Malcolm Neale
What activities did you do before your knee became too painful?
Did it stop you from doing anything?
Lot of walking, I used to enjoy a bit of walking, just general walking and I found I couldn’t do that. Then even trying to climb stairs, I found it very difficult so it was quite painful. Sport wise I gave that up years ago sadly!
Can you describe how bad the pain was? if you had a scale of 1 – 10?
Describing the pain before the operation I would say about 8. I found out talking to Mr Waite that I was bone to bone basically on the knee.
What did the GP say?
When I went to see the GP he looked at my notes and he knew from many years previous, that I had an operation on my knee a long time ago, general wear and tear, but he didn’t actually say I would need a new knee, or replacement knee, he was just on about a clean up, rubbish in the knee if that’s a term of putting it. Apparently they don’t like to do replacement knees or half knees until you’re later, 60, 65 at the earliest. Me being 50 they weren’t too keen.
Did you look at the different types of knee replacement available? Had you ever heard of a half-knee replacement?
No I hadn’t. I’d heard of whole knees and then talking to Mr Waite, he was on about replacement of half a knee. When I went for surgery, he said, when you’re in theatre, if we get to the case, if your knee is too bad then you’ll have a total knee replacement, but failing that you will have the Oxford knee which is the half knee replacement.
How did you feel about going in for partial knee replacement?
Fine. Partial knee replacement seemed very, very good as opposed to a whole knee. And hopefully if 10 years, 12 years down the line, if that goes then I can still have, if necessary, the replacement whole knee as opposed to the partial knee.
How long did it take for you to get your operation date?
From going to the GP to the date of going in, they approximately said about 3 months and yes, I would say 11, 12 weeks, yes I was dead on cue. Full marks to them!
Did you know anything about the medical procedure, how it was going to work?
Yes. When you go to the hospital all the medical things they tell you about right from start to finish. Of tablets you’re going to be taking, the procedure you’re going through, what you’re going to be doing once you’ve had the partial knee replacement, the follow-up, the back up what you get from leaving hospital, the team follow you at home, they check you. And there’s always the contact numbers there to contact Mr Waite’s team. Yes everything was all in place, everything.
Once you’d had the operation, how long did it take you to get back to a normal routine of being able to walk around again?
After the operation I was up on my feet, I had to just walk from the operation. And then they say at home you rest, but within about a week, I was going up and down the stairs. They just gave me a set of walking sticks, by the third day I wasn’t using those, I was quite comfortable with my own knee. But there again I was on pain killers so that did help a little bit.
Did you receive much care after the operation at home?
When you leave hospital they explain to you that you will get a follow up team of carers and yes, they were there, they call them the SWATT team (South Warwickshire Accelerated Transfer Team), and yes the carers were there, making you do the physio, making you move, make you bend – not what you call rest! Yes they did make you work! But yes the care was there. Very, very good actually.
Do you still receive physio now or did it finish quite soon after the operation?
When I first left hospital, the physio was just with the swat team, then they referred me to Stratford hospital. I had two treatments of physio which, it was like a small gym, but just in a room, you just do these exercises, but most of the time you have to work yourself doing your own personal physio, you have to exercise it, nobody will help you, you’ve got to do it yourself. I had two visits to Stratford and that was enough actually because I started to move, walk, stairs, move it myself, and the bending – yeah you’ve got to persevere, you have got to persevere.
Can you tell a difference now?
The pain before I had the operation, the pain was immense. Now I’ve had the replacement knee I say I’m 100 percent, very good actually, very, very good. The replacement knee has done exactly what I wanted it to, it does what it says on the tin!
Did the operation prevent you from driving?
They advise you not to drive for I think it was 6 weeks, they advise you not to drive and it is down to you. I started to drive I’d say within about a month, I could have done it beforehand but I had no need to, I was going nowhere, so driving no. But walking I used to do and I starting doing some cycling as well to get me moving
How did you find the cycling?
Cycling after the operation was extremely difficult. I had my own exercise bike at home so I used to use that, that was fine, but then when you come to go on a proper bicycle on the road, I just couldn’t get my leg round, and why I don’t know! There’s something to do with physics on that one! I’ve cycled as opposed to driving to get me to move my knee, to get the exercise.
Is it life-changing?
I can do things which I couldn’t do 2, 3 years ago, as time has progressed. But yes it has changed my life because I can do things. I can actually run again now without any pain. Which considering I only had the operation 10, 11 months ago, I wouldn’t have thought that. But yes I’ve got that and I’m pain free so yes it has changed my life, it’s given me my leg back again.
These interviews have been conducted and are being published upon obtaining patient and surgeon consent for this purpose
If you are a patient reading this story, please bear in mind that it is one individual person’s health story that is being presented here. Whether this surgery would also be possible in your circumstances, and whether results could be similar, depends entirely on your doctor’s evaluation, your personal health situation, age, fitness, weight and a number of other circumstances. Please also bear in mind that having surgery is always associated with risk and that you must take time to recover; in particular, the success of a surgery depends to no small extent on your own commitment to physical therapy following surgery.
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