Wellness

[wismiss]

Magenta: You are doing fabulously, considering that it has been only three months since your surgery. Are you back to work or are you still on medical leave? I had one knee replaced in November, 2012, and the other in June, 2013. One day both knees hurt so much, I couldn't believe it, as I am relatively pain free. So, I called my friend who had both knees replaced about the same time that I did and hers were also hurting. This happened at the time of our first snowfall followed by cold weather. I felt much better knowing we were both experiencing the same thing, and just gritted my teeth and in a day or so the pain was gone. I have noticed that when the weather changes from warmer to colder, my knee(s) do let me know they are still there. Nothing that keeps me in a lot of pain, just a teasing of "I'm still here."

Give your knees a year to heal. Keep moving (I also applaud you for doing your PT exercises and walking) and don't give in to the pain and let it stop you from moving. I'm wondering if knee warmers or wearing Cuddle Duds might help. Maybe keeping them warmer would hep. Do you have pain at night when sleeping? Does it wake you? You might want to ask your doctor what to do if this is happening frequently.

If your surgeon has taken after surgery x-rays from different views and everything is fine, it might just be a matter of giving the knee more time to heal. This was major surgery.

Good luck, and I hope you find an answer to your knee pain. It took about a year before I was mostly pain free. At 3 months, I was still healing and experiencing some pain. Not as much as at the beginning, but still some.

[gazelle77]

Magenta, I had both knees replaced last June. It has been 9 months and I am just now starting to REALLY feel great. It can take well over a year for the tissue to totally heal. It is the most brutal surgery of just about any surgery on the body. Think about that! You are early in the healing process. Be patient, do not over do! That will just set you back.

[okiebug]

I have had both knees replaced, 3 months apart, 3 years ago. I had a great recovery. This winter has caused me a great deal of pain. I was out one day when it was below 15 and when I got home the skin on my right knee was white and chilled to the touch. I was literally chilled to the "bone" or "metal" in my case. It took a heating pad and several hours for my legs to warm up - this winter has been really hard.

[sfnative]

Magenta,

It's nasty having to live in really cold weather with a TKA. However, I believe surgeons would indicate that there are differences from one person to another. I, for one, am sensitive to cold, so know that once I have the re-scheduled surgery in May, my left knee will bother me during our long winters.

For those who think they may be candidates, I'd like to just lay this out here for consideration. I was supposed to have a TKA in January, but opted out and changed surgeons, because I wanted the surgery to be performed with Navigation (no guesswork here) and also wanted Stryker's Triathlon knee, which has male and female models. Further, this Triathlon model with Tritanium has new connectivity to the host bone: no bone glue! The part of the device of interest interfaces with the bone by way of Tritanium highly porus matrix which fuses excellently with bone (without the need for glue). All of this adds up to many pluses for the patient. A multi-year study on the basic unit is complete and the results are most excellent.

******

As with another poster, my knee issue arrived on the spot, as if I had ordered a pizza: bone on bone, buckling unless I walk straight legged and pain that wakes me up at night.

My best to all who are post-TKA and to those considering this surgery.