Scheduled my next knee replacement surgery

I saw my ortho surgeon today to arrange to get a Synvisc injection in my right knee (the one not yet  replaced), and to talk to him about replacing the right one as well. He said that I might as well go ahead and do it if I am having significant pain in that knee.  It will have to be done sometime in the next couple of years, anyway. Although that knee is in better shape generally than my left one was (I injured and delayed getting surgery on that one a number of years ago and walking on it with it all swollen up created a bunch of bone spurs), it is still bone on bone on the inside of the knee. I will also feel more comfortable having the same surgeon do the second knee.  I asked him about whether he uses the same knee components on both knees, he said that normally when they are replaced close together, if the patient has done well with the first prosthetic, he will use the same one in the second knee.  He only uses different ones if the patient had trouble with the first one or if there is a new component that has a significantly linger life.

So, I will be getting my Synvisc injection in about a week and will be getting the right knee replaced on Nov 5th. I will run out of short term disability leave (because of the 7 weeks off for my original knee surgery and the week I took for my kidney stone issue) and have to transfer over to LTD for the last couple weeks of the recovery period for this knee (which is only 50% salary, so is a little scary), but I have already met my out of pocket max for this year, so the surgery won't cost me anything, whereas if I wait until next May (so the rolling year will have passed and I can do it all on STD), I will have to pay the $3500  out of pocket (plus prescriptions) -- or whatever the amount might be for next year's plan --, so getting only half salary for  a couple of weeks is still less money lost than paying the extra medical expenses.  Just means I need to star****ching my budget closely between now and the end of the year.  Hopefully, I will get a decent bonus in November to help cover the salary shortfall.

Lora

Dear Lora,

Look at how amazing you are now! Once you got past the fear of the first one, here you are venturing out for the other. You are such an inspiration to me on this. I have moderate osteoarthritis, and before losing weight, my knees used to bother me on occasion. Now they just feel a little stiff once in a while. Although I'm not ready yet, I'm pretty sure my future holds a knee replacement at some point. I read all your posts about this subject with interest because I myself am a big weenie when it comes to this subject, and you have taken some of the fear factor out for me...Thanks!

Best wishes on Round 2!

Kat

Glad my experienced has helped you.  Even though the new knee is only "5 months old" and I still have the expected residual swelling and periodic stiffness, I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to just have to deal with stiffness rather than PAIN when I walk on it!  The surgeon assured me that the pain that I do have -- when I bend the knee all the way back beyond 90 degrees -- will fade. So the fact that the other one still hurts when I walk annoys me even more, LOL  

The idea of getting the other one done and having NO pain and being able to use a bicycle and elliptical machine again, etc.  is worth the (considerable, but managed) pain during the first month after the replacement.  I just hope it goes as smoothly as the first one!  And is am SURE I will ******vous wreck the couple of weeks before the surgery!

Lora

Good luck! Reading your post reminded me of the Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman shows from back when I was a kid. Who knew technology would come so far, so fast. Not exactly the same concept, but replacing worn out parts like we do now to allow for better quality of life is still pretty amazing. 

Sounds like a good plan to me.  Hopefully you can save up a little money between now and then to cover the difference in salary.

Yeah.  We get a small bonus that they pay out in the fall, so I am planning to use that to help cover the I come shortfall (as well as watch my expenses between now and then).  Unfortunately, we decided to go to Florida in October, so that will put an additional strain on the bank account.  At least I am done paying grad school tuition!!

Lora

Congrats on getting it scheduled!!  Sounds like you've made some wise decisions and now that Gus is a little older you won't have to worry too much about him while you're recovering 

The funny thing is that my mom is more concerned about keeping Gus while I am in the hospital this time than she was the first time because right now he has SO much energy and is so big and strong that she has some trouble handling him and knows that he can knock her over under certain cir****tances.  I may just ask my brother and SIL to keep him while I am in the hospital (he loves playing with one of their two little dogs, and my brother would have no trouble handling him if he is still getting these "running fits" and bursts of great energy), and then he can come stay with mom when I go there for a couple of days after the hospital.

Lora

Lora,

How is your other knee doing?  How long ago did you have that one done?  Has all of the swelling and pain completely gone.  I ask all of these questions because as you may recall, I just had total knee replacement of my right knee on July 9th and am scheduled to have my left knee replaced on August 27th.  I'm just trying to figure out how long will it be before I start to really feel better and realize the benefits of having this procedure?

I had my left knee done on March 5th, so it is just now 5 months "old".   I still use the ice wrap on it every evening and sometimes during the day if it has been having one of its "spells" where I have more swelling and stiffness.  It took me about 3-4 weeks after surgery before I saw enough of a light at the end of the tunnel and could say "ok, doing this was a good thing". It was still pretty temperamental about my level and type of activity and was painful (not severely, but enough so that I would take some Tramadol) for about 12 weeks.

Because I also have a history of DVTs in my left leg, and a previous injury to that knee, my whole left side (including my gluteal muscles, according to the testing  by a PT a couple of years ago) was significantly weaker than my right side, and I am just now working on adding strength to that side, so I don't think I would have struggled to do the second one less than 8 weeks after the first one.  It really depends, though, on how much you can rely on your already replaced knee to support your weight and activity for the first couple of weeks when the second one is minimally useful.

FWIW, if it is possible, my personal opinion is that you would be better off to give the already replaced knee an additional 4 weeks to heal, but that is based on my knees and limitations, and I know yours might be very different.  I can also tell you that having two bouts of general anesthesia so close together (I have done it twice) may hit you harder the second time in terms of fatigue, and your recovery time may be longer since your other knee is still very actively healing at only 8 weeks out.  

Lora