UPDATE ON MY KNEED ADVISE

[Seajay]

I never dreamed it would take this long to get one little bitty knee fixed.  I have harassed the surgery scheduling lady for my doctor now and she recognizes my voice without asking ''Name and Date of Birth please''. 
First of all, it seems that this is the ''season'' for knee replacement here in Granite Falls, NC.  My doctor does these procedures two days a week and the rest of the time he is seeing patients, giving shots and doing his ''doctor thing'' with old people like me.  He is a whale of a nice guy and he looks like a line backer for the Green Bay Packers.  He is easy to talk to and he explains everything in simple English.  Seems the great problem is that he is one of the best in the South East and he is in great demand for knee replacement surgery. 
Tracy, his scheduling nurse called me last Thursday morning and said she would check his schedule again and try to get me an appointment for surgery on December 11.    Good greef...... this is going to greatly interfear with our Florida get a way for the winter.  It looks like we may have to see snow or at least cold weather till sometime in January.  I told Tracy that I would be glad to buy someone elses time slot to get the procedure done at a earlier date.  She said she would keep me informed but it looked like the December date was the earliest I could get. 
Such is life I guess.
I have become a good friend to my pain pill bottle now.  I wear an Ace bandage some of the time and other times I wear a full knee brace but my knee still hurts most of the time. 
Many thanks for everyone that has posted a reply too my other posting concerning this and I have no fear of the operation now.  In fact, I want to ''get it done'' and go on with my life.  I told Willa that they have my heart beating right now (no A-phib now) and maybe soon I will get my knee fixed and I should be in pretty good ''shape''...........  I figure after all this I will get hit and killed by a mixer truck. 
Anyhow,  Thanks Again for the good advise on this ........
I will keep you posted............

Lets all pray for our troops .............cj

 

[COMer]

Wife just had hers done and is doing the recovery thing.  The two weeks before surgery, the doctor's office was checking often to make sure she had not come down with a cold or any such aliment.  Apparently you cannot have the surgery if you caught a cold or have any flu-like symptoms.

I tell you this to suggest that you keep away from sick people those last two weeks and be ready in case they call you to say that somebody who was supposed to have theirs done, got sick and they can move you up.  I assume that means getting all your pre-surgical stuff taken care of and letting them know every couple of days that you are ready to step in (gingerly) if somebody has to back out.  It could happen.

 

[Chet18013]

I hope you have some luck like I did when I got my knee last March. I was scheduled for the latter part of April, when we decided to go ahead with the procedure on 14MAR. My comment was how about tomorrow. The next day they called and said how about the 21st of March. We just had a cancelation. Then it was a mad scramble to get all the pre-operation test and procedures completed, but we did and I got my new knee 1 week after deciding to go ahead. I just wish I had decided to go ahead a few months sooner than March.

Just make sure you do twice as much as the physical therapy is calling for. I got a pair of ankle weights and would sit on the table edge 2-3 times a day and lift my leg, by extending it straight out while wearing the weights, as many times as I could stand. It helped and the therapist commented that I was progressing about twice as fast as the normal expectation for recovery. I got this advice from a friend who had also had both knees done.

 

[jmugs]

Seajay, glad you have an appointment and hope it all goes well.

We have good friends in Granite Falls. Planning to be out that way around Sept next year. Maybe we will meet you while there.

 

[RVcyclist]

Seajay, I am up the road from you in Boone.  I had a hip replaced 4 years ago and am very happy with the result.  I went to the OrthoCarolina Hip and Knee Center in Charlotte for my surgery.  I like having a surgeon that specializes in hips rather than an orthopedic surgeon who does a little of everything. 

If something happens and you decide to look for a different doctor, I highly recommend Dr. Springer at OrthoCarolina.

Delbert

 

[tvman44]

Good luck with the knee replacement, I have had both of mine replaced about a year apart and so glad I did.