Eeek‘s pre op thread

[SherrieT]

@Eeek Hope you are soon up to letting us know how you are doing.

 

[Eeek]

Would some kind person change the title on my thread to

eeek‘s pre op thread

And I will just add on to this one.......

Thank you!

 

[Eeek]

Well, I enjoyed the first TKR so much that I decided to have the other one done. July 24 is the day, same hospital, same doc, different knee. Otherwise, same protocol ..... but as every knee is different, this will a different recovery too, no doubt.

I just hope for cool weather. Air conditioning in Switzerland is virtually unknown.

 

[Celle]

I've changed your thread title.

 

[Eeek]

@Celle

Thank you! Since my surgeries are close together, one pre op and one recovery thread are in order!

 

[VonnieN]

Would some kind person change the title on my thread to

eeek‘s pre op thread

And I will just add on to this one.......

Thank you!

so what will you do differently in your recovery for your next op

 

[VonnieN]

that's genuinely a new one on me; the way I hear it is that a patient has to be fitter than normal for some doctors to consider BTKR.

my surgeon was not keen on two at once more complications but mine is going to be 4 weeks apart

 

[SusieShoes]

You’ll find lots of discussion about whether to do two at once (I had this), or a day or two apart (yes, we have people who’ve done this), or a few months apart like what you are doing, or six months or more apart. Whatever works best for the patient and the surgeon is the way to go. I wanted both done at once, but if my surgeon — who I chose because he gets excellent results — had wanted to do them one at a time, I would have done that.

 

[Mutti3]

I see there is no “one and done”club! I am extremely fortunate To have only one arthritic knee. I don’t know the reason. My left had the replacement, my right has no arthritis. Yes, I had X-rays on both.

 

[Eeek]

My surgeon said a minimum of three months between. Mine will be 5. My unoperated knee is really painful, so it needs to go.

@VonnieN
I will approach this recovery exactly the same. I am hoping that I‘ll be in slightly better shape since I am trying to walk more and do stairs just a bit more as part of the recovery for my left leg. Before surgery on my left I had two bad legs. Now I have a stable left leg and a weak right leg.

 

[Eeek]

Exactly 10 weeks (If i counted correctly....always a challenge).

Looking forward to two stable knees.

Am a Little apprehensive that my left leg isn‘t strong enough to be the good knee, but i‘ll manage, I‘m sure.

 

[SusieShoes]

You'll do just fine. I came home with two operated knees, of which the right one was the less painful (it was the better knee going in), and it became my "good" knee. Freshly replaced, and it did a good job. I think your left leg will be up to the task.

 

[yesyvonne]

Hi @Eeek, you had your first done just before my first, and now I’m going forward with knee #2, also. Mine’s Aug 3rd. I feel *so* much less frightened and more confident heading into TKR #2. First knee has healed really well. Not 100% yet but good enough for lots of long walks daily, water aerobics, and just living life. The other knee doesn’t hurt as much as the replaced knee did, but it hurts some, and more important, feels like it wants to collapse often. Which scares me, since I don’t want to fall and damage the replaced knee joint! So, going ahead. Good luck with your second one!

 

[Eeek]

I realized that my left (replaced knee) would never recover as much as I wanted if I didn‘t get the other one too, because so often when I‘m walking, the right knee hurts a lot, feels stiff, etc.

My left knee is so much better. Not perfect, but at least it hardly hurts. And feels stable.

I think my surgery is 7 weeks from today.

Good luck with your second too, @yesyvonne!

 

[Nick-UK]

Good to see the first one went so well, I am finally getting mine done at the weekend.

Frustrating as it should have been done the same day as your first

 

[Eeek]

Oh yay! finally! Everything ok now @Nick-UK ?

Fingers crossed!

Yes, I liked mine so much I‘m doing it again in July!

 

[Eeek]

Today was pre op blood work. Everything was the same or better than last time, so that made me happy. Even my blood pressure improved!

In PT, i finished with flexion 100 and extension 0. And measures of leg strength showed improvement in both legs, and the difference between unoperated and operated decreasing. I‘m now practicing stairs with the right leg (unoperated) as the bad leg.

Five weeks. Getting ready........

 

[Celle]

Eeek, make sure you do some upper-body strengthening as well. You'll be glad your arms are strong in the early weeks after surgery.

 

[Eeek]

Ok, counting down. Four weeks to go! Looking forward to semi matching knees.

@Celle - yes, Upper arms too. They are at least as strong as they were last time, maybe a bit better!

 

[SusieShoes]

Semi-matching at first... and in the long-run they will be nearly twins!