TKR x2 Knitmama's Recovery Journey

Knitmama

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Hello. New to this forum, just found it today as I was searching for information to help me in the recovery process.

I had bilateral TKR one week apart. Left knee on 2/13 and right on 2/20. I am still receiving home health PT. She is pleased with my progress...of course, I want to be done two weeks ago. My ROM is coming along. Extension for both knees is 0, bend Left knee 107 and Right 109. I am still using a walker due to the left knee buckling daily, but that is getting better. Hoping to be moved to a cane next week.

I have a very high threshold for pain, so pain has not been an issue. I am experiencing quite a bit of tightness in the joints and down through my calves and ankles. At times it feels like someone is holding onto my ankle. Ready for that feeling to go away.

I look forward to learning from/with you all.
 
Yikes! I'm glad your threshold for pain is high but please treat your newly traumatized knee with care. The moderators will soon be here to give you wonderful advise, but in the mean while be kind to your newly traumatized Knee! lots of ice and toes above nose!
 
I have a very high threshold for pain, so pain has not been an issue
That's good in one way, that you can put up with it, bad in another. Pain is your body telling you it's being damaged, or that existing damage is being worsened. Avoid pain to promote healing, this is covered extensively in our guidelines, below.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now; they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. Here is a week-by-week guide for Activity progression for TKRs
6. Access these pages on the website


The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?

Energy drain for TKRs

Elevation is the key

Ice to control pain and swelling

Heel slides and how to do them properly

Chart representation of TKR recovery

Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery. While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
 
So much good information in the attachments. Thank you. I read through those last night as well as puttering about individual threads. While each of us have different journeys it is reassuring to see so many commonalities!

Having the bilateral replacements, I have searched for information on what to expect. This is the first place where I have seen any information specifically for that situation. It helps me not feel quite like an island. Everyone I have encountered has been surprised that I did both knees at essentially the same time.

My surgeries went well, though each was very different. I had a reaction to medication they gave me during the first surgery which caused me to code. Unfortunately for my husband that happened after I was back in my room and he had to observe. Scared him a bit! The left leg bruised from mid-thigh to the ankle. When they did the right knee the next week, adjustments were made to meds...so much so that initial recovery was quite painful. I had a hard time getting ahead of it. The right leg had absolutely no bruising. Swelling has been worse in the left knee and that one has had a tendency to buckle. Right leg was slow to “wake up”’ I had to use a strap to move it at all for almost the first two weeks, but now it is the stronger one.

Sleep has been my biggest problem. I cannot sleep in the bed. So I have spent the last five weeks sleeping on our recliner sofa. Three hours is about the most I can sleep at any one time. I am concerned because I will more than likely be going back to work in a week. Napping will not be able to happen at work!
 
Hi and Welcome to Bonesmart!

Here is a list of our Bilateral Members:
https://bonesmart.org/forum/view/knee-replacement-recovery-area.9/?prefix_id=11

Early in my recovery of my partial, I couldn’t imagine how people could do both at the same time. Then I learned complete recovery takes an average of a year, and I was envious of those who did them both at the same time and had only one recovery to deal with.

You have lots of company here on Bonesmart.
 
I am concerned because I will more than likely be going back to work in a week. Napping will not be able to happen at work!
At six weeks? Oh dear. Is there any way you can negotiate extra time off? We believe that 12 weeks is closer to the mark, especially when you've had both done so close together.
 
I agree and would like to be off longer, but I am an educator and will have used all my reserve sick leave. I am no longer in the classroom and so my supervisor will allow me to work partial days, conducting my meetings, serving students and then I will be able to go home and complete my paperwork.
 
Going back to work at only 6 weeks post-op after having both knees replaced is going to be very difficult. We usually recommend taking about 12 weeks off and then doing a Phased return to work , if possible.

Expect both knees to swell more again, and to be more painful.
It's good that you won't actually be teaching, and that your supervisor sounds supportive.
  • Try to find a way of elevating and icing your legs while you're at work.
  • Get up and walk around every hour or so, or else you'll find your knees get very stiff.
  • Work itself, together with the journey there and back, will be more than enough exercise for your new knees, so don't go doing any PT or exercises on top of that.
  • When you come home, grab a quick meal, and then spend the evening resting, elevating and icing.

I know this sounds a bit like nit-picking, but we reserve the description "Bilateral" for joint replacements that are both done on the same day. Yours are sequential - almost bilateral, but not quite, although your recovery will follow a very similar path.
 
I agree and would like to be off longer, but I am an educator and will have used all my reserve sick leave.
I am in UK not USA so am not familiar with your terms and conditions of work. What would happen if you simply couldn't return to work, if you were (for example but God forbid) in a car crash and had to be off for months?
 
Sleep has been my biggest problem. I cannot sleep in the bed. So I have spent the last five weeks sleeping on our recliner sofa. Three hours is about the most I can sleep at any one time. I am concerned because I will more than likely be going back to work in a week.
Sleeping is a real problem for almost everyone in this recovery. Sleep when and wherever you can. I'd sleep for an hour or so in bed, then get up and sleep an hour or so in my recliner. Then, back to bed, then back to the recliner. This happened for about 3-4 weeks. It was so aggravating. But, I took naps morning, afternoon and night. This helped me to get through.

