Another knew knee, here we go again.

Clementine ?

You'll be staying in hospital for 4 to 6 weeks?! I know 3 people who have had knee joint replacement surgery and they were all out of hospital in 3 - 6 days!

At 79 I was in 3 days but different countries different regimes.
I was just glad to get home.

Ridiculous.I had TKR(total knee replacement) 4 months ago...aged 80.Two nights in hospital.Taught how to use crutches and negotiate stairs.I suppose someone to help is useful but certainly not essential,assuming your health is generally good.

I think many people here are assuming that the 'hospital' experience you have here is the same as felice will have but it almost certainly won't be. Are you aware of how many people end up back in hospital after their quick discharge? How many end up in pain for longer because they haven't had the proper physio? Once upon a time you would have had a couple of sessions a week with the physio as an outpatient. Nowadays you'll be lucky if it once every 3 weeks. Maybe if you are doing the exercises right, that works but it is really soul destroying to find out you've been doing it wrong for weeks and set yourself back.

I had no physio in hospital apart from giving me crutches and watching me use them for 5 minutes.
Then no appt for 6 weeks, then just one more after that.
I did the exercises on the sheet I was given and did ok but no thanks to the physio dept at the hospital, it was abysmal.

Hi felice, my mistake, I was taken to St-Pierre in Brussels.it sounded very similar to your hospital. Just excellent standards all round, I guess. Question, do you have connections in the N.W. U.K. ? Good luck with your op.

The more I see and hear about the UK, the more I want to move out. France, Spain or Brussels look a very inviting prospect.

Does everyone have such an amazingly long convalescence in Belgium? How does anything get done? It sounds like such a massive healthcare industry!

I Googled Belgium health care and it seems very complicated!

Like Jane I didn’t do any physio excercises after my 2nd op and the recovery was even quicker! My surgeon doesn’t believe in physio if the patient is a normally active person and said to just potter and stretch as much as was comfortable. Also none of the surgeons at the hospital used catheters which pleased me - and it makes sure you get out of bed quickly!

I've lived in several countries and have always been amazed at the difference in healthcare. Good luck with your operation and recovery it sounds as if you're in very good hands.

Sounds a good place to be Felice if you’re having to endure such an op. I would check out podcasts to listen to and download. So many brilliant ones out there. And easier to listen sometimes than read when you’re feeling a bit meh. Take some headphones! Hope op goes well.

The main advantage of a longer stay in hospital is that you’ll have longer access to strong pain killers! Here we’re sent home with only Paracetamol! (Although that does stop you overdoing it.)

Nfk I refused all the opioid meds last time and insisted on only paracetamol (and swearing). I felt so much the better for that. Those strong painkillers made me feel so sick and made me feel absolutely awful mentally: sort of panicky and hyperanxious. I can't understand how anyone could become addicted to them but they do. I'm sure that not taking them really helped my speedy recovery this time. The anaesthetist was surprised at my refusal but said that he'd find a way of avoiding opioid medication and he did.
No meds, no physio - the way ahead!

I’m afraid the opioids agreed with me and I can understand completely how people get addicted!!

I did however, come off all medication and pain killers a month or so before the second op and it increased my pain threshold so this time I didn’t actually need much pain relief at all. I did for the first op though.

Isn’t it great, this walking without pain? We went to Dover Castle last week and I did the lot. Up hills, down steep sloops, hundreds of steps, all the way up the Great Tower and down again, with no ill effects. Wonderful! Four months ago I couldn’t even manage a slight slope.

Next spring Felice you’ll be playing football with your DGS.

Sounds horrific to me, 4 to 6 weeks incarcerated in hospital. I was in 5 days after having a child and I was threatening to discharge myself. I had a TKR 28th November last year, came home on 2nd December. Two days later was so fed up with people fussing round me, I began to get back to normal life, cooking, cleaning, shopping etc. The only thing I didn’t do for 6 weeks was drive just in case I caused an accident. I won’t say it wasn’t painful, but to anyone on here who is worried about having a TKR (I was terrified) take heart, the pain diminishes, is soon forgotten and is well worth it. I’m now looking forward to my next in a few weeks. My leg is bent like a banana was the ‘professional’ opinion of the consultant, so hopefully it’ll come out nice and straight. ?

Incidentally, I didn’t mention that I’d actually gained an inch in height, which I’d lost over the years. I’m hoping the next new knee will rid me of my slight limp. Good luck with yours Felice. You can fill some of your time by letting is know how things are going.

pat1949 my surgeon told me my knee was 'well knackered'! So professional! He did a great job though. I know that because he told he had.
Yes nfk it's wonderful even just to stand in a queue and not be in pain. It's the little things like that that I'm really appreciating.

I've been reading Felice's descriptions of health care with interest and now have visions of Belgium as one vast convalescence home, with beds wheeled out onto verandas every morning and devoted staff wearing long white uniforms and those massive caps, like veils, administering to their flock of wan-faced patients.

Good luck with the op, Felice!

It does sound idyllic!
Belgium is a small country compared with the UK, and France, but we could still take some lessons from them.

Felice I hope all goes well with your knee op and am personally very impressed with how your treatment and recovery will go. Good luck

I need a replacement knee urgently but my own doctor told me to hold off for as long as possible as it was often a year before full mobility could be achieved and the pain was terrible. As a consequence I'm full of dread. Can any Gransnetters reassure me please?

Of course there will be some pain but worth it to get rid of the constant pain of a knee that urgently needs replacing. In hospital they can do a lot to alliviate pain. I was fully mobile within six weeks with both of my replacements. Your doctor seems like a bit of a scaremonger.

Felice I’m really surprised at all the negative comments. I have no experience of healthcare in Belgium, despite having lived there for a while, but it sounds excellent. Some of the language used by posters is amusingly emotive, e.g. “incarcerated”. I’m sure you are not kept in a locked room. Lovely to be able to recover under close guidance and i do hope it all all goes really well for you.

Thanks, Ginny. How do you recommend I conduct myself before and after the operation?