Total Knee Replacement

[Artemus]

Pics ???
- no, never mind

 

[Yvonne]

heal fast, Nick!!! And hopefully a speedy recovery

 

[Nick]

Pics ???
- no, never mind

Oh you know you're going to get one when I change the bandage the first time.

 

[Henk]

Just see you got a knee replaced about the moment i signed up for the forum.

A couple of years ago on the way back from Druid Arch via Chesler Park we met an aprrox 45y old lady who had both her knees replaced a year before, she told us she was now completely back to serious hiking and regretted she didn't do the replacement 10 years earlier.

Another time, on our one and only backpack (into the Grand Canyon), we met a guy who, after a bad accident, got a new hip.
He had set himself the goal to do this hike and made it down. In the evening we celebrated his achievement (and my 50th birthday) in Phantom Ranch with a couple of Budweisers, 2 days later he hiked out without any problems.

Hope this cheers you up for the quickest recovery possible.

I'm still browsing through al the stuff but found that we sometimes make almost identical pictures.

 

[DrNed]

Sorry I'm late to the game Nick. Hope you've got someone smuggling you food, giving you sponge baths and turning on Judge Judy. Get well soon!

 

[Nick]

Haha! Yeah I did have to get some food smuggled in. The cafeteria over at the Huntsman has some good stuff. Just got out of the hospital today and now I'm back home on the couch living the good life.

 

[uintahiker]

now I'm back home on the couch living the good life.

Almost the good life. You'll be living the good life when you're back on that same couch after your first hike on the new knee. Speedy recovery!

 

[John Goering]

To a speedy recovery Nick!!!!

 

[Nick]

I'm now on day 8 with my new knee. Man, this has been a wild ride. If anyone here is ever contemplating a knee replacement, talk to me first! I'll fill you in on what to really expect. I'm not saying I wouldn't have done it, but it would have been nice to have more accurate expectations going into this. Since leaving the hospital (and the comfort of my nerve block), the pain has been off the charts at times. I've rarely even taken a few of my pain killers in past surgeries. For this one, I am taking copious quantities of heavy duty pain killers around the clock. So much that they even upped my dosage on day 7! I am walking on it with crutches, but my quads are still basically dead so I while I can walk and do some movements, I can't pick it up even an inch when I'm sitting or laying down. It's just like dead weight. The doc says it should really start improving now but I'm not seeing it yet. I'm confident that it will get better, but this has been wild. Maybe it's the lack of information geared toward younger people having this procedure. Or perhaps my experience from other less invasive knee surgeries skewed things. I'm not sure, but if any of you ever find yourself in a similar situation, be prepared for a really rough ride the first week or two. If it works, it's totally worth it, but damn this sucks.

 

[steve]

hang in there nick, better days are ahead. I can only imagine the trauma your body is going through having been stretched and pulled all over the place.

 

[Nick]

Yeah, not to mention all the sawing and the tourniquet. That has been one of the most profound side injuries actually. They put a tourniquet around my thigh so tight that they could open it all up for an hour and a half and not have to do a blood transfusion. Even when my pain meds are in full swing, a light tap on my thigh is enough to make me scream.

This is basically what they did. The sawing still makes me cringe.

 

[steve]

dang, I didn't realize they removed so much bone. That's seriously intense. Maybe it's better you didn't know how bad it would be, or you would have put it off longer...

 

[Michael]

Bummer!
That's a very rude recovery.
My orthopedic surgeon tells me about the methods in the U.S. Here at home we have to go up to 4 weeks in a rehabilitation facility after such heavy surgery.
I hope, I can push away my total replacements of knee and hip a couple of years.

All my best wishes to a gentle and more painless recovery, Nick!



Gesendet von meinem iPadAir mit Tapatalk

 

[Vegan.Hiker]

Good lord. I guess I always assumed that they were more gentle on the patient with invasive surgery. Those guys were banging, pulling, twisting like they were working on an old camaro.

 

[slc_dan]

Good lord. I guess I always assumed that they were more gentle on the patient with invasive surgery. Those guys were banging, pulling, twisting like they were working on an old camaro.

For that reason, I will not be watching the video. My wife is a nurse, and she talked about how crazy brutal surgery was while she was in school.

Sorry about all the pain and hardships Nick. Hope you're over the worst of the bump, and it's only better from here.

 

[Nick]

@slc_dan - That's one of the main reasons I chose to be knocked out instead of the other option of a spinal block. I can't imagine what it would be like to lay there awake while they did all that. Although if they'd given me a view of it and my iphone, I think I would have gone for it.

 

[IntrepidXJ]

For that reason, I will not be watching the video. My wife is a nurse, and she talked about how crazy brutal surgery was while she was in school.

My girlfriend is a Surgical Assistant....she has helped with a lot of knee surgeries....I can't watch that stuff....not sure how she does it!

 

[DAA]

Dang... All I can do is let you know I'm thinking my best thoughts for rapid improvement.

- DAA

 

[Bigred72]

Dude. May you have a speedier recovery. I have been putting off seeing about my knees and keep lying to myself that they'll be all right.

 

[HomerJ]

I'm now on day 8 with my new knee. Man, this has been a wild ride. If anyone here is ever contemplating a knee replacement, talk to me first! I'll fill you in on what to really expect. I'm not saying I wouldn't have done it, but it would have been nice to have more accurate expectations going into this. Since leaving the hospital (and the comfort of my nerve block), the pain has been off the charts at times. I've rarely even taken a few of my pain killers in past surgeries. For this one, I am taking copious quantities of heavy duty pain killers around the clock. So much that they even upped my dosage on day 7! I am walking on it with crutches, but my quads are still basically dead so I while I can walk and do some movements, I can't pick it up even an inch when I'm sitting or laying down. It's just like dead weight. The doc says it should really start improving now but I'm not seeing it yet. I'm confident that it will get better, but this has been wild. Maybe it's the lack of information geared toward younger people having this procedure. Or perhaps my experience from other less invasive knee surgeries skewed things. I'm not sure, but if any of you ever find yourself in a similar situation, be prepared for a really rough ride the first week or two. If it works, it's totally worth it, but damn this sucks.

A co-workers husband had both knees replaced at separate times. I think about a year apart or longer between the first and second... First one went great. Second one he was in pain for a long time. Said if the first knee had been like this he wouldn't have had the 2nd one done... Seems like the recovery can differ a lot. I hope yours gets to feeling better soon!