TKR at 81, living alone, and with balance difficulty: a good idea?

Hi, Sue (@sueinmn) I'd ot for a rehab facility, too, but presently, unless a patient is ill otherwise, beds are impossible to come by. My doctor's insistence calls for a minimum of a 72-hour live-in helper (I've arranged for that), plus three weeks of friends and neighbors on a 5-minute call list. Knowing my friends, a number of those on the call list would probably sleep on my sofa, anyway. In my mind, this is doable, although I'm keeping an open mind. That's why I've posted here and am eager to read these replies. –Ray (@ray666)

@ray666 Your plan sounds manageable. When I had my last hip surgery my daughters who are nurses worked with the doc to extend my stay until my hemoglobin rose to a safe level and my BP stabilized for 24 hours - that gave me 48 extra hours of healing time before release.

Hello, @oconnorbg. I have a friend who also did his pot-op in an in-patient rehab facility. He also had great success with his recovery. One evening my friend's partner and I drove to the rehab facility to have dinner with my friend. I was blown away with how posh the facility was! White tablecloths on the candle-lit tables. It was quite eye-popping. 🙂 My doctor and I discussed my going rehab facility, but he explained that in recent months he's found it impossible to secure a bed for one of his TKR patients, not unless that TKR patient is otherwise ill with something that wouold benefit from a rehab facility's care. My only other oprion is to do what you did and have an energetic helper stay with me for those first few days, and then enlist others would be willing to help for the first few weeks. My doctor is quite insistent that I follow these guidelines. Thank you for your message! –Ray (@ray666)

I’m 75, live alone, have balance issues, and had three TKRs (one a redo to clear up an infection). I was about 66 when I had my last one, and yes, healing is slower as we age, but I’d lean toward doing the surgery as my goal is always to keep moving. I’d get treking poles (4pt. suspension) and walk/hike on uneven surfaces as it trains the brain for the micro balance adjustments we need to stay upright. Good luck!

Sage advice, @sbcarcht. Thank you. I have trekking poles. However, I've nt done enough walking on uneven surfaces. I'm doing PT once a week with an excellent therapist, and when I see him next I'll ask to add more uneven ground walking into our regimen. What you say about micro balance conditioning makes a lot of sense. Again, thank you! –Ray (@ray666)

Hi, Sue (@sueinmn) I'd like to think my plan (actually, my doctor's plan) sound manageable, at least at this early juncture when I've still weeks to consider the pros and cons of surgery. I'll confess (knowing "me" pretty well by now 🙂 ), I'm hoping in the end (Decision Day?) the pros will out-number the cons. I've mentioned to a number of friends the wild sense of exhilaration I felt driving away from the orthopedist's office minutes after he'd told me (with a good deal of appropriate cautioning) that he could help me (a TKR), but only if I wanted his help. As a person with large-fiber neuropathy, an incurable disease, I'm so used to doctors saying (variations on) "I wish I could help you, but … ", it was absolutely mind-blowing to hear a doctor say "It is possible I can help you." Words I'll not soon forget. Even if in the end I choose not to have the surgery, my orthopedist's words are words I'll not soon forget." –Ray (@ray666)

@ray666 I just had a TKR on March 9. I am 84 and live alone. I spent the first week at my son's home and he helped me keep a daily schedule of icing, elevating, eating good food and taking a myriad of medications. I always made sure to stay ahead of the pain and that has helped tremendously. I have been home alone for a week and a half now but I have PT come in twice a week to measure my improvement and show me new exercises to help me walk normally. My leg looks well healed and I think I am doing really well for my age. I also have balance issues but that is one of the things PT helps me with. I used an ice machine most of the time and that really helped with the swelling. I don't really need the walker now but I will use it now and then to help me walk correctly. Whatever you decide, you need to be comfortable mentally with that decision. It took me some time to get to that point. Good luck!

@ray666 I think it was in neuropsychologist Daniel Levitin’s book Successful Aging that I picked up the idea that walking on uneven surfaces was good for the brain and balance.

@ray666 my sincere and brilliant advise is to stay FAR AWAY from any invasive knee surgery. Most of the time the results are not as favorable as the statistics provided by the manufacturers lobby and arthroscopic co conspirators. I know I know I sound like a quack but I am a 78 year old athlete still swimming biking and lifting daily and the absolute most insane thing in my life was listening to these salesmen. It’s a $ and numbers game. They need you . You do not need them.
The recovery time is painful and long and at your age you dontwant that.
Grin and bear it and tolerate the pain because when the doc’s and PT are done with you there are no guarantees that it will work. But there is a guarantee— you will suffer….

Hi,Mark (@mark3248) You don't sound like a quack at all! You offer sound advice, advice I will enfold as I proeed through the pros and cons. I feel I should underscore my own past experience with a TKR. My experience––and by no means am I suggesting that many have had less than stellar experiences––my own past experience could not have been better, and my 20-year-plus titanium right knee is still performing like a champ. I'd never have called myself an athlete prior to my ancient TKR, but I was a near-daily long-distance runner, and have a lengthy history of arthroscopic scopings (most were successful, a few less so). I was lucky in and around that right knee TKR in that I was enrolled in a Federal study to learn the impact of knee replacements on a person's quad. Why I say I was "lucky" was participation in the study necessitated weeks of heavy-duty workouts at the UC Med Center both before and after the surgery, plus a elective continuance at Boulder Sports Med. I say al this, but I'm no fool. I was a younger man then. And partnered. And not yet dealing with balance issues. I try to be realistic about life's changes. I'm a diferent man today than I was back then. It awareness of these changes that prompted my posting here on Connect. At the moment, I've by no means decided to have the surgery, but nor have I decided not to have it. I figure I've got the whole months of April and May to mull this over. Thank you a millionfold for your most understanding message! I wish you all the best. Cheers! –Ray (@ray666)