If you or someone you know has one or two, please share any experience and anecdotes. How did the post op period go? Pain? Therapy? Complications?
My hubby Thom is scheduled for bilateral UniCompartment knee replacements April 28. He is 49 and has had knee pain for at least five years. He has had steriod/lidocaine injections, wears braces and lidocaine patches all the time and takes a shitload of pills just to be able to function. He has always had gorgeous legs but now his knees are swollen, deformed and bowing out.
Doctors have been reluctant to do surgery because of his age (the prosthesis last 10-20 years and he will probably need to have them replaced in his lifetime) but now with the minimally invasive techniques and his worsening quality of life, they are ready to go.
He will most likely be off work for 2-3 months. We can get our mortgage payments deferred or pay interest only so we shouldn’t run into too much financial trouble. I am working like a madwoman lately trying to get everything paid up and money saved–just in case.
Our son Eric who is 23 is going to have to take up the slack. He lives at home still, works all the time and has a great girlfriend who is in college. They have been discussing getting a place together but aren’t going to push it as long as Thom is recuperating. We have never asked him for rent or help with bills but he is willing to step up.
I’ll post an update closer to surgery date. In the meantime, wish us luck and it would help a lot if everyone could send positive mojo for the good surgeons hands/knowledge and expertise. A little blessing for the hospital staff and the manufacturer of the prosthesis would also be welcomed.
Thanks all,
Cindi
I’m afraid I don’t know anything about this surgery, but I couldn’t read this and NOT wish you and Thom the best of luck, and a speedy recovery. Mucho mojo on the way! 
My dad had one in 2001. He didn’t have any complications. He said the post-op pain wasn’t too bad. He really didn’t even take much in the way of pain meds.
He did have some trouble getting around for awhile. Physical therapy was painful for him, but he liked going because it got him out of the house.
The hardest part for him was not being able to do things for himself. Let me tell ya, he was crabby as all get out. He hated depending on us for everything.
He still has some pain sometimes. There are certain types of shoes he can’t wear because they bother his knee. He has fallen a couple of times because his knee gave out on him. Overall though, he says he is really glad he did it. He had been in constant pain for 30 years, so I suppose anything would’ve been an improvement.
Good luck to you both.
This isn’t exactly the same, but my mom had a total knee replacement done on her left knee back in 1991. She had rheumatoid arthritis and had had 2 previous knee surgeries, back in the days before arthoscopic surgery, so she had the big zipper scars.
As far as her recovery went, they had her on a machine bending the knee 6 hours after surgey and they had her up and walking within 48 hours with a walker.
She had about 3 months of recovery at home. She would go out and walk up and down on our deck, and it was funny because she sounded like Captain Ahab. But the replacement made a huge difference in her mobility.
I hope everything goes very well, as I’m sure it will.
Anecdotally, having a unicompartmental knee replacement does result in far fewer complications than the total TKR when done on one side. I suspect that the complications are similar to TKR when done bilaterally, but this is usually a very well tolerated procedure. Good luck and god thoughts about the surgery! It usually does bring a lot of relief.