Anyone Here Had Knee replacement?

[mikesouth]

As most of you know I broke my leg pretty good about a year ago (tibia plateau) i was told at the hospital I was looking at a 95% chance the knee would have to be replaced in 5 years or less.

Well the break has healed but I have brutal arthritis in the knee, cortisone shots help but will become less and less effective

Looks like Im gonna opt for total knee replacement in the winter prolly jan, that way I heal by the time fishing and diving season and spring motorcycle riding kicks in.

Just kinda wondering what to expect what to know beforehand etc

TIA

[Mr Pheer]

They didnt fix & plate the tibea plateau? Bone graft? Nothing?

If they didnt.... find your Ortho and beat him to death.

[mikesouth]

The break was such that everything was in the right place so surgery was elective and I elected not to it healed perfectly but the soft tissue damage from the break is what is causing the arthritis in the joint.

research has lead me to the conclusion that the hospital was right, a bad break (mine was in 2 places one horizontal one vertical) is an almost certainty you will have to have knee replacement.

I have seen the Xrays and the mri it did heal perfectly...no issues there...its the destroyed cartilage or whatever in the joint that is the problem.

[Mr Pheer]

When I broke my tibea plateau, my orthopedic surgeon told me what needed to be done, and explained that if I didnt have the surgery, I'd have a 97% chance of getting osteoarthrosis in the joint and going through a knee replacement later. And that if I did get the surgery, I'd have only about a 3% chance of needing a knee replacement.



Titanium plate, six screws, bone graft... 9 years ago. I get a little pain sometimes but nothing I cant handle. I'm sure its nothing compared to what you're going through.

I have a friend that had his knee replaced, he was awake for the surgery and walking (with a walker) the very next day. And now he gets around just fine, and he is old enough that the artificial joint will probably last longer than he will.

And you're correct about the cortizone shots. The last one in my ankle only lasted for three weeks. They used to last 2x that long.

[mikesouth]

not sure what was different but I know you know what I mean when I say thats a painful break and a hella long recovery

may be my age (54) but they told me at the hospital that a plate and screws may shorten my recovery by a few weeks at best but that it wouldnt have any effect on whether or not the arthritis would kick in said that was a soft tissue issue...Im no doctor so I believed them, my ortho surgeon agreed btw and he is supposed to be the best in atlanta ( I was in OH at the time of the break)

course he is the one doing the knee replacement so it aint like he doesnt benefit....

in the end unless theres some magic cure for this arthritis that I dont know about ( I mean other than hydrocodone which works wonders but I only take it on the WORST days) usually one or two days a month

I drink on simply bad days and just deal with it the rest of em.

Im not lookin forward to it and part of me wants to get it over with and do it next week but i think doing it in the winter really is the best idea. I may sound whiney here but Im really not I have a charmed life and I enjoy every day of it pain or not.....so come nice weather I wanna be back on my bike and back scuba diving and offshore fishing asap and doing it now would screw up fall riding season which is my favorite.

I do wanna know what to expect in the way of recovery and all and more importantly if theres anything I need to know/do/consider prior to the surgery.

Thanks man glad you are faring well I know the pain and therapy you went through and wouldnt wish that on my worst enemy.

[epitome]

My grandmother had double knee replacement. I think it took her about six months to recover.

[Mr Pheer]

No cure for arthritis. It just gets worse, not better.

Seems like they could have just replaced the knee while it was broke... but I dont know how bad your break was... mine was right in the joint and did not go down into my tibia. Many times I wished I had mine replaced instead of dealing with the surgery & recovery. A month in a wheelchair, 4 months on crutches, another 3 or 4 months walking with a cane, and over a year walking with a limp. In a knee brace for months. Extremely painful physical therapy to get my knee to bend again... I can still remember the sound of the scar tissue ripping when the therapist would do his stuff...

Good times, good times indeed.

But still not as bad as dealing with an arthritic knee every day. I think I'd just do it, and get it over with.

[Major (Tom)]

Originally Posted by mikesouth

As most of you know I broke my leg pretty good about a year ago (tibia plateau) i was told at the hospital I was looking at a 95% chance the knee would have to be replaced in 5 years or less.

