What has been your quality of life after getting surgery to repair and/or replace parts of your body?

SGT Jeff Herdebu 2019 June 17, my birthday as I was working a burn pile at the house, soaked in TX summer sweat and water from the hose I was manning... I touched our fence hotwire. 14Kv went in my elbow and out my knee, the shock caused my quad to contract violently and I was on the ground. Trip to the ER, and I had an appt in the morning with Ortortopedics. Orthopedics Dr, named,,,and I kid you not..Dr Pain....had me sit on the edge of the table and told me to extend my lower leg...., I said ok......he said not extend your lower leg as high as you can...I said,,,ahh I did...

I was scheduled for surgery the next morning. I had a complete separation of the quad muscle in my left leg from the knee.
It was repaired, and I went home... 14 days later I was in rehab, told it would be 6 months till I could walk, 1-2 years before I could run and be back at 75-80% range of motion and weight-bearing.

I showed up at PT and was clear, their job was to keep me from doing too much, and hurting the knee...I want to be back at 90% range of motion and weight-bearing in 3 months...I'll be here every day to do PT.
I was given nods and ok, sure we can work towards your goals.... 3 weeks later, having done 21 days of PT.....they understood.
in 3 months I had 80% range of motion back, and 60-70% weight-bearing. At 11 months I was back to 95% range of motion and 90% weight-bearing. I joined the Texas Department of Corrections 12 months after completing repair surgery, completed academy and no one knew I had been hurt just a year ago. Every injury is different Every repair is different Every recovery is different, but I can say without a doubt, a person can come back from a complete quad separation and do so faster than the docs and PT folks think you can....If you want it enough.

I know several people who had hip replacements and several who had knee replacements. Listening to them, hip recovery is far easier.

I have had a full Right replacement hip. It was done just after my 51st birthday. I healed very quickly because I listened to my surgical team (led by a retired navy O6 orthopedic surgeon). I walked over 2 miles on the new hip in the first 48 hours.

In contrast, my mom had a full Right knee about the same time. She walked with a walker for 6 weeks