TKR Sharon’s second knee recovery!

[kate97497]

@Sks1997 Be careful out there. I do love a hummingbird cake. I hope you like it. I made a pumpkin bundt cake with a maple glaze.

 

[Sks1997]

@kate97497 Awwwwww, thanks much! It’s really weird that I have never had one because my family is from the south and it is big in the southern states! Your cake sounds good too!

 

[Jockette]

I am just OVER this knee. I just want to feel normal and not have pain with each bend of my knee when I walk. It tends to get worse as the day goes by and I am back limping by end of day!
Patience truly is required for this SLOW recovery! And today I don’t have much!
(I know that I am early in recovery, just having an impatient day)

I’m so sorry you are having an especially tough day. Been there, done that!

 

[Sks1997]

Thanks Jockette!
I am sure that everyone on here feels this way at times, especially at 3 mon out or longer. Heck, I cried every day almost in the first few weeks! At least I haven’t cried in a while!
i do always feel better and more normal when I come on here and read what everyone else is going thru.

 

[Reader525]

@Sks1997 I am reading your post and it's as if I'm reading my own. For weeks after my TKR I like more when I walked. I would come on here and just pour my soul out about my terrible walk. I limped because of the pain NOT because there was a mechanical problem. My PT kept trying to work on my walk, but I kept saying, I'm limping because it hurts, when it stops hurting I won't limp.
I limped at my 3 months and 4 months appointment with my OS.
Here I am and it will be 5 months on Wednesday the 1st of December. I don't really limp anymore, and I don't really have pain either. Sometimes I'm stifer than normal, and sometimes my calf will be sore, but I'm pretty much ok! I don't have to hesitate and gather myself when I first stand up, I can just walk, to me it's a miracle! I can see each week thatim getting a faster pace, I can see that I'm on a upward bound. If you want to look back at my threads, you'll see how alike we are. It really does get better.

 

[Sks1997]

@Reader525. Thanks so much for your encouraging words! It really helps to hear that all of this will be worth it someday soon!
I did go back and read your thread and my journey sounds much like yours. I also had a family crisis around 4 wks post op which we had to care for our 6 mon old and 3 yr old grandchildren for a few weeks, not every day thank goodness. I was not ready for that but I made it through!
Glad to hear how well you are doing at 5 Mon.
Enjoy the holidays!

 

[Sks1997]

Today, my knee didn’t pop/click with every bend when I walked but it is still uncomfortable. A little nervous about my GF annual shopping trip on Friday but the girls I am going with will be very understanding if I can’t shop long. I think we all enjoy just talking and catching up as much as shopping. Our sweet 3 yr old granddaughter has a stomach bug and we didn’t get to babysit today.
Hope everyone can get some quality sleep tonight!

 

[Sks1997]

Thought I’d share another positive. My hips and lower back have been hurting so long because of the limping before/after surgery. My limp is much better. I hardly limp until end of day when I get into pain. My hips and back are hurting less and I am looking forward to a wonderful massage next week!
Also noticing that I do have periods that I am NOT thinking about this bossy knee! I have to grab onto these small things as progress is slow!
Have a great day! Stay patient and positive, better days are coming!

 

[CapnRic]

SKS1997, I feel your pain..... no really, having some of the same problems. This is your journey, only you know the pain... and it is real. It sounds like you are making progress with rising from a chair, that's good. Count the blessings. Even the **** I have now is far less than what I had before the operation.

A couple of notes from my experience
1. Do not go into a hot tub, regardless of what others say. Swelling in the inner most areas will ensue and you will be sad. Don't ask me how I know this one..
2. You decide when pain pills are no longer needed. If the Dr won't help go to a pain specialist.
3. If you feel like something is not right, follow through. When I walk I would end up with a "stump" as you refer to it. Went back to the Dr because I still felt something was not right. At 6 weeks I just found out my kneecap was not tracking. While the Dr said it's no problem, I say it sure as heck is-hurts like heck. Once PT put some Kinesio tape on it to push the kneecap into the right place I was walking again. 4. Doing too much is as bad as not doing enough. I am still struggling with moderation as I think it should heal like I'm a 30 year old (I'm 61).
5. Count the little victories, it helps me stay positive.
6. I am starting to grapple with the reality that this is not going to be "as good as new" and that I may have to change some of my activities. This is a real heartbreaker for me in some aspects. However, one door closes, another opens - just need to be accepting and be open to new possibilities.
7. Almost forgot this one. My new knee leg is 3/8" higher than my right leg. Put a wedge in the right one and now there is no more rocking of the hips or walking in circles. Why? Because they are both bone/bone and now we added a replacement cartilage in the prosthesis on the left leg. Found myself bumping into the walls on my right shoulder, I suppose if I had a few to many drinks I would just walk in circles-too damn funny. Give me a pain pill and a beer, I'll walk in circles all night

Just a few thoughts to share. Hang in there. You are in the right place. You will make it, be patient. TKR is a real challenge.

