Oy! My Knees!

What is a 57 year old woman supposed to do when, for fifty-seven years, she has lived with bad knees? Yes, I was born that way. I blame it totally on my parents, since the doctor said it was a congenital condition commom to women. I am 4'11" and was a very active, sportsminded teenager who was on almost every sports team in high school.

Still, my knees gave me trouble from the get-go. Occassionally, I would dislocate my kneecap which made me see stars and caused me to almost faint from the pain. As a teenager, my parents' best friends were friends with the New York Jet's orthopaedist who yelled at my mother for not taking care of my pigeon toes when I was a baby. The nerve!

My doctor and I had been talking for years about when to have my knee replaced. That changed when I turned 55 and he said "Whenever you're ready. You're old enough now." Gee, thanks!

Well, last summer I had blood taken out of my knee as a result of tiny fractures from it decaying, so I thought I'd better get this over with.

On December 8, 2011, I had my right knee replaced. To say I was nervous was an understatement. I had major surgery on my left knee 15 years ago which didn't go well and my doctor was fully aware of my consternation about this surgery. He gave me a spinal numb the lower half of my body and a sleeping potion but did not give me heavy sedation. When I woke up in recovery, I was not overpowered with anesthesia but I couldn't move my legs either. It was a good trade-off. I didn't feel any pain yet but as soon as the tingling in my toes started, I knew the pain meds were not far behind.

Later that day, I was up and walking with the assist of a walker and a physical therapist from my bed to the hall and back. Each time I went to the bathroom, we repeated the same routine. I was impressed with myself!

After 2 days in the hospital I was released to my husband's care. Since our bed sits up high, I had to stay in the guest room for a while. But even that first night, although it took seemingly forever, I was able to get myself up from the bed, walk to the bathroom right next door with my walker, and back again.

Physical therapy started at home the next day. When the therapist said she wanted me off the walker in 2 weeks, I laughed. No way! I was off the walker in less than 2 weeks and using a cane. Physical therapy went very well at home, Molly came 3 days a week, as did the nurse, who checked my coumiden levels regularly.And just as regularly, I was taken off the medication and put back on. This continued for 3 weeks and finally I was told I could stop the coumiden. YAY! Home PT ended then, too and the following week I began out-patient PT.

After thinking I was doing so well with the PT at home, I was shocked to find out that I hadn't progressed nearly enough as I thought, yet I was right on target for where I was supposed to be. Real physical therapy after only 3 1/2 weeks brought me to tears. I'm not going to lie. It is hard to do an hour of PT when every move you make is as painful as the last. It is true what they say. Take a pain pill before you go to PT! I went faithfully 3x/week at 8:00 AM because I had a part-time job (I'm a retired teacher) from 10-3.

One Friday after 4 weeks of outpatient PT, my PT told me I had basically not made a lot of progress and I was so angry that I went home that weekend and pushed myself to go downstairs like a regular person (not a 2 year old) and pushed really hard to straighten my knee. He didn't know what he was talking about! I knew I had made progress!

I have to say, that was a turning point for me. I felt much more mobile and took much less Percoset. I see my doctor next week- after 10 weeks since the surgery, and hope he will see that my leg is straighter, it bends to 120 degrees and I've reached all my PT goals

It has been a long 9 weeks so far but I've come a long way. I walk with a regular gait, my leg is much straighter and bends enough to do the stairs normally. My advice to you is to stick with the physical therapy, especially on the days when you say to yourself you are so sick of the pain. It does get better. I know. I feel it!