Woke at 4 a.m. and had good company reading lots of posts and gaining knowledge and encouragement from BoneSmarters. The support i’ve received on this knee journey I started 6 1/2 weeks ago has been so beneficial. Thanks to all of you at all stages for your wisdom.
Tonight after sleeping on my side, yeah, for five hours I felt euphoric. Hoping for this because back sleeping hurts my back. But I also am learning to be realistic. I might not be able to side sleep from now on! This recovery is fickle, as I note many of you also realize. To stay on track I’ve found it necessary to try and have zero expectations. And on days, or during hours when I feel I’m losing ground, rather than gaining ground, to just feel the yucky feelings and know they will pass. For example, this week I can’t seem to bend my knee as well to get in the car, and I continue to struggle with back aches, which heat does help with.
I have made some progress with sleeping. Some nights I do feel comfortable in bed and can sleep, which is just awesome. This is happening more frequently, what a gift.
I try to listen to my body. When I felt my therapy was making my knee more sore I called my therapist and told him so. He agreed I should back off for a couple of days.
I had a bit of a downer tonight at a holiday party. I just couldn’t stand for small talk because of my back aching so I sat down. A woman I know came to talk to me and she’d had a TKR some time ago. When I admitted I was struggling a bit with pain she told me she’d not really had much problem with her TKR and I deflated right on the spot...beware the dreaded conversational comparison! Lesson learned.
Hats off to all of you BoneSmarters! Keep posting aware! Thanks!