topic Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement in Wellness

Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

Winkk — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 14:50:53 GMT

My sister is scheduled for knee replacement tomorrow and due to the virus she might be coming home later in the day. I couldn't believe it. When I had my knee done I was in for 2.5 days because I had to do 3 physical therapy sessions before they let me leave. Then I had a few weeks of at home therapy. That was 3 years ago.

But, now in order to get patients out faster they are sending them home. Then they have home visits from physical therapists. I guess it makes sense but it's almost like knee replacements are an out patient procedure now.

I was wondering how it was where you are? Do they follow that same procedure?

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

ScrapHappy — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 14:55:18 GMT

My MIL had knee surgery several years ago...she's in her 70's. She was given the choice to go home and have PT there or go to a different facility for a couple of days and then go home. She had to discharge from the "regular" hospital. She opted for PT at a different facility. She didn't find out till the very last minute when and where she'd be going because they wasn't any rooms available.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

Catch71 — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 15:01:09 GMT

Had total knee replacement 11 months ago; right before pandemic began. I stayed overnight but went home the next day with in-home PT for the first 2 weeks.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 15:02:33 GMT

@Winkk I had a knee replaced in Nov. of 2019. I was 69. My surgery was at 1:30 in the afternoon on a Wed. and I was home the next afternoon.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

drizzellla — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 15:04:39 GMT

My girlfriend had her knee replaced in June. She felt great so they released her that day. She then had her second knee replaced in September. I could not believe it - she said she walked out of the hospital the day it was performed. And she felt so good that she went into the drug store on the way home and got her prescription filled.

She is going through PT. And she is 69 years old.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

Winkk — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 15:05:00 GMT

@ScrapHappy wrote:
My MIL had knee surgery several years ago...she's in her 70's. She was given the choice to go home and have PT there or go to a different facility for a couple of days and then go home. She had to discharge from the "regular" hospital. She opted for PT at a different facility. She didn't find out till the very last minute when and where she'd be going because they wasn't any rooms available.

It used to be like that here too @ScrapHappy. You would have your knee replaced and go to a rehab hospital for about a week before going home. But, they changed that. If you are able to get around on your own or have someone help you the insurance companies prefer you go home. Actually, I think it's better for most people. All you do at a rehab hospital is get two therapy sessions a day and then you just sit around. You can do that at home.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

Winkk — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 15:08:32 GMT

@CrazyKittyLvr2 wrote:
@Winkk I had a knee replaced in Nov. of 2019. I was 69. My surgery was at 1:30 in the afternoon on a Wed. and I was home the next afternoon.

@CrazyKittyLvr2 Did you have home visitations for physical therapy? When I had my knee done I had home visits for several weeks which was good.

Three years ago they considered knee replacement as major surgery. I don't know if they still do.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

Carmie — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 15:09:54 GMT

In December 2019, a friend had both knees replaced at the same time. He was home the next morning and received PT from a home health agency in his home for a week or two afterward.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 15:18:30 GMT

@Winkk I had someone come and check me every other day for 2 weeks. She give me exercises to do at home.

As it turned out I ended up doing exercises at home solely. My husband had died that June and it was my right knee, so no driving. Rather than try to line up someone to haul my backside to PT 3 times a week, my Dr. said to just do the exercises at home.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

barbie mae — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 16:52:22 GMT

I am 72 and had a total knee replacement three months ago. I stayed overnight and had no problems. The hospital was in Charlotte, NC.

The whole process days before and after the procedure was very much geared

towards safety. I was home before noon and started PT four days later.

With all the precautions I felt quite at ease.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

SeaMaiden — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 17:04:20 GMT

@Winkk With no complications or major health issues... most joint replacement patients go home same day or next day. It It is very common now. I had both knees done at the same time so I stayed in hospital for two full days. Now that was 8 years ago, so today they would probably have me home in one day. But with most single knee replacements it is same day or 24 hours. It is safer at home where in hospital you can get germs and bacteria.

With each of my hip replacements that were anterior not posterior I went home in 12 hours.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

Meowingkitty — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 18:12:23 GMT

I had mine in October 2017. Surgery was around 8:30am was home by noon the next day. My husband had his the following year and same timeline. We both Went to therapy three times a week until the end of the year. We both stopped because we didn't want to meet another deductible. No therapy at home, had to go to a sports medicine facility.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

pdlinda — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 18:26:59 GMT

@SeaMaiden

I had both hips replaced (2008 & 2017) and my right knee replaced 10/19.

First hip (posterior) I was in the hospital for 5 DAYS! Second hip (anterior) I was in the hospital 2 days. Right knee I was also in the hospital 2 days because I live alone and have 31 steps to get upstairs to my apt so they wanted to give me more in-hospital PT.

