Thanks for your kind words. Yes, I had two "second opinions". The prothesis was installed properly but the procedure varies amongst docs (I learned subsequently). I also had an MUA, MRI, an arthro surgery to remove scar tissue, am awaiting a tenex procedure to fix a tendon, tons of pt, taping, and a Genicular Nerve Block. My informal survey suggests those that are happy w the TKR (assuming the correct prothesis was installed) include thinner people with upper body strength. I have one friend who got hooked on Oxy and had to detox. Mayo's website speaks to "the saphenous nerve" and to shift it during surgery to avoid issues, but my surgeon didn't do that. In my non medical opinion, that might have mitigated months of nerve ending pain but I can't attest to that given I am an under informed patient, not an md.

To prep for the Genicular Nerve Block, Step 1 was an exploratory process. In my case, the doc stuck 4 long needles into the knee nerves that were giving me so much electric shock pain. At times the electric shocks traveled along the shin bone, into the ankle, and it would go on for hours making restful sleep a fond memory. The needles inject pain deadener which lasts 90 min. If no pain for 90 min, the doc concludes he hit the target nerves. Step 2 is done 3 weeks later and he performs a Radio Frequency Ablation which is similar to the procedure used in a heart. Step 1 worked for me, I was pain free for 90 min for the first time in months. It felt so good my wife and I danced to "good old" rock and roll. But when the 90 min respite ended, nerve pain returned but not as pronounced as before so I never went ahead with Step 2, the ablation.

The point is, I grossly underestimated the crippling side effects I would experience after TKR. I thought I did my research, read the waivers, but my research proved inadequate. Before I agreed to TKR, I should have experimented with Hyaluronic Acid, PRP, & stem cell but there is no turning back. Cortisone gave me some relief but it was very short term. Weight loss and building muscle have been my most successful answers at mitigating the grief this TKR caused. I look really silly getting up off the ground, I look like a toddler, but I am able to do it and not get hurt. That's better than the alternative.