Let me take you back to 2020 for a minute.I’m not here to reopen that whole chapter of history. I’m just giving you context, because at that point in my life I had one knee that was about eight months old and a hip that was barely two months post-op.
So yes, I was very aware of my body.
Anytime you go through joint replacement, you’re told about a couple of risks right out of the gate. Infections and blood clots. Those two tend to stick in your mind. And when the world started talking nonstop about illness, I found myself doing what a lot of people do when they’re unsure. I started searching online.
What I didn’t know then, and what I wish someone had explained more clearly, is this:
It’s not the viral stuff we need to be most concerned about after a knee replacement. It's a bacterial infection.
The reason is pretty simple. Your new knee is a foreign object. It doesn’t have the same built-in immune defenses as the rest of your body. Bacteria can attach to metal in a way it can’t attach to living tissue. That’s why infections around joint replacements are taken seriously and why doctors pay close attention to them.
Now here’s the part I really want you to hear.
Knowing this doesn’t mean you need to live in fear.
Infections can absolutely cause setbacks and slow healing, but constantly worrying about them doesn’t protect you. It just adds stress to a nervous system that’s already been through enough.
I’ll give you a couple real examples from my own recovery.
I went and got a pedicure at four weeks post-op. I go to the dentist for routine cleanings without spiraling over it. I don’t live in a bubble, and I don’t give infections power over my thoughts.
That doesn’t mean I’m careless.
I don’t eat food that seems questionable. If something looks past its prime, I skip it. I’m more discerning than I used to be. There’s a difference between being mindful and being freaked out.
And this matters too: getting an infection is a circumstance, not a dead end.
People get them. They’re treated. People heal. There are solutions. Always.
The only reason I talk about infections at all is for awareness. This is something to be mindful of for the rest of your life after a knee replacement, but it’s not a reason to stop living or enjoying your recovery.
This surgery isn’t something you “do once and forget about.” It becomes part of your medical story. Most of the time, that changes nothing day to day. Occasionally, it just informs future decisions.
This isn’t something you do once and then forget about.
A knee replacement becomes part of your medical story. Most of the time, it changes absolutely nothing in your day-to-day life. You walk, you move, you live. And occasionally, it just informs future decisions.
But it does matter.
Because this is something in your body for the rest of your life. Your gait can change. A secondary injury can happen. Another surgery somewhere else in your body can affect how you move. And when that happens, your knee replacement is always part of the picture, whether you think about it often or not.
That’s why I’m still standing here in the knee replacement recovery band. I’m not going anywhere.
Knee replacement isn’t just a moment in time. It’s a long-term relationship with your body. And after multiple surgeries of my own, I’ve seen firsthand how one thing can affect another years down the road. My left knee is coming up on seven years post-op now, and even that knee has been impacted by what my body has gone through since.
That’s also why I created a platform that doesn’t stop at surgery day or even at the first few months of recovery. It starts before surgery and supports people all the way through what recovery actually looks like in real life, including years later.
Because people don’t stop needing support just because the incision healed.
If you want to be supported, stay informed and be around people who understand this for the long haul, I’d love for you to join my community. You don’t have to figure this out alone, now or years from now.
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