Critter Loc: Warwick New York

Sorry didn’t mean to repeat your quote 🤦‍♂️

EasternOZ Loc: Kansas City Metro

Thanks for the insight from all of you.

Larry M Loc: North Clairmount, San Diego

When I had my first knee surgery he told me that I needed new knees, I have bone on bone.
The referral should be no problem I just have to wait for the insurance company to approve it. Wife and I haven't been turned down on anything yet. My old employer pays the biggest part of our health insurance.
It's a Plan F. We don't even pay a co-payment.
That's one good thing about working for a big company.

Gunnslinger17 Loc: Candor, NC

Had my left total knee replacement Nov 18, 2019. Getting around just fine, walk couple miles a day and working on steps and stairs. Biggest thing is to listen to your dr and physical therapist. I had 2 great ones. I am only 60 and fairly good health but had to and did quit smoking. Physical therapy and your exercises are of utmost importance to regain your extension and flexibility. Once the shots and meds couldn't handle the pain you have no option. Told dr had to be ready by Apr for pier fishing. Good luck and tight lines.

Larry M Loc: North Clairmount, San Diego

Sounds good Gunslinger, thanks.

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

Seems that a high percentage of the forum has been under the knife for knee replacement. That was a good idea about raising the john seat. I was home after my second knee replacement and could not get my walker into the downstairs toilet. I fell and it took two people to help me get up again. Be very careful when you first get home. PT stands for Pain and Torture, but absolutely necessary!

I suppose I would not be alive today if it had not been that during my recovery, it was discovered that I was suffering stage 3 kidney failure, which with proper diet and therapy, I was able to reverse and get back to stage 2!

Just as a suggestion, unless you experience a full and complete recovery from knee replacement, consider having your doctor give you his permission to get a "handicapped Auto Tag"! This will help you cut down the number of steps needed where you park, and more importantly, you can ask for and get the use of a wheelchair when flying at airports and be whisked up front and through security and not have to stand for ages in those long lines. The first time I felt a little embarrassed, but it was either that or not fly! Just sayin....RJS

Bubbadon

I had 1 knee replaced a few years ago it is a slow process to recovery I drug that leg around for 5 years and I regret it one of the best things I've had done it takes about a year before it gets easy the tendons they have to cut are slow on healing but overall went well as long as you do what they tell you especially the therapy good luck .

Old75 Loc: Broken Arrow, OK

talk to previous patients of the docs. my doc made my pain twice as bad. I had to quit golf for good.

stuco Loc: Northern Utah - Salt Lake City

There’s a reason they call what a doctor does a “practice”. Some of them practice their whole lives and never get it right. Make sure you have a good doctor do it.

ctjenkins54 Loc: Apex, North Carolina

Had my right knee replaced about 5 years ago. I was 61. It seems to take more of a toll on men than women. How you do with it is directly proportional to how good your physical condition is. Best I can say is that I am 66 now and have lost 90 lbs. and don’t even notice the knee anymore. No pain whatsoever! It took me a year to get over it completely but I had to have a second minor surgery for scar tissue. I was walking with a walker three weeks after the operation. If you have bad arthritis like me you have to be very careful. Unfortunately I will soon need a shoulder replacement which I think will be worse. A knee replacement is a major trauma to the body but it worked for me so I recommend it. Study your choice of surgeon carefully and learn the different methods used. YouTube can help but don’t watch if you are squeamish. Choice of surgeon is paramount. Talk to some of his/her patients if you can. Don’t let them put you on a knee bending machine unless you enjoy pain. Physical therapy after the surgery is extremely important! Good luck.

