TKR - Week 11
Monday was 11 weeks. It turned out to be an absolutely miserable day. By late afternoon, I was almost ready to pull out my walker again. I decided to share this, not to vent, complain, or get sympathy, but because I realized something that I think will help a lot in my next TKR recovery (provided of course, that I don’t chicken out, which still isn’t out of the question).
I, like many others, not too seldom wondered if I am really making normal, satisfactory progress, or am I just kidding myself. I have been assured by many people that I am doing very well. But by late Monday afternoon, there was no way I could convince myself that I was walking any better than I was pre-surgery. I could barely walk at all. So, what is going on here? Do I really want to go ahead with the other one? From everything I have heard, I shouldn’t still be having this much difficulty.
So, with some input and guidance from my wife (who is a certified Life Coach), I resorted to a last resort; a logical assessment of the facts and realities. There’s something inherently difficult about having your knee catastrophically demolished, then being optimistic that it will repair itself as well as all of the chaos surrounding it, and all will be well again. So, I focused only on my
“guilty” knee.
I put ALL of my weight on it alone. There was virtually no pain whatsoever. I sat down, and stood up without pushing with my arms. That was painful, but NOT from my new knee. The pain almost all came from my other knee, and my back, and it was severe. I still have minor stiffness and pain when I use it normally, but nothing that would seriously limit normal mildly demanding use; such as walking, sitting and standing, bending over, getting in and out of the car. The stabbing pains I often had from where the implant joins the Tibia are almost gone, rare and mild. I have at least a 135 degree painless flexion and use the stationary bike without pain. My new knee is INNOCENT! It is in fact, doing quite well.
The real problem is that there are 2 other major factors. The other knee is just as bad and just as urgently needs to be replaced. Also, I have a chronically bad back (L4 & L5 self-fused about 6 years ago). Since my new knee still isn’t anywhere near up to full recovery, that means I have a very bad back, supported by 2 bad knees. Conversely, it means that I have 2 bad knees depending on a very bad back for alignment and strength.
If I were a car, my differential would have a cracked Cluster-Gear with a few missing teeth, and 2 frozen bearings. Translation for the non-mechanical: My whole drive-train is out of whack, and I ain’t going very far until I get it fixed.
The component I did get fixed is doing quite well. Two more to go. But having to favor 2 weak knees is very hard on the back. I saw a Chiropractor yesterday, and that made an amazing difference. I’m walking much better today, almost with no pain (although some soreness and a bit of stiffness). But it really leaves me no option to leave the other one undone. The end result of that could well be more serious and permanent back damage.
The lesson is, I was too focused on, and too worried about the wrong problem. I just assumed that the trauma of surgery was the problem, when actually it was only PART of the problem. I am much better off today. I will most likely have to see my Chiropractor on a regular basis, and there is no doubt that I will have to walk up to the admissions desk and sign on the dotted line this June.
I hope this may be some help for others who are worried more than they need to be. Considering that most of us who are going through this experience are as I am, at least middle age, or in my case “upper middle age” (OK, 79 may be crowding the limits just a bit), there are quite possibly one or two other contributing factors.