Hi! I’m Paul – a retired IT professional who cares about helping others through my life’s array of experiences. To learn more about me, read my bio. Thanks!
Knee Replacement - The Journey Begins
Welcome to the inaugural post in my health category and my first post on PaulsHealth.com. The intention of this and the next several posts is to share my experience with a full left knee replacement. I care about people who need this procedure and are not sure where to turn for advice. I want you and other readers who need a replacement to understand what it may be like to receive one. The guidance I provide is my opinion on what you should do to prepare for a successful experience. You also need to know that you are not alone in the pain felt and the decisions to make.
Knee Replacement Research
In case you are not aware, I am not a doctor. I am in no way qualified to give medical advice. Yet I can tell you how I learned about knee replacements and the steps I took. On the surface, a knee replacement is a daunting, frightening and painful sounding topic. What causes all the pain and discomfort? When I have questions like this, I go to my doctor first. With that said, I do get medical advice and information from Google to get a better understanding. If I read something online, I will mention it to my doctor at the next visit. I want to make sure it is accurate and ask for my doctor’s opinion. This is all about getting and understanding the most accurate information for the condition.
Some of my go-to sites, for medical advice especially knee replacement, are:
I know you will do your own research if you haven’t already. By doing the research you will learn about ways knee issues develop, treatments for them, and the sequence of treatments.
My Experience
In January 2023, I underwent a full left knee arthroplasty also known as a full knee replacement. Over this and the blog posts to follow, I will describe my experience leading up to and recovering from the procedure. My experience may differ from yours, but it offers another reference point for your review.
In this section I answer the following questions for you:
- Why did I need a knee replacement?
- How did I come to the decision to get a knee replacement?
- How long did it take before I decided to get the procedure?
- What caused it to take as long as it did?
- What were the factors that pushed me to get it done?
- Why did I decide to get the procedure?
In the Beginning
After going through physical therapy for several weeks, my knee felt better, but some form of pain was always present. It was a few years later in 2018, after dealing with on and off knee pain, that the orthopedist gave me a steroid shot in the knee. The shot helped for a while, but then the opposite knee began to hurt. In November 2019, I had an MRI of my right knee which revealed more meniscus problems. This would need a right knee arthroscopy procedure to correct.
In September 2020, I had the procedure to clean up the meniscus. It turned out my right meniscus was not repairable. The doctor described it as if my meniscus went through a shredder. He gave the example of a tee shirt that went through a meat grinder. It would come out in pieces. That is how my meniscus looked. It would be impossible to stitch all the pieces back together. The meniscus clean-up went well and alleviated the pain. My doctor explained the procedure was not a permanent solution. At some point, I would need a knee replacement. His guidance was to live my life until the knee pain got too bad. The knee procedure could take place at that time.
Understanding the answers to these questions may help you decide your next steps if you are considering a knee replacement.
My History
Approximately eight years ago, around 2015, I started to experience sharp pain in my knees. At first it was my left knee. Keep in mind that I was in my fifties and more than 100 lbs. overweight. I remember working in my garden and when I knelt onto the ground, my right knee hit a large root sticking above the ground hard. From that point on my knee was not the same. I did what many people would have done; took Advil and put ice on it. I did this for a while and before going to my doctor who ordered an MRI. The results of the MRI determined I had tearing and fraying of my meniscus. It was unclear if banging my knee on the root caused the damage or if the meniscus was already injured and kneeling was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was a combination of both. At this point, I went to an orthopedic doctor.
In the Meantime
So that is what I did. I had a hectic life at the time – married, working in the city which was a two hour commute each way, having three boys and a grandson all kept me busy. As time went on, I found myself unable to do as much as I used to. During my commute, there was a lot of walking. Working in Manhattan, NY, I took the subway each day. If you are not familiar with the NYC subway system, you can connect to trains, but they are usually on various levels. There are ramps, stairs, escalators, and platforms to walk on. This all took a toll on my legs. Before my work day even started, the commute often left me exhausted. The same was true with the evening commute. I will get into this in more detail in a future post.
Next Steps for Knee Replacement
On the weekends, like you, I ran errands and did work around the house. It came to a point, as the orthopedist indicated, that the pain got to be too much. That is when I made the appointment to see the doctor again. During this time, my left knee started to decline. I was favoring my right knee which put added, unnecessary strain on the left joint. At this point, I was not sure which knee to address first. After meeting with the doctor and doing one more x-ray, I decided to have the left knee replaced. The doctor explained that the cartilage between the bones on the left knee was much more decayed than that of the right knee. It made sense to me and matched how I was feeling so I scheduled the full left knee replacement.
My Guidance – Knee Replacement
Based on what I went through, I would guide you to see your doctor as soon as you experience pain. Perform all the testing requested by your doctor which may include:
- MRIs
- X-rays
- Blood work
Consider the following for Arthroplasty
Include your general practitioner in the steps you are following so that he or she can alert you to anything that may be of concern. Think of your general practitioner as the doctor with the roadmap. He or she should guide you on the next steps. If determined you have an orthopedic issue:
- Completely research the doctor you plan to use.
- Look at reviews and take them into account, but do not put all your focus on a particular review.
- Make all appointments in a timely fashion.
Your doctor may want to try other treatments before a knee replacement. Please follow that direction. In my case I went to physical therapy and had injections, both cortisone and gel shots, before the knee replacement. Discuss with family, friends and any other professional who can help you decide the best course of action. Do research to help with finding as much information as possible on what you need to have done. Make sure you understand the risks of all treatments.
What’s Next
In my next post, I will go into how I tried to set up a successful knee replacement procedure known as arthroplasty. I will talk about my surgery preparation and describe the pre-surgical testing. I will discuss what you need to know from my perspective. Support is crucial to a successful recovery so I will discuss that as well. I will also provide guidance in relation to these. Please subscribe to this site for new post notifications.
3 Responses
This post is ready to go. Hopefully it helps someone out.
Thank you for sharing. I found the information on the links very helpful.
Thank you, Mary Anne. I’m glad you found this useful.