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TKR New, young, and afraid

Thank you for responding @Roy Gardiner. I do need both knees done. I have thought about how much time in between the two but honestly i don’t know. I sometimes think that i would want both done in the same year since i can’t imagine being in recovery two consecutive years as i am a mother of a teen who i primarily support and take care of. Both my knees are in bad shape and i also wonder if that will inhibit my recovery. Relying on a bad knee while i heal on the “new knee”.
 
Thank you @Claire56 for sharing your pictures! Your legs are STRAIGHT now! Wow that’s incredible. The scars will fade. And besides if people can see those scars They are looking to closely at your knees! That’s their problem not yours. I’m not gonna lie I’m so scared. Scared of the recovery. Scared of NOT recovering and not having any type of life afterwards
 
Hi again. I think your fears are completely normal. I've had both knees done and knee #1 is still a little stiff and will click but feels better than before surgery. Knee #2 is still in the early stages of healing but is steadily improving. I still worry about whether or not my knees will ever be normal then remember that they haven't been normal for a long time. I do believe that I am going to be able to actually enjoy doing the things I want to do without that voice at the back of my mind going "ouch, ouch, ouch". Recovery takes time but as the moderators will say, the majority of people make it through without complications.

BTW, I have also been called shortstuff throughout my life. At 5'0" I figure it fits.:loll:
 
I’m 4’11 @Claire56. We definitely are shorties :loll:how long in between your two knees?You're right these new knees of yours will be a different “normal”. Hopefully pain free knees that allow you to live your life fully.
 
@Shortstuff26 my knees were done 5 months apart. August 20 and January 13th. I think it would have been ok to have them done closer together but in my case 5 months gave the first knee time to heal enough to better handle having knee 2 compromised.

There are a few things that I can't do comfortably yet but I know that it will come.
 
@Shortstuff26 .... you might want to consider having both knees done at the same time. Lots of people feel this is the best way to go because you only have one surgery and one recovery. Not all surgeons will do a bilateral knee replacement, but some do.

If you want to read about BTKR recoveries, just go to the post op forum index page (look under the KNEE link in your toolbar at the top of the page), find a thread with the BTKR prefix and then click on the prefix. It will bring up and index page of all BTKR threads for you.

I'm a "shorty" too.....5'2" (but sometimes I fudge and say I'm 5'3".....just to feel a bit taller). :heehee:
 
Jamie said:
If you want to read about BTKR recoveries
Click to expand...
:wave:

I cannot speak too highly of it. The downside is being immobile, pretty much, for a couple of weeks then very limited mobility for a fair while; you need good support. The upside is huge - one surgery, one recovery, no imbalance operated/non-operated.
Shortstuff26 said:
i am a mother of a teen who i primarily support and take care of
Click to expand...
Your teen will be supporting you for a while. Can that work?

My BILATERAL TKR Recovery Diary
 
@Jamie @Roy Gardiner I asked my OS at our initial meeting about doing both and he said he would rather not and likes at least 8 weeks between each knee. I was thinking like 3 months apart. (Is that realistic) I have a lot of support. My parents live in the same city as me and my mom is prepared to stay with me the first 10 days of each surgery. My son is 13 and helps with a lot of the house chores. How long did you each live with the pain before you decided to do surgery?
 
@Shortstuff26 @Claire56 Heehee I've got you both beat. I'm 4'9". Did you have anyone recommend the toilet seat extender? At my last surgery a woman did while she was standing next to me.
 
Ask the nurses, if you can; they know who's best
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I did. When my last OS retired I asked a friend who "knew people". She said the head orthopedic nurse recommended my doc and I said, good enough for me!
 
@Shortstuff26 & @mamallama I stayed overnight for my first knee and the bathroom had a riser. My feet wouldn't touch the floor and the pressure of the seat against my thigh hurt like a son of a gun! At home we weighted a small box to prop my foot up on.

The reason my thigh hurt is that they use a tourniquet to control bleeding. This can cause brusing. For first knee it was painful but I didn't have the same problem with knee 2.
 
@Shortstuff26 The steroid injections worked great on one knee and hardly at all on my other knee. I was able to go almost 2 yrs of having steroid injections on my Rt knee. I knew it was time for surgery when the pain was severe even at rest and I couldn’t walk far at all! I might have been able to go longer but I can’t take NSAIDS.
And the people that have said they would never have a TKR might eat their words if they experience the pain and debility of bone on bone pain and having to sit out on normal activities that they would normally do. Truly affects your quality of life.
Ortho docs used to discourage younger people back when replacements only lasted 10-15 yrs because they knew they would need replacements again in older age. But now with the newer hardware, replacements are lasting so much longer.
I agree with everyone else about getting a second opinion.
As far as continuing your running after TKR, I think it depends on the Dr. I know they say the hardware won’t last quite as long in runners.
I have known many who have done well having both knees done at same time. I am personally glad that my knees went bad 5 yrs apart and I wasn’t faced with that.
As far as your fear, the fact that you have good support will help sooooo much. Try not to be fearful. There are great medicines now to control pain and the actual surgery is the easiest part of having a TKR. The recovery is the challenging part and everyone has a different experience.
Best of luck to you and will keep you in my prayers!
 
