Knee Surgery

[Old Rooster]

With a positive attitude like you have right now I bet you will do better than most!
The end of January I will be done with P T and the P T lady says I have already exceeded the doctors expectations for 8 weeks and I have only been doing P T for a little over 5 weeks. I am not special, I just put my mind to it.

 

[Turpentine21]

With a positive attitude like you have right now I bet you will do better than most!
The end of January I will be done with P T and the P T lady says I have already exceeded the doctors expectations for 8 weeks and I have only been doing P T for a little over 5 weeks. I am not special, I just put my mind to it.

I am just curious. Did your doctor do a block? The surgeon I'm using does not do them.

 

[Old Rooster]

Pain block? Yes
Caution, the pain block will make you think it will be a breeze. The day after my surgery I claimed to visitors that it was a piece of cake but the following day the pain block packed its bags and left suddenly. Pain replaced the pain block. A friend who had the same surgery a month earlier down in Louisiana did not have the pain block as his doctor said it gives people a false sense of reality. I think he may have been right.
Even without the pain block, you can do it as they gave me pain pills and I expect you will get the same.
You have had so many other surgeries that I bet you will be just fine. I found I had about 1 week of fairly hard pain and then very little pain.
Just a rock in the road of life my friend.

 

[Turpentine21]

Thank you sir. I'm not sure why my doctor does not do a block. But I trust him. He's great at what he does. I'm sure he has his reasons. You probably get tired of reading about my surgeries. If so I apologize. I counsel folks that have had or are going to have surgeries like mine. So if just one person reads this and it helps them in some way I feel like it's worth it. Folks can certainly learn from your experience with your knee. I found that with mid and lower back multiple level fusions or work the pain would be excruciating for about 4 days. Then when you were able to get up and get moving gradually things smoothed out. Oddly, with my neck fusion, I never felt any pain, only relief. One of my vocal cords was temporarily paralyzed for six weeks. I could only speak in whispers. My wife said she wished they had paralyzed both sides..When I got flesh eating bacteria in a wound in my elbow, the bacteria actually ate halfway through my tricep tendon and liquified the bone. Very scary time. I had a hole in my elbow that looked like I got shot with a 45 a the bone was visible. They had to grind down until they found good healthy bone then stitch and reattach the tendon to bone. That operation likely has some similarities with knee surgery. Being that it's a large, continually used flexing joint. It was certainly painful but at least that's not a weight bearing joint like the knee. I appreciate your response. I wanted to tell you also. My wife had both of her knees replaced in October, 23. No block. She's a tough gal with a high tolerance for pain. She had residual pain for about a year while they healed and would use ice. She told me the other day she has been virtually pain free for 3 months now.

 

[Old Rooster]

You have been through the mill brother! I sure wish the best for you. You post as much as you like, I enjoy your posts and read all of them.
I am doing well. Saw the P T Lady today and she said all is well. 3 hour visit and she said keep up the good work.
I just have a few more visits and I am done.

 

[Turpentine21]

You have been through the mill brother! I sure wish the best for you. You post as much as you like, I enjoy your posts and read all of them.
I am doing well. Saw the P T Lady today and she said all is well. 3 hour visit and she said keep up the good work.
I just have a few more visits and I am done.

I appreciate it. Very good news. Sounds like you've got it beat for the most part. Now your body just needs to keep doing its part. It heals in its own sweet time. Funny I had a nurse tell me after a surgery that I needed to eat a lot of red meat to help the bone regenerate and heal. I told her that was one requirement I'd have no problem with++++.
I'll be there soon. I'm not worried about it at all. It's just another necesary thing in a long line of necessary things. I just hope they can get to me in early February. The hard date is March 10 but I really don't want to wait that long.

 

[Mark37082]

For many years I tried to follow the "if you can walk into the hospital, don't ". Things have changed for me and my family. My wife had knee replacement surgery a few months ago. She was diligent on PT, and now she is moving around without pain she endured for many years prior to surgery. Now she is scheduling a surgery for a torn rotator and bicep. This one sounds like a tough and long recovery period ahead.
We are very blessed with significant advances in medical procedures today. I wish the best for those that go through these procedures. Like most other things, the diligence and effort you put into PT should pay off.

 

[Old Rooster]

I'll be looking forward to hearing about both your wife's recovery and Turpentine21's recovery in the coming next couple of months.
I can remember a time when some problems could not be repaired. My uncle tore his bicep and it stayed that way until he passed. That was in the mid 1960's. He had a huge lump in his right arm where his muscle used to be and now it can be repaired. Medical advances amazes me but am so glad for the advances.

