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Having my surgery July 16, 2007

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Suki's mom

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Jun 24, 2007
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Hi,

I'm new here, and am really starting to worry about my upcoming surgery. I just turned 47 in April, and went to my doctor April 18, due to severe pain in both my knees.

Was sent to the ortho doctor, and after he saw my xrays, and examined my knees, he told me I have a severe genetic defect, no cartilage left in either knee, and scheduled me for my left knee to be totally replaced on July 16.

After reading through the internet, and finding this site, I am wondering if there are many people in their 40's who have had this done??

I am scared

Thank you.
 
Cancelled my surgery today. Feel I am way too young, and not ready for aritificial knees. My doctor prescribed me a Bionicare machine, and I will be seeing him back in 2 months.

Not sure why I even bothered to reply, but might as well, since I have had 33 views, and nobody could even be courteous enough to even say hi.

Later
 
Hi Sukismom....I wish that you had stayed because I am 50 and I am awaiting the call for my TKR surgery date .I was told today it would be in August sometime .
Anyways ...I am day late and dollar short as usual but good luck with your knees,they sound painfull .
BTW I registered just now and your post is the first I have replied too :-)
 
Hi Monterey,

My surgeon gave me a script for a Bionicare Bio-1000 system. It's like a Tens unit, but only for the knees.

I will post when I get it. I do however, have a loading device brace I wear on my right knee, and will now be getting one for my left knee.

I am going to try to deal with this pain, until I can no longer. I am just afraid to have an artifical knee right now. I know it probably sounds silly, and I know both knees will have to be done. Hopefully I can make it pain wise, till my 50th birthday, god willing.

Knee pain is so awful. I am now so knock kneed, and my doctor told me I have the knees of a 70 year old woman.

All those years of heavy duty aerobics to stay fit and slim really paid off. I am almost crippled now.

Take care
 
I have been waffling between going for it and cancelling because of fear .I have been reading a lot of forums and there are soooooooo many out there having problems,allergies to implants,pain that is worse than before etc .It is making my head swim !
I have already put TKR off for 5 years but Ibuprofin doesnt help much anylonger and some days are tolerable but then there are the days that you are in so much pain its depressing .
I had surgery when I was 15 on the same knee and I dont even know why,lol.My parents dont remember exactly what the problem was .Now I have traumatic arthritis in the right knee and osteoarthritis in both .The left has been the work horse and is now needing a compartamental .
I am thinking that maybe I would have the TKR in the right knee just to mitigate the damage to the left and my hips ?
There is tooooooo much to think about IMO .I was being scheduled for the TKR last month and had to go for a pre-op physical .I ll be darned if the EKG came back abnormal and I had to have a heart cath on June 12th to be cleared for the knee .What a nightmare.....all is well with the heart :-)They took ten years off my life with the scare though because they were convinced I had a heart attack.
Hope you find the relief you so badly need ,let me know how the tens works out for you o.k. ?
 
Hey, folks - I am soo sorry not to have answered your posts. i have been away for a couple of days and then had a fault on my BB connection!

As for your age, Suki's mom, you probably are a tad young but if the surgeon thinks the findings warrant a replacement, then I would say to trust him.

As for the forum being full of problems, well, I'd ask you both to consider that a forum like this is, by definition, likely to be sought out and used by people with problems whilst the people who have a good outcome - and they are by far an away the majority - will be too busy getting on with their lives to want to dip in here!!

But consider this - it would be a strange kind of bod who wasn't fearful about having any kind of operation! It's totally natural and understandable. I am also waiting for a knee replacement and so far I have cancelled the op twice because I found my knee magically improved as the op date drew near! But I know this from watching my sister when she had her two knees done - when the time comes for it to be the right thing to do, you will be in no doubt. The fears and anxieties will balance the pain and disability you have and the op will seem the lesser of two evils.

I'd also point out this - in my last hospital alone, we carried out between 20-30 knee replacements per week!! That's around 1200 per year in one hospital. Multiply that with the number of hospitals in the UK and then in the US and you get some idea of the comparison between the few people with problems that you have seen posting in forums like this. Kind of puts it into perspective, wouldn't you think?

I hope this is some reassurance for you. If I can be any more help, you can pm me or email me or post in my help thread here. Whatever. I'll be very happy to talk things through with you and help you to cope.

And again, I'm sorry I wasn't around to answer you earlier.
 
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