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knee replacement Update


Lance A Lott

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14 hours ago, mr. cob said:

Howdy k4rs,

Thanks for your post, other then when the va rebuilt my nose twice, I have never had any real operations, lots of local anistisha (sp) things but only really put under twice, its just something that gives me the willies.  I am kinda hyper vigilant, have an acute sense of whatever the surrounding situation is, so going under is not something I am comfortable with.

Dave

Make sure your docs, nurses, and anesthesiologist know this.  I always tell them not to be within arm or leg reach because I come out of anesthesia fighting.  When they did my lower back, I woke up restrained....

Alie & Jim + 8 paws

2017 DRV Memphis 

BART- 1998 Volvo 610

Lil'ole 6cyl Cummins

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23 hours ago, mr. cob said:

Howdy k4rs,

Thanks for your post, other then when the va rebuilt my nose twice, I have never had any real operations, lots of local anistisha (sp) things but only really put under twice, its just something that gives me the willies.  I am kinda hyper vigilant, have an acute sense of whatever the surrounding situation is, so going under is not something I am comfortable with.

Dave

My surgeon put something in the knee, they used ultrasound to guide the needle.  There was something in the iv and I had a spinal. I think I remember them telling me to sit up for the spinal, if I do then that's the last I remember until my wife woke me up. I was breathing on my own for the operation. After they started the iv I didn't care what they did to me. Two hour latter I started this post, maybe I should go back and read it to see how out of it I was.

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On 3/19/2019 at 7:46 PM, Lance A Lott said:

Just had my right knee replaced about 2 hours ago. Now I can work on the Volvo again! Well in a month or so. We will probably have snow atleast that long anyway. I have to figure out why the abs dose not work, the left front brake grabs and I need to install the premium shifter and lots of other stuff, the longer I lay here the longer the list will get. 

I also want to make a binder to show law enforcement. Maybe I will even have time to post build pictures from last July.

 

Well it's been 6 weeks and 6 days so thought I would update for any thinking of having this done. The knee has no pain and works just fine. I have had difficulty with the soft tissue behind the knee and down into the calf. This has put me 2 weeks or so behind where my father was with his replacements. After 34 years of being bent the tissue just domt wont to move but they are going if a little slow. 

This past week I went back to work driving school bus, got the Volvo out of storage, cut up some trees, rode a horse and trimmed a horses feet. I haven't used a cane or crutch for two weeks and have put that stuff in storage. My limp gets better every day and if I dont over do, like yesterday, I get out of bed with no limp. 

I can now see that I will be fine and am going to be very glad I had the operation. O ya I can now sleep through the night in bed.

I did almost none of the things I wanted to do, pt takes up a lot of time and reading was of little interest, I watched a lot of tv.

 I had to quote my self to bring this back up.

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Howdy All,

Quick update, I have an appointment on May 23rd to talk to the doctor I chose to do this work.  I’ll fill in details when I get them.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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3 minutes ago, phoenix2013 said:

Dave, are you going for two or one? Are you talking to Conformis surgeon?

 

Howdy Henry,

Doctor Manner is a Conformis surgeon, I will be asking for the Conformis joint and will be asking if my body is in condition to have both done at the same time.  It all comes down to cost the va will go with the cheapest option but I am hoping that the surgeon will have some input and will intercede to have a quality joint installed. 

I know full well that having both knees done at the same time is going to be rough but if the doctor feels I am in good enough shape to deal with it I just want it done and over with rather then have to go through the recovery process and misery twice.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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Dave,  I am only 55 and not in two bad of shape, maybe if the muscles on the back of the knee had been in better shape I would think differently, but I would only have done 2 if I was in Henrys  boat. Rehab is rough and I would have been in trouble without a good knee. My other knee is fine but the one I had replaced would have supported me fine if the other had needed replacement. In my case in order to sit down I had to put the new leg out in front and lower myself on the old leg as I continued to slide the new leg forward. I suppose if I had to I would have figured out a way.  I am what I consider 2 weeks behind in recovery but I could probably due a second knee soon, thank God I dont have too.

