KurtfromLaQuinta wrote: 

congrats! you'll be kicking carpet in no time!

if i had six million dollars i'd go bionic

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:
 
Follow up... A new left knee installed yesterday:

 kurtster wrote: 
The "vintage" ones were my Mom's so pretty ancient. This older one is a Mr. Coffee JUNIOR. lol It still works, so it'll go back up into the attic to be my back up.

 Antigone wrote: 
Good old Mr Coffee.  A Cleveland thing.  Mr Coffee himself used to buy his glasses at our shop.

 Lazy8 wrote:
 

Who told you about my idea?  Clearly there's a leak somewhere...

 westslope wrote:

 

 Red_Dragon wrote:
 

So they say.  Show me the items.

Thanks for the words of encouragement... I think.

Zimmer  has been trying for years to get the "plastic" material to last more that 15 years.
Which, by the way,  was the standard lifespan for knee replacements.
They have now refined it to last twice that long.
I don't think you can beat that lifespan with any other material at this time.
And I'd rather do just this once for each knee.

My dad had his knees done twice. Starting first in the late 80's. Those first one's lasted about 5 years.
He had them replaced again and they started failing in less than 10 years.

I think the choice at this time, is going with what Zimmer has developed.
I don't drink water from plastic bottles... never have. I offset my plastic use way more than throwing all those bottles in the trash that aren't getting recycled.

So far I'm coming along just fine. It's been two full days since I had it done.
Walking around a little. Resting it some. Using the "rocking machine" some.
My first therapy is Friday. Then three days next week. Continuing on for the next month.
I need to get back to work!

 Lazy8 wrote:
 
Couldn't you just use a coal fire?

Red_Dragon wrote:


Sure, sort of. You could also make ballet slippers out of Legos.

But if you're dead set on the project all you have to do is add enough energy to break the carbohydrates down into hydrocarbon precursor compounds and drive off the unwanted components and purify it to avoid contaminants.

Just burn enough petroleum and ta-da! Petroleum-free polymers!

 westslope wrote: 
Anything made of petro-plastic can be made of hemp or soy.

 westslope wrote:
 
The tragedy of plastics is its use where better materials exist but the deciding factor is only the price. In this case, it's difficult to imagine a better material at any price, so that's where plastic should be used.

 westslope wrote:
 
Uh, no. imho.
What if the finite substance of oil ... was actually finite? We'd find another way to make knee parts, computers, hearing aids, etc.  I believe in innovation. We hoomans have, over millennia, managed to have gotten pretty good at it. Miamizsun could probably weigh in on this better than I. But the all or nothing, purity bit is a big part of our problem solving ability.
The key here is nothing will be a panacea, while everything can be a possibility. 

Personally, I'd like to hold out for the Hemp Hip replacement model, with time release CBD oil. 

I just took a closer look at those knee replacement parts.   They appear to be petrochemical in origin.

Question:  Should planet-saving heroes refuse medical procedures that use petrochemical products?    As a question of principle?  

Well, best of luck Kurt.  Please report back.


EDIT:    Every time, I feel my knees after 4 hours of up and down hiking, I wonder if one day that will be me replacing the knees.....

 haresfur wrote:
 

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:
 

I thought you were hip at first.  Heal quickly and thoroughly 

 Ohmsen wrote:
 

Thank you!

 Isabeau wrote:
 

Thank you!
The doctor told me that his patients want to go back to there normal life after 3 weeks because they  feel so much better... running. snow skiing, walking on stilts (me).
He said you've to build up the muscles before you attempt normal operations.