TKR good leg feels worse than bad leg this morning....

Jo Wo

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too much walking or too many trips up and down stairs yesterday so I used my bad leg as my good leg for half the stairs this morning on my way down.

is it possible I will have to do both legs this year? haven't even had xrays of the good leg yet.
 
Which is which? Is you good leg the new knee?
Maybe I haven't had enough coffee this morning
 
And if you need both done, check out having them done together. One surgery, one recovery.
 
Thanks for clarification! My good knee ( not replaced) has really gone downhill since my LTKR.
I wouldn't have gone for bilateral anyway. I thought I still had a good leg to stand on
I will have the other one done after summer has turned to fall.
Take care!
 
I worry about stairs with a bilateral. and blood loss. I am retired and I don't worry about the time for two recoveries.
 
I had mine 9 weeks apart. I’m glad I didn’t do both together, though some prefer that. I agree, as does my OS, there is greater blood loss with bilateral. He doesn’t do them. It is not for everybody, though some have done very well with it. 2 replacements in a year is entirely doable if needed. I just didn’t want to wait too long and I’m happy they are both done now.
 
I considered a bilateral since I knew both knees had problems. The doctor said sometimes the “better” knee may start to feel better once the “bad” knee is sharing the load.

Having said that...as my first TKR (left knee) started getting stronger my right knee became the knee that was hindering my activities. I could have waited to have the right knee done but it didn’t make sense to have my new, functional knee get strong, wait a year with pain and limitations on the right knee and start the process all over again.

With my second TKR I’m glad I didn’t do a bilateral. I know it really works for some folks and it’s really convenient recovery-wise but, dang, I can’t imagine how they do it!

If you decide to space the TKRs apart I would suggest you keep a recovery journal so when the second TKR rolls around you will know what to expect with your progress. With my 2nd TKR I keep thinking I should be progressing faster but when compared to my 1st TKR I’m doing really well. It’s amazing how quickly we forget the negative bits and I just have to remember that it’s slow in the beginning.

Best wishes!
 
Great Idea, I was thinking of adding a recovery journal page to my blog. And possibly tracking data in a spreadsheet. I have always been an analytical person. probably just use an old marble notebook at first though.
 
I also had 2 knees done, 3 months apart. Once you've got the doc's assessment of just how bad that other knee is you can make a better decision about how to handle timing 1 or 2 surgeries.

My knees did a seesaw thing related to pain and disfunction. I think when knee 1 hurt a lot I'd depend on knee 2 so knee 1 would get rested and knee 2 would start to hurt. And back and forth it went.

Best of luck for your June surgery. Your date is almost exactly 1 year after my first knee. There are some advantages to a summer recovery. All that icing is more comfortable when the weather is warm. And you have fewer clothes to contend with. No ice or snow to battle when you start taking short outdoor walks.
 
Thanks everyone, for the helpful input. two things I found that help: really minimizing the trips of up and down the stairs in a day, and stretching and massaging my adductors.
 
Since my Ltkr in October 2019 my right knee has started playing up, after X-rays, etc, etc I'm now back on the waiting list for surgery to replace my right knee.
To be honest I'm glad that my left is now fully healed and pain free, it is definitely the stronger of the two so I feel confident that I can face another surgery and the recovery after, ( I take my hat off to the many hero's whom managed a bilateral. ) I aim to review my past post prior posted on bonesmart, also I think it is less scary this time as I kinda know what to expect and hopefully I am able to deal with it better.
 
Good luck @Sara61. I am dreading the 10 days without nsaids before surgery....trying to balance the need to finish my spring cleaning with frequent breaks to rest and ice. I am wondering if I should book the other knee in the fall or if it can wait till next spring.
 
@Jo Wo, please call your physician’s office and ask if you can take Tylenol (Acetaminophen) for pain. It is not an anti-inflammatory like NSAIDS. I was told that I can take it up until the night before surgery.
 
yes I can take acetaminophen, I emailed the nurse,.... it just doesn't work as well.
 
Before my recent surgery, I came back to review my records here from 2016, plus I had created a spreadsheet then with the drugs I took, timing, how/when I tapered off, etc. It was very helpful this time. I have again created a spreadsheet, although this is knee #2 snd I hope to not need a re-do in this lifetime!

Pre-surgery for me, because CBD products for pain are legal here, I was able to get by using only the herbal/CBD salve before surgery and my doc had given me his blessing to do so. He has had one patient for TKR who never used standard pain medication at all, using solely CBD for all pain relief. I didn’t go that far!
 
I am ok as long as I pace myself through the day. 30 minutes of recumbent biking, light strength training and stretching first thing in the morning and then alternating light housework tasks with knitting or crochet or artwork.

I am resisting the urge to weed although it's a mess out there, because I usually get poison ivy and at least one tick bite every summer....and I don't want anything pushing out my surgery date.

I will probably have a data driven recovery log like you @BBCG. . . daily steps taken, longest daily walk time or distance, flex and extension, longest continuous sleep session are what I can think of, along with milestones like walker to cane, no cane, walked down the hill to mailbox, able to drive, etc.

old habits die hard....excel was my favorite office app when I was working.
 
Me, too! And I’m still using it for our business but my daughter has shown me lots of cool tricks recently… I took classes in it eons ago!

Yes, my sheet includes medication changes, exercises, walking distance, walking time, PT sessions, results of any of the above, move from walker to crutches to cane, etc. Then, I add colors too!
 
you are such a kindred spirit @BBCG. I love making pivot tables. I made my preop/postop schedule of dos and don'ts in excel.....with colors. I don't have ms project anymore, so excel worked fine.

what is your business, I think it involves wild birds?
 

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