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After knee replacement surgery

Joint Replacements | Last Active: Oct 27, 2021 | Replies (618)
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@johnbishop

I had my appointment with my PCP this afternoon to go over the labs, ECG and go through my health history for any things that might raise a flag for the knee replacement surgery. YAY! All is well for the surgery. The nurse looked through my records and labs before I met with the doctor and mentioned they already had a bunch of PT stuff scheduled. Then I got the can't tell you routine when I asked her what they are. Then the doctor told me they would go over everything after the surgery.

I am really hoping I can do in home PT until I can drive but that's probably a minimum of 4 weeks since it's my right knee. The pre-OP call from the nurse for the surgeon said I can't be home alone the first week. My wife is working full time also but is planning to take a week off after my surgery or part of the week and my daughter is planning to help by staying with me Monday and Tuesday after the surgery. I'm also taking a weeks vacation following the surgery and hope to be back working from home the second week since I can still take home breaks to due PT.

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Replies to "I had my appointment with my PCP this afternoon to go over the labs, ECG and..."
Teresa, Volunteer Mentor | @hopeful33250 | Mar 27, 2019

@johnbishop That all sounds great, John. You've got a plan in place and lots of supportive people in your life to help with your recovery! I think that when the October meet-up comes around you will be walking like a new man 👍

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JK | @contentandwell | Mar 27, 2019

@johnbishop I'm happy for you that it's full-steam-ahead. It sounds like you are all set on people caring for you. No one ever said that was required to me, they just asked if my husband or someone would be there to help. I guess if I said no, they may have pursued it more.

My experience with home PT is that you can have it as long as you are home-bound. Once you can get out, to anywhere other than church and the doctor's office, you are supposed to discontinue it. I would have loved to have it longer, my PT guy was great, but I also wanted to get out of the house, the walls were closing in on me.
JK

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ellerbracke | @ellerbracke | Mar 28, 2019

Hope your surgery goes well, and your recovery should really benefit from your pre-op exercises! Not sure if my surgeon insisted on help at home - I guess he just assumed because he knows my family. Was nice to have husband around, and visiting kids from time to time, but could have done it solo if necessary. Actually, after 4 days I chased hubby out onto the golf course since I was tired of compassion and concern..... wanted to suffer in peace 🙂.
Home PT is nice, of course all PT depends a lot on the individual therapist. As an alternative, some people elected to transfer to a rehab program within the hospital, if that is an option for you. I met a few people who had fabulous results doing that.
Regarding the driving: I’m pretty sure I was driving around day 17 after surgery, had been off opioids since day 8 or 9. Yes, it was my right knee as well - driving is not the problem. Getting into the car takes some maneuvering, it’s the getting OUT of the car which is the most challenging. Easier if you have an SUV-type verhicle - I don’t......
Tongue-in-cheek advice: enjoy the first 6 to 8 hours after surgery, while the nerve block is still in place. Even with proper pain management, that will be the last time for a while that you are not feeling a thing!!!

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