Partial knee replacement

[LakieLady]

I'm on the waiting list for a partial knee replacement and meniscal repair.

Has anyone any experience of either? I'm wondering how mobile I'll be afterwards, if I'll be able to manage the stairs etc. My surgeon said I won't be in plaster.

The surgery won't be until late summer or autumn, and I was told I'll be one or two nights in hospital, but am wondering if I'll be able to manage ok at home initially or if I might need a friend to come and stay for a few days or anything.

I had a full dislocation and was in plaster for 4 months hip to ankle, my brother who did the same wasn't 🤔

I've a reclining chair in the room and 'normal' height bed. My friend has given me a loo seat riser thing - eek - just 2 And a bit weeks, getting worried now

@notapizzaeater

Full dislocation of the kneecap or the knee?

4 months seems excessive for either.

(I have a big interest in dislocated kneecaps)

I dislocated my kneecap several times as a teen and never had it plastered - I was always given a support brace and crutches

I only had plaster after my op at 20 to fix the stupid joint

@JayAlfredPrufrock was many years ago - was full dislocation of knee cap. The X-ray woman whilst getting it in position 'popped' it back in so the doctors didn't really look at the x Ray just whacked a Davy Jones (???) bandage on it and sent me home fir the night and I had to go back next day for plaster. Overnight my knee swelled up to the point i was hysterical in the taxi getting back to the hospital - I needed gas and air before they could get me out of it. When they finally removed my bandage I needed surgery to drain it. Was all a bloody nightmare tbh. I was stuck in hospital fir 2 weeks, plaster for 4 months (reducing sized plaster - think I had about 6 in total as my leg withered down ) then 6 months of physio.

I’ve done mine twice in the last three months but haven’t bothered going to hospital as I already had crutches at home. I’m just wondering if a brace might be appropriate. Although my knee is so big it feels as if I’m already wearing one.

Bloody knees.

I had to have months of physio to build the muscles up around it so it didn't happen again - touch wood it hasn't. My brother was told if he'd had more than 3 they'd look at surgical options - he went for the 'stop playing football' route 🤣

I first did it many years ago, had an op to repair stuff, in plaster for ages then loads of physio. 50 years later out the bastard popped.

Think I might need to see someone.

Sorry to hijack your thread op.

@JayAlfredPrufrock

I’m interested that you were put in plaster for 8 weeks following a partial kneecap dislocation. What is a partial dislocation and do you think 8 weeks in plaster was necessary?

Asking for a friend.

I'd torn one of the cruciate ligaments pretty badly. I only found out about the partial dislocation when my GP mentioned it, having spotted it in my notes, and I've no idea what it actually means. It's on my medical records though, partial patella dislocation

I've no idea why they put it in a full length cast, I just assumed that it was the normal treatment. This was in 1982 though, so it may well have been normal back then, along with bloodletting and leaches. They kept me in bed for a week and in hospital for 2 weeks, I'm sure they wouldn't do that these days.

I'd never had a plaster cast before, and it hadn't occurred to me that my leg wouldn't work properly when it came off. They removed the cast, I hopped off the couch before they could stop me, and promptly fell over in the treatment room.

I have a big interest in dislocated kneecaps

Professionally, or is it just a hobby, @JayAlfredPrufrock?

Hmm. You could say I’m a professional dislocater.

@notapizzaeater, I went to the pub after injuring my knee, hobbled up to the bar and got my round in and everything. I got a lift home from a colleague and when I tried to get out of the car my knee just gave way and I landed on my arse in the road.

I just thought it was a sprain, and used my (ex-nurse) mother's recommended treatment of a pad of cotton wool, soaked in witch hazel, and a crepe bandage, and took myself to bed. When I got up in the morning, I took the bandage off to see the damage and watched my knee swell up to the size of a cabbage.

I couldn't straighten it all, and took myself to hospital in a taxi. All morning, I lay on a couch with my knee slightly bent, as doctor after doctor rocked up and told me they were "just" going to try and straighten my knee. I repeatedly told them, in no uncertain terms, that they were doing no such thing unless I was unconscious. They agreed to knock me out, took me to theatre and I woke up with a full-length cast on it. No bugger could tell me wtf they'd done for ages.

I got the injury parachute jumping and the docs were intrigued as to where the hell I'd been parachuting in the vicinity of Balham (where the hospital was). When I explained I'd done it in Kent the day before, they were gobsmacked that I hadn't gone straight to hospital in an ambulance, and even more so when I told them I'd gathered up my parachute and walked for 15 minutes across fields (including climbing 2 stiles) to get back to the clubhouse.

