I had my left knee replaced exactly 6 weeks ago today, and could not be happier with the result so far. I thought I'd relate the story of what got me to this stage, hope it's not too mind numbing.
Following a motor accident in which the knee was crushed and then surgically reconstructed, I had spent the last 11+ years in constant pain. The knee never felt right, it always felt 'heavy' and not really a part of me, it also had a mind of its own especially when descending stairs. Over the years I had a number of operations and arthroscopes and thought, well that's my lot in life, just get on with it, and I did. We got our bus and early last year went on the road full time.
Last April, whilst preparing to go into the **** Rally at Maryborough as a volunteer, it suddenly gave way without any warning and I fell from the bottom step of the bus, this resulted in 2 fractured toes and a small groin hernia, great! Had some treatment and we continued travelling north up to Cooktown, during this time the pain increased and I had a lot more falls but luckily no major injuries resulted. It finally got to the stage where I was virtually bus bound, I could drive us to wherever we wanted to go, but could not enjoy any outings because of the pain and increasing fear of more falls, although by this stage I was having falls inside the bus as well.
The falls continued unabated and reluctantly in November, we decided we had to return to Melbourne to see my orthopedic surgeon, he quickly determined that a total knee replacement was the only course of action to get me back on my feet. I knew he was right, but like some others here I hated the thought of more pain, stupidly I Googled it and that really scared the day lights out of me. Dot then came to my 'rescue'
and threatened that if I didn't have the operation, she and her sister Fran would come and stay with us until I did.
It was a toss up between the fear of the operation and the associated extra pain, or the fear of Dot and Fran, of course anyone who knows Dot understands that in the end it was an easy decision to make and the operation won. It was decided, although not before one final fall outside the front of the hospital a week before the operation when I attended to have blood work done. It was really quite embarrassing laying in the gutter in more pain and having to have hospital staff get me up into a wheelchair
. After all of the previous falls with little real physical damage sustained, this time I tore the muscle wall in the stomach and now have a cricket ball sized hernia still to be operated on, yes I know great! This time I have avoided looking at this operation on Google, however Dot has assured me that it's all ok, of course it is ok, it's not happening to her.
I had the knee operation January 15th, and was up and taking steps the next day, was it painful?, yes, but not as bad as I had been expecting, medication is a wonderful thing
and within a week I was walking with crutches and transferred to a rehab hospital for another 2 weeks. The result after 6 weeks is nothing short of amazing, I have some minor pain in the joint but nowhere near the level before the operation. I am walking unaided and helping with the shopping and other little jobs, although I believe it may be quite a few years before I will be well enough to attempt any real house work etc
. I now have complete faith in the knee, both going up and down stairs and have never felt it is going to give way, in fact it now feels like it is actually a part of me again.
I would recommend the replacement operation to anyone who has no other real options, but would suggest a few things to make it easier . I am a big overweight bloke with Diabetes, which both carry increased risks with the replacement operation. If you can lose a bit of weight, bloody hard I know, but it is worth the try, also do strengthening exercises at least a month or so before the operation, the hospital will give you a sheet of them, they really make a huge difference to your recovery and your new knees range of movement. Just remember all that crap about 'no pain no gain', it really is true, however the pain can be managed and you can actually feel the daily improvement .
All I can say as is go for it, it worked for me, oh and don't be tempted to Google it until after the operation, well after
)