Update: 8 months since left TKR and 4 1/2 months since right TKR

True, I COULD fall shoveling, but I usually have been the one to shovel these last 40 years, so I just DID IT! My neighbor, Phyllis, also does HER driveway. She had her knees replaced for the second time five years ago. Her husband had a heart attack ten years ago, so she took over then. My husband has issues with pheriphial neuropathy and vertigo, so it is much easier for me to get going on the driveway.

Each thing that I can do successfully that I had trouble doing before is SUCH a victory!

Yes, I thank God every day that I can walk! I DO remember wondering if I WOULD be able to ever do many of the things I can now do again.

I promise that I will be careful. Thank you for being concerned!

How have you been feeling with these storm systems popping in and out of the Midwest? Achy days for my shoulders, HIPS, lower back, fingers, elbows, but MY KNEES are GREAT!😊

Tell your wife "Hello" for me, and tell her I said that she's one lucky woman to have you by her side!

Thanks....I'll give her your mind thoughts. True, the storms have been coming and going but seems we are.sort of right in the middle and things have been a little more stable here than even a 100 miles one way or another. Everything is going pretty well.as far as the leg. I'm still in therapy once a week and finally got with the pain management dr. He put me on high dosage of gabepentin for the nerve pain in my lower leg and gave me a spinal injection for the hippain. Suddenly I picked up another 5 degrees so now at 115/0. Best ive been since the onset of the staph over 2 years ago. Leg is still weak but like my surgeon says, I'm fortunate to be walkng so I'll still be working to get stronger for a couple of years. I had to take a little time away to have my eyes defuzzed. Cataract surgery is absolutely the most amazing thing I've ever been through as far a quick results. In 10 days I'll get a new prescription for some minor correction and I'll be able to see like a youngster again. Right now I am using a cheap pair of over the counter glasses that she (the opthomllogist) have me and they are almost perfect as far as correction.. No doubt aboutit, we are living at the right time in history as far as medical science goes. No one gets out of this world alive but science is making it easier for us to take up space. Take care now

What kind of nerve pain are you having in your leg. I have lateral jjoint pain at the fibular head. pain here with active flexion and extension and weight bearing with the knee in a bent position and numbness on the anterior lateral side of the upper half of my leg. I am worried about entrapment of the peroneal nerve. Anyone else delt with this?

Much of mine is a neuropathy type pain. ((like a million bee stings. Knee to foot). Internal swelling of the foot. The Dr's think its because of all the surgeries (11) on the leg and possibly some of it because of the nerve in the spine being pinched. I had a spinal injection a couple of days later and got some additional relief. My therapist pi v med up on the type pain I had and suggested the trip to the pain management Dr. I will be getting another injection in the next 10 days as it generally takes 2 or 3cover a couple of months to get max results. In the meantime, between the gabepentin and steroid injection 95% of that tingling pain in the lower leg and and foot is gone..

I didn't mention that the last 2 major knee surgeries were rep a red to a serious staph over infection and I had to have the prosthesis removed for 4 months and the leg immobilized without weight bearing for that time plus one month after the new joint we s installed. I am having to rehabthe leg not only from the normal tkr but from a point of complete atrophy........adding to a bit of aging, of course I p ersonally don't consider 79 as old unless it helps me get an extra 10% off on my morning coffee or lunch tab.

So happy to hear that your meds are working and that you have your bonus-- the increased bend, too!

Cateracts surgery is QUITE amazing! I hope to get my husband in to get checked, but he is NOT brave when it comes to ANY procedure whether he needs it or not. So glad yours has been so successful!

For his same I hope he will get it done if he needs it. Its a l ittle time consuming the 1st week with the drops but so wonderful to be able to see things as they should be instead of like looking through a greasy piece of glass. I was 20/70 in my left eye and now I'm back to 20/30. I haven't been that close to perfect since I was in my teens. One thing, you have to be a little careful how you react when get your vision. For the 1st few hours I kept wondering who b tthat old woman was in my house. Then I realized it was my wife.........any how, glad I had it done.

