Writing a book - opinions wanted please.

Helenbothknees

Greetings all! As some of you know, I had a bilateral TKR a little over 18 months ago. And, as probably fewer of you know, I'm a freelance writer with several hundred published articles and quite a few books to my credit. And recently I've been wondering...should I write a book about my TKR experiences? It might help people, which would be nice. It might also make me a little money, although we're not talking bestsellers here of course.

Unfortunately I didn't keep a comprehensive diary at the time - no way I would have had the energy to do that! But my posts on here form something resembling a diary. So I've searched, found them, copied a lot, put the whole thing together, and started using them as the basis for editing and adding to "Diary of my Bilateral Total Knee Replacement" , which will probably be about 20,000 words long and be self-published as an ebook on Amazon (Kindle) and Smashwords (other ebook formats). I've published ebooks before, so this part is no big deal for me.

What I want to know is the following...
Firstly, TKR veterans, and others who may have the op in the future, what would you/did you want to know in advance? Would it have been helpful to read someone else's experiences, bearing in mind that every TKR is different and everyone's recovery is different. With that in mind, I will of course emphasise over and over again that this is a purely personal account, others will have different experiences, and I'm not a doctor or medically qualified. But I know people don't read prefaces, and....will I conceivably do more harm than good, and I wouldn't want that of course?

Any other thoughts on the whole idea? I'm posting here because having put the whole lot of my old posts together in a Word document (14,000 words, hence the educated guess at the final length) and drastically edited the first few pages/first week, I've now ground to a halt with a combination of fatigue, lack of confidence, and general lethargy. So it's time for a break, coffee, and maybe a new approach....

All contributions gratefully received, and thanks in advance...

marrianne

Absolutely Helen ,it would have been helpful to read a day to day diary type book of a persons experiance of TKR ,Keep us posted ..If I can contribute in anyway let me know Marrianne(((())))

stickywicket

From what I've read on here I can see that some people would like to read such a book. I guess, personally, I never thought of it, partly because TKRs were fairly new when I got my first ones (and, after that, I knew the score ) but mainly because I always felt I had enough info and support from the health professionals around me.

phoenixoxo

Hi Helen,

I work in publishing (freelance editor/proofreader) and I find this very interesting

Unfortunately, I'm not your target market for this sort of book, but would you consider posting a first chapter for people to look at and make suggestions, maybe? (That's if it's okay with the mods, of course.)

Best wishes,
Phee

elnafinn

Hi Helen

I think it is a good idea to write a book especially for those going in for a bi-lateral total knee replacement as I do not think so many patients go in for this/not many surgeons keen on performing a bilateral TKR. Hence not much information of post op recovery as there is for patients going in for one TKR at a time. Before my first TKR I read blogs of patients who had had TKRs done one at time. These were quite easy to find.

So yes, the book may be for a limited market but helpful to those going in for a bi-lateral. You did remarkably well post op so I hope no one is given false hope reading how well you got on.

I remember there was someone on the forum who had no pain post op (single TKR) - I had massive discomfort for many months post op although excellent mobility after the first few weeks. I got there in the end but at times did despair a little and needed reassurance from the surgeon and physio that it would be ok in the end. Which it was and I never regretted having both done - but with a gap of two years inbetween.

I wish you well with all this,

Elna

Helenbothknees

Phee,
I certainly should be able to post something here, once I get to that point.

Elna,
Interesting that you found so many blogs. I searched on Amazon Kindle for books of this sort...and there weren't any! But as you say, not much has been written anywhere on bilateral TKRs, so it's probably worth doing anyway.

I have a bit more idea of how to plan this out now (I'd ground to a halt when I posted this morning), but please keep on with the comments.

Fionabee

Terrific idea Helen. I looked for blogs, but found them very bitty, mostly American and now dipping in again, find they peter out and you are left wondering what happened next.
Would Arthritis Care magazine be interested, don't have a business or publishing head, but I guess you want to reach as many people as possible and make something for yourself as well.
Some folk just aren't interested and have no curiosity but I'm sure there are many of the other persuation. The forum has been my main source of support and the book you mentioned, altho' I found their exercise regime quite different to what I had been given (repeats and how many seconds to hold) which has bothered me, but more of that in another topic I am progressing to.
Go for it!