Knee Replacement

HI R., I haven't had the surgery myself, but I've had several freinds who loved it. good luck to your mom.

C.

My mom had both of her knees done the last few years. She is doing awesome now after the surgerys. Both of them were done last year at 2 different times. She had the total knee replacement. She was in pain after the surgery but that is to be expected but after physical therapy and recovery time, she is so glad she had it done.

I used to work for an orthopaedic surgeon and assisted with total knees all the time. It depends on how much pain your mother is having. If it is impacting her day to day activities and a doctor is recommending it, the surgery can make a big difference in her daily living. It certainly isn't without pain but if she is a motivated person she will do just fine. She is the only one who will know if she is ready to have it done. If her arthritis is causing her enough trouble, she will know when she is ready. If she does have the surgery try to remain positive for her. The recovery can take awhile but patients don't stay in the hospital for long anymore and just need to work hard at getting their range of motion back. It is certainly a wonderful operation and helps so many with the disabling pain of arthritis. Most hospitals offer some type of total joint replacement class prior to the surgery. She should defintiely look into that to help calm her fears. It also helps to talk to people who have had it done recently. She could ask her surgeon if he/she has names of some of his other patients who went through it recently to talk too. Good luck to her.
A.

my mother-in-law has had both knees done one each year for the past two. You can expect alot of pain, she says they say that it is one of the worst surgeys to recover from, but after she recovered there was a huge difference in her, she was happier because she did not have the arthritis pain any more, also she can get around better to chase all the grandbabys. Plus they give good drugs, so the pain will be managed. Good luck=)

My mother in law had both her knees replaced at two different times. Both surgeries went well and helped her a lot. My mom had one knee replaced last year. The recovery was difficult and took longer than they thought but she is very glad she did it. She had bone-on-bone so she was in a lot of pain and now her pain is gone. If you have any specific questions you ask me - I'll ask her and get back to you.

I know plenty of people who have had the surgery. Some have recovered very well and others it was tougher. I think it makes a bit difference with age and activity level. My mom is not an active person but works on her feet 10+ hour days 4-5 days a week. She had total replacement and recovered well. This was years ago so my memory isnt that great but I do remember it was tough for a while, but in the end she couldnt be happier. The pain was unbarable and the bones were rubbing together so wasnt anything else to be done except the surgery.
It will be difficult for a while and she wont be able to be active for a few months but she needs to remember to relax and ask all the questions she can about it.
Good luck to your mom.

I don't know any of the techniicals, just know both of my grandparents had them and after the healing, their knee pain is gone. They have raved about it. If the pain is bad enough for the doctor to reccomend a knee replacement, I am sure the recovery won't be horrible in comparison.

Hello R. ~

My father has had total knee replacements. His most recent was just last year. There is significant pain following the surgery. My dad used homeopathic remedies to manage his pain and speed healing following the surgery and they helped a lot. His range of motion is greater than expected following surgery (he even shortened his PT duration) and the time it took him to heal was greatly reduced.

Take care & good luck to your mom,
C.

My Father in Law had both his knees done last year. One was done end of June and the other the end of August. He is 59yrs old, 6'4" and weighs about 350lbs. He did just fine. Recovery takes patience. She needs to make sure that she does all the exercises when it comes to that. Don't just sit around. Someone else we know didn't do the exercises and they didn't recover as well. With his second one he was doing therapy in a pool. He really liked that.

Now a year later he knows it was the best decision he could have ever made.

Good Luck to your mom, everything will be ok.....

Hi R.,
My Aunt had a total knee replacement last year.
She is very happy she did it. Recovery depends on how determined she is to get back to normal life. My aunt went
to Phy. Therapy, she did her exercises at home just as they told her to do.
One thing she did mention is if she would have known how painful it was going to be she would have had both done at once to get it over with. Now she has to have the other one done.
Good luck to your mom
J.