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New Member

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:45 am
by Sharkmom
I've been diagnosed for more than 25 years but am fairly new to the site and totally new to the forum.
I have a couple of questions. !. I'm looking at possibly having both knees replaced. I want to do them both at the same time. I realize it's more initial trauma, but I'm hoping it will be less hazardous for my MS to have them done together. One knee or two, it may cause significant MS problems. I do think one anesthesia and one horrible period of rehab must be better than two. I'd appreciate input from anyone who's had a similar experience.
2. I'm in So. Florida. I've been here for 18 months but haven't even found a good primary physician, let alone a good neuro. I'm a retired nurse and had lived in the same city for my entire life (57+ years) until we moved here. I KNEW who was good there from working with them. Here, I'm totally lost. I've got a primary but she's very average, according to my usual standards. Giving her a 5 (on a scale of 1-10) would be stretching it. If anyone else is living in the area, I'd hugely appreciate any input you can give me. I strongly suspect, according to today's quality of life, that I'm on the verge of a major exacerbation, so I really need help.
Thanks for any help you all can give me on either question.

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 3:47 am
by LR1234
Welcome!

I don't know much about knee surgery but I would think the dr's may only want to do one at a time. (I may be totally wrong) but when my dog went in for knee surgery they said it was too dangerous and too much of a strain on the body to do both legs at the same time. I wonder if its the same for humans????

So you have had MS for 25 years?! Wow that is a long time. How are you these days? Have you ever taken any meds?

Re: Knee replacement

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:38 am
by NHE
Sharkmom wrote:I've been diagnosed for more than 25 years but am fairly new to the site and totally new to the forum.
I have a couple of questions. I'm looking at possibly having both knees replaced. I want to do them both at the same time. I realize it's more initial trauma, but I'm hoping it will be less hazardous for my MS to have them done together. One knee or two, it may cause significant MS problems. I do think one anesthesia and one horrible period of rehab must be better than two. I'd appreciate input from anyone who's had a similar experience.
I have a family member in their 70's who had a 1/2 knee replacement several years ago. Even with one good leg, they still hobbled around with a walker for at least a week and then used a cane for a period afterwards. With both legs out, I would imagine that mobility issues might be even worse (possibly requiring a residential care facility). I realize that there's a risk associated with anesthesia, especially for people with MS, but the recovery after getting both knees done might be exceedingly difficult. It's just something to think about.

NHE