I KNEED ADVISE GUYS........

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i had a total knee replacement 2 years ago. i have to say theres no more pain in my knee.
but i have lost all feeling from my knee to my hip. doctor says that they cut nerves and if they feeling doesnt come back in a year it probably wont. i had the best dr. in iowa. i dont have full use of my leg anymore. not trying to scare you.but i cant recomend having areplacement.unless you cant walk anymore i would much rather have knee pain ..just my 2cents
 
CJ
I waited as long as I could to have my left knee done.  Big mistake as I suffered a lot of pain and limitations by not having it taken care of.  If my right knee even starts to give me trouble there will be NO shots NO waiting, I'll have it replaced in a heart beat.

Having said that, the recovery time will be up to you as I had mine done in Nov. 1997 and was on a cruise in Jan. 98 with very little recovery pain.

After you recover you will love it. 
 
I can' use personal experience on a knee replacement, but have a titanium shoulder joint.  During physical therapy, there were a lot of knee patients being treated at the same time.  One common statement by all the therapists was, "If it don't bring tears to your eyes, you ain't doin' it right!"  Believe me, those tears are worth it.  Those that really pushed to the limits set by the therapist progressed a lot better than those that just couldn't bring themselves to the challenge.
 
Tks for all the responses and advise guys.  I have had a little infection where one of the staples was but it is all gone now and I start ''rehab'' (again) tomorrow. 
I have been doing rehab on my own since I got the infection and I seem to be doing well.  The worst time is in the morning.  I put an ice bag on my knee and that seems to help it a lot  ....
Yep, I am on Medicare.........  Wasnt for that i would lose a car for sure. 
I will keep you guys advised as to how it goes with the rehab and my progress with same....
Thanks again for all the good wishes ......cj
 
glad to hear of such positive results.  I'm sure its coming one day for my left knee.  Sometimes I step and the knee goes backward, or has just given way before, doesn't feel very good, but not bad enough to do anything yet.

I wish they had ankle replacements, my feet are so flat and I keep getting new orthotics for them, I have lots of pain in my right ankle now.  I'm going to try the DMSO, never heard of it before.  I take arthrotec and tramadol for the ankle pain and of course with my super flat feet it has caused my back and hips to go out at times and I'm sure it effects the knees too.  My gait is not right.

I see such positive results nowadays, its wonderful body parts can be fixed or replaced to give folks a more pain free life.  It's good you are doing well.
 
I had my left knee replaced 6 years ago and my right replaced 3 years ago.  The only problem I have is that I cannot comfortably kneel, especially on hard surfaces, so I have a folding stool that is about 14" high that I use to sit on while connecting the sewage hoses and dumping my tanks.  I store it near the utility compartment.  It is also helpful for sitting on when I want to reorganize or get something out of some of the other basement compartments. 

I am a short, 69 year old woman, and that is my only adaptation (other than a short stepstool) for full-timing in my Class C.

My knees are still a bit numb, but almost pain-free.  Would be pain free if I had not slipped on a steep ladder on a museum ship last summer and ended up with my right foot tucked under my rear end with most of my weight on it.  Had not bent my knee that much in decades, so I stretched some ligaments and muscles, but increased my bend about 10 degrees in that knee!  I also tripped and fell on my knees just before Christmas and bruised them both badly, but these prostheses are very tough and nothing damaged. 
 
I appreciate your sharing your 'knee' story and how you've adapted yourself to continue RVing. I always find something useful in these posts; I particularly like the idea of a stool for hooking up utilities. Had both my knees replaced and I'm short also (5'), so most would think there'd not be a problem with getting into that bay. However, sometimes its not the hooking up that's the problem as it is unhooking...that darn stubborn water hose!
 
Don't know how good it is, but out of curiosity looked at Web MD, which has an article about DMSO, it's side effects and drug interactions DMSO.

Edit: Fixed link.
 
I ordered some DMSO, 70% DMSO and 30% aloe vera.  I used it on my worst ankle last week, it quit hurting and most of the swelling is still down, but the tissue is so injured it will never go completely down but it still isn't hurting.  I also put it around my shoulder where the rotator is I think and it helped that.

I was telling some foks about it on another forum I frequent and they told me to pitch it.  They said its so dangerous not to use it.  They said it will go immediately into the bloodstream and if there are any bacteria or anything suck that in with it.  The one lady is a researcher and she said she thinks that's why they dropped it as it will allow anything on the skin to be sucked in

One of the guys said at his job they consider it a really dangerous chemical and use nitrile gloves and are warned not to get it on their skin or flush it.
I'm wondering if they mean the 100% kind.  Yes I've read its been used in countries all over the world for years and years.

But I can't believe the results, I have a knee hurting me today  and I want to put some on the knee.  I didn't throw it away and I think I will use it on the knee but they and what I've read  says the stuff is dangerous

It's a shame as something like that can give relief.
 
Willa and I both use the DMSO and are very satisfied with the rusults of this product.  I read some where that all medicens are poision to the body.  Case in point.    You can take enough asparin to kill you.  The same can be said for any med. that I can think of.  In fact about every med. that I can think of is some sort of poision to the human body.  I would suppose that the DMSO would fit in that catagory of being ''dangerous'' to some degree to the human body in some form.
It should be understood this IS NOT AN ADVERTISEMENT FOR DMSO.  It is simply my statement that, for us,  It is great for pain relief concerning muscels and the like.  I would not recomend it for intermal injestion in any way. (dont drink the stuff)
Use this product at your discression............ cj
 
Well all I can say is that ankle still doesn't hurt and I haven't found anything else that will stop that pain, so pretty good stuff in my point of view.
 
You may want to look into this before considering surgery:
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00217

My brother (now 71) had the viscosupplementation injection and was pain free for 18 months. He just had it done again last week and is again pain free. Medicre pays 100%.

I'm looking at having it done soon myself........ I just want to wait as long as possible to see if my brother keels over from it... ;D ..... one of the advantages of being an old "Younger brother" ........ now he's the Guinea  pig.... ;D
 
So sorry to hear of his problem.  Infection is always a concern for knee replacement because if it does not clear up easily they need to remove the knee, put in a spacer, put your on IV antibiotic, and replace the knee again several weeks later.  That means no weight bearing on the leg for maybe 3-4 months--not fun.

It is, however, rare.  Those of us who have had replacements will have to premedicate with antibiotics for tooth cleaning and some other procedures all our lives.  We also need to make sure we get treatment quickly for ANY infection--no waiting for little things to clear up on their own. 

Knee replacement should be done only all other options have been tried.  And since it is surgery, we need to remember that all surgery has risks.  I know someone who had a heart attack during her knee replacement, and I had complications from the sedative.

However, in my case, I could not walk 20 feet without severe pain, and would now be in a wheelchair without my knee replacements in 2006 and 2009.  I can now walk long distances and ride a bike without pain, where before I could not grocery shop without an electric cart and used to choose stores by how close whatever it was I needed was to the front door.  It has been a wonderful change to my life. 
 
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