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TKR I really didn't know what I was getting into!

@Josephine - Thanks. I'm not a medical person, so I don't know. You have participated in many knee surgeries as a nurse, so you have expertise. However, I do not think that my surgeon is the incompetent doctor that other people on this site are implying. Such is the precariousness of drawing conclusions from snippets of exchanges between other patients (I'm not referring to you or the other qualified advisors) on an Internet forum such as this one. I would never presume to advise someone on here to drop his or her surgeon, especially when they have no direct knowledge of him or her.
 
Oh my, @Knees4Me . I'm so sorry this is going on and on for you, especially since you have so many other difficulties going on right now. You're the only one, along with your primary care doctor and other knowledgeable advisors, who can decide whether to have a revision and who should do it. Hugs from California.
 
@phrog - Thanks. And yes, I will make the final decision. I won't even let my knee surgeon push me into a revision. If I decided to have one at all, it would be when I'm absolutely convinced - by CT scan, etc., that I need one. My pain would need to be unbearable. Meanwhile, I have almost 16 weeks left in my recovery until my one-year review with my surgeon. I intend to make the most of it with physiotherapy, stretches and exercises.
 
@ejole - Oh no, Rosie! Your surgery was nearly two years ago! Did your surgeon ever tell you why you're having so much pain? Mine didn't.

I have more or less diagnosed myself from reading this forum and website and looking up scholarly papers on the subject of tibial tray overhang causing soft tissue impingement and chronic pain. My surgeon pretty well agreed when I asked for X-rays and made an appointment to see her last week. But she didn't think the large size of tibial tray would cause me pain.

Apparently, a revision surgery is the only solution. But I'm not yet willing (if I ever will be!) to undergo that nightmarish ordeal of surgery, rehab and recovery again - especially on that same knee! And I'll definitely get a CT scan and second opinion if I do decide to get a redo!

The mother of our condo building's concierge had knee surgery three years ago and is still in pain. Apparently she has to take two extra-strength Tylenol before she gets out of bed in the morning.

My surgeon's resident last week told me that 1 in 5 (20 per cent) of TKR patients are left with permanent pain. If I'd known that, I never would have had the surgery! Nobody - not my surgeon, not my GP - - and certainly nobody in the pre-op class at the hospital - ever mentioned a word about the possibility that recovery and function would be anything but miraculous and pain-free. I was supposed to "get my life back." I tried to be positive as my supposed "recovery" dragged on month after month.

Now I'm stuck with one painful artificial knee (especially when I stand and walk, but other times too!), as well as a severely arthritic right knee - which is also painful when I walk and stand, but nowhere nearly as painful as my " new" knee. I wish I'd never had the surgery and I don't trust any surgeon who promises to operate and make my knees free of pain. I feel disabled and can't do the things I want to do. Am I angry and frustrated and resentful? Yes!!
 
Knees4Me said:
My surgeon's resident last week told me that 1 in 5 (20 per cent) of TKR patients are left with permanent pain. If I'd known that, I never would have had the surgery!
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He/she got it wrong! The incidence is 2%, not 20%.

There is a reason for your continuing pain - your own surgeon has told you so - and there is a possible solution.

Given the choice between continuing, debilitating pain as you have and a revision, I would choose the revision every time.
I've had a revision and it wan't the awful experience I was expecting. In fact, my recovery was slightly easier than my recovery from the original surgery.
 
@Celle - Only 2%? Lucky me! How could this awful thing happen to me when the incidence of something going wrong is SO low?! And I don't know if a "slightly easier" recovery would be a great goal for me since I've had such a long, painful nine+ months. And the three months of rehab I had post-op was torture! Did you go to rehab? It's been a lost year. My optimism is gone. I just don't want to go through it again! And then again - maybe twice! - with my other knee!! :(
 
I'm sorry you're upset and angry. In your position, I think I would be, too.
But I also wouldn't accept the level of incapacity you have now.

No, I didn't go to rehab. We don't have rehab places here in NZ and I don't think they are necessary. From what I've read here, they seem to concentrate too much on PT, which my surgeon thinks is inappropriate so early in recovery.
I just recovered at home, following BoneSmart's advice - lots of rest, ice, elevation and regular medication. And just a little, gentle exercise.

Not all surgeons and not all PT therapists think like yours - that's why there is confusion.

My surgeon doesn't allow any PT at all for the first month after a knee replacement. He says your knee needs that time, to start on its journey of healing. For that month, we rest, ice and elevate our leg, and walk around the house.
After that month, we just go to PT once every 2 weeks, where we are shown a few new exercises to do at home.
His patients all do well and achieve good ROM, as I did, and he hasn't had to do a manipulation to help with ROM for the past 4 years. I think that speaks for itself.

I have rehabbed that way after three knee replacements and I wouldn't describe any of my recoveries as torture. Lengthy, uncomfortable and boring, yes, but not torture.
 