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1 minute ago, Lance A Lott said:

Dave,  I am only 55 and not in two bad of shape, maybe if the muscles on the back of the knee had been in better shape I would think differently, but I would only have done 2 if I was in Henrys  boat. Rehab is rough and I would have been in trouble without a good knee. My other knee is fine but the one I had replaced would have supported me fine if the other had needed replacement. In my case in order to sit down I had to put the new leg out in front and lower myself on the old leg as I continued to slide the new leg forward. I suppose if I had to I would have figured out a way.  I am what I consider 2 weeks behind in recovery but I could probably due a second knee soon, thank God I dont have too.

Howdy Lance,

Both of my knees are shot, they have been for years, every step I take they click, pain that will keep me from sleeping or wake me up while I am sleeping.  I know its going to be hell if both are done at the same time but I'll leave that decision up to the doctor, I am welder-machinist-fabricator, don't know anything about rebuilding human body parts.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

IMG_4282-600x310.jpg

 

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If you have good pain tolerance, one or two is not much difference. It's only one day of "rough" on each, it's the day after. Wife who is a nurse and spent lot's of time in OR (transplants, etc.) said it's common with all (more involved) surgeries, the day after sucks. By the third day everything settles and the pain killers "catch up" and life is good again. On my day after I told the surgeon I'm not doing the second one, on my third day I told him "bring it on". Tuesday was my first one, Friday was my second one and yes, Saturday was rough but Sunday was OK again.

I asked my surgeon how many "wimp out" to do the second one, I was surprised that he said only 5%, 95% go for the second one at the same time. They never do these on the same day though, they want the first one to stabilize and see how thing are working out, before they proceed with the second one.

I don't know how bad you are, I was totally gone and useless. So my thinking went as follows: "I can hardly move, even with walker, so I don't have anything that woks well. If I do one, I will not be able to do proper physical therapy since the second one will useless to help with the therapy". Frankly, I did not have an option to do just one.

There was one advantage to doing two, at least in Florida where I am and the insurance (Medicare) and the supplemental I have (Aetna, plan N). With single knee physical therapy is outpatient only, with two done together they put me into 10 days of in-patient physical therapy facility, with 4-5 hours per day of various therapies. The test on tenth day was, can I function by myself. Get up, get dressed, use all the bathroom "offerings", get meals, etc. The Medicare and the supplemental covered everything, surgery and PT.

This was after 10 days in that place. I did have additional 6 weeks of outpatient PT after that.

2ckMZwgl.jpg

Edited by phoenix2013
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I am probably a poor example, all my issues have been with the soft tissue behind the knee down into the calf. The replacement didn't realy hurt just uncomfortable at times. Most of my trouble started in the second week when i started to walk heal to toe, before that I thought I was golden. My fsther hsd both done about a year apart,same Dr he said he would do them at the same time but felt it was unnecessary in his case. If both of my were bad i would be tempted to do both at once. I would however do more home prep before.

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21 hours ago, mr. cob said:

Howdy Lance,

Both of my knees are shot, they have been for years, every step I take they click, pain that will keep me from sleeping or wake me up while I am sleeping.  I know its going to be hell if both are done at the same time but I'll leave that decision up to the doctor, I am welder-machinist-fabricator, don't know anything about rebuilding human body parts.

Dave

Hi Dave,

   It may be real interesting to see what you could come up with in your shop. It would appear that our reckless youth does catch up after awhile. But the drag racing and motorcycles and the other silly stunts we pulled sure are fun to look back on aren't they. At home it was a bit of 'Hold my beer and watch this'

Brad

 

Brad and Jacolyn
Tucker the Wonder dog and Brynn the Norfolk Terrier
2009 Smart "Joy"
2004 VNL630 "Vonda the Volvo"
2008 Hitch Hiker 35 CK Champagne Edition
VED12 465 HP, Freedomline, 3.73 ratio, WB 218"
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1 hour ago, Brad & Jacolyn said:

