Diane's Knee Quest finally the real deal

[Celle]

I understand what she wanted, Diane, but it's not an ethical thing to ask someone to do.
Let her find out for herself. She's trying to avoid taking action for herself, by using you.
She may have a genuine concern, but she needs to pursue it herself.

 

[dianehelen]

No, I guess its sounds confusing. It has nothing to do with any info she needs/wants. She suggested, if I wanted some reassuance, maybe see if I could get some references from my OS about patients he did replacement on.

 

[kneeper]

I don't think there's a way to do this. The best I could suggest is to look at something like healthgrades.com and see if there are reviews for your surgeon there.

 

[dianehelen]

ya @kneeper you are probably right. I did look on health grades and vitals, and the reviews are really excellent. I only saw one bad one, but the rest were great praise, and gratitude. Interesting tho, a few reviews stated the one thing I did experience, was the issue with the staff and return calls.

 

[Celle]

No, I guess its sounds confusing. It has nothing to do with any info she needs/wants. She suggested, if I wanted some reassurance, maybe see if I could get some references from my OS about patients he did replacement on.

I'm sorry I misunderstood what you were saying.
I guess I thought that it was your friend who wanted the information.

There are thousands of knee replacements done every year. Very few of them cause any problems. The vast majority of people have their surgery, spend a variable amount of time recovering, and then get back on with their lives. We never see them here on BoneSmart, because they don't feel the need for information or reassurance. Even here, most people have a normal recovery

I've had three knee replacements now. I had no complications at all and no regrets about having any of them done.

 

[dianehelen]

I've had three knee replacements now

Wait, what? Three?

Thanks for the rationality check, I know you are right. I'd probably be much less apprehensive, had I been one of those without complication on my hip. Ok im gonna try to reign in my constant whining fear from here, it's starting to even get on my nerves, im sure you all here are sick of it ;-) I'll save it for my husband, he is used to it, and knows how to tune me out when necessary .

 

[Celle]

Wait, what? Three?

Yes. I had a partial (PKR) of my right knee in 2000, which lasted for 11 years - longer than many partials. I had that revised to a successful TKR in 2011. Then I had a TKR of my left knee in 2014.

So, I have two artificial knees and they're both strong and reliable.
I'm so thankful that I live in an age when knee replacements are possible. Without them, I think I would have been in a wheelchair by now.

 

[uva55]

The decision to have any surgery is scary, if you add the fact that you had a bad experience on a previous procedure it must be beyond scary, but you did choose to put a stop to living with deliberating pain that controls how you live your life and it was a very brave decision on your part.

 

[dianehelen]

@uva55 you are SUCH a sweetheart. We REALLY have to meet someday. I'll owe you a giant bottle of wine by then for all your kind, thoughtful, encouraging support. (Of course we will be sharing that giant bottle) Hope you have an improving day.

 

[Gigi32]

@dianehelen - I can completely relate to your fear about your upcoming TKR. Although it took me 10 years to finally make the decision to get my knees replaced(a decision I now wish I had done much sooner), once the day began to approach I began to let all those fears about "what if I don't wake up from the anesthesia" and "what if this makes things worse", not to mention fear about the pain from the surgery overwhelm me. While I hadn't had a previous experience with a hip like you did, when I had a C-section 33 years ago giving birth to my twins I nearly bled to death, required multiple transfusions and with subsequent GYN surgeries I had terrible nausea and vomiting from the anesthesia so that was enough to put me in a panic. I will tell you that once my rational side took over and I realized that this procedure is done thousands of times a day with success, I had the utmost trust and faith in my surgeon and knew that I couldn't go on living the way I had the past 10 years I finally had peace with it. Having one knee done was such a positive experience I would have been happy stopping there. But knowing the other one was in worse shape and needed to be done I went ahead and had the other one done 7 months later and while I had to have it '"tweaked" a couple of weeks ago, it's as good as the other one now and I can't tell you the positive impact it's had on my life. I feel 25 years younger, I've lost 85 pounds since I started on this journey, been able to quit taking all the meds for high blood pressure and diabetes I was on, and feel like I'm starting the 2nd half of my life. I just wish I had done it sooner. Hang in there and think happy, positive thoughts. That will have a big effect on your recovery!

