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My mother turns 87 in May. She's had progressively more trouble with mobility over the past few years due to knee issues. Efforts taken so far include physical therapy and orthopedic inserts in her shoes, but haven't helped much, and now her doctor is recommending knee replacement surgery.
She'll go from the hospital directly to a rehabilitation center for 20 days afterwards, so that's good, but I'm concerned about the possible effects of surgery at her age. Should I be?
In my opinion, yes. Although those I know who have had knee replacement surgery tell me it was the best thing they ever did for themselves, they also had a VERY difficult and painful recuperation period. Additionally, anesthesia is also always a concern and especially at her age. If she does want the surgery, I would suggest you get several "second opinions" about her ability to handle the surgery and anesthesia.
Finally, if she is not suffering from dementia and is able to make her own informed decision about this, knowing all the pros and cons, it has to be her decision.
In my opinion, yes. Although those I know who have had knee replacement surgery tell me it was the best thing they ever did for themselves, they also had a VERY difficult and painful recuperation period. Additionally, anesthesia is also always a concern and especially at her age. If she does want the surgery, I would suggest you get several "second opinions" about her ability to handle the surgery and anesthesia.
Finally, if she is not suffering from dementia and is able to make her own informed decision about this, knowing all the pros and cons, it has to be her decision.
Thanks. No, her general physical and mental health are good, although it takes her longer to recover from things like colds than it used to.
I think I will gather my siblings (3 of whom have gone through knee replacements themselves) and try and get some backup to discourage her from going ahead with this. Multiple second opinions may be difficult, as she lives in rural western NC and doesn't drive far from home anymore. I can definitely drive her to at least one more though.
That's a great idea about getting your siblings together to talk to her -- especially since 3 have gone through the process. My thoughts are that, IF she was still a very active 87, the replacement surgery might be a good idea since ultimately it would get her mobility back.
But at 87, if she was not unusually active and athletic to begin with, I would have to wonder if the surgery and then painful slow recovery is somethingI would want to put myself through at that age.
Best of luck with the outcome -- I can tell you love your mother and want what's best for her, and you also want her around a while longer. Let us know what happens.
The recovery was a bit rougher than we expected, but mainly because he seemed to have a bad reaction to the anesthesia and/or pain meds they had him on. They actually had to give him something they give drug addicts to reverse the dosage of morphine they had given him. I will say he has some history of weird reactions to anesthesia prior.
The surgeon more or less admitted he possibly overmedicated him because he didn't want him to be in pain. So, if you decided to go ahead I would have very specific discussion about that. I think it would have been better if my father had had a pain pump to self administer.
All of that gave him a slow start to actually getting up and into rehab. Once he started that it wasn't so bad.
So overall it was rougher than we expected, but in his case he was still active and was basically headed for a wheel chair without the surgery.
Surgery of any kind has its dangers. Add to that the risks of anesthesia and being able to recover as her age, it is something to seriously think about. Question...is your mom healthy otherwise, and is she a person that is strong enough to be able to get back on her feet relatively quickly? Before my mother passed away she could fall really easily and was not secure on her feet. She also was not a fighter and would have had a hard time recovering. If your mom is a determined person and strong enough to get through the physical therapy then I might think she should do it. Is her other knee strong enough?
My mother turns 87 in May. She's had progressively more trouble with mobility over the past few years due to knee issues. Efforts taken so far include physical therapy and orthopedic inserts in her shoes, but haven't helped much, and now her doctor is recommending knee replacement surgery.
She'll go from the hospital directly to a rehabilitation center for 20 days afterwards, so that's good, but I'm concerned about the possible effects of surgery at her age. Should I be?
Total knee replacement is a quality of life procedure...
How is her quality of life right now? Is she having significant knee pain? You have already noted her mobility is impaired due to her knee issues...
If a knee replacement can lessen her pain and improve her mobility (reasonable expectations for this procedure) than why does her age matter?
Complications can happen at 87 or 57, but how will her quality of life be at 90 if she doesn't have the procedure now?
If your mom is mentally competent and otherwise in sound condition ( which a surgeon and anesthesiologist would take into consideration...no doctor wants a patient to die on them) then remember, she's the one that suffers the lack of mobility and pain and is the one to decide.
You and your siblings have no right to condemn her to a life as an invalid by "convincing' her not to IF she prefers to take the chance.
Just to let you know, my mom had very extensive abdominal surgery at 89 , did well and lived on and active to the age of 96.
I can't imagine going cyborg. How bad must the pain be to go through knee replacement?
I guess I'll find out soon enough. God bless her.
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