Well the break has healed but I have brutal arthritis in the knee, cortisone shots help but will become less and less effective

Looks like Im gonna opt for total knee replacement in the winter prolly jan, that way I heal by the time fishing and diving season and spring motorcycle riding kicks in.

Just kinda wondering what to expect what to know beforehand etc

TIA

That sucks Mike. I just know a few guys who had their knees rescoped, not replaced. Best of luck
Duke

[Gozarian]

I've blown out both knees; right no ALC, MLC or meniscus, 4 arthrotomies, 4 scopes - left no ACL, 50% meniscus 2 arthotomies, 2 scopes. They told me 20 years ago I need replacement yet I still get on fine. I can't run worth a shit any more and going down stairs is a bitch but I can do everything else normally. I have learned to live with the pain; its like an old friend at this point. Some days the bone on bone pain is brutal but a few NASIDs (<1200mg day doesn't burn the liver) and I'm ok. It is amazing how a little weight loss dramatically decreases the pressure and pain in the joints.

Scared shitless about a total knee replacement and the cost is off the charts.

[kane]

My uncle had a knee replacement about 2 years ago. He is 65 and spent 30 years working construction so all the cartridge was gone in his knee and it had a lot of damage to it. He was told he could get it scoped and do some other procedures, but they wouldn't be long term fixes or do much for the pain so he got the replacement done. He said it was pretty painful, but after a couple of days the pain was down to where he could manage it. He had to use a walker for a few weeks then a cane for about a month, but it healed well and he says he has no pain now.

[mikesouth]

Mine was a horizontal break of the tibia plateau about 1 inch below the top...the was also an intersecting vertical break but luckily everything was in place so surgery was optional assuming I could refrain from causing anything to shift or anything, which I did.

I spent 3 months in a wheelchair a month on a walker and 3 months with a cane, I still have to use the cane from time to time when the arthritis really kicks in....

Mostly the people who have had knee replacement say its very painful for a few days but after 6-8 weeks its the best thing they ever did...

Thanks for the tips guys.

[edgeprod]

No, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so I'm ready to scrub in for surgery. Nurse, scalpel, stat!

[Mr Pheer]

Originally Posted by mikesouth

Mostly the people who have had knee replacement say its very painful for a few days but after 6-8 weeks its the best thing they ever did...

Thanks for the tips guys.

Nothing hurts like waking up from major knee surgery. I'm being honest here... it hurt 5x - 8x more than breaking the knee.

My doctor connected a pain pump that was directly feeding pain meds thru a tube into my knee... and I swore it wasnt working, because no way it could be working and hurt that fucking bad. And then 2 days later, it ran out. Thats when I discovered it had been working all the time and I'd have given anything to get a new one because it was a whole new level of pain that I'd never experienced before. The kind of pain that makes you wish you had a chainsaw to cut your leg off because that couldnt possibly hurt as much. Getting you knee scoped isnt shit compared to have a titanium plate attached with several screws running all the way thru your bone.

I seriously, seriously doubt that getting the joint replaced could hurt as bad as getting it repaired. Just do it. I've broke a lot of bones, ruptured & lacerated internal organs, cracked my skull, bruised my brain, it was all babyshit compared to that knee injury.

[i<3teens]

i just blown a load fuck a knee

[mikesouth]

Originally Posted by Mr Pheer

Nothing hurts like waking up from major knee surgery. I'm being honest here... it hurt 5x - 8x more than breaking the knee.

...

I seriously, seriously doubt that getting the joint replaced could hurt as bad as getting it repaired. Just do it. I've broke a lot of bones, ruptured & lacerated internal organs, cracked my skull, bruised my brain, it was all babyshit compared to that knee injury.

I fell ya I had spinal surgery and a day ad a half after having a tumor cut off my spinal cord and over 300 stitches inside and outside my back the nurse replace my morphine drip but didnt hook it into my IV....for 10 hours everytime I hit the button the morphine went to a puddle in the floor....My experience that was the most pain I have ever been in and I have broken pretty much every bone in my body at one time or another...point being I feel for ya...That kind of pain is the kind that cause you to drift in and out of consciousness like I did....I always figured if I can survive that anything is doable.

Thanks for the help man seriously.....you can read about this shit on the internet but first hand experience is what really counts.....

[Vapid - BANNED FOR LIFE]

I might consider acupuncture in so far as the limits to any surgical incisions in me. 100%.