how rough is knee replacement surgery and recovery? my grandma is 75. what is she facing?

Answer 1

Most people leave the hospital walking, so it is worse then it sounds, but is still major surgery. There are several surgical pamphlets that explain the procedure and what to expect. Your doctor should be able to provide them to you, but the outlook is very hopeful.

Answer 2

It is not an easy one, but it is common and is most often done on older people, such as your Grandma. The biggest bonus is regaining functionality of the leg, but the second one is a reduction, and hopefully a loss, of the pain they had before the operation.

She will be anaesthetized for the surgery, which should take a couple of hours, and after she gets taken to the hospital room, she will likely get some help in bending the new knee while in bed.

Her doctor will decide how long she stays in the hospital.

She will need crutches for all walking movement, and should be prepared to stay on one floor of the house, as stairs are not a great idea at first.

Using the toilet will also require some care, so a higher seat will help her, and so would a grab bar of some sort.

If she has problems with crutches a walker may be wanted for a few days, and they can be rented

Similarly, getting into and out of bed will be awkward, and she may want help, or perhaps you could have a sturdy table that she could lean on. Be very careful of that, as it should not move when she leans on it.


She should regain full use of her leg in about a month. It may be longer, due to her age and personal circumstance, but a lot has to do with her determination...she may do it faster.

All in all, the replacement is a good thing, with only a few weeks of discomfort, and a big change in her mobility. She should look forward to it.
.

Answer 3

Daddy had this surgery when he was 85 years old. He opted to have them both done at the same time as both knees needed it. He stayed in the hospital and the operations were 5 days apart. He said it was very painful but was glad he had it done. He underwent some physical therapy when he got home and the doctor recommended that he go swimming as that is great therapy. He did and as he was an avid bowler the dr. finally agreed after two months that he could go bowling again. He did, everyday. He felt great, experienced no more pain and was very glad he had the surgery done. He had this done about 10 years ago and I understand that there are new procedures now that require less healing time and not as painful. Sorry, don't remember what they are. Her doctor should know.

She is still "young" hope she goes for it, she will be glad she did in the long run.

Answer 4

Extremely painful in my case, 4 years ago. After the recovery and therapy I do have much less pain than before. Could hardly sleep with the pain prior to surgery. The big problem I have now is I need a rplacemnt on the other knee. Just had orthoscopic surgery but the Dr recommends replacement but I thought I could stand a lot of pain but am very reluctant to go throuh it again. I am 73 years old so that was my experience. I know they work good like the one has providing you are very faithful doing your therapy. Good luck!

Answer 5

A knee replacement surgery involved cutting off the top of the tibia and the bottom of the femur and fitting in an artificial knee. Because of the nature of the surgery, a knee replacement is very painful to rehab and pretty intense. They normally have the patient doing physical therapy the morning after surgery, which in itself is tough, because the person is still screwed up from the pain meds and anesthesia. In PT they make the person do many exercises, including forcing them to bend it as far as possible and straighten it as well. While it seems like a lot, the early and intense PT is necessary to get full range of motion and mobility back. It is pretty tough, but 75 isn't that old, I saw a 93 year old woman have a knee replacement, and she made it through! It will be tough, but with everyone's support your gram will be fine!

Answer 6

Knee surgery is usually done on old people as they have weak bones and they tend to injure themselves because of that. The patient is usually able to walk and climb stairs before they are discharged from the hospital as they are given lots of physiotherapy.

I would like to mention that a lot of people travel overseas these days to countires like India, Singapore, Thailand, Mexico, etc. for their surgeries as it's a lot cheaper over there as the cost of labor in those countries is much less as compared to the US/UK. The quality of hospitals in these countires and services offered meets or exceeds US/UK standards so there is no compromise. I know a friend who didn't have insurance and who had her hip replaced in India. She saved almost 75% of what she was quoted in the US. That covered not just the surgery but also the physiotherapy following the surgery, her travel, hospital stay, hotel stay, etc.

Check out Healthbase at http://www.healthbase.com. My friend used their service to connect to a hospital in India for her surgery. They might be able to help you as well. They have a lot of resources online you might find useful. You can even apply for a medical loan through their website.

Good luck to your grandma!

Answer 7

My mom had both of her knees done at the same time. She was 71 when she had her surgery she did great. She will have therapy after surgery and when she gets home. She should do great it is not like it was when they first started doing this. They have come a long way!!!

Answer 8

Yeah, any variety of hip or knee replace is made up of steel, so it fairly is going to spark off steel detectors. basically warn the protection past to time and that they are going to generally verify you over, making valuable that the only component to you that's steel is your knee or your hip.