TKR What finally made you decide to have a knee replacement?

@Celle I'm glad your surgery was a success. I've also had a couple of scopes done, both for meniscus tears. the first was in 2017 was necessary, the second one, four months ago helped a little with knee buckling but the OA is so bad that I think I could have skipped the meniscus and just waited for a TKR.
 
@GiantFinnegan I know what you mean. Stairs are a killer for me. I am able to walk around the neighborhood but the longer I walk the more pain and stiffness I experience.
 
Everyone, I appreciate all your replies. Thank you for sharing your stories with me. I'm about 95% convinced to get the TKR. I just don't know how bad is "too bad" and is the timing right for me. I'm active duty military and either way this will impact my career however, I think my best chance to continue is to have the TKR done.
 
As my arthritis continued to worsen after arthroscopy, injections, and therapy, the pain became constant. My quality of life has been deteriorating due to my knee and I want to be able to enjoy life. I decided it was time!
 
I have been dealing with bad knees since I was about 36. I have done the injections, the gel and the cortisone off and on for many years. Both of my knees are bone on bone and my doctors have said I was end stage OA. I am 49 years old, and they finally have scheduled my surgery for April 1. Yay! I will be having my left knee replaced first. I am a bit nervous some but, I am also ready to hopefully and prayerfully be able to do things that I haven’t been able to do for so many years. The pain in my left knee is worse than my right so I decided to get that one done first. I’m so glad I found this place. Thanks in advance for reading my post! Any and all advice, comments, etc is appreciated. ☺
Please let us know how you're doing!
 
This article might help @chimaek.

 
I'm 44 with severe osteoarthritis in my right knee. Two doctors have said that I should wait as long as possible to have a replacement but one is willing to do the surgery. I've been told that if I was 10-15 years older they would definitely recommend replacement due to the condition of my knee. The only hesitation now is my age. So my question is, what was the end point for you? When did you say to yourself I have to get a knee replacement?
When mine got so painful I couldn’t hardly walk, made me decide to have the surgery
 
I knew my knees were bad but the improvement after tkr was so dramatic, in retrospect I don't know how I was coping.
 
The most common comment I get from others I meet who have had joint replacement surgery is they should have done it sooner.
 
I made my decision. I have a right TKR scheduled for June 29. I live in Japan and apparently a 2-3 week hospital stay is normal here so I'm not looking forward to that.
 
I watched my wife suffer with a degenerated knee that caused her world to shrink down until the TKR three years ago. Her fear of pain of the surgery/recovery was finally overcome by the pain itself. It was hard to watch for me, and she suffered waiting for no gain at all. For me, I had a torn medial meniscus 40 years ago, that I was able to function reasonably well on up until Dec of last year. I learned from my wife, and others, that waiting for the repair actually costs aliveness and makes the recovery that much harder, so I had my TKR last month. I thank all of those who shared their experience and made my choice easier! I went in strong, and am healing very nicely. The "holding out" conversation is just not right; hold out for what? We are fortunate enough to live in a time when we can don't have to lose the activities we love when we have a diseased knee. I have become a sort of evangelist for friends who have degenerated knees. Fix it NOW!
 

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