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Truth about Total Knee Replacements
Joint Replacements | Last Active: Jan 26 10:36pm | Replies (193)Comment receiving replies
Here's the thing...I think we all have to decide how much 'pain' is adequate before deciding to go ahead with a surgery that will involve cutting of bone (bone 'cutting/sawing' or any type of injury to a bone is considered one of the most painful experiences...) unless there is something to alleviate that pain...and I'm not talking about pain medication, but more so, getting some type of relief of pain through intravenous methods..which they won't do anymore! In 2020, my husband's TKR involved a 'pain pump' intravenously pumping a type of lidocaine directly in to the knee (like the nerve block given before surgery) that lasted about 2 weeks and helped get him through the worst part of the surgery pain...It slowly gave him a numbing of the area and the pain was so much less than what they are making patients go through now! I totally believe that is why his surgery was such a success because he was able to do all of the exercises/stretches, etc, to heal correctly! The procedure works for most, but the $$ must be the reason they decided to stop doing it...and $$ is always the reason for everything...makes me crazy!
Replies to "Here's the thing...I think we all have to decide how much 'pain' is adequate before deciding..."
My surgeon uses robotic surgery and cryoanalgesia done at the time of surgery. This numbs the leg for about three months and there is supposed to be no pain the day of surgery. It didn't work quite right on me but kicked in a bit late, leaving me in pain in the recovery room and unable to move my leg at all when physical therapy came to get me up. By the next day, however, I was up and about and pain free for the most part. It's a strange feeling. My whole leg felt heavy and tingly, and that gradually subsided over several months. At 7-months out, just my knee feels tingly, and my surgeon said that will probably never go away. I had in-home PT for six weeks, followed by out-patient PT until I was a 6-months out. I'm continuing to improve as healing happens without doing anything special.
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Thank you for all the responses. I have an appointment with the pain specialist on the Thursday the 8th. I will ask about the lidocaine. Thank you for this piece of information. I am hoping to get some relief.