@Knees4Me, I'm just so sorry. It breaks my heart that you have no optimism left. I know that feeling of frustration and wish I could blow it away and give you some hope. I know someone whose OS used an implant that just didn't work the way intended. A year later, his OS sent him to a joint institute in a more metropolitan area and he had a revision surgery. He now has no pain. His story is the reason I decided to have my surgery at that same joint institute, though likely I wouldn't have had any more problems if I'd stayed in my mid sized city. My recovery has been far from perfect due to other health issues but not nearly as bad as yours. I can't imagine your pain. Sending a box of hugs. I'd add some California sunshine, but don't want the smoke to get in your eyes. janet
 
@phrog - Thank you, Janet. I was touched by your enpathetic message. Thanks for the "box of hugs"! I'm absolutely appalled at the destructive deadly fires in California's wine country - and I'm appalled that they were caused by arson, apparently. Just awful! The video is so sad. What's happening to our world?!

My surgery was done by one of the top orthopedic surgeons at the top Orthopedic and Arthritic hospital here in Canada's most populous city, Toronto. That team of surgeons also do everyone else's revisions. People come from far and wide. So, I won't be looking around for another hospital if/when I have a revision. I also need to have my right knee replaced eventually, but I hope not twice. And, yes I too have other health issues to deal with at the same time. Seems nearly inevitable when you're turning 68, as I am late in the month!
 
Praying for you @Knees4Me! God is the great physician!
Today, I'm 8 weeks post op TKR and I'm still so miserable. Swelling, stiffness and my flexion is only 113! I read all of @Josephine recovery thread and she was already at 125 at this point! If you haven't read it, you really should. I need a large dose of her patients!
 
BamaBelle said:
I read all of @Josephine recovery thread and she was already at 125 at this point! If you haven't read it, you really should.
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Please note that this does NOT mean you should expect to achieve this regardless! The point of my story is that this happened without my doing any exercises! This is the moral of the story.
BamaBelle said:
I need a large dose of her patients!
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@BamaBelle I don't have any patients! Did you mean patience? :snork:
 
Try not to be too miserable - I'm at 8 weeks and my ROM is 80, as it was 72 two weeks ago and is therefore improving I'm taking it as positive and I've decided not to let it get me down.
 
hi @Knees4Me ~ i've been wondering how you were doing and then i saw you post on jaschembra's page. sorry to hear you're still having pain and now your back has gone out. in what way has your back gone out? i came down with a case of "sciatica" on christmas eve overdoing it and it got worse until a couple days ago, it's finally subsided mostly. i've been doing some sciatica exercises. hopefully your back issues will settle down before your trip to jamaica. good idea that you booked assistance at the airports. i'm going to negril with a friend in february. hope you have a fantastic trip. have been reading on t.a. that the rain doesn't last long. make sure you take bug spray along with sunscreen. feel better.:console2:
 
Tell me, what am I supposed to do now that my GP has referred me for a second opinion to the best "knee guy" in town (Toronto is a huge city) and his office said it's a 14- to 15-month wait just to see him?! Please don't say "go to the second best knee guy"! I have my one-year review with my original OS next week. I have to tell her about my continuing pain on the lateral side of my left knee joint while walking, standing and sometimes even sitting. She told me when I saw her in early January that if the pain hasn't improved by my review, we'd need to discuss a revision. If anything, it's worse. (I have to use a cane and I had to book a wheelchair each way at the airports on a recent trip to Jamaica. Travelling was a challenge, to say the least!) My surgeon agreed with my theory - learned on this site and by doing other online research - that it's possible I have tibial tray overhang. That means the tibial component is too large and is impinging on my IT band and other soft tissue, causing inflammation and chronic pain. She said it happens to only about one in ten patients. Lucky me. I've had such a miserable year after going into this surgery very optimistic that TKR would "give me my life back." Hah! It's worse than before the operation when I just had arthritis. I can't walk as far now or do any aerobic exercise. Even swimming requires using and bending the knees, at least a bit. I also have bone-on-bone arthritis in my right knee. The original plan was to be having it replaced this month. Now I don't know when it will be done, if ever. Or maybe it'll have to be redone too.

@liam2015 - My physiotherapist said my back pain was caused by sciatica too. I felt a a sudden pain one day when I stepped out of the shower - as if something had snapped - and couldn't straighten up. It was bad for the first few days of our vacation. I took a painkiller and muscle relaxant when I got to our resort and slept for ages (it was raining anyway!) Then I had a hot stone massage at the spa and it worked wonders...as did the rum punch! My back still isn't totally better, but I was able to enjoy the last few - sunny and warm - days of our vacation, and it was fine for the trip back. By the way, fellow Canadian, do you happen to know who the second best knee surgeon in Toronto is? Haha...
 
Knees4Me said:
Tell me, what am I supposed to do now that my GP has referred me for a second opinion to the best "knee guy" in town (Toronto is a huge city) and his office said it's a 14- to 15-month wait just to see him?! Please don't say "go to the second best knee guy"! I have my one-year review with my original OS next week. I have to tell her about my continuing pain on the lateral side of my left knee joint while walking, standing and sometimes even sitting. She told me when I saw her in early January that if the pain hasn't improved by my review, we'd need to discuss a revision.
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I'm not sure what to advise you about this. My own view is that you need to see someone for a second opinion who has no contact at all, either social of professional, with your current surgeon - so that the surgeon giving you a second opinion is not influenced at all by what your original surgeon thinks. Often, you have to go out of town to get this independent opinion.
However, I'm not sure what the situation is in Toronto.
I'm going to ask @Jamie to advise you.
 
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