TKR JDinCT Recovery Thread

@JDinCT well done. All very positive. Sounds like you are just getting on with life. Hope you are have had a great Easter.
 
Hello everyone!... hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter and looking forward to a great spring! :flwrysmile:

The weather here in Connecticut has been quite pleasant although a little wet.... but that's Spring in New England....

I was seven weeks post-op yesterday and have seen a good uptick in my quad strength this week. It is still very weak and remains sore most of the time... but it's a good muscle soreness. I was able to ride 5 miles on stationary bike on Monday in 21 minutes with an average heart rate of 110 and average power of about 120 watts.... the power is about 50-60% of my normal average. For those not so familiar with power ratings, it's how hard you are working or in my case the difficulty of the ride. I felt I could have easily done 10 miles.... but I held back ... not wanting to rejoin the ODIC.

The only meds I currently take is one 325 mg aspirin daily... one 300 mg gabapentin at bed time ... and two 650 mg Tylenol twice daily. Seems my pain level has decreased somewhat this week.

I'm not having to ice much at all these days. Only about once or twice daily usually after PT. Swelling seems to be under control. I do have some stiffness but try to stretch that out whenever I can.

I am back in my office at my desk everyday now... so no more juggling the computer, coffee... phone, etc in the bed anymore. .... nor having to squint my eyes on the small laptop computer screen...

I'm having to work on my extension quite a bit as that seems to be giving me the most difficulty.

My goal for this weekend is to go on a nice.... easy 5 mile OUTDOOR bike ride... this will be the first of the season and the first post-op. :bicycle2: Hope I can keep it "between the ditches".... :wink:

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!
 
Always good to hear a positive update. I hope that this weekend's ride goes well.
My knee hurt the first few times I rode outside, compared to a stationary trainer. Maybe because I'm riding on dirt, and there is some weaving and pushing sideways on the legs. I recently got up to hour-long rides.
Are you going to use a "clipless" system, flats, or what. I switched from SPD to flats because I don't want my tibia to be locked into any particular angle. Any thoughts on that?
 
You're doing brilliantly. Find a nice flat route for that first trip!
 
@JDinCT how do you stretch out the stiffness? What exactly do you do? I find the stiffness + tightness is the most inhibiting thing, I do massage my knee which helps. Thank you :)
 
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Let us know how the bike ride goes @JDinCT!
It is so blowy here today I am hiding inside!
 
Hello everyone!.... the bike ride did not happen this weekend due to the crappy weather in CT this weekend.... don't let the pics below fool you... it rained like crazy Friday and Saturday and wind was howling Saturday.... we have had the second wettest April on record in Connecticut this year...

@rustic I have clip-ins currently.... but honestly did not even think about clipping in/out .. :groan:

I might have to try a dry run on that before venturing out on the road... :thud:

My indoor trainer has both clip-ins and flat.... but normally I just use flat as I'm normally just riding in cross-trainer shoes...

@Jodingers For flex stretch... I do (1) stretches on the stairs (2) bed heel slides and (3) Chair heel slides
For extension I do (1) Stretches on stairs fully extended with gentle pressure on knee (2) Place a belt around top of my foot and pull back for 30 seconds (3) Place small pillow under heel of foot and gently put pressure on knee...

The ones above work for me... I still have tightness in both flex and extension... but mostly extension... as of yesterday I was Flex 125 and Extension +5 ...

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@JDinCT
I hope you got the pot of gold at the end of that rainbow. Lovely picture.

Your flex exercises sound the same as mine. I think those on the stairs are good. Not too difficult to do but help me to loosen the knee.
 
Great photos!
 
Stunning photos @JDinCT sorry you didn’t get your bike ride in. We had horrendous wind here on Saturday as well!
Hopefully you will get out this weekend. While we were away the rest of the family and friends cycled and my daughter managed 17 miles and loved it. We are going to try and encourage it and she has agreed to come out with me. I have never been a huge fan but need to find something to get me fit again.
 
Hello everyone from 35,000 feet over the Atlantic!...

I'm about half way to London Town... unfortunately just a pass through on my way to Prague.... wish I had time to have a G&T with all my UK friends... but it will have to be a virtual one this time as I'm only at Heathrow for about two hours....:cheers: :cheers2:

Last couple weeks have been pretty hectic with just life stuff so I haven't been able to stop in and see how everyone is doing.... seems most of my surgery mates are moving along pretty well.

I'm up to about 8.5 miles a day on the indoor bike and knee seems to feel better every day almost. I still get some swelling, but the bike ride seems to help that quite a bit. Off all meds except Tylenol twice a day and a Gabapentin at night. Not sleeping well at night but that's mostly due to work stress.... about 10% knee stress...

This is my first transatlantic flight with the new knee... so far... so good... took 325 mg aspirin a day for the week leading up to it... and OS says to take it the whole week I'm here for the return trip. I did not feel the need to bring an ice pack on plane … and so far that was a good move.

Best wishes to everyone in recovery and a special shout out to my UK friends... :friends:
 
:cheers: cheers JD, we're just down the road from Heathrow. Say hello to my niece in Prague while you're there. :flwrysmile:
 
@JDinCT a knee club g and t would have been perfect!
Happy to read that you are doing so well and getting back on with your life.
I finally ventured out on my bike with my hubby and son who were doing a little run. I did one and a half miles came home, cried and felt sick!! Can’t believe how unfit I have become!
Hope all goes well with the work trip and safe journey home!
 
Hello everyone! It's been quite a while since I posted, but thought I would chime in with my six month update.

One of my key goals was to be able to do a 20 mile outdoor bike ride by Labor Day (US Holiday). This year Labor day fell on Sept 2, 2019.... well.... I was actually doing outdoor 20+ mile bike rides back in July. Since then I've been able to do quite a few 35+ mile bike rides. The knee is performing well, however my weak link is the quad muscle... and the other surrounding muscles that "went to sleep" post-surgery. I am not doing any specific quad muscle strengthening exercises... kind of letting nature take its course.

I am experiencing some minor stiffness and also some "popping" when I flex my knee in just the right orientation. However, the "popping" is not accompanied by ANY pain.

Speaking of pain... basically I'm pain free but continue to have the occasional zinger that let's me know the knee is still healing. I only take the occasional Tylenol after I exercise.. which was basically my routine pre-surgery.

I still have some swelling, but that is slowly dissipating and no longer hinders my ROM. I basically have the same ROM post-surgery as pre-surgery.

My exercise routine is now back to normal without restriction. I do see that my times on the indoor bike are about 25% longer that pre-surgery. Oddly enough, my time on outdoor bike is almost back to pre-surgery time.

For everyone out there... things do get better... keep the faith and focus on positive thoughts!

Best of luck to everyone!!

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Congratulations on returning even better than you anticipated. Your knee looks great!

The knee is performing well, however my weak link is the quad muscle... and the other surrounding muscles that "went to sleep" post-surgery
My left VMO went on vacation after my revision, I just straightened my knee in sitting, letting my foot turn to the outside, and holding it there for a few seconds, actively contract your quad. Did about 10x each session. Easy to do anywhere.
 

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