I had a partial knee replacement of the patellofemoral joint on May 31, 2023. It took me a long time to come to the conclusion that I was going to have the surgery. I tried everything, including physical therapy, Visco shots & steroid shots. If I could have afforded it, I would have tried PRP treatments. The situation was that I could go to work without pain, but I couldn't work out, at all, without pain putting me put of commission for a day or two. I couldn't hike more than a mile or two. I couldn't do spin class. I couldn't even do water running without some pain. Over the last 2 years, I've gained about 25 pounds.
After a lot of hoop hopping regarding insurance, I was finally able to see the orthopedic that I wanted to see. I had my first appointment about a year ago. The doctor immediately sized up the situation. He indicated that at some point, I'd need a partial knee partial knee replacement, but he wasn't keen to do the operation soon. I think he wanted me to have some time to wrap my head around all a knee replacement entails and the risks involved.
When I went back about a year later, the doctor wanted to see a current MRI. The MRI did not look good. The report indicated that there was grade 4 cartilage damage in all three compartments. That would normally lead a doctor to want to do a full knee replacement rather than a partial, but my doctor believed that most of my pain was coming from problems in the patellofemoral joint. We decided to proceed with a partial knee replacement, because it would give me the best chance to get back to the kind of lifestyle that I want. He gave me no guarantees and was upfront that I might need another compartment replaced or a full replacement at some time in the future.
The procedure was done at an outpatient surgery center. My doctor said that the surgery went well and that I made a great decision to get the partial instead of a full, because my lateral compartment was in pristine condition. He said the medial compartment was not as good, but it was not necessary to replace it. He was very optimistic. When I actually woke up from the surgery, I was in so much pain. I couldn't help tears streaming down my face. i had a nerve block but nothing was being blocked at that point. The nurse gave me some medicine and I began to feel better. I went home the same day of the procedure without any complications.
The block must have kicked in, because when I got home, I wasn't in a whole lot of knee pain, but I felt terrible. All of the medications made me sick. I ended up throwing up. The first day was very difficult. I couldn't sit or stand without help. I was completely helpless, and I felt terrible.
We actually had a lot of questions. We were given a packet of stuff when we left the surgery center, but there were no instructions. We were told that a PT would come to the house the next day, but we had heard nothing the PT situation. The surgeon's office had dropped the ball and my husband and myself had to sit on the phone getting it sorted out, but we were able to get an assurance that someone would, at least, call us to set up the appointment the next day.
I didn't taken any pain medication when I went to bed because I was feeling so bad. I woke up the next morning in a lot of pain.
