Experience with total knee replacment.

[Anonymous]

My mom is 69 and lives in another state. She’s scheduled for a total knee replacement in early December. She lives alone, and while my brother is nearby, he travels frequently for work and has a young family. My mom is convinced she’ll be fine managing on her own, but am I crazy to think she’ll need in-home help for at least 3–4 weeks? I’ve found a physical therapist who will come to the house for the first 2–3 weeks, which will definitely help but I still feel like she’ll need more day-to-day support, especially in the beginning.

Any advice or suggestions from anyone who has been there/done that.

[Anonymous]

Following! I have a family member who lives alone, who is getting a knee replacement this winter. I’ve been wondering what their plan is, or if they have one.

[Anonymous]

Yes she will absolutely need around the clock support for at least the first week, maybe more, depending on how fast she recovers. After that, she’ll need someone around basically full time during the day for another week+. And don’t discount the impact the anesthesia will have - my dad had a full knee replacement a few years ago when he was 72 and he was completely out of it for several days (the first two days while still in the hospital he could not recall what year it was, the names of his siblings, the name of the president). It was a significantly more challenging recovery than we were expecting.

[Anonymous]

My mom came went home after knee replacement on her own in her late 70s. She went up to a flight of stairs to bed that first night. If you have a few key tools available, it is doable. The tools are a cane and/or walker, a raised seat for the toilet, easy to prepare and reach food. The one thing that was hard for her was laundry because it is in her basement and she couldn’t carry the basket.
(Also, she did it want me to come help— we are independent minded people. This wasn’t me being a bad daughter, I promise).

[Anonymous]

She needs help. Period. I had 2 one and then the other.
No way could I have managed alone.

[Anonymous]

Yes, she should have round the clock support for a few days. Certainly not four weeks though. One week should be plenty.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor had one. She needed help for a couple of days. After the first night (after anesthesia) she overnighted alone in her house.
The surgeon required someone in the house overnight the first night.

My husband went over every night for the first week to get her ice machine set up in bed and to position pillows around her.

She did not have any home health care but CNA's would have been helpful for the first week.

PT came out twice a week. The second week he had her walking outside with a walker.

Definitely arrange help for the first couple of days. One week of help for a 69 year old will be more than enough.

[Anonymous]

She will need to get friends to drive her for awhile.

[Anonymous]

I had my knee replaced at age 48 and my recovery was terrible. You have to plan for more of a worst case scenario situation just in case. There is no way she should be alone for the first week.

First the exhaustion was just crazy. I needed someone bringing me food and water so I didn’t get dehydrated, etc. I was sleeping so much. The idea she is going to wake up, feed herself, unlock the door for the PT person, etc could be unrealistic.

Second, she may need encouragement to do the exercises when the PT isn’t there. You really have to do this stuff to get the best outcome.

I also had a bad stomach reaction to the meds and I just could not get to the restroom quickly enough. I recommend a small pack of depends just in case.

Hopefully, she bounces back super quickly and has an easy recovery. But you cannot assume this.

[Anonymous]

Definitely a bed protector pad, disposable kind. I am 21:21. Never needed it but it was a comfort to know it was there.
I went up a flight of stairs coming home after 3 nights in hospital (PT in hospital) and stayed there for 5-7 days. Food and water brought. DH answered door or when he went to work after 4 days, leaving me food and water and ice machine full, we left back unlocked for PT and visiting nurse. Nurse came twice a week for 2 weeks to check vitals, look for infection, check meds, get me started to taper off opioids. PT came 3x a week for 2 weeks and I had home exercises to do faithfully. Outpatient PT 6 weeks. Insurance paid for all of this. Hospital arranged it before I could be discharged.

[Anonymous]

Continuing 10:24 the surgical pain was bad at home the first several days.

Rehab hurts. You must do the range of motion exercises as prescribed.

Knees are great but it takes a while for the heat and swelling to go away. I went to China after 5 months but still was icing at night.

[Anonymous]

Ditto on the needing help - my H just had his second knee replacement. First 4-5 days I only left when one of our teen kids was home.

After that I'd leave for 4-5 hours, and after a days in he could get up and get food/water- but doing that too much makes him exhausted.

My mom stayed at short term rehab facility after her knee replacements for 5-6 days because my father was not only unable to help but would be more of a hindrance because of his medical needs. Is that an option for your mom?

[Anonymous]

My FIL just had one and my husband and his brother have been taking terms staying with him AND he has my MIL to help as well (but she needs help getting him in/out of chairs).

[Anonymous]

I had hip surgery at 48. I was in excellent shape (life long endurance athlete) and had done PT for months before surgery.

I cannot imagine someone this age being alone without help after a knee replacement.
I needed help with food, going to the bathroom, medication reminders, showering, refilling the ice machine multiple times a day, getting dressed. It was a week before I could get socks on by myself. I couldn’t drive for at least two weeks. I needed to go to PT appointments twice a week starting right after surgery. I needed to go to the doctor for a check in. Cooking was really difficult for about a month because I couldn’t stand for long periods of time.

I didn’t need help 24 hours a day but I needed help at various points during the day for the first month. I can’t imagine living alone and having any kind of joint replacement.

[Anonymous]

Needs someone during daytime hours for a week or two at least. You can’t get to the bathroom alone.