Can you apply for short term disability? How about SSI. With both knees done you really need to take off as much work as you can so those knees can heal.
 
I am in UK not USA so am not familiar with your terms and conditions of work. What would happen if you simply couldn't return to work, if you were (for example but God forbid) in a car crash and had to be off for months?

As an educator, I have a contract for 197 days per year and I am paid for those days. Once I have used any accumulated sick leave, in my case six weeks, then I am responsible for repaying the district for any days I use above my sick leave. Unfortunately, I can't afford to pay for the extra days. Had I anticipated my knees going south as quickly as they did, I could have signed up for short term disability insurance. Then it would not have been an issue.
 
Wow, that's tough. I really don't know what to say -- it sounds like you'd be better of simply resigning, or would you still have to pay back money? Are you paid in advance or something? (I clearly fail to understand what's going on here...:heehee:)

Going back will be a challenge. Neither my legs nor my brain were working that well at 5 weeks, and my recovery was pretty fast.
I am no longer in the classroom and so my supervisor will allow me to work partial days, conducting my meetings, serving students and then I will be able to go home and complete my paperwork.
I suggest you ask for all the help you can get. Can you do meetings by phone or Skype, for instance? Can you get paperwork delivered and collected?

How do you get to work? Either walking or driving could be problematic.
 
Was able to sleep two hours in bed, got up to go to the bathroom, tried the bed again and laid there for 45 minutes. Decided since sleep was eluding me to get up and ice. The ice machine has been a true lifesaver. It has really helped me manage my pain. If I could just figure out how to keep the tube on the left leg from touching my shin! My left leg bruised horribly with surgery and still at five weeks in, if anything touches that shin it is so painful. Putting on my compression stockings is a real joy as well.

Is anyone else having trouble with the "loneliness" of rehab? I find that being home alone day after day is beginning to get to me. I have friends that drop by for a few minutes, but the majority of the day it is me and the dogs. This is a new sensation for me. I typically do not have issues with being home...I love to read, knit, sew, cook etc. I knew that during this time off sewing and cooking would be at a minimum if at all, but I foolishly thought I would work through several books and knit. It has just been the past few days that I could concentrate long enough to read more than a page or two at a time. I have finished a pair of plain jane socks and watched copious amounts of TV, but oh my, the four walls are closing in!
 
@Knitmama, the lack of sleep is just the worst isn’t it, I’m six weeks out and stilll not sleeping. Tnink my brain is forever fixed in the pattern, fall asleep for one hour exactly (and it doesn’t make any difference what time I go to bed at) wide awake for three hours, sleep for one hour, waken for half an hour then sleep for three more hours and that’s it every single night!! I’ve got to the stage I hate going to my bed!! I’ve got myhusband at home so at least during the day there is someone to talk to but yes the cabin fever is bad, what really got to me was my husband’s level of housekeeping- bless him he’s doing his best but OMG the kitchen, opened the fridge door ladt week and the inside was like a car crash, glasses in the crockery cupboard, crockery in the pot cupboard and god knows where the measuring jug is!! So my pt this week has been getting my kitchen back in order :yahoo:
 
It has just been the past few days that I could concentrate long enough to read more than a page or two at a time
This is your body taking over ALL resources to devote to healing, including brain power. I just watched the box all day. But don't worry about this; when you are icing and elevating and watching telly you are not 'dossing around' you are 'engaging a carefully considered proactively designed heuristically programmed dynamically structured recovery programme'.
 
I also struggled with that sense of feeling that absolutely nothing really happens day after day- other than the all consuming focus on knees - because at the moment they rule. It’s difficult.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
@Knitmama you might want to wrap your leg in a pillow case to "insulate" your skin from direct contact with the ice machine cuff.... this has worked for me very well.

Best of luck on your continued recovery.... :thumb:
 
Beautiful day here in North Texas, 69 degrees and sunny...20 degrees celsius for those of you not in the US. I got out and went for two very slow walks with my walker, morning and again mid afternoon. So wonderful to be outside, feel the sunshine and hear the birds. Did wonders for my emotional state. I have elevated and iced after each walk. One of the articles talked about icing the backside of the knee...absolutely brilliant! Did wonders for the tight band I had been feeling behind my knee.
 
I agree and would like to be off longer, but I am an educator and will have used all my reserve sick leave. I am no longer in the classroom and so my supervisor will allow me to work partial days, conducting my meetings, serving students and then I will be able to go home and complete my paperwork.
Partial days sound like your best bet since you have to go back at 6 weeks. Be prepared to need a nap and to spend most of the time when you get home from work icing and elevating.
Try to do virtually nothing on the weekend. Perhaps your friends will help out by fixing you some meals.

I hear you on getting lonely in recovery. It does get old. :( Going to PT was my "event" of the day and it was good to get out of the house.
 

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