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TKR 11/11/2014 - my recovery journal

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@Djbrund Believe me, I'm not taking anything for granted. I know that this early in the recovery process things can turn on a dime. One day at a time and following the BS mantras...best I can do! :)

@hbacres No sooner did I post about walking to my mailbox then it started to rain! :) Well, that idea flew right out the window...maybe tomorrow.

@LaxMom I know what you mean...how could someone on medical leave be looking forward to the weekend, but I certainly was! :) Both my sisters came over and it was caretaker central. They changed my sheets, did laundry, took care of kitty, went to grocery store, etc, etc. and then sat down for a lovely visit. Our youngest sister lives in Minneapolis MN and the three of us plus my daughter go there every year for Thanksgiving. Well, this year Katie and I will be staying home and my sisters will be going without us. I think there was extra hovering going on due to that! :) They are the greatest and I feel so blessed to have them as my best friends. Had an absolutely fabulous day being pampered and resting, icing, elevating and medicating. I did spend 1 minute on the bike but still can only rotate backwards. Did that for about 30 seconds and then spent the rest of the time rocking the pedals. Definitely loosens things up. Also noticed that the burning sensation upon rising is greatly reduced today. Hope that continues. Hope you are doing well on the Tramadol. Enjoy the rest of the evening and the rest of the weekend! :) Hugs back,
 
@sandbar525 Glad you are doing pretty good! Sorry to hear the little ups and downs though. That's a lot of traveling the first days of a tkr, going back and forth for blood work. After reading about all of your trips, I was glad to hear that a visiting nurse will be coming to the house to do mine after surgery.
 
Thanks @eldon The 8 out of 9 days traveling to/from hospital was very rough, indeed. I now fully understand when other posters speak of energy drain! :) Now that they have my INR reading under control, that shouldn't happen again. I'm happy for you that you will have a visiting nurse...good job! At out-patient PT they have me ride a recumbent bike. On that bike, I can rotate both forwards and backwards very slowly. At home I have an upright stationary bike and even with the seat at the tallest setting, I can only manage a very slow backward rotation but like the fact that I'm able to try it periodically throughout the day for a very short time (a minute or less). Even just rocking the pedals helps to loosen things up. I only go to out-patient PT twice a week. Have a good evening and enjoy the rest of the weekend. Next week will be a big week for you!:)
 
@eldon, I got a Schwinn 270 recumbent bike. It was the only exercise I could still do pre-surgery and it works great in recovery. There is nothing in the middle to step over, which helps a lot. I have it right in my TV room and hop on when I feel the need.

@xtina16405 - our Thanksgiving plans are changing too. I typically host my mom, all my siblings and my husband's sister, around 12-13 total. This year it will just be my husband, son, and me. My husband will cook and it will be a scaled down menu. But it will be just right for this year. Next year we can get bsck to old traditions. Honestly, I will sleep for most of the day if it is anything like today! Keep going on that bike. You will need a bit more flexion to pedal all the way around, but you are not far from doing it. I did 2 minutes 3 times today. The last one hurt. I must not have timed it right with the meds. Today I went to dilaudin 2 mg every 6 hours. The tramadol is doing all the work. It really is working very well. It has me a bit nauseous and loopy. But, I will take that over the knee pain. The crackers are at the bedside for the nausea!

G'night!
 
@eldon , I have an upright exercise bike, like the kind you see in spin class. I also had to put my saddle high to start (it's still high), and couldn't pedal all the way 'round for a while. A recumbent works fine, too. It's just preference.
 
I use my upright bike, but I put a chair behind it to make it more of a recombent like bike. I still can not get the whole way around yet... I am close... but still can't. I forgot to set the resistance back to zero..so I did that today. I might try moving the seat up and trying from there... maybe the chair is the wrong height. It has been raining here all day, so I have just been walking around the house some. I folded laundry and put it away, with assistance. It was nice to do something useful. My pain is changing up a little... getting sort of a really deep ache every once in awhile. @sandbar525 it is so nice your sisters were over! I am from back east and I am the only one of my family out this way.... I miss my family around the holidays. My sister wanted to come out and help take care of me.. but I wanted her to wait till I am better and we can do fun stuff. The only difference in our Thanksgiving plans this year is that my husband is going to cook instead of me. It will be a quiet day of parade watching.
 