 

[Sks1997]

@CapnRic Thanks for your notes and encouragement. I am so glad to have this forum as I remember on my first replacement in 2016, I thought every time I had a new and strange pain that something horrible was going on. Now I know that all these random pains are normal for this recovery!
Sounds like you are coping well!

 

[CapnRic]

SKS1997 , I'm struggling, trying to maintain my cool. Never had to wait this long for any type of physical recovery. Its been a real roller coaster for me, one day up and feel like a million bucks, the next couple days wondering if I'll be cripple the rest of my life. My rational side says be patient, slow down, let the body heal and keep exercising but its hard when you are still in pain or having troubles walking without irritating the knee. This patellar dislocation thing (see my last post) seems to be helping with everyday pain once . Anyway, I'm trying but rest assured I am going to come back to this forum when I have questions or just need a little support. Recently retired, the idea that my mobility was heading towards a wheelchair until this operation I have a lot riding on my recovery so my wife and I can enjoy our retirement doing a lot of the things we like but have not done because of work and life commitments before retiring. So I get a little freaked out when I have to rest for a full day because I overdid it the day before. I'm trying hard to set my fears aside and just be patient, knowing others in this forum have done this before me and it has worked out for them.

 

[Sks1997]

Todays the big day of my Christmas shopping trip. It will probably be my most challenging day in this recovery. I have wonderful understanding friends that won’t mind if I need rest breaks. Last night I went back to my 2016 posts in Facebook to see what my recovery was like each month. I went back to work at 10 wks but I sure wasn’t ready but judging by all I was doing in those early weeks tells me that I am healing slower on this one. But i did see in month 5 and 6 where I was still having pain and icing my knee some. I was doing a lot of hiking from month 3 and we camped a lot that summer which requires a lot of energy with food prep and always having my kids and grandkids camping with us.
Of course this surgery was 5.5 yrs after that first one. Just interesting to see the differences but we all know that each knee is usually different in healing.
Have a great weekend all!

 

[Sks1997]

@CapnRic You sound so much like me. I’ve been retired a little over a year. We love to camp and this past summer, we didn’t hardly get to camp much because of my knee. Just the 4 steps getting in to my camper was too much for me. And hiking was out of the question.
I get angry too because there is so much that I would rather be doing. I know that this will end and I will be able to once again do all the things that I had hoped for in retirement.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS! We will be able to say that this surgery was worth it someday soon! I am excited to be ready to roll in the spring. If earlier, that will be great!

 

[hawk2go]

Just interesting to see the differences but we all know that each knee is usually different in healing.

@Sks1997, I re-read my thread from my first knee quite a bit. It helps me understand what I did then and if I want to repeat any of it. The recovery timeline for each of my knees is quite different but the stuff to do and the way to think is fairly consistent. It does take quite a while to stop "feeling" like I'm in recovery - not quite normal but not always in pain and uber aware of The Knee. I'm looking at the 6 month mark for that milestone on this knee (maybe a bit sooner since it seems to be outperforming the other).

 

[CapnRic]

Just a thought, as I research what options I have with this kneecap problem I ran across this that I think others may be interested in. This gives me hope that there are options down the road if I am not happy. We have to be our own advocates with our Drs. I don't think we have to live with the click/clunk if we don't want to.... IMHO

Arthroscopic treatment of total knee arthroplasty complications

The most frequent indications for arthroscopy in patients with total knee arthroplasty (TKA) are soft-tissue impingement, arthrofibrosis (knee stiffness), periprosthetic infection and removal of free bodies or cement fragments. When performing a knee arthroscopy in a patient with a symptomatic...

online.boneandjoint.org.uk

 

[Sks1997]

Can you explain the feeling if the kneecap isn’t tracking?

