My father-in-law had this done and it has been wonderful for him. It was tough at first. Your husband will be made to walk almost immediatly but if he follows his doctor's instructions and does the prescribed exercises, he will be walking around in no time and wondering why he put it off so long.

that's the secret....start using it as soon as possible even though it's going to hurt. Taking it easy and not doing the proper physical therapy soon enough will just make his recovery harder.

My husband plays golf with a Senior Blitz group of elderly men. There are many with hips and knees. But they get out there play just like the others.

Having both done at the same time is a good idea. The old way of just doing one at a time resulted in a tendency to favor the "bad" knee and it didn't get the use that it should have.

My dad had one knee done at 80 years old and is doing great now. They got him up walking the next day (with a walker).

There are two important elements to the success of his surgery: The surgeon's expertise, and the physical therapy after surgery. PT is very critical and must start early to keep the joint and muscles from tightening up. The importance of a commitment to doing the PT exercises cannot be emphasized enough. It will take a lot of patience and time, and some pain, but his hard work will be well worth it.

Jen

Thanks for the reports. It does sound like PT is key to this type of surgery. I was amazed that he will be walking so soon. The doctor did say that he would be "walking" to the bathroom that evening. I find that unbelievable. Thanks again and if anyone else has comments please tell me about them. Thanks again.
One more thing--Besides a walker what other items did you feel was necessary or helpful during recovery?

Don't get a walker unless his PT tech and his doctor want him to have one. Sometimes the patient gets in the habit of walking sort of bent over and halting as he moves the walker. The two people that I have close contact with both started using two canes for balance. A raised seat with handles for the toilet may be helpful too, especially if he is heavyset.

It is very important that either canes or walker be the proper height. You want his posture to be as nearly normal as possible.

Been there, done that and have the tee shirt. I'm a 63 yr old Teamster retiree and had mine left knee (truck driver's knee) done Dec 06, doing very well. Still have hard time getting up & down but the pain has gone now. PLEASE work very hard on the rehab, you'll be glad that you did.

Jim

Hi Jimdog,
I'm curious.....had you ever had knee arthroscopy before the replacement? And if so, was it a similar feeling afterwards?
Does it feel just like a regular knee? I think knee replacements are in my future, and I was just wondering what to expect. I know they get you up and going pretty quickly afterwards. The pain after my arthroscopy was horrible for about a week. How long did you have to be on antibiotics, and how long NSAIDS?
How long do they let you keep going to PT after the operation? Are you glad you had it done? Thanks!

It's over. He had his surgery yesterday morning. Took 4 hours on the left knee (it was worse than doctor expected ) and a little over 2 hours on the right one. This morning at 9 am. they had him "walk" to therapy. It was 153 feet from his room. He made it there with the help of a walker. Did 1 hour of therapy and then "walked" back to his room and fell asleep. Everyone says he is doing great and I think so too. He had therapy again at 1 pm and did just as good. Tomorrow he does it again. I am so proud of him. He should go home on Friday or Saturday.
He says it still hurts like h@## but it is a different hurt than before. He knows this hurt will go away.
Thanks for all the support.

That's great news perk! Best wishes to him for a speedy recovery! I'm sure he'll enjoy his new knees!