April 10, 2009

• I was closely involved while my mom went through both hip and knee replacements. It appears that the outcome of the knee is very dependent upon the patient. Sure, there are times when there are problems. But generally the more willing you are to work with physical therapy, the better your results will be. It can be tough to push through the PT as it will be painful, especially initially. You'll be asked to do things that seem counterintuitive given your pain reactions. But the more you can build up your support structures the better your knee will feel and the more you'll learn to trust it. Now, my Mom is four years out from her new knee(she's 87). She has had great results with no further knee pain. She can walk well, certainly not with the antalgic lurch she was burdened with before. These surgeries keep getting better. If you want great results, eat well and get lots of rest prior to surgery, find a good therapist and be willing to throw yourself into the PT. Don't listen to the naysayers (just the neighsayers)! And if you can find a personal slave to help out for a while, so much the better. Good Luck!
• Yes, please have good results.
• I'm 71 and play tennis 6 days a week. The group I play with is composed of mostly 50 to 70 yr. olds with a few older and younger outliers. Hip and knee replacement is common to the point everyone jokes about it. The single serious concern I would have is a deep infection. If that does not occur you (almost) assuredly will be glad you had it done. How likely is an infection? Can't really say. But it is a definite risk. I know of two cases out of about forty surgeries amongst our group. There were a couple of others (knee) that suffered other complications that were resolved with replacements of the original replacement. As a relatively active senior, tennis, biking and jogging, I would say you have no choice in the matter unless you could adjust to a sedentary lifestyle. A last comment. If you think you would do it "eventually", DON'T wait. The earlier (younger) the better your recuperative powers. Although I know a woman who has had both knees done since she was 75 and still motors around the court. (One time world class athlete) Good luck. Oops. Almost forgot. A 91 yr. old had hip surgery last summer and is back to better than prior to the surgery and yes, he plays tennis three times a week with his 90 yr. old buddy.
• ARGH OW. Personally, before I went and got a CyberKnee installed, I would get a second opinion. Not that I think your doc is wrong or bad or stupid or anything; just that it's a pretty big procedure. I would ask your boss how he thinks his sister would be feeling now if she HADN'T gotten the replacement. My guess is: a lot worse.
• I asked my mum who has had a somewhat successful hip replacement about her friends who got bionic knees, and she said a lot of the success is in attitude. The overweight, whiny ones weren't happy (of course) and the active, positive ones said it was the best thing they did. Mum says get it done. What convinced her was seeing the X-ray of her hip - it wasn't pretty, and if she'd put up with the pain, she could have made it almost impossible to fix later on.
• My grandmother had both knees replaced (at different times) and was very happy with both. They lessened her pain a great deal, once she was past the PT. Just pick a good surgeon and a good physical therapist.
• Several people I know have had a knee replacement. In general, their feedback has been: The first month or two you will wonder if it was worth it, because of the pain. After that it begins to get better, but be prepared for a year of pain. None of the people I talked to said that it had been a bad idea, because life had been getting very limited. Instead of getting worse and worse, you can look forward to feeling better and better. Or so they said.
• My knees have been bad for the last decade or so, too many years of skydiving, contact sports, and just generally abusing them. I had the left knee replaced about nine months ago. Now my surgeon avoids my calls, because I will not leave him alone about doing the other one ASAP. I wish I hadn't waited so long. The pain for the first week or two post-surgery was bad, and I got a little too fond of the opiates, which the docs were perfectly happy to hand out like Easter candy. I was walking with a cane after the second week, without the cane after the second month, and without a limp after six months. Now, nine months post-surg, I consider my good knee to be the titanium and plastic one. Yes, I can predict weather changes, and it does twinge from time to time, but nothing like the bad one still does. My advice: do it. You'll be happy you did.
• Hope this goes well, Granma, if you decide to go for it. I found this on intertubes: "Long term studies confirm satisfactory functional scores and show 91% to 96% prosthesis survival at 14- to 15-year follow-up..." http://www.kneeclinic.com.au/papers/TKR/tkrchapter.htm
• No experience hence no advice to offer, GramMa, but if an operation is likely to keep you on your feet and in the saddle, it may be worth the risk. Happy Trails, if you go for it.
• I know nothing useful, but I wish you good luck with the decision and the procedure, if you have it done. Hugs to the bluest horse of them all.
• Yep - best of luck too. PLUS - find the best surgeon you can afford. Ask around. The spread of abilities in surgeons (surgical teams, more like it) is much the same as in any other endeavour. Ie - the gap between best and not-quite-as-good is small from one point of view but insurmountably enormous from the point of view of the person having the surgery and having to recover from it. Hospitals too. Ask the staff what they think of other hospitals vs their own; the hospital staff will have firm opinions about who is good and who is not. See if you can get it out of them. And, again, best of luck.
• My mother had her knees done, and it was an absolute transformation. She was beginning to have difficulty walking, but ever since (must be getting on for ten years) she's been pretty much as good as ever. She did have a very positive attitude, forced the pace a bit on getting back to walking after the op, and proudly showed off her scars to anyone who was interested (and quite a few who really weren't). YMMV, but on the basis of her experience I'd say go for it.
• If you do decide to have it done, you get a nifty card with an x-ray of your bionic knee on it to help you get through airport security. I doubt that would tip your decision in any way, but my grandma got a kick out of flashing it to security.