The repair

[kings6]

On the 3rd of this month I went in to have knee surgery. We knew it needed to at least be a partial and maybe even a total knee replacement but my buddy said since he wouldn't know until he got in there he was ready to do either, depending on what he found. Luckily only a partial was required. A number of people had asked who the procedure went and everyone has several horror stories of a guy they knew or even themselves where the results were not what they were hoping for. I even answered the door yesterday to find a riding buddy and his 81 year old wife wanting to sit down and talk about the process! The pictures are pretty self explanatory since the first one shows the inside part of the knee being bone on bone while the outer section still had good cushioning.

The last two pictures are what the x-rays of the partial replacement looks like. The take off the end of the tibia and femur then drive in and adhere the new bearing surfaces, stitch you back up, glue the skin together, slap a bandage on it then get you up walking within a few hours. One night in the hospital and24 hours after getting the ends of the bones sawed off you walk out the door and head home. Pretty much pain free, just a feeling of "tightness" due to swelling which I am told by the PT guy, may take several months to go away. The PT had been good and tough but it has progressed faster than any other post surgery PT I have ever had. Less than 2 weeks after surgery and they had me balancing on a rocker board, a 4# ball in each hand and throwing the ball onto a rebounding trampoline then catching it in the same hand then throwing the other ball with the other hand all the while balancing on the round bottom rocker board! It sound like I will be able to cut my PT sessions in half since I have full range of motion and full extension already. I even go released to drive again yesterday at the 2 week post op with the surgeon.

Just thought with the age that many of us on here are getting and knowing that most all of us know someone (maybe even ourselves) who need or are contemplating such a surgery you might like seeing what the procedure ends up looking like on the inside.

[tullymars]

Glad everything is going well. The Good Lord still has things for you to do and enjoy. Are you any taller?

[kings6]

I stand straighter my wife says and I lost the limp!

[jpw480]

Glad to hear your doin well, maybe should put this in the gunsmithing section by those photos

[potatojudge]

Looks much better!

Congrats on the new knee

[needsmostuff]

I'm thinkin the headspace on your knee got sloppy and required a couple of shims.
Looks good to go now.

[45MAN]

I GOT A LEFT KNEE REPLACEMENT ALMOST 11 YEARS AGO TO THE DAY. BACK THEN IT WAS MORE INTRUSIVE THAN TODAY's METHODS. I VOWED I WOULD NEVER DO MY RIGHT KNEE. SURE THE PAIN GOES AWAY BUT STRUCTUALLY YOU ARE WEAKER. I WAS TOLD NO SQUATS, HOT TUBS, SAUNA's, KNEELING, AND .... I BASICALLY HAD TO GIVE UP HEAVY STUFF AT THE GYM LIKE SQUATS, DEADLIFTS, LEG PRESSES, etc. AND I DID NOT LIKE THAT. BUT PROBABLY THE WORST LIMITATION WAS THE NO KNEELING, HECK I HAD SPENT 50 EARS PERFECTING THE MISSIONARY POSITION AND IT WAS TAKEN FROM ME, BUT ADAPT OR DIE.

[kings6]

After my second shoulder repair I asked David why I kept tearing stuff. I was in my forties, still had good muscle mass and tone due to carrying 70# hoses every day and lifting concrete tank lids. He finally got it through my thick skull that my issue was not strength but elasticity of the connecting tissues like ligaments and tendons. While you can keep mass and strength through working out or in my case, working, I couldn’t do much to combat the collective wear and tear on the more “fixed” parts of the muscular structure.

In my case, the fact that I was still “strong” and stubborn worked against me and my biggest adjustment after surgeries was accepting that repaired and re-attached dies not equal restored. Once I accepted that fact I was able to lengthen the years between ortho events.I adopted the country song mantra- “ I’m not as good as I once was, but I’m as good once, as I ever was!” It is just that as we age those “just once more” events are a real roll of the dice. No complaints, I’m just slow to admit it when my mind or visions if past abilities overrides my common sense.

For me it is like that fine line we look at as we get closer to a final home going. Where do I find the balance between retiring and becoming a total couch potato and wanting to live life in such a way that when I’m finally done, I’ve physically left “nothing in the table” and lived life as full as I could.

[blacktailslayer]

Glad to hear you are coming along nicely in your recovery. The responsibility of the team of Engineers that I lead at work is for investment castings of medical implants like knees and hips. Yours may or may not have been made by us. I hope all goes well for you with a long and active life.


Don D.

[Jamey Worrell]

Mom had robotic total knee replacement day before Thanksgiving...she's back to walking 3 miles every other day, and limp is minimal.

Hope you're on the mend as well.

PS: her nickname is TOB...tough...old...bird... (and she wears it with pride...toughest single human being i've ever know. If I'm half the person at 72 that she is, I'll be hell on wheels).

Jamey

[crobloc]

Sounds good. Glad it went good. Hopefully it will stay good. Sure can be aggravating some days cause we are wearing out.

Stay strong.