Another knew knee, here we go again.

My is is a year old today , I get twinges in it but soooooooooooo much better than before , I was a bad person and didn't do my exercises and maybe I should have ! , I wouldn't say my hip hurts . Have you aske your GP for an xray or something to make sure all is well

slight change of subject -has anybody had a hip replacement? if so what was your recovery time? I am 14 months after mine and it still hurts, will it ever feel like 'normal'?

Meant to say good luck with your op and a good recovery!

felice - Ah! The nurses are another matter. Many were very impersonal and ignored the patient they were dealing with treating them like a lump of meat with no awareness at all. I did have three who were lovely though and such a contrast to the others.
Also, the food was disgusting - and just don't mention the tea, which was insulting labelled as English Breakfast Tea!

It all sounds horrendous. The sooner they find a way of preventing OA in the knees and hips the better. I am off to buy some collagen tablets in the forlorn hope they might help.
Hope you find lots of good reading material.

Good luck with your op, felice. My mother had her knee done about 5 years ago. The surgeon broke her femur and she has been in pain ever since. She was discharged very quickly and we found it very difficult to get any one to take any notice of her problems. It was about 3 weeks after discharge that the radiographer told her that her leg was broken but the surgeon still denied it. Her previous hip replacement was a disaster too and had to be redone.
My MIL had both her hips done in France. It was wonderful. She stayed in hospital, then a rehab unit for at least a month whilst they got her ready for living at home on her own.
We talk about having the best NHS system in the world which at times it can be, but when I see my MIL's experience and read about felice's experiences, I can't help wondering if the NHS we cling on to couldn't be improved upon by taking a leaf out of other countries' books.

Actually Kathy there are quite a few French nurses in Hospitals here, more than one told me they would never go back to the French service.

I will take my E book and a tablet, I am doing Cozy Mysteries just now, but have downloaded some other stuff in advance.
There will be Tv available and WIFI, plus telephone.
Landline calls are free here to anywhere in Europe after 5pm and at weekends so I can chat in the evening.

Also taking some real stuff, luckily I live in the granny flat, so i will leave books on a table in small piles for DD to bring in so I do not collect too many.
I will probably hit Waterstones here before i go in and get a bit of a stock up.
Lots of friends will bring them too.

I have had two TKRs in France. The first one was botched and I'm still having trouble with it six years later. The medical establishment didn't want to know. I eventually discharged myself from the aftercare mainly because of a very unpleasant physio who shouted at me and didn't believe that I couldn't do what he was telling me to do. I think the surgeon, (or maybe a student), had put the staples too deeply into the wound and caught a nerve but no one either in the hospital or the aftercare unit made any attempt to find out what the problem was. I was on crutches for 10 months and had physio for 2 years.
The second time I went to a different surgeon and the experience was totally different. I was off crutches in two days. That knee is fine. All in all not a happy experience and with one other negative hospital experience in addition I am not one of those who extolls the wonders of the French health service.

Felice good luck with your knee operation and subsequent recovery. I am sure you will have lots of book suggestions, can you take your iPad/tablet in with you, if so could you subscribe to Netflix it has so many good dramas on there.

I am going through a "lightweight" books only stage at the moment, Santa Montifore, Penny Vincenzi and re-reading all the Jilly Cooper "bonk busters" from the beginning, and thoroughly enjoying myself (trying to ignore my building renovations and decorating).

I got used to it last time, I will not be stuck in bed, I can go out in fact that is encouraged.
Last time I was in a specialist rehab hospital near Hasselt, a tiny village which had adapted itself to the needs of the patients.
All pavements had been lowered, the little supermarket near the hospital had extra wide aisles and Crutch holders at the check outs.Sometimes a group of us would go into the village square where all the cafes had extra disabled features to encourage us.
It was a big employer, and the locals appreciated this.
There were no set bedtimes and people would gather in the hospital cafe and play cards, chess etc.
Visitors could stay until 11.00pm and you could have your meal in the cafe where your visitors could buy food until 21.00.

