Today I am 3 months post surgery for my knee replacements. October 3 I got total knee replacements both sides. My recovery has been good, but slower than I'd like.
Pain is not gone, but it is much more manageable, no need for any kind of pain killers any more. Mostly they hurt when I do certain movements, like going down stairs or trying to stand up from a seat without arm pushing. Does not keep me from doing anything, mostly irritating at this point. I am told this could last another 3 months or more.
I still have some swelling, not too noticeable, and some stiffness in my knees, I am told the stiffness is caused by the swelling. I am told this could also last another 3 months or more. Related to the pain I think.
I am told the residual pain and swelling is the result of my tendons and ligaments adjusting to my new knees and perhaps some reaction of my immune system to the foreign objects they put into my knees, a lot of metal and plastic my body is not used to.
Something I had not thought about before hand is that these knees are different from my natural ones, not just my bad ones at the time of replacement. We live our lives unconsciously adapting our movements to what works best for our joints. Problem is suddenly my joints are different. I think I am having to relearn how to use them. Result is I cannot walk quite as confidently as before, and I think it will take time to learn to.
Due to bad knees for many years, knees that would not straighten out, I walked a bit bent over and was bowlegged. Now I can fully extend the new knees and am no longer bowlegged. However learning to walk fully straight and upright is a challenge. I can do it, but my brain doesn't want to. It's going to take a lot of retraining I suspect.
On the positive side there are a lot of things I am better able to do now than before the surgery. My knee joint has much better range of motion. I can do things I could not before, like walking up and down stairs normally, one foot after the other. Only have a bit of pain on the way down, but it will get better, already is... slowly. My pain is probably less than before surgery, kind of hard to remember. Big difference is this new pain is different and getting better. The old pain just got worse.
All in all I am happy I did it, suspect I will be happier in a few more months. And I am very glad I did both knees at the same time, only one recovery is a whole lot better than two.
Double replacements are quite rare, and I don't know why. Maybe the surgeons and hospitals make more money doing it twice. When I first asked for the double my surgeon said no. I was fortunate to have a friend who got both done a few years ago, he helped me put a good case together for the surgeon. I went in with things like recovery statistics, and the names of a few doctors who would do it. After some negotiations he agreed, and then told me he did doubles on occasion, but rarely. This is a guy who does almost nothing but knee replacements, he did two others the same day he did mine.
Knee replacement is not minor surgery, in some ways worse than I expected. I knew it would be very painful for the first few weeks, and it was, but I thought it would be over sooner. They cut off the ends of 3 leg bones, and the back side of the knee cap and replace them with metal and plastic. So for both knees that's 8 bones... Not minor. Don't do it if you don't need it, but if you do I recommend considering it. At this point in time there really is no other cure for osteoarthritis of the knees.
If you do it physical therapy is an absolute necessity, particularly in the first weeks, at least once a day starting within 24 hours of surgery. It is quite painful. Some people take a strong pain killer before PT, I did not need to, but its better than not doing the PT. If you do not do PT as your knees heal scar tissue forms that blocks knee movement and recovery. Not something easily fixed. It can mean more surgery. So be prepared for a hard PT regiment. It also helps to exercise the legs before surgery.
I'll report back in another 3 months or so to let y'all know if things really do get better. I believe they will.
Treated myself to a day of pleasure because the weather here is holding, no snow in the forecast. I drove an hour to the casino, played for four hours, then drove back home in the pouring rain! A good time, I'll take care of business tomorrow.
