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My OS said that it wasn't necessary. Thank goodness that it wasn't. Best of luck!
 
I didn't self donate blood but I can see why they might want your iron up so that you aren't anywhere near anemic. Maybe they want to pump it up a bit for a "cushion" when you do lose a bit of blood in the op.:scratch:
 
I hurt soooooooooo bad today. I don't know how I am going to wait untill Feb. for this. I am so tired of the pain. I am starting to get some of the equipment I will need. I won a transfer bench off ebay today. Now I will work on the toilet bars. I still think I will get a new taller toilet. I just think it will be so much easier. A friend has a walker I can use. I have crutches already. I still have to get a cane. I just want to be prepared in advance. :xmastree:
 
Roxanne, if you have health insurance I would check with them as to what is covered regarding home health aides before buying anything more. Also check with your hospital - between the two of them, I was provided the walker, grabber, and combo beside toilet-shower seat-toilet riser.
You'll probably also go through a few weeks being close to pain-free and will begin to question whether or not the TKR is necessary - I know I did, and then within 10 days of the first TKR the pain came back as an answer!
 
Flordia I don't know what is going on with it today. I got a cortisone shot last week with the thought that it would get me through the holidays. The last one I got lasted three weeks before the pain came back. Now today it is just screaming at me. Its been a whole week. Great advice about checking with the inurance company and hospital. I thought it was up to us to purchase the items. If it is covered why buy it now? I love you guys. So helpful.
 
I discovered that the last round or two of cortisone shots weren't giving me consistent relief. I'd be doing great for the first few weeks, then in pain for a day or 2 or 10 then good for another few weeks. I chalked some of mine up to my not needing to ignore the pain any longer since relief was in sight, if this makes any sense to you.

You may have the opportunity to go to a "joint class" sponsored by your OS and/or hospital where you'll get a LOT of the information you'll need. If you are offered one, I'd recommend going as soon as possible so that you'll know what you'll need to be prepared for/to get. The wait until February is going to be awful, I can tell you that!
 
Yes, checking with insurance is a good idea. My hospital and insurance are all part of the same "health system" and so they set up the walker for me & I could rent the toilet arms set up. They also delivered the cpm (not all doctors use those) within a few hours of me getting home. I had a co-pay but it wasn't too bad.
 
The blood donation is not standard. Depends on the doctor. Blood is so safe today. I wouldnt worry about transfusions (just my personal opinion)
 
With the left knee, for the 1st two days they had a machine that "cleaned" my own blood, and it was then pumped in again. I wish I had that for the second one but it was a new type of bandaid that they put on instead and had a little suction pump that collected the old blood. I never needed a transfusion.
 
I have decided to be proactive with the upcoming hip surgery since they cannot use a tourniquet. What I found out was that my iron levels were normal..of course it was assumed that they weren't because of the blood loss from the surgery.So my anemia was not from iron depletion.
But I am one of those who developed kidney disease from all the NSAIDS for so many years. Eating them like candy..way before we knew all the damage that they did..or it was known but not made so public. And I never thought to share it with my doctors. Don't know if they can do anything before..well there are drugs but there are side effects and not something I want to go through. It was just assumed that my tremendous fatigue was from the surgery so now I suggest that blood counts be done. This past January I was diagnosed. Two years after my knee replacements. This is just from my personal experience but something that others should be aware of.

Not in any way am I saying that NSAIDS are bad. Just be aware that you need to let your PCP know that you are taking them, abide by the limits that are recommended and keep an eye on your blood counts.
 
Well my friends. My husband of 32 years got sick and was throwing up blood on Sunday December 23. I finally got him to the hospital later that day ( that was no easy feat, he refused to go). He was in complete liver failure and bleeding internally. The doctors said there was nothing they could do as his liver was gone. All they could offer is to keep him comfortable. They moved him to a beautiful hospice facility and made him comfortable. He passed away Christmas night in my arms. Now my question is do I continue on with my replacement on Feb. 18th. Can I do this alone. I do have children but none that live with me I will be by myself for the most part. We have a small farm and I have made arrangements to have some help feeding the animals for a couple of weeks and then I will reevaluate at that time. What do you all think?
 
rjanes, I am so sorry to hear about your husband. What a horrible surprise. I am a widow and I went thru my surgies alone. However my husband had been gone for many years before I had the surgry. Personally I would run this buy my OS. You were saying how much pain you were in and that isn't going to change until you have surgrey. As I write this I asked myself what would I have done it? The answer would of been yes with the doctor knowing. You are a very brave person and you will thru this. We will help you thru the replacement. We are here 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. You can also talk about your feeling whatever they are. Please keep us informed how you are doing. Take care. Tashia
 
I'm so sorry to hear about your loss Roxanne! I know you must feel so overwhelmed. I agree with Tashia, discuss it with your OS and get some feedback. There are a LOT of people on the boards who have gone through a TKR (and even a BTKR I think) alone so it is doable. I'm sure there will be many more responses to your post so you'll hear a lot of different (and similar) opinions.

In the meantime, take care of yourself. I so wish I was there to give you a big hug! I'm sending you lots of virtual ones!
 
[Bonesmart.org] New to this site. My journey is just starting.
Roxanne, I am so sorry for your loss. I think it is wise to take a couple of weeks before making any definite decision about your surgery, and I agree that you should talk with your OS. You should be able to do it alone, however, the questions is whether you will feel up to doing it alone at this time. Please take care of yourself and keep us posted. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
 
Roxanne, so sorry you have lost your companion of 32 years...what a difficult adjustment for you to make. I too think you should give yourself a bit of time to decide what you want to do. Perhaps you should call the OS office and find out what the last back out date would be...in other words when is the last day you could change your mind and not mess up his schedule.
I hope your family is able to give you a lot of support in the next few months.
 
Roxanne, I am so sorry to hear about your husband and my thoughts are with you. Like others have said, take some time in making the decision. Physically, there should be no reason that you couldn't move forward. However, as a lot of people here (including me) have experienced, depression may very well set in just from the surgery/meds (?) alone. I would be concerned that with no immediate support system in your home with you that the recovery could prove to be extremely difficult in compounding your grief with this "recovery depression".
Best of luck to you, and please let us know how you're doing.
 
Well so far I decided to continue forward and have the surgery. My sister-in-law will come and stay with me the first week and my brother will come and stay the second week and so on. So I am going to have my knee fixed. My brother came down from Wisconsin when he found out about my husband. While he was here he replaced my toilet to a high rise (its wonderful) and he put my couch up on some landscape timbers, so I am on my way to getting ready. I went and had an echocardiogram and saw my Cardiologist and got my medical clearance from him. I go to my Primary care doctor on the 25th of this month for the rest of the tests. I go to my joint class on the 27th of this month and my preop after the class. So I am moving forward. It keeps my mind busy so I don't dwell on the loss of my husband. I would like to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers. Lord knows I need them. The animals are helping me to stay grounded and a reason to go home after work. I returned to work today, so I am hoping that a routine will help too.
Roxanne
 
You are one amazing woman. How terrific that you have such great support. Your family sounds terrific and you also have your BS family.
The best to you.
 
I agree with Merry, so glad you have a supportive family. It makes all the difference. Take care of yourself Roxanne; we're thinking about you.
 
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