Ilovecruising
junior member
United StatesSorry for such a long post but don’t know where to shorten without leaving out crucial info. My TKR was June 26, 2018. Before that I led a very active life working as a part-time travel nurse and also enjoying the cruising life, having gone on 5 cruises within the last year. But my knee had gotten so bad with pain and a turned in knee, that it made my mobility difficult. Background of this knee consist of a car accident in 1990 which crushed the femur and the knee. Pins and plates were placed at that time.
Now fast forward to last year. I knew it would be a difficult surgery having to remove plates and pins already there and searched extensively for surgeon that I felt good about. I called the best known orthopedic clinic around and after giving them the background and current condition of the knee, I was told that none of their surgeons would accept me. They did recommend a surgeon at UAB that they referred such cases to. I did some research on him and saw that he specializes in trauma cases and had mostly good reviews. I had to wait 3 months for my initial appointment with him. I was very nervous about the surgery and asked a lot of questions.
I had the TKA on June 26, 2018. I did run into complications with my BP dropping during surgery and post-op. Therefore I wasn’t able to receive pain meds for about 12 hours post-op. Plus I had lost a significant amount of blood and had to receive 2 units of blood.
Recovery was very painful and slow. I would get so weak in rehab that I would actually have to lie down. I also went through the depression phase that many of you have expressed. When I went to my 2 month checkup I expressed to the surgeon that the knee didn’t feel stable. When I put full weight on it, I would feel the knee shift to the left. Dr said the xray showed the implant looks good. He examined further by picking up my leg and passively putting it in all kinds of positions which was painful.
He then agreed that the knee was loose because of my quad muscles being weak. So the PT and I really worked on strengthening the muscles but that didn’t seem to be helping the shifting. So when I went back to surgeon, another xray also showed no problem with the implant. Surgeon had me fitted with a brace for stability, which I wore when I was up walking.
I had so many complications, horrible pain and instability, that I swore if I had known everything would go like it did, that I never would have done it I first place.
Add 2 months of wearing a brace and more PT for strengthening the muscles and knee was still unstable and shifting. Xray still showed that the implant was perfect. So when I went back at 4 months, I asked surgeon what my options were since I didn’t want to have to wear a brace and use a cane for rest of my life.
He surprised and shocked me by saying he could go back in and try to replace spacer with a larger one and if that didn’t fix it, then he would proceed with another total knee. I was thinking , okay if the first one didn’t work, what makes you think next one will.
I was sitting there trying to take it all in and was literally in tears, but surgeon didn’t show any compassion at all. I didn’t hear, “I’m sorry the first one didn’t work as expected” or any kind of explanation as to why it didn’t work. I was just so overwhelmed that I told him I’d have to think about it.
I was still having a lot of pain on medial side of knee. I sent a message through portal asking for a MRI of knee. He didn’t reply. So a few weeks later I asked again expressing that I wanted to make sure we had checked everything to get all answers possible before going back in there again. He replied that my ligaments were not working correctly and that I needed a hinged knee replacement.
I took my nephew with me to talk with him at my next appointment. He then told us us that my ligaments were stretched and could not hold the knee in place and that he will have to replace the current one with a hinged knee implant, explaining that it works without the ligaments being in good shape. So I agreed and set the surgery for Jan 29, 2019.
The surgery was done without the complications of my first surgery. When I got up to my room post surgery, my family came in shortly after. I asked what the surgeon said about the procedure and was told that he never did call and tell them anything.
I told the RN and requested to speak with the surgeon. His assistant called me eventually and told me they didn’t have to do a hinged replacement after all. I initially was taken aback with the news since the surgeon seemed to be so positive of his diagnosis. But he told me that they replaced the femoral and spacer components with larger ones and that the surgeon was very pleased with results.
When PT got me up to walk in hallway the next morning, I felt the knee was unstable again. Not shifting to left like it did before just moving around like it would buckle. I expressed my concern to PT which in turn let RN know. She did notify surgeon who ordered an xray that showed the implant was like it’s suppose to be. So had every xray that I’d had last year.
I was discharged the day following my surgery to in-patient rehab. I continued to feel the instability at times when I put full weight on it. And still do now that I’m in out patient therapy. I know my quad muscles are not working correctly as I have a horrible time trying to pick my foot up off the floor and also for leg raises. It’s like I am telling it to move but it won’t follow my command and just sits there. That is such a horrible feeling and something I have never experienced before.
With the therapist's help, I am finally able to lift it although it is not even a half inch. I am doing the exercises to keep strengthening the muscles and trying to keep the faith that the knee will become more stable with each passing day and more exercise.
Just the thought of having two major surgeries and my knee being worse than it was prior to my initial surgery is just about too much to bear. I have read several post of people having to go back for second and third surgeries.
Just wondering if anyone here finally got good results? Anyone have similar experience about knee not wanting to cooperate when trying to lift it and what you did to help with that?
