I have been away for a while. Things were going smoothly for me, well, sort-of. I had BTKR in March 2017 and after many many months of ups and downs, I was able to walk around about 1/4 as much as I did before my knee started going bad. The worst advice I ever got was the knee surgeon who told me 10 years earlier that while my knees looked like those of a professional soccer player, I should hold off on tkr as long as possible because the techniques and materials get better all the time and to avoid the high possibility of needing to replace the replacement (I was in my 50s). So I finally went in when I had gone from being an active hiker and sports person to barely being able to walk around the supermarket. I went to a different surgeon and found the rare individual in this country willing to do both knees at the same time.
The reason I did not regain my full abilities at sports and hiking was because my muscles were so degenerated from lack of use that it takes a long time to rebuild them. I started along that process and then other things got in the way.
Anyway, a year later, I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. After getting my cancer under control, a stem cell transplant (SCT) was scheduled, but before that could happen, the Hickman line they put in my chest for giving me the chemo got infected and the infection went to my right knee. Suddenly, I could not walk. My surgeon gave me VIP treatment in emergency and admitted me to the hospital. The immunologist insisted on a total revision surgery but I did not want that. My surgeon agreed to try doing surgery in which he merely rinses out the infection or whatever he did there, without replacing parts. I did not want to delay my SCT. So I did that minimal surgery and four weeks later was walking normally and did the SCT with great success.
Now, a year and two months after that minimal surgery, the infection came back with a vengeance. I no longer live in the same town (I was a 5-minute walk from the hospital) but I still consulted with my former surgeon, the only one I trust to cut my knee open. He just "gets" me. Plus he gives me VIP treatment in the hospital. I feel really cared for by him. After getting over my shock of barely being able to walk again, I am now accepting of the need for 2-stage revision. I am at the point where the pain is so bad that I can barely walk around my house even with a walker. OTC pain meds help but not totally. My surgeon has been on Christmas vacation and I decided to go home from the hospital and wait for him to be back at work. I don't want anyone else. So, tomorrow I will be hospitalized and on Jan 4 I get the spacer put it.
I remember what it was like getting up from surgery the next day, but then it was both knees (and funny cuz the PT did not know where to stand to help me get up for the first time). I remember that I was well protected from pain by an epidural and then by narcotics for a while. I don't know if they will be this kind with only one knee done. I also don't remember how many clean clothes I need to take to rehab or if I wear hospital gowns even there. Serious questions like that!
Anyway, tomorrow my daughter drives me all the way from south of Tel Aviv up to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. I am trying to get into a rehab facility near where I live now so it will be easier for my daughter to visit me. Although, since we are in lockdown here in Israel, I don't know if she will be able to come in any case.
I admit that I am scared to have to go through all of this again. Never thought I would ever be on the operating table ever again in my life. But more than scared, I am in pain. Soooo, bring on the knife and let's get this over with!!!
United States
Not that your situation was all that funny--as you know, I had to take my toilet chair to our new-to-us condo specifically because of the danged low toilets there. Who thinks to check things like that when they're vacation-house hunting?? 