 

[uva55]

@Gigi32 what a great success story, when I read stories like yours I can deal better with my post-op ups and down, my left knee has some arthritis but not so bad and it really does not bother me, I hope I never need tkr on that knee, but if I do then so be it, thank you for sharing!

 

[dianehelen]

Thank you so much for sharing @Gigi32 . Part of my fears are also from a really REALLY bad experience with a ruptured ectopic pregnancy in 1982 that resulted in emergency surgery, that I came close to bleeding out, then waking up in a horrid panic and shock with violent vomitting, from anesthesia. I was hospitalized for weeks and took months to recover.

In 1986 I had a c section delivery under a spinal , for my son, and was terrified from the flashbacks. But it was not near as bad. And I had a baby to care for.

That was in 1982 and took me 30 years and alot of panic to face surgery again, and it was for breast cancer so not really elective. I did much better that I anticipated, but then came the hip. I have had 2 other surgeries since then (gall bladder removal and brain surgery) so while I know/hope this will begin a better chance for a better life. But even so, hard imprinted fears are hard to let go.

Im so happy you are doing well.

 

[dianehelen]

I hope I never need tkr

I KNOW I will need the other one done at some point. All depends on how this one goes

 

[uva55]

Diane, you are on, I know how to share

 

[dianehelen]

Diane, you are on, I know how to share

Can't wait!

 

[dianehelen]

OK, so how bout a change of pace from whiny me?

I have decided to do something positive for my upcoming LTKR. I have been talking alot to my friend in Chicago, who is 10 years older than me, and just as overweight as me, and she had her knees done 6 weeks apart and could not be happier. She is also a swimmer, like me, but she said, about a month or more before her surgery, she started adding to her swim routine, a regimen of pre hab exercises in the pool. Now I go to a gym for my 3x a week mile swim, but I have a perfectly good pool right outside my back door. its not good for laps , but would be perfect for aquatic exercise. So on my off swim days, gonna try for 3 days a week, this is the routine she did, and I will be doing, starting as soon as I finish this post. I think it can help, if nothing else mentally, to give me something else to do other than tv and brain wracking , Whattya think?

 

[Gigi32]

I think those sound great and if you have a pool in your backyard, why not? I'm jealous! I used to go to Aqua fitness at the Y before I had my new knees and enjoyed it. Now it's just not enough of a challenge so I do the bikes and weight machines and enjoy that. My doctor also had me start the heel slides and extension exercise before my surgeries just so I would be familiar with them and could do them after surgery. So when I was watching TV I would prop my heel up on an ottoman and let my knee hang to encourage extension(I started with 1-2 minutes at first and would work up a minute at a time). I also used a dog leash around my ankle and would pull it towards my bottom, bending my knee back as far as I could comfortably to stretch the ligaments and muscles. I think this exercise helped me get my flexion back after surgery because it was never really an issue with me.

 

[dianehelen]

Whew! I DID it.. Some were harder than others and some I was not able to do for as long as it said. But I gave it a good effort for a first try. A bit of a challenge finding a level place in my pool that angles from 3-6 feet. But I did the best I could. The hardest part was getting out of the pool, the last step out, even grabbing full force onto the rail, was high and bit of a struggle. The pool at the gym, has a higher rail, and I can creep my arms up it to pull me out, but our pool just has a low short rail. But I made it. Now lets see if I can commit to doing this a fwe times a week.

@Gigi32 I try to do heel slides but my knee is too painful. I will keep trying, and maybe use a dog leash to assist, thanks for the idea.

 

[uva55]

Diane, good for you, I think that being physically fit, even if just a little, will help post-op, you definitely get a work out after, I have a high bed and getting in and out of it was a work out, my abs were killing me and that's that I have always been able to lift my surgery leg without assistance, and the muscles in my good leg were screaming at me the first week, thank goodness all if that is gone now, I'm probably in better physical shape now than before tkr, how sad is that, but once I am able, I'm going to at least start walking again

 

[dianehelen]

I have a question about heel slides. When I try to do them with my bad leg, its very hard, even when using something to pull the leg towards me. Its like the actual joint sorta pops, or just feels ouchie. Should I just try to keep doing them, and push past the pain, or stop doing them, or just going as far as I can in the bend before it hurts?

Thanks