Total Knee surgery sucks: Did you get help with a second opinion?

Hello cam28, in Texas. I have not made a comment for a while but I am glad that I checked in today. I had TKR Sept. , 2023. ...extremely painful but was told repeatedly that it would take a year to heal. ...gradually the knee began to hyper extend, bending backwards to the extreme. My surgeon said that he had NEVER had a patient that this had happened to. I did a lot of research and chose to go to a young surgeon that had training in revision surgery.
GOOD NEWS, I had revision surgery Oct 29, 2024. It has been a completely different experience.
virtually no pain, very little swelling...I was on Hydrocodone for 2 weeks and am not take anymore pain meds. It has been 3 weeks today since I had my surgery ...I can't say enough about the different results.
BTW I am in San Antonio. Let me know if you want the doctors name etc
All the best.

Yes please. Who did the revision? What did the revision say the problem was with the original surgery? Did you have all 4 parts replaced during the revision? Aside from pain were you having any other symptoms like clunking or instability?

I can well relate to your condition. I had replacement surgery in April of 2023. Since then, 3 more procedures to break up or remove scar tissue that has caused pain, inflammation and severely limited my range of motion. With each of those procedures, my knee got worse! My second opinion recommended that they switch me to a hinged knee. They said that they would remove all tendons, which is an area where scar tissue tends to build up, and that the hinge would take the place of the tendons. Studies show that 6-10% of people who have a TKR will experience excessive scarring, which is what many in my condition are suffering from. I am hoping to have the revision southerly done at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Mn.) sometime next year.
Have they said that scar tissue is the cause of your problems?

That part about taking pain meds only 2 weeks got me. I have a huge pain tolerance, or so I thought prior to my knee surgery.

I thought it was normal to need OxyContin prior to my PT 3x/wk as it was excruciating when they tried to bend me or get me flat. No coordination with the surgeon. I didn’t like how the pain med made me feel and it really didn’t cover those pushing me off the table times…

Then an MUA, and now I’m getting somewhat better. Almost 6 m out from surgery. But, it still is tight. I can hike and walk better. It still reminds me when I walk ( mid-knee pain) and especially going down stairs. I have to exercise it to get it going. I’ve been told it takes up to a year. So tight. We shall see.
I still take ibuprofen and Tylenol. Never did before all of this.

Hello @cam28. Knee replacements are a big undergoing and don't always have the results we hope for. I struggled a lot after my knee replacement. I underwent two manipulations and struggled for a year+ to get mobility back. Eventually, my ROM settled on 0-105 or so. It is not the ROM that I hoped for, but for 18 years now I have had far better pain than what I had before the surgery. It took work and a lot of frustration to get there.

Not all surgeries and outcomes are linear, or comparable. While I had a hard road of recovery, it did eventually get better, which is not the case for everyone. It can be easy to get in a web of only negative stories, which is why the following discussion may be useful to read through:

"Total Knee Repair Revision: A Success Story" - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/tkr-revision/.

The same thing happened after my knee TKA. Apparently, it is rare for the knee to hyperextend. I had a revision to place a bigger spacer. It’ll be 4 years since I had the revision surgery and 5 years since the TKA. The knee functions, really no pain but still feels tight and stiff. I’m not able to walk normally and my situation is compounded with a spinal/disk issue (failed Fusion surgery). I don’t think the docs can help me, so I’ve learned to just manage and do what I can do which isn’t a whole lot. I’ll be 76 in a couple of months, so although it’s not what I’d hoped for in my retirement years, it’s easier to accept these limitations. Best of luck to you.

Hello from Texas, I just want to bring you up to date. I had TKR Sept., 2023. Ultimately my knee hyperextended (bowing backwards). I did a lot of research and found a different doctor to do the revision. I had the revision Oct. 29, 2024. I am extremely happy with the results. Only took pain meds (hydrocodone) for 2weeks. I was in a very heavy full leg brace for those first 2 weeks.
I have been working with a in-home PT. I will say that after I took off the brace, going from sitting to standing and standing to sitting was EXTREMELY PAINFUL after I was sitting it wasn't so painful...I still wasn't taking pain meds. After a week or so the pain is less and less. I forced myself to keep doing my exercises.
I have a return visit to see my surgeon on Dec. 4, He wants me to start outpatient PT, which I really need for full body build up. BTW I am a 86yo female, in the last 2 or 3 months I have lost 20 lbs, now down to 120 lbs. I pray a lot and am very thankful for the revision doctor and the success that I am experiencing so far.
I wish all of you success.

Yes, thank you! I think I’ll read the success stories! I’ve been inundated with so many negative knee replacement experiences, that I’m frankly now terrified to have my TKR in February 2025. I’m a young 63, and I desire to have my life back! I had to pretty much stop everything I’d been doing such as yoga, hiking, and even going on walks. I feel constant pain, stiffness and instability. My balance is off, I’m gaining weight I’ve not been able to release, and it’s ultra frustrating. The horrible experiences people are having who have had knee replacements—more pain than prior, excruciating rehab, multiple corrective surgeries, decreased mobility. . . has me in tears.

@anne905 Remember that people come to this site for one of two reasons, either they are looking for information prior to their first TKR, or they have had a poor result and are looking for help with solutions. What you don' t have is very many people posting who have had successful surgeries, because life goes on for them and they have no need for this site. It's helpful when the first group of new people return and discuss their successes, but that doesn't happen all that often. I am one of those people with two successful TKR's, done two years apart, the first when I was 72. I had only moderate aching in the knees by a few days after surgery, non of the overwhelming pain that some here describe. I did not take the opioid based drugs after I got home from the hospital because they made me nauseous and unable to function. I iced, elevated, went to PT three times a week, home exercises twice a day. I have a stairs with about 12 steps that separate our downstairs from upstairs that I had to use several times a day to get stuff done. I think having to use these stairs helped me regain and maintain my knee flex, along with the assigned exercises. My knees were pretty much healed by 4 months, and I am glad I had them done. Just another perspective from a success story.

I had TKR ten years ago in both knees. The PT was long but I stuck it out and my knees have been pain free and just terrific ever since. I have since had a hip replacement and a shoulder replacement. They too have given me at age 78 total pain relief and mobility. Choose a surgeon who has a good track record. I hope all goes well for you.