 

[CapnRic]

Pain... just kidding, everyone on this page knows the word pain.. a lot of popping in the front, kind of like going over an eccentric cam if that makes any sense. Pictures on that bone/joint link I had above show it quite well. When it pops it irritates something in there so you end up with a feeling like something is chafing because it becomes sore and tender, sometimes feels like ground hamburger and you just don't want to get out of the chair unless its for a shot of tequila and a pain pill (just kidding-not). There are many sources of popping, one is the post on the Tibial plateau implant, my understanding is that is what keeps your knee from going backwards to far and when it hits the back it will pop. At least that is what my doc tells me. He says you may have that the rest of your life. Not sure I buy that explanation. I'm leaning more towards the explanations in that link above

To see if it is your patella out of place you can do one of two things. I suggest having your doc do an x-0ray with your knee bent looking from the front of the knee. Then you see what I have on my x-ray in the previous post. I also found that making sure your kneecap floats is number one, I suggest a licensed physical therapist for this one. Especially if its your first rodeo. I have lots of movement up & down but not so much sideways. I found that when riding a recumbent bike with the pedals such that my knee bends at least 90 degrees in a stroke that if I GENTLY nudge the patella over and the the clicking on the patella goes away. That was my first clue something was not right. Then I went and got the x-ray from my surgeon. You have to be EXTRA careful here, as too much pressure when moving the patella to the side because you could dislocate your patella if it was not out. Take a look at some Youtube vids on Patella mobilization exercises/therapies.

By the way, make sure you have VERY sturdy shoes-so your ankle does not move and your foot hits straight (not angled from pronation or supination-I supinate on my right foot, new knee is left leg). I'm a big guy (300 Lbs) and if I don't have a shoe with a "Limited Motion design" such as the Xelero shoes my ankle moves and screws the whole thing up. Hurts ankles, knees and hips. Also, if your hips are hurting check to see if your legs are the same height. Both knees on me need to be done. Both bone on bone. Low an behold after the operation my new knee leg is 3/8" taller (because they replaced cartilage in guess-that is the approximate thickness of the Tibial plateau insert). Anyway, put a 3/4" wedge in the right shoe and now I walk straight (really-go figure).

My surgeon thinks I am asking for too much too soon. But I don't necessarily agree, but I am keeping an open mind. I have done all the exercises and stretching and have full extension and 120 deg rotation but I can't walk more that 200 yards before giving up. I had no clue what was holding me back but now that I am working on this (patella orientation) it seems like the only thing left is building strength and endurance.

By the way I also just ordered a support made specifically to help the patella track after an injury of surgery. Should be interesting to see what happens. I get it in a couple days. Can't wait !!! "Patella Stabilizing Chondromalacia Knee Brace | U-Shaped Support Sleeve for Inner & Outer Kneecap Pain" on amazon. Made specifically for a big folks so it fits correctly on my ham hock size of a leg

Today I just walked a mile and could have done 3. No swelling, no pain. Imagine that. Put the kneecap in place and it works!!! I still have a click/pop but the more I walk that more that fades. I take that as the muscles toning up and the Kinesio tape keeping the patella in a better location (not perfect, but close).

OK, hope that helps, that's my 2 cents. Cheers everyone. Listen to your body, it's your body and no one else knows it like you do. Steve A.KA. Ricardo when in Mexico ;) Facebook: S/v Elektra

 

[Susie-Q]

Good for you, @CapnRic . I'm glad you found something that works for you and alleviates your pain.

 

[Sks1997]

I have really been realizing how weak my quad muscles are. It is very difficult for me to get up my 14 stairs and even harder to go back down. And when I’ve been on my feet too long, most of the pain is above my knee right where the quad muscle meets the knee. I know they cut/clip the quad tendon during surgery. I did not have this problem with my PKR in 2016. I AM doing quad strengthening exercises daily but have to be careful because I can end up with spasms and pain. I often feel like my quad is in a constant state of contraction, like I can’t get it to relax. Atrophy of the quad muscles and the calf are common in TKAs and my therapists said it takes months to get those muscles back to previous strength. I at least have good flexion and extension. I also end up with pain due to the clicking/popping by the end of the day but that has improved. It isn’t clicking/popping now with each step thank goodness. I was at a party this evening hobbling around and of course several people were inquiring about my recovery. Like we’ve all figured out, it can’t be understood until you go through it.
Hope you all have some good hours of pain-free sleep tonight!

 

[FCBayern]

Still very early days to be working on strength @Sks1997. As you note muscles have been damaged and need to heal before strength training, so going slow and easy is important. Pushing too hard, too early can really set you back.