Knee Surgery Hospital Horrors and Highlights

We were given paper knickers, but they got you changed into your own nightwear after the op.  Were others like that too?

I was too out of it with morphine and had just stopped using a bedpan because of quadriceps being dead, hence the lack of underwear.  Had fainted twice in the day, so really very slow in putting myself together dressing up wise!  

Yes,  took me a couple of days to get myself sorted! 

I've got a very vague memory of the nurses helping me change out of the gown and paper knickers into my own nightdress and knickers, and I remember the physio coming round with the walker and the first step on the floor and being thrilled how much weight I could put on the leg, and then the doctor coming round later, but it's all a bit vague.  I don't think I was really that with it until the next morning really.  But that was when I nearly fainted and blood pressure dropped to 60 something over 40 something so they rushed along with the oxygen.  Every time they checked my oxygen levels while I was there, I had to do deep breathing.  Anyone know why oxygen levels go low?

it might be a combination of things... person being laid flat for a long time and then getting up, low blood pressure,  blood loss.. (I found out later also had post operative anaemia)... not enough for blood transfusion but I think there is quite a lot of blood loss with knee replacements, and the morphine...must be lots of reasons.  !  I think I must have looked pretty dire that second day as my husband looked very worried when he came to visit!  

It must be 'the husband effect' - I'd been walking up and down the ward quite happily but then they asked me to move to a different room so I was on my way there and it was just as my husband turned up that I nearly passed out and they discovered the low blood pressure.  We're swooning with the excitement of seeing our husbands LOL!

It was the arrival of the tea and coffee trolley that got me excited! Nice tea it was!😁

This is perhaps going to sound very odd, but I enjoyed my mini stay in hospital!  All the staff were so nice and it was all a positive experience!  Well, almost LOL!

I felt exactly the same.  Very well looked after and very postive experience. 

It does get you off to a good start, doesn't it!

It helps a lot.  Really kept me going in the first four weeks especially, because that was soooo hard going!  Now at six weeks starting to feel a semblance of what I was before the op!  Just a semblance! 

I suspect it's because my other knee is so bad but it's not been the operated knee that's kept me awake, apart from one night soon after the op and it's the unoperated knee that's given me far more grief than the operated one.  I'm nearly eight weeks now and don't tend to think about the operated one much at all, apart from doing the bend thing in the evening.  But it's definitely my best knee out of the two!  I noticed that about a week ago - suddenly realised I had one strong reliable knee!  So I hope within a couple of weeks you'll feel the same Jenny:-))))

Funny you should say that, my operated leg feels fantastically strong compared to the other. Strange as still healing! I think bio mechanically it's working so much better, the surgery trauma is a separate issue!

The physio was surprised when he told me to stick my leg out straight, when sitting on the chair, and he pressed down on it.  I didn't know he was going to do that, so I was surprised too LOL!  But yes, on that leg I feel I've got a good strong reliable leg to walk on now!  I think it is when you've still got one bad one, and can compare them, you realise how much better off you are for having the surgery!

yes, indeed.  My other leg gives way when I do (little) lunges!  It is the one which stops me going down further!  I can hardly believe this!  So even though my operated leg needs a lot of love and attention, and certainly needs a lot of work, the other one feels at a distinct disadvantage.  I don't get much pain from it at all but it has started playing me up more since having the knee replacement.  I think it is jealous and wants some of the surgical attention, like the other.  I am not sure I feel the same way though!!!!!!

I imagine the first few days after the one knee is done, the other is taking a lot of the weight with getting up and down etc. so does get a bit more of the strain put on it.  Although mine's pretty much the same as it has been for years really.  Probably past the point of getting worse.

That makes a lot of sense.

Hi I kept fainting when they tried to get me up and out of bed. The physio guy told me I was dehydrated and had to drink and eat as much as I could. It worked I managed to get out of bed and on my feet later that day. It was great eating a load of sweet things not so good when I had to give them up .

😊 it seems quite common this fainting!

Great news is, now at 12 ,months post op, I am more myself than I have been for years.Was it worth it? YES YES YES. 😀

See?????  We told you!!!!!

Yep, you did. I thank you for your input in the process! This forum has been an encouragement in the times when expectations have needed to shift, and the journey is long. I had in my head that one year was the point when I would make a judgement (even before surgery), because I did do a fair amount of research, and that is what it suggested. However, even when you know something in your head, it can still be a challenge to exert the necessary patience and faith needed! And this is where the kindness of others investing time into taking part in a forum like this comes into its own.

Because my experience was good and with no complications I could say it was worth it much earlier, but I am surprised how the improvement kept on coming even from six months onwards!