Thread: NEW KNEES

Originally Posted by 1950landy

For the last 8 years my knees have neen getting worst the resilt of 30years climbing up & jumping down off the backs of trucks & trailers & driving a truck with an air seat. . They have got to the stage there is very little cartilage left in the jiont & behind the knee caps & the bones are grinding together . It has got to the stage that no medication or pain killers are working & out of my 4 cars my Falcon ute is the only one I can drive any distance.
I have now bitten the bullet & am booked to have Bilateral Knee Replacement on the 25th Feb. I have chosen to have booth done together for a few reasons , The 1st being I have a blood condition called Factor V Leiden which causes blood clots. The 2nd reason is the fact there is no cartilage left in booth knees & I can not choose which knee to have done 1st & if I only have the one done I think the extra pressure on the other knee is going to cause me a lot of pain. The 3rd reason is by having one done at a time it will be 6 weeks that I will not be able to drive for each knee, were having two done together will only be 6 weeks ( I HOPE)
Because of the blood clotting problem my doctor tells me he wants me up on my feet with in 2 hrs of the surgery. They will start me on a course of blood thinners after the OP starting with injections then on to tablets for a minimum of 3 months . Not Warfarin had that last time almost blead out after a couple of weeks on it.

I will be going to a Preadmission Clinic on the 20th so will know more of what is involved then after talking all involved .

Needless to say I am a bit worried after the last time I had minor surgery & ended up with 4 clots . So should I be concerned? Who here has had this OP & did you have one or two done & if you only had the one done did you go back for the second ?

All I can say is good decision, despite the clotting risks and all the best. You should be a new person after the trauma = no more knee and associated pain!!

I had 2 done 7 years apart, and my boss had both done together and he recovered well.
In my case, for the 2nd (right) one, the advice was do as much specified program pre-op physio as you can (university physio students are brilliant if you can access them). My second recovery was so much better than the first as a direct result of a 6 week targetted program before the big day.
I'm not sure how good you will be after 6 weeks (best story I ever heard was 4 weeks then running for a marathon man).
However, there has been a change in emphasis recently with many of the faithful wanting to get back to prayer ASAP, resulting in a new program which expedites access to kneeling within a couple of weeks - ouch!

In the early stages pain killers are your friend - get as strong as you need for what has been significant body trauma and then come off them when you feel right. I needed strong stuff for about 6 weeks then almost overnight was able to come off everything bar the ocassional panadol if I overdid it.

Originally Posted by 1950landy

For the last 8 years my knees have neen getting worst the resilt of 30years climbing up & jumping down off the backs of trucks & trailers & driving a truck with an air seat. . They have got to the stage there is very little cartilage left in the jiont & behind the knee caps & the bones are grinding together . It has got to the stage that no medication or pain killers are working & out of my 4 cars my Falcon ute is the only one I can drive any distance.
I have now bitten the bullet & am booked to have Bilateral Knee Replacement on the 25th Feb. I have chosen to have booth done together for a few reasons , The 1st being I have a blood condition called Factor V Leiden which causes blood clots. The 2nd reason is the fact there is no cartilage left in booth knees & I can not choose which knee to have done 1st & if I only have the one done I think the extra pressure on the other knee is going to cause me a lot of pain. The 3rd reason is by having one done at a time it will be 6 weeks that I will not be able to drive for each knee, were having two done together will only be 6 weeks ( I HOPE)
Because of the blood clotting problem my doctor tells me he wants me up on my feet with in 2 hrs of the surgery. They will start me on a course of blood thinners after the OP starting with injections then on to tablets for a minimum of 3 months . Not Warfarin had that last time almost blead out after a couple of weeks on it.
I will be going to a Preadmission Clinic on the 20th so will know more of what is involved then after talking all involved .
Needless to say I am a bit worried after the last time I had minor surgery & ended up with 4 clots . So should I be concerned? Who here has had this OP & did you have one or two done & if you only had the one done did you go back for the second ?

Sorry to hear about that. Although I'm relatively young I had a hip replaced due to osteoarthritis (caused by a childhood injury) just over a year ago, and I've also had two knee operations, including a reconstruction. The hip replacement was really worth it because prior to the operation I'd been in constant pain for years and now there's no pain - well other than when I'm at the physio. Like Gavin my advice would be to try to be as fit as possible when you go in - pre-op physio is worth checking out. In my case I was a cyclist so my fitness was OK. Sorry, I can't advise on the blood clotting issue. Although I took a couple of steps the day after the op that was really to set the prosthetic and it was months before I was off crutches. I did heaps of physio with a physio who'd worked in aged care so he knew how to rehabilitate hips. I also did hydrotherapy which was fun and helped with balance. Good luck.

Good luck I hope it goes well. This op generally results in a huge improvement, but you might need to take rehab slowly. From what I’ve seen it’s worth the effort.

Ask your doctor about Xarelto for the factor V. You'll be on Clexane immediately after the procedure.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Ask your doctor about Xarelto for the factor V. You'll be on Clexane immediately after the procedure.

Yes Clexane for a couple of days then not sure which tablets after.
I inherited the Factor V from my father who died from a blood clot that went to his hart bur I didn't know I had Factor V untill I had the last small OP & was in hospital over night . My two daughters have been tested , one has it the other doesn't. All the years when I was working & didn't know I had it , taking long flights to the US , driving long hours with out a brake I was lucky I didn't have a clot sooner. Now if I go on a flight for more than 3hrs I have to give my self injections for a week before I go & same on the return.

Hi,
I had a partial on the left and a full replacement on my right knee. Agree with others that preparation is really important, be as fit and strong as you can. Would also add:
1. I found using the machine that bends your knee ASAP after the operation is really helpful. I would wake up at night and start it up again. Immediately after the operation I seemed to have good movement but it stiffens up if you don't use the machine.
2. The hospital physio was only concerned to get me to get up and down 3 steps so they could turn over the bed, staying for another day or two to use the machine I am sure aided my rehab. After the full knee replacement I went home and was mowing the lawn and driving in 3 weeks.
I know I had a great surgeon!

Best wishes

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Ask your doctor about Xarelto for the factor V. You'll be on Clexane immediately after the procedure.

And isnt that fun to self administer .

Originally Posted by loanrangie

And isnt that fun to self administer .

Yes would lay in bed every morning & night for 10 minutes before giving my self the jab. Got to make sure it is just under the skin , get it in the muscle , that hurts.