I have had both knees replaced. The right knee in October 2019 and the left knee in July 2020. The recuperation for both knees was approximately the same. As has been noted, the healing process will be markedly better if you are diligent in performing your physical therapy. Do not let the physical pain overwhelm the pain drugs. My first knee I was attempting to minimize how often I took the prescribed oxy. Big mistake. I was miserable. Second knee I took the oxy as prescribed and the PT and sleeping went much, much better. Since one tends to forget the process, I asked my spouse whether I could have done a three week tour four months after the operation. Nope. Also, my expectations for how long it would take to fully recuperate was driven by what others had said. And since we humans tend to forget what actually takes place, their timeline was far too short. My expectations were more realistic the second time. I had my bike on a trainer and it was very difficult to swing my leg over the top tube. And it was very painful, in the beginning, to just be able to make one pedal revolution. My spouse reminds me that it was about three weeks before I could actually make one revolution. Prior to that I was close but the pain to take it over the top stopped me. You cannot expedite the healing process. All that said, I would rather have been able to NOT have the knees replaced but my quality of life would not be as good. And remember, when walking up or down steps while healing, it is up with the good leg and down with the bad leg.
