TKR Carole’s recovery thread

When you go walking like that do you swell up in the evening I do so is that normal.
Whenever I make my knees do more than they are used to, they swell up. (I swell up like a water balloon at the drop of a hat). If it's just a little, then I ice, elevate, and rest and then everything is all better.

If that isn't enough to take care of it, then I did too much! So I try not to do so much the next time. GRADUALLY increasing what I do, and making sure I rest my knees enough too, is what works for me.

Yesterday and today I have been doing some more walking without my rollator walker, which is a lot harder for me than walking with the rollator. And yes they do swell up when I increase the walking! But a couple of hours with the icing machine and all is well. Today I had to use the icing machine twice, once in the morning and again after I got home this afternoon, oh well! But that took care of almost all the swelling.

Yesterday and today I increased my walking distance without my rollator, from about 30-40 feet/day on Monday and Tuesday, to about 200 feet/day. My knees swelled, I iced, and they aren't swelled any more and do not hurt at the moment. But I am going to rest this evening and let them recover. I will not increase the distance much until my knees can handle it easily.

I can walk through grocery stores already. I will need a bit more time to work up to mall walking, even with my rollator. :snork: But by next week when we get to the gym, I should be ready to walk a bit further than I can now.

Personally I think walking is exciting!!! And walking without my rollator? That's a huge thrill, for me. Also today I noticed that I am not lurching so much as I did a few days ago, when walking without my rollator. I am working on my gait.
 
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A good sign of progress is when you recover quicker than you used to, after overdoing it.
 
Luckily, I am not overdoing it at all. :) If I was, then I'd back off.
 
I'm a few weeks behind you but I swell every time I walk, I had a break at work today and it was one of those beautiful, almost 70 degree, sunny, gorgeous leaf color days...I had to take a walk!! Oh, and there is a river front that my office sits on :loveshwr:!! So I went for about 12-13 minutes not sure about distance, however there my knee went....ARGH!!

I'm encouraged by Jockette's post that it is also progress when we recover more quickly!!
I iced it at work it settled some, then had to drive my 35 minutes with ice on it....but no elevation. Once home I settled in to I & E and it is recovering substantially!

I am so excited for you to be walking too, it really is a lovely way to move! I'm very antsy to start walking again, I still have that patience thing to work on (forbearance, fortitude, sufferance, tenacity, endurance, equanimity, & serenity) because I'm really not there yet!
 
I am also doing well with a dose of tylenol before bed. It seems to take just enough edge off.

I love hearing your plans for the future. Share the optimism. And I'm so excited to hear you're leaving the rollator behind some days! That's huge progress. How is the old knee feeling about it? Not jealous of all the attention New Knee gets?

How did your doctor's appointment go?
I am having so much trouble getting back on to my eating plan. I can't tell if it's stress and my body resisting cutting calories, or if it's just the normal disinclination to go back to restrictive eating. sigh.
 
I am so glad to read that Tylenol at bedtime is helping you to sleep, too! Ah, sleep. It's so wonderful when we haven't had much in a while.

My internist/endocrinologist appointment for my type 2 diabetes was great! My A1C was not nearly as high as I had feared. My doctor was not at all upset at my higher blood sugar, understands how difficult this recovery is, and is giving me three months to lower it (losing weight will do that for me). He didn't even bring up the idea of switching from pills to injections (whew!).

So now I need to start getting tough with myself. I lost 53 pounds in 2018, so I know how I did it back then. When confronted with temptations I didn't tell myself "never", I just told myself "not today, maybe later", drank some water instead, and kept repeating that every day. I'll have a huge advantage now because I am no longer sitting in a chair all the time so hopefully that will help in weight loss.

As for my old (non-surgical) knee, it is protesting a little bit these days, about the same amount as my new knee I guess. I should probably start icing both. :) If I lose weight and get my blood sugar down, then I will be ready to get TKR#2 done this springtime if I want to. I hate the thought of going through TKR surgery and recovery all over again, but given that my old, supposedly "good" knee is protesting already, I suspect I will have to have it done at some point. Ugh.
 