I had caregivers after each of my surgeries to help me and did a lot of food prep prior. I also had as much in home PT as my surgeon ordered (about 4 weeks, 3X a week for all 3.

I had no complications with all 3 surgeries.

HOWEVER I now need my left knee replaced and I believe I would be sent home that day or the next day. With the COVID (big outbreak here in AZ) I'm really not prepared to have random caregivers, delivery people and health professionals (nurses and PT's and more delivery people than I have now) coming into my home so I'm postponing the surgery as long as I can. I'm not in any pain but I really have to "baby" my left leg and curtail my normal activities (like walking outside) quite a bit.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

hckynut — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 19:03:26 GMT

@Winkk

My older sister, she is 87, had her left knee replaced in August and went home the same day. Her son and son-in-law are both medical doctors. They helped set up in home PT for 3 days, and then she went to her Therapists facility to help her recovery,

hckynut

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

Kachina624 — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 19:43:24 GMT

I had a TKR in 2007. I was in the hospital 3 days then was taken to a rehab facility where I stayed for 2 weeks since I live alone and had no one to help me. The rehab place wanted me to stay longer and did not prepare the discharge papers for the agreed time, so I walked out and left.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

ScrapHappy — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 20:04:15 GMT

@Winkk wrote:
@ScrapHappy wrote:
My MIL had knee surgery several years ago...she's in her 70's. She was given the choice to go home and have PT there or go to a different facility for a couple of days and then go home. She had to discharge from the "regular" hospital. She opted for PT at a different facility. She didn't find out till the very last minute when and where she'd be going because they wasn't any rooms available.
It used to be like that here too @ScrapHappy. You would have your knee replaced and go to a rehab hospital for about a week before going home. But, they changed that. If you are able to get around on your own or have someone help you the insurance companies prefer you go home. Actually, I think it's better for most people. All you do at a rehab hospital is get two therapy sessions a day and then you just sit around. You can do that at home.

I was in town when my MIL was in rehab. She was hardly ever in her room. She had more than 2 therapies a day. She'd get back to her room right before dinner (that's the time we'd visit) and she was exhausted.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

Vivian — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 20:14:53 GMT

I had my right knee replaced a little more than two years ago. I had PT a couple of times a day at the hospital and stayed three days. The physical therapist came to the house for two weeks. I had no problems but I do recall the first night as being quite painful. I would not have wanted to experience that pain at home.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

Winkk — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 21:14:15 GMT

@SeaMaiden wrote:
@Winkk With no complications or major health issues... most joint replacement patients go home same day or next day. It It is very common now. I had both knees done at the same time so I stayed in hospital for two full days. Now that was 8 years ago, so today they would probably have me home in one day. But with most single knee replacements it is same day or 24 hours. It is safer at home where in hospital you can get germs and bacteria.

With each of my hip replacements that were anterior not posterior I went home in 12 hours.

Wow @SeaMaiden you have had a lot of experience with this. It is great how fast they get you out of the hospital.

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

SeaMaiden — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 21:25:38 GMT

@Winkk wrote:
@SeaMaiden wrote:
@Winkk With no complications or major health issues... most joint replacement patients go home same day or next day. It It is very common now. I had both knees done at the same time so I stayed in hospital for two full days. Now that was 8 years ago, so today they would probably have me home in one day. But with most single knee replacements it is same day or 24 hours. It is safer at home where in hospital you can get germs and bacteria.

With each of my hip replacements that were anterior not posterior I went home in 12 hours.
Wow @SeaMaiden you have had a lot of experience with this. It is great how fast they get you out of the hospital.

@Winkk @It really is amazing!

Re: Hospital Stay for Knee Replacement

hckynut — Tue, 12 Jan 2021 21:38:57 GMT

@Winkk wrote:

It used to be like that here too @ScrapHappy. You would have your knee replaced and go to a rehab hospital for about a week before going home. But, they changed that. If you are able to get around on your own or have someone help you the insurance companies prefer you go home. Actually, I think it's better for most people. All you do at a rehab hospital is get two therapy sessions a day and then you just sit around. You can do that at home.

@Winkk

"It used to be like that here too", and a week at a Rehab Hospital? Doesn't make any sense to me unless a patient was mobility challenged before the TKR.

Not sure where that would end but it would sure help Rehab Hospitals that might be lacking in funding. Guess that could be applicable to a host of other mobilty types of issues.

My wife went to the Rehab Wing of the hospital after her stroke, but only because they needed the hospital bed, and were still running tests on her. But after her TKR she was home after a 2 day stay in the hospital.

I am surprised that Physical Therapists make in home visits to patients, not alone, and that had spent 3-4 days post surgery in the hospital. If there were extenuating post surgery problems, I get it, but!

I understand the present situation concerning staying in the hospital, but before being sent the gift last March? I don't get Rehab Hospitals for a TKR other than my aforementioned situations.

hckynut