DonaldRotter80 Loc: St, Cloud, Minnesota

I am 81 and have not had any problems with my knees or hips. My 92 year old fishing companion still has his knees with no current problems. I asked what he did and he said his doctor told him years ago to take glucosamine and chondritoin. He did that for a long time, then forgot, then REMEMBERED when his knees reminded him and started taking them again. He is active and walks straight. I recently watched a man from church just about BEG his doctor to replace his knee. Every 6 months the doctor told him it was not time. Finally his doctor agreed. He expected to be back in church with us the following week and we did not see him for 9 weeks! He was in such pain that he would not leave the house and would not talk to the parish nurse. Finally he sent her a message that he was beside himself with pain and must have been one of the 5 that it does not work for! He later said he now knows why people consider suicide because he did also. I have heard often recently that doctors advise to have both knees done at the same time because if you only do one you will probably never do the second one. Most do not follow through with the therapy that is advised to be done daily, for the rest of your life, just like brushing your teeth. Exercise without weight is most beneficial. Sit on a bench or desk high enough that your feet will not touch the ground/floor. Sit back so that only your lower legs, knees and a small space behind your knees are hanging over. Move your lower legs back and forth about a foot alternately for at least a half hour and an hour is better. The bones between your lower and upper legs are not touching and the space in between where the miniscule and fluid should be to prevent bone on bone contact will regenerate, faster with the Glocusimine and Chondrotin. This will strengthen the muscles in your upper legs and across the knees. Those who experience bone on bone contact on one half of one knee will usually find that their posture or bent leg is the problem. Another problem is phantom pain! My late wife was taken to the hospital seven months after we married at 30 with a severe pain in her right side. She was clutching her right side and writhing in pain! I was told they were going to operate to remove her appendix. I thought that was happening until a doctor came in and said they were going to wait a couple of hours. Later they operated by an up and down incision on her right side. They found nothing wrong with the appendix but took it out while there. They knew something was wrong because her stomach was full of blood so they cut from the middle of the incision over to the right side which resulted in her having a scar shaped like a letter "T" sideways. Her LEFT ovary had a tumor wrapped around it so they removed both. THAT IS WHEN I LEARNED that the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body! Doctors treating knee surgery patients MANY months after their surgery for continued pain, sometimes worse than before the surgery, tell them their is nothing they can do. There are allegedly 600 doctors around the world trained to repair the knees WITHOUT surgery by injecting sugar and vitamin D directly into the knee to repair rather than replace the knee. The sugar is not glucose as that would be detrimental to diabetics. This is a sugar alcohol that is not absorbed into the bloodstream. One of the proponents of this treatment has a large practice in America and claims he treats many patients who come to him by word of mouth months AFTER having knee replacement surgery. He said he almost always finds inflammation is causing the pain and sometimes back or some other pain that is redirected to the knees by our brains. In other words your brain may have been telling you your knee hurts when it was somewhere else before you had the surgery. Another doctor says he finds some surgeons who are treating the shorter leg which appears to be causing the knee problem after the knee surgery is done, WITHOUT properly diagnosing the problem and making it worse. They are placing lifts or blocks under the shorter leg without xraying and finding the leg looks shorter because the HIP is higher and therefore compound the problem by pushing the hip up even higher rather than placing the blocks under the longer leg to push that lower hip up higher and even the hips out! I am doing the swinging leg exercising after reading about it over a month ago. I am now doing 1 hour at a time. It is extremely boring so I listen to music, read or use my computer to have something to do. Praying works also! I have ordered Glucosimine and Chondroitin free from my Humana benefits and should receive them this week. Prevention is much better than a metal replacement. Also, many are not aware of the consequences of carrying tools, billfolds or heavy purses on one side over the years. I have a good friend who was an electrician for many years. When he retired and complained to his doctor that he was listing severely to the left and limping badly the doctor asked him what the did for a living. When he said he was an electrician the doctor asked if he wore all his tools on one side and he said yes. The doctor told him that was the problem and he should have worn 2 tool belts, one on each side and balanced things out. I heard many years ago that men should not wear billfolds on one side as they will experience problems later. I never carry my billfold in my rear pocket any more. I was a mechanic and saw how many people had gobs of keys and trinkets and knives on their key chains and experienced ignition switch failure from the weight. Think what the lopsided weight would do to a human over the years. Women carry most anything in their purses and experience the same problem. So there is not just one problem or solution and all is not evident or obvious. I agree with the doctor who says it is better to rebuild and renew the joint rather than replace it with artificial metal objects. To each their own. You can exercise to keep them or exercise after replacement for the rest of your life. Too many do neither. Most do not like therapy as it hurts like the dickens and the worst is it doesn't let up! If you watch the knee replacement surgery on You Tube as they saw the bones, drill deeply into the upper and lower leg bones for the metal anchors to be glued into and trim and fit the bones for the proper spacers and clearance and measure and install the appropriate size, you will understand that you can expect 2 - 4 months or MORE of constant bone pain. I have been told the patient hates the therapy because it is SO PAINFUL but it hurts even more if you don't do it!!! If I reach that stage I will seek out a doctor trained to inject the sugar alcohol/Vitamin D mixture first. They say two injections and they will know if it will work on you. Six injections will last for life. If you don't like needles a topical application is an option. Again, Repair or replace?!

ronengland

Larry...I responded before..have 2 Total Knee replacements. Both with good results. I was fortunate to have the head of the Orthopedic group with the most experience operate on me.
After reading all the messages to you about extensive pain, I must stress the most important advice I can give is that you seek out the most experienced, qualified, and respected surgeon in your area. I have met others in our area with sad results and ongoing pain who did not go to the same Dr.
In both of my operations the pain was 90 % gone in about 7 weeks. I was golfing with a golf cart 3 months after each operation, and walking the course in about 4 1/2 months. (Walking 18 holes is about 5 miles)
Find the best surgeon you can, with references!!!

snowolf80

Replaced both of mine and if you can keep from it, you will be better off, some days better than others, but still does not do the job of real knees, too many years on cement floors as a production welder and took it's toll on my knees and back , you will have quite a bit of pain afterwards due to the doctor cutting bone and driving in the prosthesis,sorry to hear you need it done as I did not want to do mine either but had no choice, the pain at times was too intent to stand

Larry M Loc: North Clairmount, San Diego

Thanks to all of you with your comments both pro and con, I appreciate them all.
It was about 20 years ago that I was told that I needed knees, I'll see if anything is new in the field of knee surgery now when I have them checked out again.

bigbarneycars Loc: Wilmington,NC

Only the design of the prosthesis haz changed farz I know Larry. When I talked to my Orthopedic Surgeon and he took an x-ray of the one I had replaced in '03 he commented that they don't use that design any more and haven't in quite a few years... Time and medical science marches on. I had a long time acquaintance and friend that back in the late '60s that took "1" bullet through both knees while serving his Country in Nam. They flew him to Japan for knee replacement X2 and he had some sort of Fiber Glass wrap applied to his Tibia and Femur bones on both sides with some sort of pivot joint connecting both upper and lower halves, and I know it worked well for him because we worked together in different aspects of the same industry thru' the '80s, '90s and into the '00s 'til I retired in '03 'cuz we kept bumping into each other thru' those years. Jer