Clutch Leg Repair

aircooled posted:

Robert...We will be hurting together. I'm getting my Rt. knee replaced on Dec 16 and my left ASAP after that !   It will be fun to compare notes.  I'm in so much pain right now I don't know if it will be any worse. I had to return from our home in Baja because of the pain and I ran out of Vicoden !  I was considering having both done at once but have been talked out of it.  Good Luck to you Robert !............Bruce

I asked to do both as well and my doctor said he won’t do it that way unless he absolutely has to. 
I’m at t-minus 2 hours until the saws come out. 

 

I asked to do both as well and my doctor said he won’t do it that way unless he absolutely has to. 
I’m at t-minus 2 hours until the saws come out. 

All the best!

STAN GALAT:  In 2018, I spent 2 months in the hospital.  I'm embarrassed to admit I did not know what a tough job nursing can be.  The pros (and they are in every sense of the word) that cared for me were amazing. They often have to deal with folks in pain, and others under some tough conditions.  I am probably 30 to 40 years senior to most of them, but their maturity and demeaner was something to see.

You and your daughter probably already know this, nurses often give patients more than just medical care.  Let her know for I'm a fan.  I hope things work out for her.

Nurses....   ALL Nurses, ROCK!

I hate to have to need them from time to time, but always very glad to have them there when I do and they're always terrific.
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Boy!  @Robert M says he's getting a new knee and then it seems like half the site has had theirs done, too.  Bunch'a Geriatrics!   

My biking friend, Pat, had both of his done early in 2019 about 5 weeks apart and his recovery sounds like all of you.  He was back on a bike trainer 3 weeks after the second one doing easy pedaling.   In April, he was back on the road, in May doing easy rides and back with the Sunday morning crowd in late July, keeping up on easy/moderate rides.  The guy's a trooper.

The surprise (for him and us other bikers when we first saw him again) was when he looked at himself in a full-length mirror after a while and suddenly noticed that he was no longer bow-legged for the first time in his life.

At 21/y I crashed ( T - boned) a BSA bike into a '64 Chevy at 70 mph. I spent 12 plus weeks in the hospital,  had it not been for a Nurse on the graveyard shift  to notice I had almost no pulse in my right leg, I would have surely lost it. Over the decades I have been in the hospital for three unrelated major health issues .  .........Nurses are Gods gift to mankind , truly Angels !

Just passed my 1 year after total knee. Was told wait another 6 months the pain should be gone. Was told wait for 6 months 6 months ago--hmmm sounds like the doc made it past the 1 year  time period. At 6 weeks they had to put me under to break up scar tissue since a PT that had never worked on me steps in and hyper-extends my leg and injures a tendon deep inside that nobody has attended to yet today. In fact 6 months ago a PT and doc thought it was my IT Band--guess that was not a good guess--WTF!!!! In 4 weeks I went from 95* on my way to healing to not being able to bend it 80*. This led to being knocked out again and having my leg basically shoved up my ass. Going in for a new opinion since I still have swelling daily, a hot spot near the knee cap, and daily/nightly pain from the tendon that my surgeon does not want to repair because he is afraid of infection. Yes---I am pissed!!!!  Yes, the healing is worse than what you had prior to surgery but it gets better--well most do--I am still waiting.

My wife has RA, there is a specific Stryker brand replacement knee for that, they put the wrong one in, three years later still has pain from it. 

Wishing you the best, Robert.

After listing all the errors and problems that does not sound good or encouraging

Hope all is well! 

So far so good. Surgery was at about 12:30 and it lasted almost two hours. The doctor described my femur and tibia as dinosaur bones because they were so large. Took a little longer than anticipated but it turned out well. The pain is just as you guys described. My tolerance is pretty good but this is beyond that. The first Percocet I took didn’t make much of a dent in the pain. Just got my second dose and they doubled it. I was up and walking by 10:00 pm yesterday. Made it all the away around the whole floor. I’ve walked three laps this morning. A lot of foot traffic in the room today with everyone checking on me. Doing lots of ankle pumps, quad sets, short arc quad sets, isometric hamstring sets, and heel slides. Hard not to want to put a slight bend in the knee but that is a big no no.

Going home later today, I just don’t know what time yet. 

Thank you all for the well wishes and prayers. 

Great news!!!!!

Good to hear, Robert.  Do as the veterans here said and follow the PT instructions.

Excellent news!

I'll join the chorus and say do your PT! A little later in your healing, if you're a high-tolerance-high-work guy, ask your PT person if it will help to do more. Many of the exercise limits are set for normal folks and sometimes a little more is a good thing. BUT sometimes it's not, so ask first before you dive into extra reps. You sound like a more athletic person used to working through pain for his gain, so you might be capable of more than the usual joint replacement candidate. It''l help to know if going the extra mile will help or hinder.  Go get 'em, Robert!

PS.

I've had different recon knee surgery and as soon as they found out I could do more reps, they had me pushing it. It led to a remarkably fast recovery, but everybody and every issue is different. Have faith and press on.

Good to hear you're past the worst, Robert.

At least you get to eat all the ice cream you want.

No wait, that's for tonsils, right?

OK, at least you get to take all the feelgood drugs you want. Better living through chemistry!

I seem to be part of the lucky 2% that Percocet makes violently ill.  Found that out when they re-bushed my shoulder.  Oh, well.  

Your early progress is amazing.  Keep walking, keep the back of your johnny closed and enjoy being back home.  

Come to think of it, you must be doing pretty well to be posting from your hospital bed!

Either that or boredom overtook you and you just had to do something.   

Make sure that the knee replace has a grease fitting!!!! Both of mine have been replaced about 15 years ago and they left off these necessary fitting. Guarantee they will need a grease job later. 💩 

I imagine after the anesthesia wears off and he ups his pain meds, we might not hear from him for a couple days.

I know I was out of it.

Like I said the first couple of days are the hardest and then the pain starts easing up.

Hang in there Robert, it's going to get better.

The pain pump is nice to have but very sedating