I can relate to your comment about being very sensitive to pain. I had a horrible year after a knee replacement last year, but I learned some lessons: 1) If your surgeon does not offer you a detailed patient education class, video, or pamphlet, or refuses to discuss complications of the surgery and side effects of medication before you agree to the surgery, get a new surgeon. 2) Don't expect contact or help from a surgeon afterwards. They aren't interested. It's almost impossible to get any prompt help if you are in trouble and the minimum appointments they do schedule are too far apart. So, go ahead and schedule checkups with your family doctor at about three week intervals over the first four or five months. You can cancel if you don't need them all, but they are your failsafe. It's the fastest help you can get. It really helped me. 3) Do a search for physical therapists in your area who are board certified for knee replacement recovery or who have a Ph.D. There are lots of different opinions about how to rehab a knee after TKR. The physical therapist is not a doctor and it's really just you and the therapist who will get you well. Get the very best one in town. I know from experience that what some of them don't know will hurt you badly and delay recovery. 4) Get someone reliable, patient, and caring to be your coach. There's no getting through this surgery without one. They not only drive for months, but they have to monitor large numbers of meds on a 24 hour basis and remember all the instructions you get and help you practice the therapy. You won't be able to think or remember for weeks from all the drugs. You won't be driving for at least a couple of months. You won't be cooking or washing clothes or shopping. The coach is absolutely the most important person in your life after surgery. 5) Buy a large ice pack from your physical therapist (roughly 8 x 12 inches). It's going to be your constant companion. Also, arrange a comfortable way to elevate your leg above the level of your heart for 30 minutes 4 times a day. It's the only way to get the swelling under control so that your leg will bend. 6) Get on the Internet and read everything you can find about the surgery, the risks, the complications, the rehab, how the leg heals, and recovery physical therapy exercises. Use sites from big teaching hospitals like Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, the National Institutes of Health publications, and professional associations for orthopedics. More info will help you deal with the roller coaster of unexpected events. It is easy to become overwhelmed and deeply depressed after this big surgery. It's a long haul. 7) Finally, prepare your family for a year of disruption. Someone else will have to take over things you normally do. It's very stressful for the whole household. Your days will be spent dealing with the miserable knee for months to come and nothing in your life will be normal till the following year. Don't believe all the advertising about how you will be walking and climbing stairs and getting back to your daily life in a matter of weeks. That's sales talk. Best of luck to you. Everyone who has been through this will be rooting for you to heal quickly.