Sylvia, I'm so glad you don't have to wait very long for treatment! You will be in very good hands at Mayo. The people in Minneapolis and the entire area were so friendly when we visited a few times. My son lived there approx 1990-95. The drawback is indeed the cold. But I was amazed at how warm we were indoors, no matter what building we were in. Even that huge Mall of America was right toasty! I found that I was able to stay warm outdoors as long as the skin was covered. My eyes were the only thing bare, and I wore glasses a lot too. I just wrapped that scarf around my neck, face and ears, and always had a hat on outside, and like Jan said, you must wear gloves. A warm hat or boggin is very important, because so much body heat is lost through the head. You also need more calories in cold weather, takes more to keep the body warm. Oh and they have good food too. Seems like potatoes comes with every dish you order lol ... an entire plate of them besides your entree at most places. I'm so glad your family can be with you. Maybe y'all can enjoy the city a bit before your surgery. The Nicollet Mall area has every kind of restaurant you can imagine, it's right downtown, and fun to walk around there if weather permits. Their city bus system is very good too. We rode it over to St. Paul Mall of America, and when the regular commuters were sitting in traffic, the buses have their own lanes, and just keep going, and they let you out right in the front. That's helpful because you can only imagine how big their parking lot would have to be! For such a large city, it's very clean too. I feel all the love and prayers going out for you too! It's like a big warm energy in my heart! And on the 12th, you will be on a lot of peoples' minds, and prayers will be constant that day! The power of prayer will multiply more times than we could ever really know. Keep up the good, positive spirit, because there will be trying days, but I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. You are a strong and beautiful woman, and there will be better days ahead! I hope that there's some way your family can go online, or call one of us at the forum so they can let us know how your surgery goes. If not, we'll just wait patiently until you can get word to us. Your family will be in our prayers too, love and best wishes to each one of you. We'll miss you while your gone, Sylvia, so hurry back as soon as you can after your surgery! Keep in touch until you leave! ~tenderlee

I'm taking it slow and being a good patient, listening to my body. I can't do everything that I used to yet, but it's way better than using that cane, walker and wheelchair that are sitting in the corner! I've taken up painting old furniture and am having a blast! I've learned how to make chalk paint and am creating my own wax stains and paint colors with tints and white paint, so fun! So far I've painted an old childs' ladder back chair -yellow, an old oak mirror, silver and gold, and my bathroom vanity, to match the mirror. I've also painted my heavy wooden microwave cabinet, white, for my daughter. I've started stripping an oak cedar chest in the garage. I also found 2 french country coffee tables for $20! I plan to paint them too. I'm also slowly clearing out my gardens from last years' dead grass. The soil is so deep and soft from all the years' of compost and horse manure. Little by little. My gardens went to weeds last year, but hopefully, by summer time, they will be beautiful again! Margaret, you are in my prayers for a full recovery. Keep smiling and praising God for how far you've come and you'll get there! I am so aware of His healing hand on me, I just marvel in His mercy and love!

You should definitely not be dreading it. If you did your homework and know your surgeon is one of the best then you should be celebrating that your days of pain will soon be over for good. My doctor waited and waited to replace my knees because as he put it "I was so young." Under 60. I insisted and well, it's the best decision I've ever made. I had them done one at a time because he told me both at the same time is too hard on the patient and could be dangerous because if infection should set in that would be very complicated. He said it's just better to have a good leg to stand on while recuperating from the other knee surgery. I'm going to recommend you buy this book entitled Total Knee Replacement & Rehabilitation. You can find it on Amazon for not much money. It's written by Daniel J. Brugioni, MD and Jeff Falkel Ph,D., P.T., CSCS If my memory serves me, one of the authors actually went through a knee replacement. At any rate they are in the business and this book is an excellent guide to prepare for what is to come. Being informed and ready for the pain afterward, the PT and how difficult it can be at times, etc. is the key to a fast and successful recovery. Remember to always take your pain meds 1/2 hour before therapy. This is imperative. Another word on pain meds. Take them as instructed. Do not skip or be late because you don't want to the pain to get ahead of you and my last personal piece of advice is ice, ice, ice. This is what keeps the swelling down because it's the swelling that causes the pain. In the book I'm suggesting they talk about pre surgical exercises. I can tell you these made a world of difference in my recovery because I had built up the muscles in my leg which helped me get around by day 2 with a walker. I'll tell you I suffered like heck. I was 3 weeks after my first one and I told my DH I couldn't wait to get the other one done and his comment was "are you nuts?" That's because he'd listened to me yell, cry, complain after surgery, but the fact is I knew by the 3rd. week I had made the right choice in having it replaced and couldn't wait for round 2. Round 2 was 3 months later and it also hurt like heck. LOL There are lots of forums and discussion boards on the net that you can go read from other people who have gone through the surgery and there's nothing like getting first hand knowledge and hearing how others have faired. You'll read bad stories, but the majority are victories. I know of one very good forum but because my memory is not worth a darn anymore, for the life of me, I cannot remember the name of it. When it comes to me I'll post it here for you. So don't dread this surgery. Prepare as much as possible and you will up and dancing in no time!! Good luck.

ALLEUIA,this is the first i've been able to get on here in several days,since i posted that question about the security alert.After i posted that,i could never get back here til now.I was having severe withdrawl symptoms!!LOL Anyway,i need to have knee surgery,and have needed it for the past few years.Dr has suggested that i wait awhile as it really doesn't last for the rest of your life.So i have done that,but am seriously considering having it done this spring.I too have arthritis in my knees,and i'll be 70 in March. My ds had it maybe 5 years ago,but his knees were worse than mine due to motorcycle/dirtbike racing.He got the knees from a cadaver and is doing very well.His recovery was super fast,He had it done on a thursday and went back to work on Monday,at first in a wheel chair for a couple days,then on crutches.He never went to rehab,instead he had some contraption set up in his bedroom at home as he told his dr,i have a businees to run,and don't have time to be running to someplace for therapy,so they got him set up and he did very well.Now you would never know he had knee problems. My sons dr and my dr both told me i should start exercising my legs now to get them strong before the surgery as that will make the recovery shorter and less painful.So ds is going to bring me his stationary bike and set it up in my sewing room.Yipee!! Not,LOL Kathi