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Time Line?

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koditten

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I see my third Doctor on thursday for 2nd opinion. Just to make sure that we can all agree that I need a new knee.

My question is, if I get a concurring assesment that I need the knee and I get a confident feeling that this surgeon is capable for my replacement, how long did you have to wait from the replacement assesment to the time you actually went under the knife.

I have been cleared to be absent from work up to 3 months with no questions asked. All co workers and supervision have told me to wait no longer and get it done.

If this doctor says I want to change out your knee, and I say ok, am I still looking at 3 or 4 months to wait? I am so not living my life the way I envisioned!

One other question. In relation to my previous 'scopes I was told "no NSAIDs for a full week before the surgery'. I have tried going one day without drugs and one day was all I could manage. Do the knee surgeons require this as well? I know it is for my best interest not to have thinned blood.

Thanks

Kirk
 
I was lucky enough to get into surgery 10 days after going back to the OS to beg for the knee replacement. I ended up not having to beg (although I did grovel a little).

No NSAIDs before surgery. I think that's standard. They even told me no green tea. You'll have to gut it out the week before your surgery.

Good luck!
 
Kirk,
My OS schedules appointments 3 months out.... I went in Dec of 07 for my evaluation and he could have done it in early March. For my own reasons, I scheduled for June of 08. I had BTKR.
Most good OS are booked in advance. I would check to see if you could also be put on the cancellation list, as there are those who schedule the surgery and back out for one reason or another. JMO
Best,
 
Same, my surgeron did mine 8 days after I saw him. True about the medicine, I think all medicine is stopped 1 week prior. I agree I needed the advil myself...I just used ice and did the best that I could. Let the surgeon know, you have waitied so long for someone to agree to do it. Now you have all your ducks in a row and your ready.....Good luck. ps sounds like you work at a terrific and inderstanding place.
 
Kirk,
My surgeon typically is booked up six to eight weeks in advance, so that's not an uncommon thing to hear. I think it would be longer in an area with a smaller surgeon-to-population ratio, and shorter in a place like Houston( where I went) where there are a dozen good OS knee guys.

As for the meds, they absolutely do not want you taking NSAIDs or any blood thinning stuff for a week before they cut you open. Makes sense, don't want a bleeder on the table. And then, of course, the moment they stitch you up they LOAD you with blood thinners. To prevent clots.

I was in a position similar to yours, in that it was really painful to try to get through a day without my ibuprophen. I was taking 1600 mg a day. My OS told me I had to stop that. So I said "whats the alternative for the pain?" and they prescribed a hydrocodone/acetominophen combo ( Tylenol # 3) and it worked like a charm. Worked better than the over-the-counter ibuprophen ( motrin) I had been scarfing.

You might try just telling the OS that you need something for day to day pain in order to even function. Mine didn 't hesitate to substitute something for the NSAIDs.
 
My surgeon said no meds 48 hours before surgery and his nurse says a week. I did the 48 hours. No problems. They are more afraid of the bleeding that asprin and some meds may cause.

I had my surgery scheduled about a month and a half out. At that he put me in early because of my other doctor who was a friend of my OS. Otherwise it would have been a couple of months.

Just reading between the lines (so to speak) it does not sound like you have complete confidence in your surgeon. That I think is something you really need. Or maybe you are referring to the second opinion doctor. Not sure which one will be doing the surgery the first or second one.

Good luck and glad to hear you office is on board with you being out to recoup.
 
Hi Kirk and welcome to BoneSmart!
I had BTKR on May 18--off all NSAIDS for 10 days prior to surgery. I used tynelol (generously) with Tynelol PM and a little nip of Irish wiskey to sleep at night. I was expecting more pain than I had--it wasn't perfect, but I was able to drive, go to work, and function OK. I actually slept better than usual (thank you, Irish!) You will find that each of us is unique and if you listen to your body, you'll find what works for you.
Blessings,
Irene
 
Sounds like a good prescription there Sticker. Irish wiskey what a deal. Yep that should do it.

Seriously thought talk to your doctor about something like Gringo did.
 
yeah, there's absolutely no reason for a doc to say "NO meds for 48 hrs prior" etc. Whats up with that? As long as they, and the anestheisiologist guy, know what you have been taking and how much, etc. they can account for that. Heck, they are going to hit you right between the eyes, medically speaking, anyhow. They don't want your blood thinned. That seems to be the main thing.

Just talk to the doc. Say you need to take something in order to walk, and sleep. 5 mg. of hydrocodone every three hours is nothing.

