Objective: The number of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgeries performed hassteadily increased in recent years. Patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty experiences variouscircumstances that effect their quality of life before and after surgery. The aim of this study is to narrate what patients who had TKA went through. Material and Methods: Descriptive qualitative design was used to elicit information for the study. Phenomenological research has been carried outin with Turkish 17 patients who had total knee arthroplasty. Semi-structured interviews has beenused and purposeful sampling method. Content analysis followed using verbtaim transcripts. Results: Three themes were determined: (a) the decision making, (b) the early post-operative period(enduring), (c) the adaptation theme. According to the study results, patients experience manyproblems in decision making phase, intra-operative process, acute care phase, discharge phase andafterwards. Adaptability or inadaptability to the prosthesis is related to many complicated features.Conclusions: The patients may not be able to cope with the difficulties and need multi-dimensionalcare. In order for the patients to adapt to the prosthesis, besides meeting these necessities, it is necessary to evaluate the effect of cultural factors and many features which are unique to human nature.