My dad who is 82 had both knee s replaced now 15 years later he is booked in to have 1 redone but on speaking to people has not heard one bit of positive news. Has anyone else had or know of someone whose gone through same as he has to decide this weekend and at present is considering cancelling evrn tho he can barely walk and is in so much pain.
I suppose the dr s have done a physical assessment and concurred his physical health would withstand the rigors of the surgery.
If that is approved, I see no reason not to do it. I was 78 the last time and was going through the serious staph infection and had to have the prosthesis removed completely, a spacer inserted, a hip to ankle soft cast put in place. I wasn't allowed to put any weight (toe touch) and about 20% bend. I was like that for 4 months and then a prosthesis reinserted. The recovery was about the same as before but considering all the surgeries, a broken femur, 30 rounds of radiation I'm doing pretty good. (Incidentally, my problems stemmed from a rare tumor that ate my joint up the 1st time and the bone the second time. Attitude, of course plays a huge part in recovery but to avoid the pain it probably would be sort a shot.
I suppose the dr s have done a physical assessment and concurred his physical health would withstand the rigors of the surgery.
If that is approved, I see no reason not to do it. I was 78 the last time and was going through the serious staph infection and had to have the prosthesis removed completely, a spacer inserted, a hip to ankle soft cast put in place. I wasn't allowed to put any weight (toe touch) and about 20% bend. I was like that for 4 months and then a prosthesis reinserted. The recovery was about the same as before but considering all the surgeries, a broken femur, 30 rounds of radiation I'm doing pretty good. (Incidentally, my problems stemmed from a rare tumor that ate my joint up the 1st time and the bone the second time. Attitude, of course plays a huge part in recovery but to avoid the pain it probably would be sort a shot.
Do you know if your dad metabolizes general anesthesia well? My mom did not; her first surgery it took 48 hours before the anesthesia was out of her system. Before that time she was hallucinating, combative and definitely not herself. However, once the anesthesia was gone she was her normal self.
She responded well to that TKR and she was 84.
Tell the surgeon you want to discuss the type of anesthesia used directly with the anesthesiologist. The older a person gets, the harder it can be for them to metabolize these drugs.
I don't want to alarm you but knowing this, and witnessing first hand mom's first surgery and then a second, which occurred when she was 88, it was very enlightening and sobering, indeed. Mom reacted terribly to the second bout of anesthesia. I have since read that her advanced age and her metabolism most likely were the factors that made both surgeries more ardorous than they needed to be. Be your dad's advocate and question the anesthesiologist thoroughly!!
Hi Belleouise, as far as anaesthetics go, this is a moving target and it's not possible to know how someone will react to anaesthesia. If the thought of that for you or your dad the best person to discuss it with is the specialist and/or the anaesthesiologst to assess his needs.
As far as Oldfatguy1 goes - he's brilliant and his advice is gold! I think you probably have all you need in order to assess so quickly. Because I've only had 2 total knee replacements, I'm not in a position to know.
Please let us know how he goes.
My mom was just about 80 when she had her knee replacement. She never experienced any of the issues that many do and never had any real pain She recovered very well ( I wish I had inherited her tkr gene :-) ).
Of course everyone is different but hers is a positive tkr story.