Total Knee Replacement

I keep forgetting to check the new forums here so here I am now finally remembering to. In case you probably don't remember (lol), I had a partial knee replacement of my right knee in Sept. 08. Last fall, my left knee started bothering me so I had a series of Supartz shots which did nothing and by mid-DEcember, my knee was killing me. It went downhill ver quickly. Tuesday, I had a 1 year check in for the partial knee with my orthopedist and we/he looked at my left knee and after discussion, I am having a total knee replacement in that knee, scheduled for April 21. I'm waiting until then because I'll be visiting my sister who lives in the Azores for a week in March and need to get ready after that for the surgery (and time to recuperate from my air travel---I hate flying and this time, for the first time, I'll be getting medication to get through the 4 hour flight (and one home) without being scared--am flying alone, with my sister meeting me at the airport and then my brother and SIL arriving a couple of hours later on a flight from Lisbon).

On an ITP note, I will probably be doing an autologous blood donation prior to my surgery. I see my hemo in March and see what platelet count he wants for me. LAst time he said 70, while ortho said 50, both managable generally for me. Can't remember if I set up my signature after asking about here which shows recent counts!

So now I'll try to remember to check in here more often.

Sorry to hear that, Caroline. I hope this new surgery does the trick!

I hope so! I'll be semi-bionic!
And I see my profile does have my signature with information.

Hope your surgery goes well. I had a full knee reconstruction when I was about 11 years old because my knees dislocate all the time and they are not in the position they should be in and I have been told eventually I will probally need a total knee replacement for both my knees.

Good luck with the knee surgery, Caroline! I wish you a speedy recovery.

Have fun visiting your sister in the Azores! I hope you have a good time.

Caroline, I'm hoping that you're the lady from the former PDSA posts that said you had a hema doc to recommend in the Danbury, CT area. I was diagnosed about 9 months ago and hope that you can provide some/any information about doctors that you know here. Thanks, Angie

Hi ANgie Pip! I do have a hematologist in Danbury, where I live. HIs name is Martin Abrams. He's part of Danbury Internmal Medicine Associates, which has its oncology/hematology doctors located directly at Danbury Hospital at the PRaxair Cancer Center. When you go to the center, hospital doctors are on the left, the DIMA doctors on the right and that's where I go. I've been seeing him 5.5 years, recommended by my primary care physician when my count plunged due to a tick bite. The office runs very late but I like his philosophy of just watching what's going on with me. My signature shows, even with my TKR, that he is a watcher of my count. No treatments required, lucky for me. Each time I've had knee surgery (which is a lot), he has set a number as what I needed my count to be for the surgery and that has worked well.
Do you live in the Danbury area?

please let me know how your knee surgery went. My husband has a total knee replacement scheduled for June 7th.
how are you doing ? I hope recovering well.

HI Ddunn.SUrgery went very well. My arthritic knee pain is gone, but I have a lot of other muscle/soft tissue aches and pains now, which is normal after a TKR. This is why a TKR is always followed by weeks of PT! Sleep is also disrupted a lot! But in the end, once recovered, your husband will have his life back! No more not doing things because it hurts too much, etcetera! I also had a partial knee replacement in 2008 and felt so much better afterwards but it is hard work to get to there.
If your husband "does" Facebook, there is a nice group there called Total Knee Replacement. He might be interested in checking it out.

thank you so much. he has arthritis real bad in both his knees, and is really nervous about the surgery and esp the recovery time.....i will check out TKR on facebook. I am a big facebook person, but he is not computer savy at all. He is 63....and wants to be better NOW! I keep telling him it is going to take time...but i guess not knowing what to expect just makes it worse for him.
I am glad you are doing well...and hope his is just as successful.

Hi Caroline, Yes, I live in Danbury, and he's my hema doc also. My numbers have been in the 220 range for about 5-6 months, but Dr. Abrams kept telling me they would crash again. My levels were 2, when I was diagnosed last September in the hospital. He is very pleasant, except for the constant negative comment about levels crashing. It's great to know that he has some experience with ITP patients....he felt that I was overmedicated by the first hema doc that I dealt with in the hospital. I'm now up to testing only every 2 months. Good news for me, as the ITP concern is always there. Angie

You definitely need to have patience to get over TKR surgery. It is a hard surgery to recover from! You don't see progress but others do! Just got back from doing a lot of errands (the most on my own since the surgery) and I'm pooped and very achy. I am in my mid-50s and the thought of spending the rest of my life in pain was not appealing at all so several months of discomforture after the surgery is worth it! I do have ITP, have had it nearly 30 years, and thankfully had no problems with it when I had the surgery, although I kept having to remind hospital personnel I couldn't have coumadin, which is normally given to TKR patients to prevent DVTS.
Here is a link to the Facebook hgroup:

www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#!/group.php?gid=29769971055

ANgie, every time I see Dr. Abrams he reminds me that I'm Rh+ and I could get WinRho if I needed to. But I never have! He's never told me I would crash but I think that's because I have such along history of steady counts. My post-TKR count of 193,000 threw him, however, and he (jokingly) suggested I perhaps might want to have surgery more often, lol. I finally comvinced him I didn't need to go every 2 months for a check in so I was going every 3 until the week before my surgery. I see him again on June 2 and hopefully I'll get back onto the every 3 month schedule.
My PCP is in RIdgefield (I live in the RIdgebury section of time) and she was the one who recommended Dr. Abrams to me in Sept. '04 when I had the darn tick bite which made my count drop to the 30s--. By the time I saw him, my count was up to the 60s, so I never had anything for that either (except antibiotics). Lucky for me, my tick was negative for all tickborne diseases.