knee replacement op?

They do teach you to get up and down stairs a few days after the operation. We only have 2 storeys with a loo on each so I didn't find it a problem. What she will need will be help getting up and down on the loo. Usually they will sort you out with a loo seat with arms that you can use till you can cope without it.
You aren't supposed to drive for about 6 weeks after the op, when I had my left knee done I was back driving much sooner because my car is an automatic.
The most important thing is to really keep on with the exercises the hospital give you. It gets boring and it hurts, but it really makes an enormous difference to the outcome. If your sister has been having a lot of trouble with her knee she will find the replacement makes a huge difference. It's eight years since I had both mine done and I've never regretted it for a minute!

She will be given instruction on what she can and can't do. She will have climbed a flight of stairs before discharge with the help of a stick/crutch but may not want to have to do that every time she needs the loo. A commode would solve the problem but she may well feel able to manage quite well.

Our bathroom/toilet is downstairs, and although I`d been shown how to go up and down stairs, I chickened out and slept downstairs for the first few weeks home. I still have problems getting up stairs, not quite so much coming down, but we have a stair lift, which is a boon. DO keep up with the exercises, they do work..........eventually.

How long ago was that, numberplease? Only I shall have to have one, one day before too long probably.

My problem was getting up to go to the loo at least x2 during the night. I used crutches for a few weeks as told and I took my time, having removed all rugs from my laminate floors.

I found that I needed a seat in the bathroom for facewashing and teeth cleaning.

I have a shower with a stool in it and I was very careful because for a few weeks I had little control over my operated knee although I did the exercises religiously.

I am lucky, I have a downstairs loo and also a stairlift. I had problems getting up off the downstairs loo because only one loo seat with arms was supplied and I elected to use it upstairs.

Cooking was problematic for a few weeks but I had a kitchen chair which I sat on frequently. My kitchen is too small to fit a table and chairs.

When using crutches I could not safely transfer a mug of coffee or a plated meal from kitchen to dining area so I ended up eating and drinking in my tiny kitchen.

All things that put me off having mine done. I suppose it just gets to the stage where you are having so many problems that you just get on with it. The other thing is, I have heard that you never quite get back to how you used to be. I wondered if that depends on the age you have it done, in the first place.

When anyone has this operation, as with a hip replacement, you should be visited by an occupational health therapist who will advise on the best way to do things and how often to do the stairs and will arrange for social services to supply equipment such blocks for chairs, a chair of a suitable height, bath boards, loo seats etc. but be warned - in our part of N-W London they don't take any of it back.

The Occupational Therapist visited me about 2-3 months after I had returned home following my knee replacement. A bit late but there was a long waiting list.

When I had the hip replacement, the OTs trained me on the stairs and in the bathroom before they would let me out of hospital. Social Services provided me with a trolley for getting food to the table and would have provided a raised loo seat and a gripping tool, but my neighbour loaned me these.

I might be wrong, but I think hip replacement is a simpler operation than a knee replacement . For several reasons.
I've had a hip replacement, but I understand knee replacement is much more complicated.

TriciaF you are correct.

Janerowena, I had my knee op last September 23rd. I don`t have any more mobility than I had before, but the pain has gone, which to me is the most important thing. My other knee is on the way to needing replacing, but I haven`t got to that desperate stage yet, don`t really know if I want to go through it again, but if it gets as bad as my right knee was, I`ll probably be banging on the hospital door!

janerowena People are different and I think how long you take to get better and how well you manage and how soon after depend on so many things. My parents' window cleaner went back to window cleaning, ladder and all! I had both knees replaced, one at a time, last year. I got over the first within a month in terms of not using any aids. The second took a bit longer. I really wish I hadn't put it off for so long as it is so much better than before. Being without pain is a big bonus. I agree with posters who've said, 'do the exercises'. It does make a difference.

Don't leave it too long janerowena My GP thought 60 was too young, but luckily the surgeon thought my knees had really deteriorated when he saw the x rays. I had a 3 month gap between the two knees and it took most of that time to psyche myself up for the second one but I was glad I did. I'm not back to how I was 20 years ago, but I'm lightyears better than I was for severl years before the operations. I can't sit on the floor or get up again easily but that's the only limitation. A male friend of ours had his knees replaced and went back to work as a builder.

My MiL put off having anything done until she was in her late 70's and already barely able to walk. She wouldn't do the exercises because they hurt and after a fall she gave up on physiotherapy. She ended up house bound until she had to go into a home.

Well, here I am, 7 weeks post knee replacement, and it was absolutely the best thing ever for me. I am completely mobile, only using a stick a shocking pink one!) outside for security, and am pain free. I am so delighted with the outcome.mWell, the opposite hip is crumbling....

However, to return to the real subject; as most people say, they won't let you out of hospital until you have climbed a flight of stairs. I achieved this on Day 3 (op was Weds, this was Fri.) and went home that day. I am NOT a terribly fit and active person, but found it easy enough.

But I would not have liked to do more than one flight for a week or so, or at least not just to go to the loo. (And I did seem to wee a lot during that first week...) I think having a commode as standby would be a good idea.

We have an en suite bathroom, which was very convenient too.

Seven weeks seems like so very long. I had a vision of me going feral, my stairs aren't brilliant, my clothes and all my makeup up there and me sleeping downstairs never bothering to get dressed! DBH would not be the most solicitous of carers...
I have been told a few times that I am too young for my hips to be done, I had no idea it could apply to knees as well.

I am Bimbadeen's sister! How long is it m the loo without the raised loo seat and grab bar please?

Not a very good typist. How long before I should be able to do the above?

thinking of more questios all the time. How did anyone put their washing in and take it out? And change the bedclothes.

I didn`t for a while, my daughter number 2 did my washing and ironing for a while, and and I was sleeping downstairs there was no bed to change.

I had to have my bedding changed for the first 6 weeks, I did not have the strength. Re my washing, my surgery was early November 2012 so I was hanging washing up indoors from the day of my discharge. It was difficult but I just tried to work a way around it. I had to sit down to hang it up as I was using crutches. When one lives alone, one has to work a way around all problems.

The person who changed my bedding washed it and hung it indoors. I could cope with it when it was dry.

another question: do I have to take up all the rugs?
And thank you all very much for your helpful answers

Yes you should. Even if they do not slide, you may trip on the rug and you will not have full control of your operated knee for a while. I strongly urge you to do the exercises that you will be taught and continue to do them for a few months afterwards. You will benefit in the end.

You may find that you will need a chair in the bathroom when brushing teeth etc and another in the kitchen. I found it tiring and painful waiting for a kettle to boil and bread to toast.

I also stacked up my freezer with ready meals for the microwave. My problem was that my freezer died 48 hours after my discharge, the food was ruined and I was ordering a new fridge/freezer at 11pm one night!

I found it was a long time before I could sit down on the loo without something to steady me on the way down. I just didn't have the strength in my knees to control the descent! Luckily we've got a ledge under the window that I could grab. It's a good idea to stick to disabled loos when you're out.
Looking back I suspect I just didn't bother about changing the beds for a while