TKR It's The HoneyB's Knees

Happy First Birthday to New Knee #1! She's behaving like a champ. It was a rainy day today and I was itching for a walk so I took a 30-minute, 1.5 mile walk inside my house. Yes, really. I live in a 3-story house (counting the basement) and the stairs are at one end of the house so I walked the length of the top floor (back and forth) and down the stairs, same on the middle floor and down the stairs, same in the basement, and then worked my way back to the top in the same manner over and over and over.... Just for added adventure, I made a loop around the sofa each time I passed the family room on the middle level, and a loop around the pool table each time I passed it in the basement. I ended up going down 17 flights and up 17 flights of stairs. New knees #1 & #2 were very cooperative. The dog must have thought I'd lost my mind. He waited on the middle level and ran like a maniac every time I went past. I celebrated with hot cocoa. After all, it was below 70° on the Gulf Coast. It was almost cool enough for long sleeves. :)
 
What a positive result. 17 flights of stairs is impressive. I can't wait to be able to tackle stairs comfortably and be able to walk comfortably once I've done it. Good for you.
 
I have tinnitus too - quite annoying. I went to an audiologist first - sold me some very expensive hearing aids that had a cycle meant to distract the brain from the noise (mine is a constant water rushing sound - each ear evenly matched). Doesn't work. Had scarlet fever in 2nd grade and so the story goes, I went deaf. Treatment and hearing returned - not perfect, but it got me through life. :) :-) (: Need to see a good ENT. My research suggests it is not an ear condition at all but the loss of certain coverings of nerves in the brain! Have tried some nutritional supplements said to restore, but without success.

What is the tinnitus group you found @HoneyB ?
 
@NightQuilter - It's https://www.tinnitustalk.com/ but I'm afraid it isn't moderated as well as BoneSmart. There is one member who seems to comment on every new person's first post and he is always very negative. He seems to always be negative. He's a "don't bother trying that because it won't work" kind of person. I learned real quick as I read through threads to just skip right past all of his comments. Since my hearing is normal, like a typical engineer, I've made myself a list of other things that could cause my tinnitus and I'm working my way through the list. I already don't use caffeine or alcohol, I've lowered sodium, I'm taking a supplement, I'm having my thyroid checked tomorrow, and I plan to visit my dentist to get a mouthpiece to keep me from clinching my teeth. The list goes on and I plan to try everything. At the very, very end of the list is an ENT in Florida who is also a hypnotist specializing in tinnitus problems. He said he can't cure tinnitus, but he can remove some of the mind's negative associations with it. He also has tinnitus. On the TinnitusTalk forum, I'm Bethj251.
 
HoneyB, I don't know if this works on TT. (Honestly, I'm not familiar with that forum at all.) You might be able to click on that annoying member's profile and then select the "ignore" option. Then the forum software will hide all his posts and you'll never have to see him again.

Sent from my SM-S327VL using Tapatalk
 
While my ringing ears are driving me a little bit nuts, my knees are doing well. According to my Apple watch, I walked four miles today. Two miles were planned walking and the other two miles were just part of daily activities. I also went to the gym for leg strengthening on the weight machines and rode four miles on my exercise bike. I still have a tight quad muscle just above my right knee, but here's hoping that will eventually work itself out.

In the tinnitus world, a blood test showed that my thyroid and kidney functions are normal. I've seen my dentist to have a mouth guard made to keep me from clinching my teeth. He also offered to give me a prescription for physical therapy and said one of the local therapists has a good reputation for massage therapy that seems to help tinnitus. I plan to look into that. Still eating less sodium and taking Lipo Flavonoids. Fingers crossed.
 
My new Apple Watch told me that I walked 12,471 steps / 5.47 miles today. 2.5 miles were deliberate in five 0.5-mile walks throughout the day. The other three miles were just daily activities. My knees are doing great, but I think I have some IT Band problems resurfacing. In the "old days" before my TKRs, I walked 2.5 miles every day after work. These days, I've decided to take a 10-minute work break every two hours for a walk down the sidewalk. My legs feel better with a regular break from my desk chair.

In the tinnitus battle, I picked up a custom mouth guard from my dentist this morning in the hopes that, as it stops me from clinching my teeth so much, the tinnitus will lessen. Fingers crossed and prayers said.
 
Good luck with the mouth guard @HoneyB - I'll be interested in hearing your updates on that. I've taken a couple of brief walks through the tinnitustalk website, but need to do more study. I have decided I need to ask my internist to recommend a good ENT. I had not ever considered that my low thyroid might be related to the tinnitus.

So glad to hear how much walking you are getting in. I do two stretches - one on the floor and one standing - for my IT bands, which you probably have used. On the floor when doing the leg lifts for the hamstrings with a belt, I will also bring the leg across my body while extended to try to stretch the ITs. Standing perpendicular to a wall with the closest hand resting on the wall for support, I cross the "outside leg" toward the door and bend a bit to stretch the IT side of the leg closest to the wall. My daughter came up with that one.
 