 

[Turpentine21]

For many years I tried to follow the "if you can walk into the hospital, don't ". Things have changed for me and my family. My wife had knee replacement surgery a few months ago. She was diligent on PT, and now she is moving around without pain she endured for many years prior to surgery. Now she is scheduling a surgery for a torn rotator and bicep. This one sounds like a tough and long recovery period ahead.
We are very blessed with significant advances in medical procedures today. I wish the best for those that go through these procedures. Like most other things, the diligence and effort you put into PT should pay off.

I was the same way. I hated to go to the doctor and only went as a last resort. Then I had my accident. I went from totally independent to the exact opposite. I couldn't even take care of myself in the bathroom. If you or her, or anyone else on this forum needs someone to talk to, feel free to pm me. Sometimes it just helps to know you're not alone.
PT is a good thing as long as you have a good therapist and you don't over do it. A good physical therapist knows how much is too much.
I thank the lord every day that I have good shoulders. Most everything else is shot, but the shoulders are good. My Pa in Law and my dad both have extensive shoulder issues. I don't envy them.
My wife has been an RN for over 30 years. Both of us agree that advances in medicine have been huge. It amazes us both. I always tell her it's amazing how much doctors know these days and also amazing how much some still don't know.
Finding the right one is the key. I went to at least 10 different surgeons after my 6th back surgery failed and some of the hardware broke. Some wouldn't even touch me. Others weren't confident enough to think they could help. Some told me there were too many risks. Some said the damage was too extensive and couldn't be fixed. My general practitioner took it upon himself to take my file to Emery University during a seminar and asked their doctors to please take a look. I got a call two weeks later. They wanted to see me. I went to Atlanta to a Dr. named Dheera Ananthachrishnon, Dr. A, that specializes in breaks and curvatures of the spine. She looked at me, smiled, and said "It's not going to be fun, but I'll have you standing up straight and walking upright in 4 weeks, it's what I do". She was absolutely right on both counts.

I hope your wife comes through her surgery better than new. Again, sorry for the long post! I get long winded

 

[Terry Lightle]

Full joint replacement in knee was best thing I could do twice

 

[Turpentine21]

Full joint replacement in knee was best thing I could do twice

I'm hoping mine will be the same. It was for my wife.
The thing I've learned is everything is connected. Something goes bad and the rest of the body goes out of kilter trying to compensate for the bad part. That causes something else to wear out. It's a vicious cycle

 

[Wolf76]

I am just curious. Did your doctor do a block? The surgeon I'm using does not do them.

You should have a block done. The anesthesiologist can also do them preop.
The best way to reduce pain is to have Iovera done 2-4 weeks preoperative. Then, 30 minutes before the surgery have the anesthesiologist do a femoral (regional)block with exparel/bupivicane admixture. Alternatively, the surgeon can do a local block with exparel/admixture into the knee capsule, instead of the regional block. If using a local block, remind the doc to maximize the admixture volume to saturate the nervous. The exparel/bupivicane block should provide 2-3 days of great pain relief (pain score <5). The key is to have a multi modal strategy for pain meds. In this case, ibuprofen + Tylenol every 6 hours immediately after surgery. Don't wait for the block to wear off before starting the ibuprofen +Tylenol regimen. Also, don't take any opiods unless you have breakthrough pain. They will often prophylacticly start them in post op. Bad move IMO.

 

[Catbird]

I had my left knee done 21 years ago. It wore out due to poor healing from injury in a car accident. Now at 71 I need my right knee done because it is bone on bone. On Feb. 3rd I have it scheduled. I understand that with the aid of robotics the results are much better. Guess I'll find out.
Nothing is perfect, just have to do it and take the PT serious. Really not too worried.

 

[Old Rooster]

You should have a block done. The anesthesiologist can also do them preop.
The best way to reduce pain is to have Iovera done 2-4 weeks preoperative. Then, 30 minutes before the surgery have the anesthesiologist do a femoral (regional)block with exparel/bupivicane admixture. Alternatively, the surgeon can do a local block with exparel/admixture into the knee capsule, instead of the regional block. If using a local block, remind the doc to maximize the admixture volume to saturate the nervous. The exparel/bupivicane block should provide 2-3 days of great pain relief (pain score <5). The key is to have a multi modal strategy for pain meds. In this case, ibuprofen + Tylenol every 6 hours immediately after surgery. Don't wait for the block to wear off before starting the ibuprofen +Tylenol regimen. Also, don't take any opiods unless you have breakthrough pain. They will often prophylacticly start them in post op. Bad move IMO.

Sure is nice to have medical personal and plenty of folks that has had it done.
Catbird keep us updated on the progress. I am a little over 5 weeks post op and doing well. The P T folks said I was doing 6 week exercises at 4 weeks and am up to 8 week exercises right now.
I found the secrete is doing more than they ask, even if it hurts!