United KingdomTLKR 23/01/2024
A success story !
Hello from another person from the UK.
I had my procedure done at a private hospital funded through our brilliant NHS on the 23rd January this year.
I am a 62 year male who unfortunately has suffered from Arthritis since a child but I have never let it get to me despite having to be pensioned off from my work early ( luckily I was in an excellent pension scheme so I get a full 40 year pension ).
I could have had my knees replaced 15 years ago but the consultant physiotherapist said ideally they liked people to be over 60 but he said he could see it needed doing and the decision was mine so I somewhat foolishly decided to wait with my knees with them in the meantime forever increasingly bowing and the bone on bone arthritis grinding into each other causing a lot of constant pain ( so bowed I couldn’t catch a pig in a bowling alley as they say ) but luckily I have a high pain threshold so I was actually able to cope quite well.
I came across this forum whilst recuperating on my sofa and it has been great and sometimes sad to read other peoples journeys but I thought I would like to join and post a success story to give others hope and not be put off about having the surgery.
My surgeon made no bones about it ( if you forgive the pun ) that this was painful major surgery and I would need to be prepared for swelling and bruising to continue for up to a year and even up to two years ,in fact a friend of mine still gets pain, stiffness and swelling twelve and a half years later and my elderly mother has had four operations on her right knee and has been told that if she gets another infection then unfortunately this time it will mean above knee amputation.
So with this in mind I was slightly intrepid about proceeding but the arthritic pain was now so bad it had to be done and besides, I had developed a large Bakers Cyst on the back of the knee.
I had the procedure late afternoon and had a general anaesthetic and spinal anaesthetic and had my operated leg placed in a pump type brace which massaged the leg throughout the night ( I have to admit the noise of it kept me awake).
Next morning the PT team arrived and got me out of bed and made me gently bend my knee both outwards and inwards ( I had good ROM ) and also made me stand which felt really nice.
They said they would come back in the afternoon and get me to walk up and down the corridor and up and down a flight of stairs and all being well I could go home late afternoon, unfortunately my blood pressure dropped quite significantly and all the plans where scuppered and I had to stay in hospital an extra night.
The next day a different PT came in the morning and showed me how to use my crutches and got me walking up and down the corridor, all was good and he said he would come back after lunch
however, a different Physio came after lunch this time a female PT and she again got me walking up and down the corridor and showed me how to turn and showed me how to negotiate up and down the stairs, all was good and I was allowed to go home and got my Step Son to pick me up.
Now I am not going to kid, setting my self down onto our sofa when I got in the house was agony ( it is quite low so extra cushions where the order of the day ) also sitting down on the loo was no picnic ( note..If you are offered a toilet seat extension frame take it I know I will next time ).
Now here comes a minus, I was asked which PT clinic I would like to attend and I chose one in my next town ( 2 miles away ) so they said they would get me booked in.
Two weeks later I went back to have my wound dressing removed and a long stitch snipped at the ends ( btw the wound was very neat and clean and I was told I could shower again but to avoid direct jet onto the scar and to wait three weeks before applying lotions and creams) the Nurse asked me how my physio was going because I was walking very well on one crutch and had excellent ROM and I said I hadn’t heard from the them but was doing all the exercises ( not squats I may add ) from the booklet they gave me, so she said she would chase them up and in the meantime to carry on doing what I was doing because it was obviously working.
Yesterday I had my meeting with my OS just a day short of seven weeks since surgery and he was over the moon with my progress.
I have full ROM and I can walk normally and with no pain and with no aids.
My scar has healed very nicely and the Bakers cyst went when the knee was removed.
I have been driving since last Tuesday with no problems whatsoever ( don’t forget here in the UK most of us drive geared cars..Stick shifts and therefore my left leg is using the clutch pedal all the time ).
I was told I can start riding my motorcycle again although I will probably give it another couple of weeks …Yippee !
I can go up and down stairs no problem and I am back walking my dog twice a day, probably 2 miles each walk and a lot better and quicker than before the op and of course pain free !
I have started getting a good nights sleep and I am sleeping back in our bed.
I no longer require painkillers.
All this was also achieved by doing my own physio because low and behold I have still not heard from the PT department ! ( was told by the Surgeon that I don’t need it anyway because I have already achieved full ROM )
I know that I am probably in a small group of people who have made very quick progress, in-fact the OS said I was at, in six to seven weeks, where most people are in six months so I am very pleased but I still can’t help thinking that this is all going a little too well ( I am the sort of person if I won a cruise in a prize draw it would have been on the Titanic ! ) but I am so glad I got this done and I am now scheduled for my TRKR at my request later this year ( need to get holidays out of the way ) so I should be like a new man.
Yes it was a painful operation and like others on here, at times, I questioned why I ever had it done and yes I also found it very difficult to sleep, in fact I spent nearly six weeks sleeping on our sofa but here I am just seven weeks later and only suffering very mild pain at night when the knee tightens a little but again I was told its just internal fluid that builds up during the day and this hopefully will dissipate over the next few weeks.
In my short recovery period I only really had one very painful day ( Jan 31st ) when I honestly thought I had dislodged something but the next day everything had settled down nicely again but yes I required prescription pain medication for around five weeks.
For anyone contemplating getting it done I would say just do it, here in the UK they perform around a 100 thousand knee replacements every year of which around 10 thousand are problematic ( usually sorted with antibiotics) and out of this around 1 thousand will require revision surgery so overall a very high success rate.
This forum is a wonderful resource and the staff here should be very proud of yourselves I found it very informative.
A success story !
