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Can I manage in a house alone after knee replacement?

Posted , 2 users are following.

grace47953
grace47953

I am new to this forum, writing for the first time here.

I am nearly 67, I need two knees to be replaced. The first one is going to be done on 14.5.14 at

Stanmore Hospital in London. I can walk around the house now, but walking any distance is a problem. Do you thing I will be able to manage by myself in a house after being discharged from

hospital. I live alone, have no family in UK, friends live far away.

I am terrified of the operation, especially when I read about all this pain.

Grace

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • gloria29023
    gloria29023 grace47953

    Posted

    Hi Grace. Yes it is painful but aim to get some control of your pain management ASAP. Even discuss with doctor before hand. I certainly will for my second TKR. As far as managing at home alone, I believe you can. I was mobile. I found mobility wasn't a problem although bending was but ths didn't affect the way I moved around. You want to make life easy fr yourself so have frozen  food and everything you need for about 2 weeks stocked up and you'll be right. Your only problem will be if you need to travel to GP for meds or physio for later exercises. Hopefully you can arrange lifts for those times. Other than that, I was surprised how easy it was to look after myself. Good luck. Btw although the pain is bad for maybe 2 weeks I can say ,  at 5 weeks into recovery it gets bettersmile
    • grace47953
      grace47953 gloria29023

      Posted

      Dear Gloria, 

      Thank you for your time to reply to me.  I am terrified of the operation, especially when I read the comments about the pain there is after operation. what painkillers you got from your doctor?

      After my left knee, I will have to have my right one replaced, hopefully I will be brave nough to do it.

    • grace47953
      grace47953 gloria29023

      Posted

      Sorry, I am new to the website. reply went, and I have not finished it. Where did you had the operation?  Are you happy with the results?

      Thank you once more, doog luck with your recovery

      Grace

    • gloria29023
      gloria29023 grace47953

      Posted

      Grace the docs prescribed.morphine based OxyCon as a slow release twice per day and  every 4-6 hours with over the counter pain killers as a backup. I found that for 2 weeks I needed the stronger drugs regularly so try to insist u have them. After that I only needed them occasionally once or twice per day. The important thing I'm told is to take pain killers regularly so as to keep the bucket full. I also got from my GP some nerve trauma meds called Lyrica as it was felt that a stabbing and burning pain was nerve trauma. I found some nurses in hospital were loathe to giveme morphine based meds for some reason so get the doc to write it clearly. My understanding is that if u r in pain u won't get addicted and u will need it at first. Good luck. I still have a second TKR to go through but am feeling confident having been through it once.
    • gloria29023
      gloria29023 grace47953

      Posted

      And yes I'm happy with the results. 5 weeks into recovery I bend 120 d I walk without limping and ride an exercise bike. But still take over counter meds every 5 hours . Still in recovery tho as is quite tight and needs TLC
    • grace47953
      grace47953 gloria29023

      Posted

      thank you so much Gloria for all info. 

      THESE DRUGS WERE PRESCRIBED BY DOCTOR IN HOSPITAL OR YOUR GP?

    • gloria29023
      gloria29023 grace47953

      Posted

      Grace by doc in hospital and further prescriptions by GP later. Read back my post and didn't make sense in one place. That was OxyContin slow release morphine base twice per day and Endone morphine based every 4-6 hours. The Endone was particularly important. Over the counter painkillers as a backup 4-6 hours. But I'm sure each doc will have his own meds but I found I needed the morphine based drugs for 2 weeks. Then later  mostly over the counter with occasional Endone when bothering me. I'm now on headache pills smile but I still take them regularly
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