I have partials, but not in the kneecap. Sometimes looking back, I think my early joint recoveries were better than I expected, but then perhaps because of that, I misjudged/ underestimated the trauma to all the soft tissues. Sigh. And the painful experience of bending too low too soon--without anaesthesia as
@sistersinhim so humorously noted. Time really does heal.
I couldn't tolerate narcotics either, so got off those very quickly.
My joints loved icing and elevating, but didn't like compression at all. My md had me remove the stockings 24 hrs after the surgery. I used manual gravity feed cryo cuffs and adjusted the cuffs to avoid compressing too much. I didn't get the electric icing cuff because it auto compressed. No doubt there are others now that you can auto ice and turn off the compression.
Your mention of your post-surgical nausea brought back some uncomfortable memories. One anaesthesiologist finally advised me to never ever get gas anaesthesia again, and never ever allow anyone to give me versed again. The latter is quite common, it turns out, allegedly to "relax" you. But both trigger nausea.
So my anaesthesia is now simply propofol (sp?), very lightly administered. This method requires very close monitoring of my breathing, but I wake up quickly and clear-headed, and without any nausea!!!
Someone on here said he uses a marker and writes NO VERSED! prominently on his body before surgery.
Good luck!