I honestly don't remember it hurting much at the time. I had no idea I'd done proper damage.

They also told me to expect arthritis in it when I got older, but it's the other knee that's got the arthritis.

Glad I’ve never done a parachute jump.

I am also a professional kneecap dislocator.

The first time was during a rather aggressive game of lacrosse. After that my kneecap dislocated, on average, 10 to 12 times a year.

The most embarrassing time was, I literally stood up from the toilet and my knee popped out. I couldn't pop my knee in place because my trousers were around my legs. And I couldn't unlock the toilet door.
The firemen had to break in to get me. They saw my bum and everything

It became a bit of a party trick and I could pop my knee back into place myself and carry on

However, the last time I popped it back in, I ended up in A&E and they referred me to surgery as the 25 years of dislocation had damaged the ligaments.

Not quite the same as you LakieLady, but they did a multi-ligament reconstruction on my knee cap, using my hamstring as an autograft.

My advice is very similar to others. The hospital do make sure you are mobile before they let you leave.
Follow the exercises to the letter. I saw quite a few women on the ward with knee/hip replacements who did not do any of the exercises and then get upset they couldn't move and were in pain.

At home, get all equipment available. I have a bath with a shower over it, so nightmare to get in and out. So I got one of those bath seat things.

You will be in pain and sometimes it will feel you will never get back to normal. But you do.
It was the best thing I ever did.

FixTheBone

I'm sure your orthopaedic surgeon knows what they're doing, but having seen and done unicompartmental knee replacements myself, I just wonder why the meniscus needs repairing at the same time?

The meniscus is removed in the compartment being replaced (unless its the patellofemoral joint) but the fact that more than one compartment of the knee has a problem in it raises a concern that maybe a total knee replacement should be a consideration - maybe ask your surgeon and see what they say?

This^

DH is a revision surgeon and spends his life taking these out and putting a full replacement in. You need to ask whether it really is only one compartment that you have arthritis in. As you get older and get arthritis, more often than not, it is the arthritis that causes a meniscal tear-so if you have a tear in another compartment that sounds like you have arthritis there as well and should go for a total knee replacement not a uni.

It also should be noted that 1 in 10 people who have knee replacements are unhappy post surgery with ongoing pain-its not an easy operation at all.

I'm a nurse working on an orthopaedic ward and am seriously wow at the thought of someone having a total knee replacement as a day case!

OP - Ask for pain relief regularly - don't let the pain build up before asking. It's much easier to control pain by giving frequent analgesia, it's hard to get pain under control once it gets too bad.

Agree with what others have said about taking all equipment offered. And the physios won't sign you off as fit for home until they are happy with you doing stairs.

You need to ask whether it really is only one compartment that you have arthritis in. As you get older and get arthritis, more often than not, it is the arthritis that causes a meniscal tear-so if you have a tear in another compartment that sounds like you have arthritis there as well and should go for a total knee replacement not a uni

I think that might actually have been the conversation that we had, but my head was so all over the place at the time, I may well have misrembered it (my partner had died suddenly just a couple of weeks earlier.) But the suggestion of doing the whole job now rather than risk me coming back in a couple of years to have the other side done really does have a familiar to it.

I twisted my knee painfully approx 4 years ago and although I'd had a bit of knee pain prior to that, it never really got better. When the MRI showed the meniscal tear, I assumed I'd done it then. I didn't know you could just sort of wear them out.

@minou123, it must have been awful at the time, but the stuck in the lav incident really made me lol.

I got stuck in a car when my leg was in plaster, but the fire brigade weren't required AND I had my knickers firmly in place!

[quote LakieLady]@minou123, it must have been awful at the time, but the stuck in the lav incident really made me lol.

I got stuck in a car when my leg was in plaster, but the fire brigade weren't required AND I had my knickers firmly in place![/quote]
I'm pleased I made you laugh

The story is actually more mortifying. It was a huge family party at my grandparents house. I was 18 years old.

My granddad tried to break the door down to get in. I was in such a quandary, on one hand I wanted to be rescued but on but on other i didn't want my grandad or any family seeing my bare bum

Don't worry about laughing because after we got back from. A&E, my entire family were rolling around on the floor laughing about it.
I had sympathy for 2 hours!
It's been over 20 years and they still laugh about it

Thought I'd update, didn't end up being day surgery, I was in fir three nights. I'm now 1 week post op and the pain is bloody horrific, I know I was warned but was really not expecting anything like this. Tips - make sure you have ice packs, hundreds of them easily access-able - they are the only thing that helps in the middle of the night.

Oh and pj bottoms, my knee / leg is so swollen only pj's will currently work .....