United States
55 years old. Yes, and this is my second TKR. The shortest way to explain how I got here at this age is that I was athletic and angry, with a chip on my shoulder about being average-sized. I like to say that I spent the first 35 years of my of my life imitating an airborne missile. Jump off a roof? No problem. Be the first one to hit that jump? Of course.
I had grown up skateboarding and skiing. I loved pickup basketball as others like cocaine. I snowboarded more than 1000 days between 1992 and 2005. I kept playing basketball...I just couldn't stop.
Had my first menisectomy in 1991, on the left. Didn't phase me or change me. When I finally dragged my aching knees to the doctor in 2005, he told me that major adjustments were needed because my knees, only 35 years old, were in terrible shape. He did a double menisectomy and asked me to limit running and eliminate jumping. I continued both. My feet started sliding and shuffling, but I kept playing basketball. I was terrible at that point even; I literally had no idea how to pivot away from all of high-impact activities that I had used to identify myself.
It was a relatively short path to inactivity from there...starts and fits of a cycle of forcing the issue, suffering a bone-on-bone event, resting, trying again...wash, rinse repeat. I refused to change.
Slowly, more terrible days than tolerable days left me unable to do anything active beyond golf. And when golf came to a point where I was a terrible golfer just limping around, I finally conronted my reality. I had defined myself by my active and athletic pursuits and didn't know how to adjust.
In that spirit, I had a RTKR in March, 2020. I had asked to have both at once. My doctor saying no was the best thing ever decided for me. I chose the right knee first because it had the deepest, most consistent ache. Within 3 days of my surgery, COVID shut the world down. On drugs, overwhelmed, and on my own for a directed home-rolled PT, I really struggled. I don't do opioids well, either, so all of my issues were magnified. I made very little progress. I tried to fight but I battled excessive inflammation, limited ROM, and depression. I had an MUA at 8 weeks because I was failing at PT. It hit me hard.
I fought back as hard as possible. I literally worked through tears almost every day. I reached 0/113, where I remain...never fully reached target flexion.
I was supposed to have the LTKR at the 6 month mark (after the RTKR). But at the 5 month mark, I had an emergency appendectomy. I was feeling cursed. The only positive I had in my mind was that the appendectomy would delay the LTKR, which was I dreading with my very soul. I was terrified of it.
Post appendectomy, I was surgery-phobic. I delayed. I delayed some more. I delayed almost 5 years.
Had the LTKR February 18. Today is day 11. I am at 5/85. I just got home from a cane-free walk. I ditched the opioids after day 4. I have almost no pain, only tightness as the residual inflammation slowly leaves. My spirits are high, my progress is amazing. The difference between the two recoveries is night and day, and that has me excited for progressing every day. I delayed so long that my post-op pain and my pre-op pain weren't far off. It's hard to objectify that in advice form, but I would for others if I could. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is already making me excited about being active again. I am spiritually reinvigorated by this.
I bore with you all of this to both share my story and to give you some hope in your own recovery. No two people are the same in this path because no two surgeries are alike, even in the same person. No matter where you are on your journey in this, you can do it, or you can turn it around...both.
Keep wanting it, keep working for it, and never judge yourself harshly for not reaching a day's goals. This is a marathon with the pressure of a sprint. Keep the marathon mentality, though.
Let's Go!!!!
I had grown up skateboarding and skiing. I loved pickup basketball as others like cocaine. I snowboarded more than 1000 days between 1992 and 2005. I kept playing basketball...I just couldn't stop.
Had my first menisectomy in 1991, on the left. Didn't phase me or change me. When I finally dragged my aching knees to the doctor in 2005, he told me that major adjustments were needed because my knees, only 35 years old, were in terrible shape. He did a double menisectomy and asked me to limit running and eliminate jumping. I continued both. My feet started sliding and shuffling, but I kept playing basketball. I was terrible at that point even; I literally had no idea how to pivot away from all of high-impact activities that I had used to identify myself.
It was a relatively short path to inactivity from there...starts and fits of a cycle of forcing the issue, suffering a bone-on-bone event, resting, trying again...wash, rinse repeat. I refused to change.
Slowly, more terrible days than tolerable days left me unable to do anything active beyond golf. And when golf came to a point where I was a terrible golfer just limping around, I finally conronted my reality. I had defined myself by my active and athletic pursuits and didn't know how to adjust.
In that spirit, I had a RTKR in March, 2020. I had asked to have both at once. My doctor saying no was the best thing ever decided for me. I chose the right knee first because it had the deepest, most consistent ache. Within 3 days of my surgery, COVID shut the world down. On drugs, overwhelmed, and on my own for a directed home-rolled PT, I really struggled. I don't do opioids well, either, so all of my issues were magnified. I made very little progress. I tried to fight but I battled excessive inflammation, limited ROM, and depression. I had an MUA at 8 weeks because I was failing at PT. It hit me hard.
I fought back as hard as possible. I literally worked through tears almost every day. I reached 0/113, where I remain...never fully reached target flexion.
I was supposed to have the LTKR at the 6 month mark (after the RTKR). But at the 5 month mark, I had an emergency appendectomy. I was feeling cursed. The only positive I had in my mind was that the appendectomy would delay the LTKR, which was I dreading with my very soul. I was terrified of it.
Post appendectomy, I was surgery-phobic. I delayed. I delayed some more. I delayed almost 5 years.
Had the LTKR February 18. Today is day 11. I am at 5/85. I just got home from a cane-free walk. I ditched the opioids after day 4. I have almost no pain, only tightness as the residual inflammation slowly leaves. My spirits are high, my progress is amazing. The difference between the two recoveries is night and day, and that has me excited for progressing every day. I delayed so long that my post-op pain and my pre-op pain weren't far off. It's hard to objectify that in advice form, but I would for others if I could. I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is already making me excited about being active again. I am spiritually reinvigorated by this.
I bore with you all of this to both share my story and to give you some hope in your own recovery. No two people are the same in this path because no two surgeries are alike, even in the same person. No matter where you are on your journey in this, you can do it, or you can turn it around...both.
Keep wanting it, keep working for it, and never judge yourself harshly for not reaching a day's goals. This is a marathon with the pressure of a sprint. Keep the marathon mentality, though.
Let's Go!!!!
