greatly appreciate it. I’m just wondering how abnormal this is, since he shouldn’t be in pain to that extent.

2 weeks ago I got Botox in my hamstrings. This was down under anesthesia and I had 6 injections into my hamstrings. When I was under, the doctor checked my measurements before injecting the Botox. Apparently I relaxed right away and I was at 0 extension and 148 flexion. No mua or anything just seeing where i was. So apparently the implant is fine. The mechanics of it is sound. It’s muscle guarding.

I’m 4 months out. I have tried electrical stimulation on the quads, pressing down to get it straight during pt etc etc. but nothing seemed to help. right off the bat after the Botox , I gained 8 degrees in extension. I was at -13 before and I’m at -5 active extension now and -3 with pt pushing down. I can drive for 30 mins and my knee is at the same extension and I don’t have to work in pt to straighten it. I’m getting fitted for a splint to help with it too.

My flexion is still difficult because I have one spot my hamstring will guard till its last breath it seems. I can work on my flexion and can get really far when I go to the pool and swim for a bit.

The big revelation is how incredibly weak my quads are. I cannot go up stairs without holding the railing because my quads cannot lift my weight. When I do my exercises at pt and home I have to scale way back because my quads barely have any strength. According to pt I’m finally finally using my quads to walk. And I can walk for a full extent of 2 to 3 minutes before my quads are screaming in pain. But I guess this is how they get stronger. Pt tells me I was massively compensating for my quads and that’s why I wasn’t getting into extension. And once my quads get stronger my hamstrings will ease up too and not prepare for battle every time I move my leg.

Just wanted to update so that it might help someone in the same situation.

I learned something the other day I thought I’d share. I bought a Donjoy Iceman Clear ice machine from my ortho’s office when recovering from my LTKR in February. Had my RTKR done two weeks ago and the machine stopped working. The motor was running, but the pad wasn’t getting cold. Talked to someone in the office and he asked if we use frozen water bottles, which we do. He told us to make sure we are taking the labels off because glue from the label can get stuck in the filter. After a few rounds of running HOT water and a couple tablespoons of bleach for a few hours, it seems to be running great again. I don’t know if anyone else will benefit from this info, but I thought I’d throw it out there. Hope everyone is doing well! 💜