A lot of peroneal nerve entrapment is over looked after TKR. I am not saying that is what you have but goggle it and see if it sounds like it might fit. One lady went 10 years  before they relieved her of her pain.

Several years ago I had so much pain in the back and hip that finally had an MRI and found a severe compression in the spine. A neurosurgeon did a decompression surgery and the relief was so fast and complete I couldn't believe it. I came in on a cane and bent over so badly I couldnt move without help. They would hav d let me go home the same day except my BP was upfrom the pain a 92nd theykept me in the hospital for 48 he's to stabilize. I went home without needing the cane. As usual though I will take your advice and check it out. I see my pain management guy next week n for the 2nd injection and I'll se what his thoughts are.

Funny guy!😁

If you look in the dictionary for the word STUBBORN, you will find my husband's picture there. If I suggest something, he is SURE to avoid doing it! 😱

You would think that a math professor with all his ability would look at things logically. Well, you would THINK he would.

He just refuses to attend to any physical issues. Meanwhile, I am trying to deal with anything that comes up with ME because longevity runs in my family, and I would rather be healthy for a long time than NOT healthy for a long time.

He works VERY HARD at avoiding anything MEDICAL.

Got any insight into how to deal with this?

He and I have known one another since we were TEN. We have been together as a couple for over FIFTY YEARS and married for almost FORTY.

I'd like him to do a better job of taking care of himself, but he just seems more bent on putting his head in the sand!🙈🙉🙊

Its like a professional football player friend of mine told me once about he and his fellow athletes.....if they were all on a plane and it crashed, each of them would be the guy that would walk away in their own mind. It can be a couple of things........one.....the fear of actually finding you have something wrong and having to deal with it OR finding something wrong and having a mindset that people look at you like you are a weakling and your personality just won't accept being laughed at by friends and family. My ex son in law grew up in a big low income family. His dad was a huge rough, gruff guy that thought the kjds didn't need to ever to to the Dr. and didn't need any support from him in their school activities. If they were a ick, they would get well, get hurt.....they'd heal. If it cost money, they didn't have it so don't worry. He wound up with the same stupid mentality with his own kids. I finally had to take him aside and tell him I'd have the kids taken away from him as I wasn't going to have my grandkids lives threatened because of his ignorance. Then age 57, my S I L's dad suddenly dropped dead from a heart problem no one knew he had. Not 5 mins worth of planning on anything. All 7 kids were raised but mom was left with about 35 cents to her name. It took awhile but my SOL finally got the message but the marriage turned into a complete disaster and ended.

Unfortunately, sometimes its that wake up call that creates the change. You just hope it isnt to late. The last 15 years of my working history I was with an organization that ran a very large residential/training program serving the needs of almost 1000 of the lowest functioning persons with developmental disabilities. I was in development and worked in fund raising plus helping families develops strategies for the long term welfare of family members that depended on our organization. It was incredible the difficulty people have planning for this. Its almost a mindset that says " if I do all this planning and put everything in place........I'm going to die as soon as I sign all the documents, so.....I'll just put it off till tomorrow".

We've had a will for years but it was pretty basic. I had been after my wife for years to really get the proper documentation done as our oldest daughter has MS and needs her portion of our $200 estate handled differently than the others. I was getting no cooperation untill my wife was diagnosed with Parkinson's and a couple of go s pital stays caused her some anxious moments. WOW........the moment of truth. Get the lawyer and lets get this trust done properly and get it done now.........and don't worry about looking for a deal in legal fees.

Procrastinating on health and things like proper estate planning are receipes for disasters waiting to happen and leave families in real predicaments when the wheels do come off.

Hope you can find some examples of this to bring to your husbands attention and the problems that it had caused their families. Like I've always said....you don't but life insurance for yourself.....you buy it for the people that are left to clean up any messes that you have made. Getting to the Dr on a regular basis can reduce some of that mess.