Not sure how it will work this time but I know the rehab is in a different part of the hospital so we sahll see.

The Belgian system sounds wonderful and at a bargain price too. It shows what can be achieved with good organisation. Our NHS should have lessons from them because they are so wasteful.

After 3 days in hospital following my knee replacement, I was happy to go home but would have appreciated more after care ( just 3 physio sessions and someone had to take me - a 30 mile trip which was so uncomfortable). The hospital physio made me walk up and down stairs before I left and I could manage without crutches straight away at home and only used a stick out in the street for a short while so cars would slow down when I crossed the road! Although the pain was awful for weeks, I could cook and shower for myself but it wasn't until I could drive again and I started to go swimming 3 times a week that I began to see improvement in the bend.

The longest I have ever been in hospital was 11 days and it drove me round the bend! I was well cared for, the medical and nursing staff were brilliant and I was in a small quiet bay but I couldn't wait to get home. No amount of beer, wine or nice food would enduce me to stay for 6 weeks. Horror!!!

Good luck Felice! I can see from where you are coming worrying about ops. I hope all goes well for you.

Sounds pretty impressive to me, felice, good for you and Belgium. All the best for your op.

I live in Belguim as I pointed out in a previous post so your comment does not affect me mabon1.

Your regional hospital board must be rolling in money if they can keep you in for 4 weeks. My chum had hers done last Thursday and was out Tuesday and that was because she had some platelets trouble otherwise she would have been
Sunday.

4 to 6 weeks recovery time, just that here they keep you in.
DGS was born a week after i got out of hospital last time, and a month later I catered for a friends DD wedding reception 100 people.

Yes Maw 6€ a month, DD SIL and Dgs pay the same so it is not just because I am registered disabled.

Thank you for the best wishes, I have an artificial heart valve and have had 2 Pulmonary Embollisms and 5 mini strokes so the thought of a big op always scares me.
Preventory medicine is the norm here, you should never wait more than 48 hours to see a specialist or for tests. If the first Hospital you phone for a rendevous cannot help you just phone around until you get one.
Some Hospitals are part of groups so the receptionist will often find you an appointment at another one.
Nothing is perfect of course, and some people have had bad experiences but the good ones far outweigh the bad.

Worst knee

PS Could not fault physio and I was an orthopaedic sister so had a rough idea what to expect.

i had my second knee replacement on 3 august (10 weeks ago). i had an extra two days in hospital while they sorted out what to give me to control the horrendous nerve pain i was left with but went home on 7 august.
almost six weeks later i was back for my check up and was given clearance to drive. crutches (well the second one) given up after another week for my walking stick which i only use outdoors these days.
no physiotherapy as i knew what to do thanks to my first knee replacement op.
was told i shouldn't hoover or change beds for three months but have no idea why - decided i'd follow that advice though.
so i'll ecpect to get the hoover out and change my bed somewhere around 3 november - until then i'll be a slut! and not feel guilty as i'm following medical advice!!

I had mine done in April. I was expected to go in the day of the operation, mobilise the next day and go home the next.
Unfortunately, due to blood pressure problems, I had to stay in two days longer but, the other women whose op the same day, went home as planned.
Once BO was sorted, I got up, catheter out and home that day
I was driving at 8 weeks but, could probably have managed earlier.
If the knee is as bad as suggested in felice’s post, I can imagine it taking longer but not 4 - 6 weeks in hospital.

Have a close friend who just had her knee replacement and truly as others say it is 4 to 6 weeks to recovery. In fact she was in for just 3 days and with good physio was walking with crutches for 2 weeks and managed to get up a steep driveway up to my house without crutches after 4 weeks. She didn't get wine in hospital though just heavy painkillers!

I'm moving to Belgium. We should aspire to this type of care, instead of being booted of hospital to struggle at home with no support