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If that isn't enough to take care of it, then I did too much! So I try not to do so much the next time. GRADUALLY increasing what I do, and making sure I rest my knees enough too, is what works for me.
You've got the key to a good, less painful recovery and it's working for you!
As for my old (non-surgical) knee, it is protesting a little bit these days, about the same amount as my new knee I guess.
It isn't unusual for the old knee to protest when having to take on so much responsibility. As my new knee got stronger and less painful, the old knee got better. I hope yours does, too.
 
My internist/endocrinologist appointment for my type 2 diabetes was great!
That is all excellent news!

Not today maybe later is one of my favorite matras too. It helps me that Beloved and I are on the same plan so we can support each other. Tuesday I'll have my first pool time since June. I'm hoping more loss will come soon after that. I still have a long way to go.
 
I just told myself "not today, maybe later", drank some water instead, and kept repeating that every day.
Yes, that is what I have used over the last 2 years, which helped me lose 50#s. I also lost 7 lbs during the first month of this TKR recovery, which of course I have gained back! My goal now that I am moving a bit more is to do short walks and cycling 3-4 times a day. I also have an elliptical that I haven't used in awhile and I'm hoping to resurrect this to fit more joint free activity in my day! Then just adhering to a good eating plan and not get too sidetracked over the upcoming holidays!
 
@luvcats , I am so lucky too, because (for the first time in the 20 years I have been with him) my sweetie is on a weight loss campaign and has lost 27 pounds. He is almost down to his high school weight. It is nice to have some support right now. Like you I still have a long way to go so I need to remember that "the journey of a thousand miles begins with just a single step". Or pound. Or whatever. :rotfl: Yesterday I got back on my lower calorie lower carb plan, and this morning's weight was down 3 pounds. Probably water weight since it was the first day, but I'll take it. It is nice to see the scales budge.

@Macknit , I haven't even tried my stationary bike since the TKR!! I used one at PT back when I was going there, but only managed to do a full revolution twice. I might try getting back on my own stationary bike later today, to see how that goes for me. If my ROM isn't good enough to ride it yet, then that's OK; the amount of exercise that I get just from walking is huge, for me, since I am starting out at a very low level of fitness. Besides, walking farther is a big goal for me. We may start going back to the gym next week and if we do, I'll have lots of choices for exercise that won't be too much for my knee. They even have one of those arm bicycles if I run out of other sane ways to exercise without hurting my new knee. I'd like to gently try the seated elliptical and see if that is reasonable for me yet.

Losing more weight and lowering my blood sugar (which happens when I lose weight), will put me in MUCH better condition for my second knee surgery next spring, if I decide to go ahead with it. And with more exercise possible before that surgery, my recovery might possibly be a little easier. Well, one could hope.

Last night it rained hard all night, with no thunder - - and the sounds of rain lulled me to sleep. I got 7.5 hours' sleep! That's a lot for me and feels great. I must have been doing my usual flopping while I sleep, because my knee is slightly sore this morning. So, I am icing and elevating right now.
 
Yesterday I got back on my lower calorie lower carb plan,
I can guess what you don’t eat, but what is it that you do eat? I know going low (bad) carb is very good for us for many reasons, but I’m so used to the carbs not much else appeals to me, I’m sorry to say.

I used to be a great cook, but due to lack of interest I’ve lost my touch. It’s just easier to pull something quick out and heat it up. I dead dinner time. About 5 pm my husband comes to me and asks, “what’s your plan?” and I often just shrug. He’s usually in agreement with whatever I come up with.
 
My cycling is a recumbent bike, I only do it for 3-5 minutes 2-6 times a day, as Roy Gardiner outlines in his posts. It supposedly helps with ROM, but I really am happy where I am at this point. I spent a few weeks just doing the "rock & roll" as my PT called the back and forth motion. Then I was able to go backwards for about a week and finally around the 4th week I could do the full rotation. Now I feel it more in my quads as they are getting some fitness:upright:!!

Most of my functionality is doing well, steps, in and out of a car (SUV for easy step up), and so far all the toilets I've used are easy to get up and downll! I'm fairly tall, 5'8", and that was a concern for me....but it is all coming along!

Yes, and lowish carb and calorie helps me also. My dear one eats quite differently than me as he has had GERD issues since his 20s, where I'm very happy with veggies and spicy foods...we make it work but we just cook 4-5 sides that work for a few days for our different tastes! At least we usually agree on the protein :)!