Now, thinking hard about it, my doc DID tell me I could take one pain pill the morning of the surgery, and only enough of a sip of water to get it down with. Of course nothing else to eat or drink since midnight the night before.
 
Having just taken my sister for her pre-op assessment for a THR next week, I sat in on the interview and the nurse told her to take all her medications the morning of the op - she is to report at 12md for a 2pm start list. She also takes morphine slow release 2 times a day and oramorph every 2 hrs. She was told to carry on taking these right up until they took her to theatre providing she told the anaesthetist when he comes to see her.

I was a okay about the 'first thing in the morning' meds as this is the routine I had. But taking the oral morphine right up to the start is something new to me. Trouble is, she really does need it as she is at the very end of her tether with this pain which has been going on in extremis for one thing or another for 5 years now! First two knees and now a hip. First thing the nurse said to her was that she was very pale. Indeed! You try have a pain score of 10-15 for 5 years non-stop!

I hope either the anaesthetist lets her have the oramorph or gives her something IV.

An alternative take on the taking of routine meds pre-op!
 
Well, that makes sense to me. The anesthesia people know your body weight, how much of what you took, how long it takes to metabolize, and they must just figure that in. Seems pretty simple to me, from a chemical point of view.

Any doc that says NO meds for 48 hours before surgery is way 'old school', from back in the 80s when they felt you needed to just take two aspirin and tough it out, whatever it was. That all has changed. Today, the medical profession has come to understand this whole concept of 'pain management'. Pain serves no useful purpose once it has alerted you to an injury and you are taking steps to isolate and care for that injury. The whole pain response is left over from our cave man, evolution days. Pain kept our ancestors safe in the cave instead of out running with the herd and being the slowest one in the herd due to an injury. Those pre-humans that either did not have, or ignored crippling injury pain, became food for something else. The ones that stayed in the cave til the ankle healed lived to pass those traits on. So we developed pain to alert us to a problem, and to keep us immobile while it healed. We just don't have within us any easy means to turn the pain "warning light" off. Otherwise, early man would have just turned it off. So would modern pro athletes.

This was explained to me by a really good physical therapist, by the way, and it made sense. I had already worked out that pain serves no useful purpose once you know of an injury. And the docs these days seem to embrace the whole concept. They will give you whatever it takes to control the pain while you are under their care. At least all the ones I have run into in recent years will.
 
I have taken Arthotec for years and had to stop seven days prior to each surgery which for me would have been "hell". Per my doctor was able to take Celebrex in place of the Arthrotec and he gave me samples.
 
Gringo, I am very pleased for you. So many people both on here and in real life, have sadly fallen into the hands of the old school!
 
Haven't you found that medicine and doctors just keep getting better?

Reminds me of something I read recently. I don't remember the exact words, but it was basically that people are not seeing the whole picture when they hear that "only the strong survive". That's just short term.

In the long term, it's not the strong so much as it is the adaptable that survive. Because the only thing we can really count on is that things are constantly in a state of change.
 
With that no arguing is there, Obi Wan!

[Bonesmart.org] Time Line?
 
Dr said 10 days for NSAIDs, aspirin, AND fish oil! Yes, fish oil is also an anti inflammatory.

Welcome
Barb
 
It was the same for me--no anti-inflammatories and nothing oil based, including Vitamin E. They want to control your blood thinness, and those thing can thin your blood. I think it's a delicate balance between too thin and too thick.
 
Members and Friends:

Things moved along much faster than I expected. I just got word that I will get my knee replaced on 6/24. I got myself all worked up thinking it would be several months. I am really looking forward to recovery during the warmer months here in Michigan. I remember having a plain old knee scope in January and that was misery trying to find a window to walk when I did not have to worry about Ice.

I have confidence in this new surgeon, especially after asking him the questions that I learned to ask from this group. You guys and gals were great in steering me in the right direction. I do not know how I would have gone about getting this to happen without your valuable input.

Expect to here from me later, especially as I get close to the date. Some one in this group said the 2 hardest things about a knee replacement was scheduling a date and actually going to the surgery. Lets see if they knew what they were talking about.

Later

Kirk in Mid Michigan
 
That's great news, Kirk! You'll be getting your life back before you know it! Good luck and keep posting!
 
I live in Michigan, too, and had my first knee replacement last July, the second is coming up in a month! I think it is a good time to recuperate. You can wear shorts for months, and sandals if you like. By the time you must wear long pants, your scar isn't as touchy. Good luck with your surgery!
 
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