Knee Replacement - Anxiety & Worries

[lmoore]

First of all I would like to thank all the kind people on here who took the time to reply to my worries & concerns regarding my appointment with my orthopaedic surgeon regarding a hip replacement.

Having now had that consultation with him & subsequent x-rays it turns out that my right knee is in a poorer condition than my right hip & consequently his recommendation is for knee surgery before hip surgery.

Having read all of your replies I had finally got my head around hip surgery & now I am in another state of panic & anxiety regarding a knee replacement.

Can I therefore ask you good people out there once again to share your thoughts & recommendations on anything that you can think of that I need to ask or highlight when I next meet with the surgeon?

Once again many thanks for your time & input as I am exhausted with worrying.

Regards,

Linda.

[DorsetLady]

The advice I gave you on hip replacement regarding getting your house in order still applies……but you maybe find using crutches with knee replacement a bit more difficult and cumbersome. Make sure you remove any items, like small occasional tables with ornaments on them out of the way.

Recovery etc may be a bit more difficult than hip (it was for me, but perhaps because it was the first replacement)….

…good luck..

[Hidden]

Hi Linda,

Generally speaking, knee replacement surgery and its associated recovery process is a much more technically difficult process/procedure than a hip replacement. From Go to Wo (unless you are very lucky) you could be looking at a time line of 8 to 11 weeks. You could also feel odd sensations in your operated knee for another 12 months. You will also have to deal with demanding exercises during recovery which may even include having to learn to walk correctly again. It does make a lot of sense to get the knee outta the way first. The other point is that your knee could well deteriorate more quickly and if that happens the pain will make walking around, shopping, driving much much more challenging.

The desire to panic is understandable but there are plenty of resources to assist you in recovery, physio, massage therapists, pain relief BUT the most important thing of all you must do exercises to prevent scar tissue from forming in the operated knee.

John