Part two....

First speaking to my Family Dr who knows my every ailment and had treated me forever and has my prior records from his father before him, sad to say he recommends I NOT get surgery, he says I can survive the actual surgery but the therapy after would be difficult if not nearly impossible. He suggests me to just continue taking pain meds until they just don't work anymore.
Well, they aren't working and my quality of life isn't what it should be at my ripe age of 65. I can't grocery shop or even go into any store that doesn't have a cart for me to lean on, I can't take a simple walk, go to the basement and carry laundry up the stairs, or even sit on the floor to play with the Grand babies.
I can take a easy bike ride because pedaling doesn't put pressure on my knee as long as there are no hills, so nightly Pat and I take a midnight bike ride about 6 miles, I feel like this is strengthening my leg muscles.
I return to my Orthopedic Dr Callan and he says its time to replace my knee and did I have any vacations planned in the near future, We could do this right away or put it off until winter, he left it up to me, well I can't go on like I am so I agree to do this as soon as possible. He checks his calender and makes me an appointment for the next week!
The nurses give me a booklet and instructions on what I needed to do before surgery, they arrange appointments for phone interviews with all who I needed to speak with.
I read the booklet and find there are tons of things I needed to do in preparation. Pre admission blood work,, ekg,, x-rays a few pages of leg excersizes to help build muscle. There is no way that I can get this done in one week.
Especially because I had problems with the results on my ekg and they then wanted me to see my Cardiologist and get a Echogram to get a better look into my heart then they can blame him if anything goes wrong because he would be the one who signs the release form to go ahead with the surgery.
All tests went well and Cardiologist Dr Gowda tells me that I should definitely get the surgery because as I am now my quality of life is at a stand still and I will be very happy to have this done.
I know a few people who have had knee replacement, so naturally I ask as many questions that I can think of. I feel confident this is what I want to do. Even though I have heard horror stories and success stories, It seems to be a fifty fifty chance.
I'm going for it!