Two Days to a New Knee

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post-knee surgery 2018
It's the 4th of July, and I'm 51.  In two days, I'll have a new right knee.  And I'm terrified.

I'm having a total knee replacement, after years of pain, bone on bone, and trying just about everything else (including surgery, scopes, cortisone and viscosupplementation). 

If you are facing knee replacement, and you're like me, you were hoping to read about it online - and may not have found much of what you were looking for.  What I'm hoping to do with this blog is:

Keep track of the recovery - how much pain is there? When did it start to get better? How was sleeping? Moving? When was I putting weight on it? Was there anything that helped?

And later, which exercises was I doing, and what seemed to help the most.   

And eventually, hopefully, what athletic activities was I taking part in, how soon after surgery, and how did it feel? How did I prepare to downhill ski, alpine tour, cross country ski, hike and bike? Can I run with my kids again?  What about yoga? Pilates? Strength training?  How about just walking the dog on a rainy day?!

I will admit that I've had several orthopedic surgeries before and I've never been as nervous as I am for this one.  

I am scared of the pain, but more scared about something going wrong. 

Knee Pre-Surgery 2018
Here is what I am doing to prepare:

To prevent infection:

I had to have a slate of blood tests and a urine test, and also a swab for staph.  It turns out that like 30% of the population, I have staph living on my skin (EWWWWW needless to say our house has been scoured since then - even if that doesn't have a thing to do with it). So 5 days before surgery I started swabbing mupirocin up both nostrils twice a day (at least it doesn't smell at all, but it does make my nose run).  And at night, I take a shower right before bed with a special antibacterial sponge - four nights before surgery and the morning of, scrubbing my whole body pretty much, and letting the soap sit on me. I also wash my sheets and towels every day and my husband has been banished to the guest bedroom, and to share our boys' bathroom. 

I've been walking every day, and doing what I can stand in terms of strength exercises - aka not much.  The doctor told me this was okay in April - I was worried that I should do more "pre-hab" but he said do what you can with pain tolerance - aka, not much at all. 

I'm hoping this will be my last right knee surgery - my knees are worn out from years of running, skiing, exercising and injuries - not to mention surgeries, including one last year. I at first thought I should wait until I was older - but my surgeon said no, and as the year went on, I agreed. 

I could barely ski more than one run, and often basically didn't use my right leg at all while skiing.  Even the bunny hill was torture - which I usually only ski because I park at the top of it (we live near Mad River Glen in Vermont). 

I'll be back after the surgery with an update - and likely back on the post-surgery frozen Peas Train, as I was here in September 2020:



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