Originally Posted by sch

My wife went through her knee replacement last summer. Her incentive was a scheduled trip to Wales about 3months after the surgery. My experience is similar to yours, except I spent 22 hrs a day at the hospital for 3 days with J being sent home on the fourth day. First day was a haze of morphine, with gradual awakening on the second and third days. She was up walking with a walker and getting about 80D of flexion by discharge. She thought she would be going home on the fifth day til an insurance heavy came in the evening of the fourth day and said spending the night would cost her (me) $1500. She decided she could go home. Funny neither her MD, the PA who saw her most of the time or myself told her that she would be unlikely to stay to the fifth day, though ALL of us knew the insurance people would urge discharge on the fourth day. Only surprise to me was that it took them til 7pm to tell her. Medicare pays for one only of 1)a bedside commode, that straddles the toilet and allows use of the arms to get up
or 2) a walker, but not both. They cost about the same $80-100. We borrowed a walker from a friend of hers who had one related to double knee replacements. Walking got better and better over the first two weeks and home PT got less and less uncomfortable so that she was able to switch to a cane by the end of 2 weeks and dispense with the cane by the end of the third week. It was funny, she was popping percocets every 8 hrs the first two weeks, sees her surgeon for wound check and staple removal, is advised to try motrin, and never took a percocet again. Gentle hints from me to try a few aleve or advils and decreasing the percocet might as well have been made to the cat in front of his feed bowl, but when pronounced from on high... Things rapidly improved after the 3d week and she never regretted the surgery and is much improved. Wales went very well, and we recently did 5-8mi day hikes in the Smokies 3 days straight without any problems. I hope your wife's course is as benign and successful.