Hello from another person from the UK.
I had my procedure done at a private hospital funded through our brilliant NHS on the 23rd January this year.
I am a 62 year male who unfortunately has suffered from Arthritis since a child but I have never let it get to me despite having to be pensioned off from my work early ( luckily I was in an excellent pension scheme so I get a full 40 year pension ).
I could have had my knees replaced 15 years ago but the consultant physiotherapist said ideally they liked people to be over 60 but he said he could see it needed doing and the decision was mine so I somewhat foolishly decided to wait with my knees with them in the meantime forever increasingly bowing and the bone on bone arthritis grinding into each other causing a lot of constant pain ( so bowed I couldn’t catch a pig in a bowling alley as they say ) but luckily I have a high pain threshold so I was actually able to cope quite well.
I came across this forum whilst recuperating on my sofa and it has been great and sometimes sad to read other peoples journeys but I thought I would like to join and post a success story to give others hope and not be put off about having the surgery.
My surgeon made no bones about it ( if you forgive the pun ) that this was painful major surgery and I would need to be prepared for swelling and bruising to continue for up to a year and even up to two years ,in fact a friend of mine still gets pain, stiffness and swelling twelve and a half years later and my elderly mother has had four operations on her right knee and has been told that if she gets another infection then unfortunately this time it will mean above knee amputation.
So with this in mind I was slightly intrepid about proceeding but the arthritic pain was now so bad it had to be done and besides, I had developed a large Bakers Cyst on the back of the knee.
I had the procedure late afternoon and had a general anaesthetic and spinal anaesthetic and had my operated leg placed in a pump type brace which massaged the leg throughout the night ( I have to admit the noise of it kept me awake).
Next morning the PT team arrived and got me out of bed and made me gently bend my knee both outwards and inwards ( I had good ROM ) and also made me stand which felt really nice.
They said they would come back in the afternoon and get me to walk up and down the corridor and up and down a flight of stairs and all being well I could go home late afternoon, unfortunately my blood pressure dropped quite significantly and all the plans where scuppered and I had to stay in hospital an extra night.
The next day a different PT came in the morning and showed me how to use my crutches and got me walking up and down the corridor, all was good and he said he would come back after lunch
however, a different Physio came after lunch this time a female PT and she again got me walking up and down the corridor and showed me how to turn and showed me how to negotiate up and down the stairs, all was good and I was allowed to go home and got my Step Son to pick me up.
Now I am not going to kid, setting my self down onto our sofa when I got in the house was agony ( it is quite low so extra cushions where the order of the day ) also sitting down on the loo was no picnic ( note..If you are offered a toilet seat extension frame take it I know I will next time ).
Now here comes a minus, I was asked which PT clinic I would like to attend and I chose one in my next town ( 2 miles away ) so they said they would get me booked in.
Two weeks later I went back to have my wound dressing removed and a long stitch snipped at the ends ( btw the wound was very neat and clean and I was told I could shower again but to avoid direct jet onto the scar and to wait three weeks before applying lotions and creams) the Nurse asked me how my physio was going because I was walking very well on one crutch and had excellent ROM and I said I hadn’t heard from the them but was doing all the exercises ( not squats I may add ) from the booklet they gave me, so she said she would chase them up and in the meantime to carry on doing what I was doing because it was obviously working.
Yesterday I had my meeting with my OS just a day short of seven weeks since surgery and he was over the moon with my progress.
I have full ROM and I can walk normally and with no pain and with no aids.
My scar has healed very nicely and the Bakers cyst went when the knee was removed.
I have been driving since last Tuesday with no problems whatsoever ( don’t forget here in the UK most of us drive geared cars..Stick shifts and therefore my left leg is using the clutch pedal all the time ).
I was told I can start riding my motorcycle again although I will probably give it another couple of weeks …Yippee !
I can go up and down stairs no problem and I am back walking my dog twice a day, probably 2 miles each walk and a lot better and quicker than before the op and of course pain free !
I have started getting a good nights sleep and I am sleeping back in our bed.
I no longer require painkillers.
All this was also achieved by doing my own physio because low and behold I have still not heard from the PT department ! ( was told by the Surgeon that I don’t need it anyway because I have already achieved full ROM )
I know that I am probably in a small group of people who have made very quick progress, in-fact the OS said I was at, in six to seven weeks, where most people are in six months so I am very pleased but I still can’t help thinking that this is all going a little too well ( I am the sort of person if I won a cruise in a prize draw it would have been on the Titanic ! ) but I am so glad I got this done and I am now scheduled for my TRKR at my request later this year ( need to get holidays out of the way ) so I should be like a new man.
Yes it was a painful operation and like others on here, at times, I questioned why I ever had it done and yes I also found it very difficult to sleep, in fact I spent nearly six weeks sleeping on our sofa but here I am just seven weeks later and only suffering very mild pain at night when the knee tightens a little but again I was told its just internal fluid that builds up during the day and this hopefully will dissipate over the next few weeks.
In my short recovery period I only really had one very painful day ( Jan 31st ) when I honestly thought I had dislodged something but the next day everything had settled down nicely again but yes I required prescription pain medication for around five weeks.
For anyone contemplating getting it done I would say just do it, here in the UK they perform around a 100 thousand knee replacements every year of which around 10 thousand are problematic ( usually sorted with antibiotics) and out of this around 1 thousand will require revision surgery so overall a very high success rate.
This forum is a wonderful resource and the staff here should be very proud of yourselves I found it very informative.
That's a new one to me! You are amusing. 
Happy Two Month Anniversary!
