Well, I have to say that a full knee replacement is definitely something to do unless you absolutely, positively have tried everything else first.  I would not have changed my mind and am glad I did it but it is not something an elderly person should have to experience.  It just takes too much out of you.  I probably should have done this a year ago when I was in better shape.  I let it get to the point that my general health was being affected and that was too long.

Let’s talk about my hospital stay so far. First, I stayed up late (after midnight) on the night before helping my father-in-law with his computer issues. Not a good idea as I had to get up at 4 am to be at the hospital by 5:45 am. Draggingggg!!! Interestingly, I have found that I keep getting asked many of the same questions over and over that were answered in my initial registration. Specifically, about my flu shot and pneumonia shot. Apparently, even though you answered the question in registration, the system keeps prompting the nurses to ask. No big deal but I seems rather inefficient and does start to irritate a bit after so many repeats. (YES!! I RECEIVED MY FLU SHOT IN OCTOBER!!!!!!!)

My stay has been okay so far. I came in Monday, 3 March and here we are on Friday. I have noticed a tendency of mine to develop a mild fever every evening. It really started on Tuesday night and has been consistent every night since. I start to get very cold and need to wrap up about 6 pm and go to sleep early about 10 pm. Round about 4 am I wake up in a sweat and need to take the covers off. By morning, I feel fine again. I’ve been up every morning by 5:30 am.

A little side story. They have a “torture” device that they brought up to my room on Wednesday night. Your leg is mounted in it while you are laying in bed. It then moves and bends the leg for you. The tech set it at 40% which is the minimum (or so he thought). He turns it on. 40, 45, 50, 55. It isn’t stopping! 60, 65. IT ISN’T STOPPING! 70, 75. IT…ISN’T…STOPPING!!!!!!

Well, he got it to stop and brought it back down. THREE TIMES WE DID THIS FARCE! Finally, he called in someone who actually knew what they were doing and we got it working right.

I was supposed to start my rehab on Friday but they were concerned about the swelling in my knee (I think from the passive movement machine fiasco) so I was delayed a day so they could check me for blood clots first. I was cleared of that and started my rehab on Saturday instead.

The rehab was big on Saturday with eval of how straight and how much I could bend. Minor rehab on Sunday. Heavy on Monday and Tuesday with my exit on Wednesday.

I am now home and ready to start my out-patient rehab on Monday morning.