Total Knee Replacement

Shortly after arriving in Mountain View I checked into the hospital to get a new right knee.  The surgery started at 9AM, lasted an hour and fifteen minutes, and I was in my room enjoying lunch at noon.  Galen took this photo of me with my iPod (for listening to podcasts), my Kindle (for reading books), and my iPad (for games and other stuff).  He brought the laptop just long enough for me to answer email.  I spent four hours a day in a CPM (continuous passive motion machine) in the hospital and for three weeks at home so needed my toys to keep me entertained.

I had the surgery on Tuesday morning and here I am ready to go home Friday morning.  My physical therapist said I recovered more quickly than all his other patients but one.  I went for walks using a walker after I got home but soon graduated to a cane.  Two weeks out I was walker, crutches and cane free.  (I needed crutches to get up and down the stairs inside the RV.)

This x-ray was taken four weeks out and my doctor said everything looks great.  I have done amazingly well and the pain was not as bad as I expected it to be.  I am seriously considering a new left knee in the spring and will have it done here.  Dr. Varela is very good, nurses and physical therapists treated me very well, and the hospital has a very low infection rate.