Have a great Saturday!
 
@Jockette that is what has happened to me! We have 6 children so I was used to cooking well and in a large quantity!!! Now DH comes in or I'm just arriving home around 5 and asks "what are you thinking for dinner?" I shrug and sometimes we just have cheese toast :tada:!

I'm big on salads and he won't touch them because they upset his stomach, but he'll eat cooked veggies, so Costco's 3-5# of veggies are always in the freezer, paired with chicken breast, smoked tri-tip, or I'll eat a hamburger patty while he has the full blown burger... we make it work!
 
I can guess what you don’t eat, but what is it that you do eat? I know going low (bad) carb is very good for us for many reasons, but I’m so used to the carbs not much else appeals to me, I’m sorry to say.
I skip breakfast except for a big mug of coffee with 1 measured tbsp of sugar free creamer.
We go out to lunch every day, so I order either a cup of soup or else a small side salad, and just water to drink. The salad is either Caesar or a green salad with oil and vinegar. The soup is usually corn and crab chowder.
For dinner I have around 10 ounces or so of something high in protein, like steak, hamburger, shrimp, fish, lean pork, whatever, either grilled dry, boiled, or cooked in my InstantPot with nothing else added (not even a tsp of oil), or cooked by some other method that does not add even one calorie. Or maybe 4-5 boiled eggs. Then I fill out the rest of whatever calories are left, with veggies and also one or two carb-y snacks like those oats'n'honey granola bars which are my nemesis. :heehee: I take a multivitamin and Viactiv calcium supplements too, and drink 64 oz of water/day at home, plus whatever water I drink at lunch.
I track everything on myfitnesspal dot com. This is not a low carb diet, but is a lower-carb-than-most diet.

Results after eating this way for a year in 2018, were 53 pounds lost and my internist was ecstatic; he said ALL of my lab tests and everything else were terrific, with the only one off kilter being my diabetic blood sugar which had dropped to almost (but not quite) normal levels. So, for me this is a healthy way to lose weight. I am not saying that this works for everyone but you asked so there you go. :)
 
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I meant to mention DH lost 90# in 2017 and has kept it off so far, but he also walks 5 miles every single day! He also was diagnosed with Type II diabetes and uses Metformin, but his numbers are very, very close to the normal (like .1 above) his Dr appt is in a week for follow up and they might decide to stop the Metformin even:yay:!
 
Thanks, Carole and Macknit, that’s very helpful! I should probably have more omelettes! Another of my downfalls is that I don’t like very many vegetables.
 
I meant to mention DH lost 90# in 2017 and has kept it off so far, but he also walks 5 miles every single day! He also was diagnosed with Type II diabetes and uses Metformin, but his numbers are very, very close to the normal (like .1 above) his Dr appt is in a week for follow up and they might decide to stop the Metformin even:yay:!
Well, I'd say he won the contest on this thread by a mile!!! Oh wait, what contest? :rotfl: I was just trying to answer a question about what I ate and explain that my doctor said this is healthy for me, though it may NOT be for someone else.... on my own thread..... not to inspire competitive weight loss posting. Anyway it sounds like he is doing MUCH better than any of us cripples in losing weight. Is he losing weight for TKR surgery too? Maybe he should start a thread about his weight loss for surgery!!!!
 
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He was told to have a TKR in 2013...he still has not! I've mentioned it to him, because that knee is very stiff, but he is a tad stubborn and I'm sure my recovery at first solidified his resistance....

Please don't think I meant his weight loss as a competition, we are all so different and he needed to lose 90#, he is not even close to his high school weight now....just much healthier for the diabetes issue.
 
I am a life time weight watchers member who “relaxed my efforts” and gained it back, and just can’t seem to get back on the wagon. And I do realize that is all my own fault, but it doesn’t get me any closer to that wagon.

Carole your post was fine and I appreciate all the detail.:thumb:
 
I need to lose about 30. I would be happy. Iam hemochromatosis. So I have a limit on protein I can eat. So that leaves carbs.and you know what happens with them.so iam very limited.its very hard. When I eat salads they have to be just plain old lettuce no good dark lettuce.which is big in protein.so this is a struggle for me every day.
 

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