I am 4½ weeks post surgery and initially my pain control was really good. But for the past week it has been horrible! During the first surgery I had nerve pain for weeks. This time I was very happy not to have it for first 3 weeks but now it has started again.
Now fast forward to last year. I knew it would be a difficult surgery having to remove plates and pins already there and searched extensively for surgeon that I felt good about. I called the best known orthopedic clinic around and after giving them the background and current condition of the knee, I was told that none of their surgeons would accept me. They did recommend a surgeon at UAB that they referred such cases to. I did some research on him and saw that he specializes in trauma cases and had mostly good reviews. I had to wait 3 months for my initial appointment with him. I was very nervous about the surgery and asked a lot of questions.
I had the TKA on June 26, 2018. I did run into complications with my BP dropping during surgery and post-op. Therefore I wasn’t able to receive pain meds for about 12 hours post-op. Plus I had lost a significant amount of blood and had to receive 2 units of blood.
Recovery was very painful and slow. I would get so weak in rehab that I would actually have to lie down. I also went through the depression phase that many of you have expressed. When I went to my 2 month checkup I expressed to the surgeon that the knee didn’t feel stable. When I put full weight on it, I would feel the knee shift to the left. Dr said the xray showed the implant looks good. He examined further by picking up my leg and passively putting it in all kinds of positions which was painful.
He then agreed that the knee was loose because of my quad muscles being weak. So the PT and I really worked on strengthening the muscles but that didn’t seem to be helping the shifting. So when I went back to surgeon, another xray also showed no problem with the implant. Surgeon had me fitted with a brace for stability, which I wore when I was up walking.
I had so many complications, horrible pain and instability, that I swore if I had known everything would go like it did, that I never would have done it I first place.
Add 2 months of wearing a brace and more PT for strengthening the muscles and knee was still unstable and shifting. Xray still showed that the implant was perfect. So when I went back at 4 months, I asked surgeon what my options were since I didn’t want to have to wear a brace and use a cane for rest of my life.
He surprised and shocked me by saying he could go back in and try to replace spacer with a larger one and if that didn’t fix it, then he would proceed with another total knee. I was thinking , okay if the first one didn’t work, what makes you think next one will.
I was sitting there trying to take it all in and was literally in tears, but surgeon didn’t show any compassion at all. I didn’t hear, “I’m sorry the first one didn’t work as expected” or any kind of explanation as to why it didn’t work. I was just so overwhelmed that I told him I’d have to think about it.
I was still having a lot of pain on medial side of knee. I sent a message through portal asking for a MRI of knee. He didn’t reply. So a few weeks later I asked again expressing that I wanted to make sure we had checked everything to get all answers possible before going back in there again. He replied that my ligaments were not working correctly and that I needed a hinged knee replacement.
I took my nephew with me to talk with him at my next appointment. He then told us us that my ligaments were stretched and could not hold the knee in place and that he will have to replace the current one with a hinged knee implant, explaining that it works without the ligaments being in good shape. So I agreed and set the surgery for Jan 29, 2019.
The surgery was done without the complications of my first surgery. When I got up to my room post surgery, my family came in shortly after. I asked what the surgeon said about the procedure and was told that he never did call and tell them anything.
I told the RN and requested to speak with the surgeon. His assistant called me eventually and told me they didn’t have to do a hinged replacement after all. I initially was taken aback with the news since the surgeon seemed to be so positive of his diagnosis. But he told me that they replaced the femoral and spacer components with larger ones and that the surgeon was very pleased with results.
When PT got me up to walk in hallway the next morning, I felt the knee was unstable again. Not shifting to left like it did before just moving around like it would buckle. I expressed my concern to PT which in turn let RN know. She did notify surgeon who ordered an xray that showed the implant was like it’s suppose to be. So had every xray that I’d had last year.
I was discharged the day following my surgery to in-patient rehab. I continued to feel the instability at times when I put full weight on it. And still do now that I’m in out patient therapy. I know my quad muscles are not working correctly as I have a horrible time trying to pick my foot up off the floor and also for leg raises. It’s like I am telling it to move but it won’t follow my command and just sits there. That is such a horrible feeling and something I have never experienced before.
With the therapist's help, I am finally able to lift it although it is not even a half inch. I am doing the exercises to keep strengthening the muscles and trying to keep the faith that the knee will become more stable with each passing day and more exercise.
Just the thought of having two major surgeries and my knee being worse than it was prior to my initial surgery is just about too much to bear. I have read several post of people having to go back for second and third surgeries.
Just wondering if anyone here finally got good results? Anyone have similar experience about knee not wanting to cooperate when trying to lift it and what you did to help with that?
I am 4½ weeks post surgery and initially my pain control was really good. But for the past week it has been horrible! During the first surgery I had nerve pain for weeks. This time I was very happy not to have it for first 3 weeks but now it has started again.