@Larryhg3 - My righty (at 10 months) is still lagging behind my lefty. I'm trying not to dwell on it. It feels fine when I walk, and feels mostly fine going up and down stairs/steps, it just doesn't bend as far as lefty. I think it's a combination of a stiff quad muscle and an It Band problem. I made an appointment for next week to see a physical therapist at the hospital wellness center associated with the gym that I use. I want to see if the therapist agrees with my thoughts, and I want the therapist to walk across the hall with me to the gym to make sure I'm using the machines correctly and that they adjust correctly to my height. I'm only 5'0" so I don't use some of the machines because they don't adjust well for my height. Maybe there are others I shouldn't be using or that I need to use differently. Still, no regrets on having the surgery. I just enjoyed a 2-mile walk on the sidewalk on a glorious 70 degree day with beautiful blue skies. Ahhhhh….
 
@HoneyB
You'll notice that I have merged your newest post with your original recovery thread, that way you will have your story in one place.
That way, we have all your information in one place. This makes it easier to go back and review your history before providing advice.
  • Having only one thread will act as a diary of your progress that you can look back on.
So please post any updates, questions or concerns about your recovery here. If you prefer a different thread title, just post what you want and we'll get it changed for you.
If you need an urgent response to a question, just tag a member of staff.
How to tag another member; how to answer when someone tags you

Here are the instructions on finding your thread, How can I find my threads and posts? . Many members bookmark their thread, so they can find it when they log on.
 
@pumpkin - Thanks! I didn't really think of that as a post about my status. I was just keeping tabs with @Larryhg3 . We started our journeys at about the same time and have stayed in touch. I appreciate you adding it to my thread, though. I'll probably update after I see PT Wednesday. Right now, I'm resting on the sofa. I've been cleaning my house all day and my knees need a rest. I'm about to drink a cup of coffee and watch my Auburn Tigers play Kansas in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.
 
@HoneyB it is amazing that we have walked this same path together. So many similarities in our approach and also in our results. I am so grateful to you for always being there to support my journey. Please let me know what the PT says.
 
My righty (at 10 months) is still lagging behind my lefty.
@HoneyB, do I remember correctly that you used weight machines early for your recovery of this new knee? I wonder if this has anything to do with your problems with it now.
 
@sistersinhim - I've wondered the same thing. When I started the weight machines on my right leg, I also used the same machines on my left leg, but my LTKR was 3-1/2 months old at that point. I work from a home office. Because of other things going on at my house today, I worked from the sofa today (with my legs extended on the sofa) instead of at my desk. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but my right leg feels a LOT better today. Makes me wonder if I moved back to my desk too soon for my right leg. I've had IT Band problems my entire life so I know what that feels like. I'm pretty certain that's at least part of my problem. Both physical therapy groups I've used told me that I might always have IT Band problems because that seems to be a developmental, chronic problem for me. I'm looking forward to my PT assessment Wednesday so I can see what this third PT group says.
 
I have IT band problems with my left leg, too, and I know they aren't fun. I know it's probably dumb for me to ask, but have you googled exercises for that? I found they help and I do them right here at home when I have a flare up.
 
@sistersinhim - I've decided that there's no such thing as a dumb question on this site! I have exercises that I do to stretch my IT Bands. I think my main IT Band problem is that, for the first 58 years of my life, one leg was slightly longer than the other. I was told that caused the same problem that runners get when they always run on a banked track. Now, after the miracle of TKR, both of my legs are the same length. Both PT groups told me that for the leg that is now a tad bit longer than before, after 58 years, it would probably be a long time, and maybe never, until that IT Band stretches to fit. I also used to have one hip and one shoulder higher than the other as a result of the leg length discrepancy, and I'm now completely level. My surgeon told me from the beginning that it would take my entire body a while to adjust to those changes. He anticipated that I'd have back pain, but thankfully I haven't. I was never so "out of level" that people would notice, but I could always see it in photos. For professional photos, I'd always stand with one knee slightly bent or raise one shoulder a tad to level myself out.
 
No wonder your body is having a rough time adjusting to being equal now. 58 years is a long time to overcome a leg length difference.
 
Bummer. When I finished physical therapy in November for my two new knees, my range of motion was about Left 0-135/Right 0-125 and getting better. I've noticed it decreasing the last month or so as I self-diagnosed myself with IT Band problems. I finally bit the bullet and headed back to PT today to have things checked out. ROM today was only Left 0-121/Right 0-108. Ugh. They agreed with my IT Band diagnosis and taped me up before sending me home. Now I have more PT in my future.

On the bright side, they marveled at my knee extension, hamstring stretch/flexibility, and hip flexibility. It appears that my hamstrings will allow my extended legs to move 10-20 degrees beyond what is considered a normal/average goal. Also on the bright side, my knees feel good. Those tight IT Bands just aren't cooperating, but I've had IT Band problems forever, even before I knew IT Bands existed. Sigh.
 

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