Hi Dave,

   It may be real interesting to see what you could come up with in your shop. It would appear that our reckless youth does catch up after awhile. But the drag racing and motorcycles and the other silly stunts we pulled sure are fun to look back on aren't they. At home it was a bit of 'Hold my beer and watch this'

Brad

 

Howdy Brad,

There are times when I am in pain that I wish I had not been so hard on myself but then I think about how BORING life would have been had I just drank beer and watched foot ball on TV.  I just wasn't cut out to be a spectator but being a competitive participant does come at a cost.  As to what I could come up in the shop, well if I had anything to do with designing the human body one of the things I would have insisted upon would be grease jerks at every joint.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

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6 hours ago, mr. cob said:

well if I had anything to do with designing the human body one of the things I would have insisted upon would be grease jerks at every joint.

Bacon grease comes to mind......

KW T-680, POPEMOBILE
Newmar X-Aire, VATICAN
Lots of old motorcycles, Moto Guzzi Griso and Spyder F3 currently in the front row
Young enough to play in the dirt as a retired farmer.
contact me at rickeieio1@comcast.net

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That's interesting. My doctor told me just to let him know when I wanted each knee replaced, my call. I told him one week that I was ready to go and had the knee replaced 2 weeks later. No hassle from anyone. Same thing with the second knee.

I had the same experience with cataract surgery, just let him know when and it is scheduled

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  • 3 weeks later...

Looks like I am joining the knee replacement group.

I talked to my doctor that repaired my shoulder at my last visit and asked him who he would use to have a knee replaced, his reply was a doctor that is a training doctor here in Wichita that uses Conformis knees. I scheduled my appoitment with him and right knee is set to be replaced on July 22, the left one 6 weeks later.

He explained to me that this was the best knee on the market at this time, but it's not for everybody. He will not use them in very overweight people, (he stated I was not obese, a surprise to me) as obese people will not do the pt and the knee will not have a good range of motion, during the examination he felt my muscle  tissue on my legs and stated that I had good muscle mass in both legs and the Conformis knee will be a great fit for me.

I did ask him if I could get both knees done the same week as I fulltime in the DRV, but he will not.

 

Roger

GCTaaehl.jpg

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Howdy All,

I met with the doctor who will be installing the Conformis joints in my knees a couple of days ago.  If all goes according to plan the left knee will be done on July 24th the right one will be done 6 weeks later.

 I am having the left one done first as I need to be able to work the clutch in the Peterbilt, so I want that one healed up so I can travel this fall and winter.

Dave

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

IMG_4282-600x310.jpg

 

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Dave, I am starting to loose track of the weeks count so I must be doing a lot better lol. I think it's 10 weeks Tuesday I have done 4 weeks driving the school bus the first week was a little tiring but ok now I dont even notice. It's the right leg so pushing the brake not the clutch but you can sit there with your foot on the brake for a minute or more and I stop 15 to 20 times in an hour. This week weather and family permitting I hope to start pulling tires off the Volvo to work on the abs. I had and still have some soft tissue issues that my father didn't have but am probably 75% or better and in some ways much better than before the surgery.  My limp is almost gone, which is something after 34 years. You should do fine and be back in your Peterbilt in plenty of time.

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OK guys, congratulations, we can compare knee scars when we see each others at the Rallies. I can pretty much guarantee that the operations will be a "non-event", they'll put you under and wake you up an hour later. The doc might not even be there to "congratulate you", he'll be doing somebody else's knee. The PT guy (or girl, in my case) will be you your next best friend, or enemy, depending on your outlook. She told me that four letter words are OK, if I chose to use them.

Here's a shortcut in few pictures to where you are heading and what to do to "speed things up". You will be introduced to an "angle measuring thingie" to see how well you are doing.

