My New Knees

Moved from Class C.

Had my TKR on my left knee November 3, 2011. I immediately realized that I was in less pain than before the surgery. I was off all the big pharma pain meds by the third day. I sucked on some medical marijuana candy to sleep, but only did that for about 10 days. Used a walker for about ten days, then used my hiking poles for stability. At about two and half weeks I was walking 1 1/2 to two miles per day. I made PT my full time job.

I was dismissed from PT at seven weeks and dismissed by the doctor a few days later. I was hiking the Superstition Mountains/Wilderness at ten weeks.

I had my right knee replace in 2004. The best decision I could have made. Two months prior to the surgery, I did prehab by walking in a "stream" at my local rec center. Built up the muscles in both legs and made the rehab that much easier. VA did the surgery and rehab and everything went great. I told the doc I was concerned that I only had 135 degrees of motion. The doc laughed at me and said that was all I would ever have as there is a stop in the knee to keep it from dislocating. Six weeks after the surgery, I was back at work and doing normal chores at home. I even got rid of the riding lawn mower and went back to normal mowing. I was able to ride my motorcycle with no pain for the first time in years.

In July I had revision surgery on my left foot (VA again) to refuse the fusion that didn't take the first time. I was discharged from PT today. I am walking more or less normally with some minor discomfort still. I expect that to go away in the near future. With just buying our RV it has been quite an adventure moving around to check things out. At least we were able to get out camping twice prior to the surgery. My truck is a standard transmission and I had to wait for the doc to give me permission to drive it. Now that I am mostly healed, we will be headed to New Mexico to see the Grand Kids for Christmas in the RV. Should be an interesting trip.