I find it to be very frustrating when I hear about patients who've had multiple joint replacement surgeries like yourself. What do I have to do to convince my doctors that the osteoarthritis in my knees and hips is making my life miserable, and need some help.
I went in for replacement surgery on my left knee in 2018 because I had already had 3 arthroscopic procedures on it in the previous 2 years. When I woke up in the recovery room, the first thing my wife said to me was "they only did a partial replacement". I didn't really believe her at first, then the doctor came in and said once he got in there, that the interior portion didn't look as bad as the anterior, hence the partial. He said going back in and making it a total was a piece of cake.
Then he retired.
Now, every time my GP x rays my knees and/or hips, he says the same thing every single time, " the arthritis doesn't look that bad". He knows how much pain I'm in though on a daily basis, I've been his patient for almost 30 years. He has said that if it were up to him, he'd do the total on my left knee, along with a replacement of my right knee as well. My new/old orthopedist has looked at my right knee, and said I'm on my way to a total replacement, as long as I lose 30 pounds. How the hell am I supposed to lose 30 pounds if I can't even walk for 5 minutes without some help because of the pain in my feet and joints? I worked a very physical job for 35+ years driving a truck, climbing in and out of the cab 25-30 times a day, and moving really heavy objects until my body started breaking down 10 years ago. I've been heavily built my entire life, and lifted weights on days I wasn't working until almost a year ago. I'm beyond frustrated with the situation, I know there's not much they can do about the neuropathy in my feet, but osteoarthritis symptoms can be helped considerably with joint replacement surgery. Apparently our insurance provider is also part of the problem.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm glad you've gotten the help you've needed, I'm just jealous of people who've gotten the help I feel I need and have basically been ignored.