After the operation laying in bed your knee will be at around 30 degrees bend, it will not be happy with you or your doc if you try to move it few degrees one way or the other.

 n3KVBBFl.jpg

Your mission (with the help of the PT person) in the next week or two is to get it to bend from zero degrees (straight)

vnqpyNZl.jpg

to about 110 degrees bent and they will tell you, you will not be released from PT until you regain that much bending ability with the knee.

oWxtKfvl.jpg

Here's another picture of about 110 degrees bend.

iDDRekql.jpg

So why are those two angles so important? Zero degrees is obvious, you need to be able to lock your knee to walk right with a proper gait. Believe me that part is the most challenging, the knee will much rather want to go to 110 than 0, four letter words didn't help but oxicodone did. The 110 degrees is also important and the PT guy might not tell you why at first, but the first time you attempt a "natural function" before you are at 110 degrees, you will break out in cold sweat.

m889fjel.jpg

They didn't tell me, I was at around 90 degrees when I attempted it and it was a "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxx" moment.

If you are at 0(zero) and 110 degrees they will tell that they are done and that you are on your own. Also, they will give you a "program" how to go beyond that on your own. Maximum deflection of a healthy knee is 135 degrees and that is possible with a J curve in the knee which I posted earlier. When I had mine done Conformis was the only prosthesis that made it possible. You don't really need it to function but I was on the mission and I can get both knees to the 135 degrees angle.

6FQazxwl.jpg

Is it useful, sure, I can squat all the way down to the floor and then straighten up. The straightening up portion was only possible with strengthening many muscles in the back and legs that went dormant before the operations.

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I have hit 120 a couple of times and I am not sure how close to 0 I am, 2 or 3 I think, my original knee is at negative 3 so it makes the new one look more bent than it is. My knee was straight when I woke up and they had a air bag that pumped up every few seconds on it, probably about 5 degrees and they had a fit if I put a pillow under the knee. I had to put a small one to keep it at the 5 degree point or I could not stand it. They had me use a leg bending machine for two weeks six hours a day with the goal of negative 5? and 120 which I reached but there's a lot of flex in the straps.

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I want to send my thanks to Henry for posting about the Conformis knee and his personal struggles with the PT, it was my deciding factor in using the Conformis knee replacement.

We all have talked to many people that have had knee replacement and so far I have only found one that had the Conformis knee done here in my local area, and all his reports were positive, including the use of the 4 letter words when he thought that the pain pills was over, in his works let the doctor or pt tech tell you when to quit the pain management drugs. 
When I had my shoulder done, I stopped the pain pills early and I do believe that made my pt last longer as the pain stopped me from doing all my home exercises as I should have been doing.

That being said, everyone is different and we shall wait and see how much pain I am in after 4 weeks, cause in 6 weeks they will increase my pain pills again for the left knee, and pt will continue on both as I understand.

Roger

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The 10 days I spent in the inpatient rehab (remember both knees were done) I was on on IV pain killers every 4-6 hours, it really screwed up my system, particularly my guts, but helped big times with PT on both knees at the same time. Afterwards, in outpatient for a month, the directions were, "pop an OXY pill an hour before you get here". That was it, it also convinced me that you have to be utter moron to get hooked on oxy. Nasty crap.

Roger, you welcome, you will not regret it.

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Howdy Henry,

When I told the doctor after he asked me how I heard about the Conformis, joint I told him an Engineer on a HDT forum talked about them and posted photos to the list.  I then told him I watched a youtube video of the operation being done with a Conformis, joint he found that interesting and wanted to know why, I told him as a life long machinist, welder, fabricator, I had in interest in knowing how things work and go together.  He also told me that the success rate with the Conformis, joint when it comes to complications is much lower and the recovery rate is much easier then with off the shelf joints.  So again THANK YOU for joining this discussion and talking about the Conformis, joint.  I am now hoping to get the CAT scan done on the 29th, this all depends on TriWest, the Veterans Choice provider agreeing to the payment in time for that to happen, if they don't approve payment before the 29th it will have to be done sometime after I return for the WCR.

Dave

 

2001 Peterbilt, 379, Known As "Semi-Sane II", towing a 2014 Voltage 3818, 45 foot long toy hauler crammed full of motorcycles of all types.  Visit my photo web site where you will find thousands of photos of my motorcycle wanderings and other aspects of my life, click this link. http://mr-cob.smugmug.com/

IMG_4282-600x310.jpg

 

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