Knee Replacement... Meh... Try A Broken Kneecap
 

July 19 about 7PM, wife walking around on driveway talking on phone. Cardinal sin: had on flip flops ( a big no no we had discussed many times). Stumbles and trips on an uneven expansion joint. I help her up, she takes 2 steps and collapses. I look at her knee and diail 911. EMTs take her to the nearest trauma center (Hermann Memorial). She spends most of the night on a gurney in a hallway in the ER as they have no available rooms and are very short staffed.

July 20 about 6 PM into surgery to repair knee cap which is now in 4 pieces. Per surgeon, it goes great but gonna be a long haul.

July 21 about 4 PM discharged and sent home (this is another story in itself !!). She has a full length metal brace completely immobilizing her leg. This will be the situation for the next 6 weeks. After a few days was able (with a lot of help) to get out of bed and use walker to slowly move around. Can put weight on the leg but absolutely no bending. In home PT twice a week to exercise some muscles and other exercises to do daily.

6 weeks later begin in home PT 2 times a week to start bending knee in 10 degree increments.. 10 degrees each week and assigned numerous exercise to do daily. Goal to bend 90 degrees at end of 6 weeks... makes it to 80+ degrees but knee is very stiff. Leg still immobilized with brace unless doing PT. Gets around quite will with walker.

6 weeks later brace comes off and starts PT at nearby facility 3 times a week and will do this for 4 weeks then back to Dr. to evaluate..

She can now get around pretty well but reverts to stiff legging it unless she concentrates on it. Main problem now is swelling in calf and angle.

So we are now pushing 4 months since fall and still a long way from really walking normal and still continuous PT twice a week.

Conclusion: If you are a 75 YO post menopausal female, do not wear flip flops and a broken knee cap is really bad news.

She gets a bit depressed at times because progress seems to be so slow but Dr. told it would be a long haul and just keep after it...

Not trying to downplay knee replacement surgery but it could be a lot worse

Chocolates...good ones. May it all go well. I'm sure..no more flip flops, right?

Try support stockings for the swelling in the leg. You will have to put them on her.

Start with relatively low compression, to see if she can tolerate them. Buy one pair until you figure out if it is going to work.

Broken knee caps suck. Stainless steel bailing wire is how this is typically fixed. Bear in mind that she is exponentially tougher than you are, when she is seeming like she is not going as hard as you think she should with PT.

Yeah, buddy, that they do; ask me how I know. I didn't even get the bailing wire, just a long leg brace that I wore for 2 solid months with my knee in situ and then months of PT which even then didn't stave off the subtle but real change in my gait that expedited arthritis in my hip and new titanium parts.

That delicate balance that is our mobility.

Getting old isn't for the faint of heart.

Ice, elevation and support stockings all help.
The surgeon used 2 screws and a wire cage? to rebuild the knee cap.

Your last statement about how hard she is trying ? I learned really quickly not to make any remarks about that particular subject....

And whatever you do, don't mention Chester of Gunsmoke...

That ER in Katy has the worst wait times in all of the Houston area.

They were definitely a bit disorganized... were very busy at that particular time and definitely short on staff.

I think some kudos have to be given to the caregiver. Everything changes when one partner goes down. Definitely a big commitment. I’m very very lucky in that respect. Best wishes to your wife!

Yikes, prayers and best wishes for the speediest possible full recovery for Mrs Jack!

I appreciate the words of encouragement. This has definitely been an eye-opener as to how quickly things can change in the proverbial blink of an eye. We are pressing on with the PT and hopefully a full recovery in the near future. Just have to remember that although this is a serious injury, it isn't life threatening, could have been much worse and be thankful for that.