Knee Replacement Surgery, Part Three
By Marsha
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
Midland, Michigan
April 9, 2017 2:53pm CST
I decided I better share about the surgery itself before I forget entirely. In fact, I had to check a few things out with my husband just to make sure my memory was working and it wasn't, but that may be because of the pain pills I was on right after.
I talked with a lot of people that had this surgery before while I was still working and one person shared with me that the main thing he noticed was even though he still had pain after surgery it was nothing like the pain he endured beforehand. I wanted to keep in mind what my knee felt like for the past several years and how much worse it got since this past July to help me overcome any pain I'd have from the surgery, but I needn't have been concerned.
Something I was squeamish about was whether they'd use a catheter and what it would feel like when they put it in. At our meeting we had at the hospital beforehand we were told that most that have their hips replaced will get it, but for knees it depends on the doctor. But, I didn't need to be concerned about that either as they wait until your sedated before taking care of that.
The surgery itself was under two hours. We got to the hospital at 7am, I was the second surgery that day. After I changed into the hospital gown they began giving me a few pills that began the sedation process prior to getting the anesthetics. Oddly enough I found that I was woosy but when I rested my eyes it made me a bit dizzy, so I had to keep them open. The two anesthesiologists were comedians and I told them a joke of my own. It wasn't until a day or two later that I realized I probably screwed it up, but oh well.
They gave me spinal injections for the anesthesia which I thought would be a piece of cake since I had an epidural for a C section for my older daughter, but this wasn't just one injection but several. My guess is four, but I'm not entirely sure. I had to sit with my head on my chest to round out my lower back and I wasn't happy with the injections but at least I didn't feel anything after that.
(Edited: I found out before my second knee replacement that to of the injections are shots to numb the area so the spinal isn't felt. I'm guessing I was feeling the effects of the shots rather than actually getting more than two shots in preparation for one spinal-6/13/2019)
After surgery they put you into recovery until you come out of it more and then they take you to your own room. I honestly don't remember anything until I woke up in my room before lunchtime.
I was going to share about my hospital stay here too, but that will make it too long, so that will be the next one.
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12 responses
@celticeagle (189833)
• Boise, Idaho
10 Apr 17
Oooh! Ouch! Ugh! It is not the same each time.
2 people like this

@celticeagle (189833)
• Boise, Idaho
11 Apr 17
@MarshaMusselman .....The surgery.
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@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
10 Apr 17
What's no the same each time? How they insert the catheter or the knee surgery or what exactly?
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@Shellyann36 (11383)
• United States
19 Apr 17
Glad you made it through the surgery alright. Sometimes things are not as bad as we think they are going to be. I was so worried about a c-section with the twins. I had heard so many horror stories. It was all hogwash. I wish I could have had all six of my boys by c-section!
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@Shellyann36 (11383)
• United States
22 Apr 17
@MarshaMusselman I did not realize this. I healed so much faster after the C-section. It was a walk in the park compared to the other 4 deliveries.
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@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
22 Apr 17
@Shellyann36 Same here, but I pushed incorrectly for my natural. Maybe my problems I had afterward are common to many new mom's I don't know since I only had one each way. The overall healing of the c-section was a lot quicker, but having to get oneself in the standing position and then walking right after having it wasn't too fun. Once we got home that was pretty simple.
I had to sit on a donut-pillow for the first couple of weeks after the natural delivery if that tells you anything.
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@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
21 Apr 17
If you had all you kids in that way I don't think your mid region would be very stable. I know that with three children moms already have some problems but that may have been previously not now. They put staples in for me as that was already common in the late eighties. I know that once a mom has two kids with a C it's not recommended that she have any others naturally, or again, that's what it used to be.
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@Juliaacv (56241)
• Canada
9 Apr 17
I had to have a catheter when I had our daughter. She was born by C-section and I was having some work done after the birth, so I was completely under for about an hour or so. The nurse doing my catheter knew me from high school, she had no confidence in doing it, and given what a bad job she did on my IV line, the catheter wasn't too awful. It wasn't the most comfortable having it in for 24 hours after coming out of the recovery room though. You can feel that tube, and I found it embarrassing that there was a bag hanging on the side of my bed.
I'm glad that you shared your surgery story with us, and I look forward to reading more about it.
I'm glad that you shared your surgery story with us, and I look forward to reading more about it.
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@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
9 Apr 17
Having the catheter in after the surgery didn't bother me at all and I liked the idea that I didn't have to get up to use the bathroom right away. My husband said they removed it before my first PT session which was the next morning. I honestly don't remember using the bathroom there at all and had to verify my memory on that one. Probably the pain pills they had me on is why I don't remember that part.
I do remember when they removed the catheter, though and that was fairly easy and I didn't feel a thing.
I had to have a bit of surgery after the birth of my second daughter. I had her naturally, but she came out with her one finger first and her nail pierced the wall between the canal I think and the bladder. The doc had to repair that before sending me to recovery. To this day I've no idea how he knew it was torn unless the blood was different than it would be from the birth itself.
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@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
14 Apr 17
That was the easy part. The hard part is doing all the exercises and getting my muscles back in shape to work again.
@garymarsh6 (24004)
• United Kingdom
9 Apr 17
Sounds like you are doing well. Keep at the physio but do not over do it.
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@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
10 Apr 17
Everyone keeps saying that but over all I've not overdone a single thing. I did do some deep knee bends or squats holding on last week which made my thighs extra sore the whole weekend, but it was the first time I could do those in years and it was sort of fun. I think I'm under-doing stuff more than overdoing them and I'm hoping that i can manage standing for a couple of hours at a time by the time I need to gto back to work.
Tomorrow is my last PT session and I'm hoping I haven't regressed too far.
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@DianneN (254926)
• United States
10 Apr 17
Those pills can mess with your mind. Just as long as you can walk well again is the crux of the surgery. My friend went through knee surgery, too, but was addicted to the pain pills she had been taking for years. After getting off them, she is fine and bad to skiing all over the country.
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@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
10 Apr 17
Depending on how intensive her surgery was, they don't always recommend skiing afterward, unless it's cross-country maybe that's okay.
I got off the pain pills earlier than some because I wasn't really in any pain, just discomfort which is still there while I try to stretch the muscles to allow more flexion.
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@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
10 Apr 17
@DianneN Maybe some places around the country don't mind people skiing afterward. My info said not to ski or run and I've not done either for a long while. The only skiing I ever did was cross country and not very successfully either.
@DianneN (254926)
• United States
10 Apr 17
@MarshaMusselman She skied on pain pills. Her knee was awful. She's a downhill skier and was allowed to return to it after fully recovering. Hope you soon have no discomfort!
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@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
9 Apr 17
I knew I'd need it done for quite a few years, but as it got closer I was more squeamish than I expected to be. Now that I made it through with flying colors, I'll probably have the other knee done eventually and I may need to have my hip done too as it seems worse after having the PT for my knee. I'm hoping that if I can get a few chiropractic adjustments that will take care of it, but I won't know until then.
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
14 Apr 17
Okay now I really don't want this surgery, I have never had a spinal and I don't intend to either. I had 3 c sections without ever getting a spinal. It never occurred to me they would give you a spinal for knee surgery.
@responsiveme (22923)
• India
19 Apr 17
Good that the surgery helped you out.Hope you are getting better each day.
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