In many cases waiting to have a bad knee replaced can make the surgery more involved, meaning more time in the operating room. Not that a surgeon can't handle it, but the longer a surgery takes, the more likely you are to have increased post op pain because the soft tissues are stressed for longer periods of time.

I waited almost a full year on my first knee because I didn't know any better (hadn't found BoneSmart yet) and I was afraid of the surgery. With my second knee, I had it replaced as soon as the pain started and the surgeon confirmed I was bone on bone. Recovery Number Two was definitely easier for me.

Once you are bone on bone, there really is nothing to be done to make things better except to replace your joint. Continuing to grind the bones together just keeps your knee inflamed and makes things worse.

I think you're right to go with whatever your surgeon is recommending on when you do each knee. You want to keep him in his "comfort zone" and he knows your situation better than anyone.
 
I really like my OS @Susie-Q, he has a good reputation with the nurses, great bedside manner and he is rated #2 in the state of OK. I have started the referral process to get a second opinion only to confirm that this is the next step but i plan to have surgery by my current OS. @Sks1997 i have made peace with no longer running. It was fun while it lasted. I now use a stationary bike which i also enjoy and i imagine will enjoy even more with painless knees! I also believe that it’s easy to say you’ll never do something when you aren’t facing that decision yourself. If i had a dollar for every time i ended up doing something i said i would “never” do lord only knows how much money I’d have :heehee: jk! thank you for your prayers! I follow yours and @Susie-Q current journey and it’s been so helpful reading from people who’ve actually done it. @Jamie I have decided that if the second opinion also recommends TKR i will
Do it this winter. I know my knees aren’t going to get better. My left hurts more than my right. But my right is more swollen. I want you guys to know that I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. I feel more informed and I’ll be more prepared because of this forum.
 
Hi, I'm 50 and 7 weeks post op. All the medical staff have been telling me I'm going to have a replacement. I know a friend in his 30s that has just had an osteotomy instead of tkr, I am of the opinion and so was my physio and surgeon that it is not the best option (another surgeon recommended it to me) and I feel the same about partial knee replacement. You haven't said why the tkr was advised? Do you have bad degenerative arthritis ?
I wouldn't put people off a tkr if that was the best option for them but in your case I would do as much research as possible and speak to different surgeons. In any of the options above, osteotomy, partial and full replacement, you are going to have some bone removed. It's arthritic bone but the more that's removed the less your surgeon will have to work with later down the line. This is one of the reasons they don't like to do them at a young age as you are likely to need a revision. My advice would be to do your homework, ask for medical opinions from surgeons, doctors and physiotherapists. Speak to others that have had the surgery. If you do them decide to have the op do some work to strengthen your muscles before and be at your best health. Good luck with your decision.
 
Thank you for responding @Tegbennett. I was diagnosed with early onset arthritis. I am grade 4 Bone on bone in my left knee and grade 3 on my right. I’ve had an MRI on each knee which shows these grades although the MRI were taken for MCL strains i had caused that’s how this whole thing came about. I had no idea i had arthritis prior to these injuries. Later once i was referred to a knee surgeon he took X-rays on both knees and you can see my left knee no longer has any cartilage left and my right has very little. I know that at my age I most likely will have a revision surgery in my future if i were to have surgery now. I also know that in my 13 years of Nursing (not orthopedic Nurse) I have watched people of all ages pass away and I know life is not guaranteed at any age. Quality of life IMO is more important than quantity and I definitely plan on talking to as many surgeons as i can. I already have started the referral process to get a second opinion. May I ask what led you to make the decision of having your surgery at 50? Had you been putting it off for a while?
 
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@Roy Gardiner He said that in his experience most people struggle with recovery with one knee and he feels like BTKR is more than what most people can handle. That makes you the exception!
 
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Nothing special about me. I'd go for the shortest possible gap between the TKRs, your recovery doesn't start until the 2nd one is done.
 
Here are some members who had bilateral:
bonesmart.org

Knee Surgery Recovery Area

For post-operative knee patients, on the "other side"
bonesmart.org bonesmart.org

Not that we are pressuring you to go this direction, but I thought you might be interested in looking at their recovery threads.

In my case, I don’t think my knees would ever have to be done at the same time, since I already have a partial, but I fear my hips may be going towards replacement, and if they are, I want them both done at the same time, or at the very least, as close together as possible, so I just have one recovery. When I was in my joint class shortly before my surgery there was a woman there having both hips done, but one on Monday and the other on Wednesday, of the same week.
 
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