One more story and I'll quit for tonite.....one of my long time coffee drinking friends just got his notice to get his affairs in order. He looks like a picture of health....no excess body weight, biker, swimmer, strong heart, international traveler and absolutely great guy without an enemy in the world.....liked by everyone. Suddenly......a couple of unexplained falls.....incurable liver cancer. These are the things that should be eyeopeners for everyone.

Thanks for taking the time to point out some excellent examples from your experience with those who ALSO put their heads in the sand, denying that anything was wrong or actually believing that nothing COULD go wrong.

Fortunately, thanks to my side of the family's forethought with finances and my husband's retirement plan, we are financially comfortable. Our wills and investments are in place as of last year when we revamped everything so that our two sons get everything TOD (Transferrable On Death). We hired a financial planner who helps us manage our investments as well. Of course if my husband should suddenly keel over, everything comes to me. If I should drop dead, my husband gets everything. My husband and I are both "only" children, so there's no chance of anyone contesting any agreement or matter of inheritance.

We have kept our now 40- year-old home up to date with new siding, new windows, new furnace etc. , so, should my husband or I suddenly die, all is ready to pass down to our sons.

What ISN'T in place is my husband's ATTITUDE toward maintenance on HIMSELF! He has said MANY times...."You go to a doctor, and they give you pills. You read all the warnings ABOUT the pills. THEN you hear that the pills have been taken off the market because people have DIED taking them. (Avandia, for Type 2 Diabetes)." This ONE TIME he DID go see a doctor and experienced this scare with pills REALLY turned him off to ALL doctors. Instead, he lost weight and is managing his diabetes with supplements. He apparently did a lot of study on what to take, how much, etc.

That is where we are right now.

He's a very intelligent mathematician and a talented musician. He is exceptional at logic. I think he is playing the odds HIS WAY.

I totally agree with you, that he will need to hear stories of people who played the odds AND LOST in order to begin to see the error of his ways. Maybe when the caculus book becomes too fuzzy to read or the notes on the sheet music aren't clear enough to figure out, he'll decide that heading to get his eyes checked IS the "logical" thing to do.

I will keep you posted on how it goes. In the meantime I am going to use YOUR story about seeing "that old lady" after your cateract surgery and discovering she was YOUR WIFE! At the very least we will have a laugh, and MAYBE it will help him to see what COULD BE at his fingertips (or his eyeballs!) if he only would allow it!

Thanks for your caring and your insight as always!💗

Hi Tracey!

Yes, once you know what's coming, it is a bit daunting to jump into it for a second time! For me, though, I was in such pain I focused on how much better I was GOING TO BE once that bad knee was made new again.

Also, once my first was done, it was my "GOOD Leg", and my other one was my " BAD" leg! My second one was holding my newly-surgical-knee back and making me want success with BOTH knees.

I focused on all the positives and on progress made. Keeping a journal has been helpful because I can see where # 1 was after a week and compare it with # 2. It is like a little competition, and honestly, #2 is even doing better than #1 was doing at the same time post surgery.

It REALLY feels good not to be in such agony, and I wish that for everyone here!

You will do great! You have a good attitude on things, and you will be pleased you took care of business with your # 2!

Thanks Cheryl, My other knee was always the worst one anyway. It is badly bent and after 7 months of taking the strain it is really painful. I am so tired of lumbering along with a limp.

Just want to get in there now and get it over with and get the healing started. Fingers crossed it goes as well as the first one. That was a good 5/6 months before i really began to believe it was a good thing but i think lots of us on here have been through that and some of us are still struggling. The surgeon i saw recently said that 18 months or so was a more realistic expectation for recovery so I hope that gives some hope to those of you who are still in the "what have done!" phase of recovery.

My second knee was my worst knee. I expected lots of trouble from it after surgery. I was VERY pleasantly surprised that right out of the gate it moved better, felt better and out- performed #1 even in the recovery room! Maybe you will experience this as well.

My surgeon told my husband after surgery that he could tell that I "had been in a world of pain" with that second knee. Maybe ANYTHING felt better than it HAD been! Either way, I was pleasantly surprised that something so painful for so many years could feel better right after surgery.

I hope you experience this, too!