@hbacres I was very lucky. A job offer moved me out to Oregon over thirty years ago. In the ensuing years, two of my three sisters moved out here, too. Our youngest sister and her husband say it would take dynamite to move them from Minnesota. That's why we go back every year at Thanksgiving. This year my daughter has ordered a Thanksgiving dinner from Zupan's and it will be just the two of us. It will be a quiet day here, too. Probably consist of watching old movies as we are both old movie buffs! I'm really looking forward to it. Hard to believe it's next week. I'll be anxious to hear how you do on the upright once you move the seat all the way up. Keep me posted! :) Hope you have a restful evening.
 
@sandbar525 I have a half an hour till meds so just checking in and then hopefully will be asleep soon! I raised the seat on the bike and tried.. didn't get around.. but sat back down on the chair and was able to get around backwards!!! I think I have not been warming it up enough and the trying from the bike seat first did that. I was very pleased. I can't believe it is almost Thanksgiving either.. it sounds like you will have a very nice day with your daughter.. sounds fun. My husband is going to cook his first turkey... just a turkey breast and probably in the crock pot :) I usually do up a giant turkey, but I am not eating much and my husband is on a diet.. so a little one will be fine. My brother and sister both love to visit Idaho.. but they all have kids settled back east. Is that haystack rock in your picture? When we first moved west it was to work for the Corps of Engineers in Walla Walla, WA and my husband would have meetings in Portland and then we would head to the coast for the weekend. Also we live near Roseburg, OR for a few years and would go to the coast a lot.... I love the Oregon Coast.
 
Hi @hbacres Glad to hear that combining the two bike methods had good results! Yes, the avatar is a photo that Katie took of me while we were at Cannon Beach about 3 years ago walking down towards Haystack Rock. She calls it "Mama on the Beach"! Haven't been able to walk on the beach for the last couple of years. That's one of the things I'm really looking forward to doing in a few months. I'm with you on the Thanksgiving appetite. Katie will have a lot of left overs to take home with her but it will be a fun day! Just up for a potty break and to change gel packs so thought I'd check up on thngs here at BS. Napped so much today that I'm not super tired right now so think I will read for a bit. Of course, 3 pages in I'll probably fall back to sleep. Concentration abilities still not very strong. Hope you have a restful and relaxing Sunday! :)
 
Beach is a good goal mine is my hill over 11000 ft straight up

Legin THR Sep 14
 
@sandbar525 Your sisters sound wonderful. I do hope you and your daughter enjoy your Thanksgiving. Hope it's restful and comparatively pain free for you.
 
@SuperSnapper I think I won the lottery when it comes to sisters. We always have a great time together. All very different (I'm the oldest and then stair step down every 4 years) but same basic sense of humor and love for one another. This Saturday, after they had finished chores, shopping, etc. and we were just visiting, we were laughing at some random thing and Debi said "we sure do crack each other up"! and that's true. Thanks for the video on the original Thanksgiving. It was interesting but have to admit, I like the sound of our menu better! :) Well, it won't be long before you are posting from the other side. We sure have a lot to be thankful for this year, don't we? Hope you have a relaxing Sunday.
 
@sandbar525 I had a busy day today with family over for dinner. The four grandchildren were great fun as ever and the grown ups had a good chat. I also fitted in a gym session possibly my last one before the surgery although I may manage another one on Tuesday before I have to go the hospital. It might take my mind off food!
Hope you are having a good weekend too and have had lots of rest and ice:wave:
 
@SuperSnapper Rest, ice, elevate and meds...my weekend in a nutshell! :) Tomorrow will be a busy day for me. Outpatient PT at 9:30, Anti-coag at 10:15 (both in the hospital but on opposite wings) and then to the OS office just down the road for staples out at 11:15. Then I predict home for a good long nap. After that, don't need to leave the house until Friday for back to PT and another finger stick. Looking forward to the long break between trips and hope to spend a little more time each day on my bike at home. Sounds like you had a fun busy day. I so look forward to being a grandma some day but didn't have Katie until I was almost 40 so it might be a while yet. If that wonderful time comes, I'll be ready to play with healthy knee! :) Enjoy the rest of the evening and have a good day tomorrow. Sweet dreams!
 
@sandbar525 That's a busy day! You will be tired out tomorrow evening!
Our grandchildren are lovely. We used to live in Worcestershire with children all in different directions but all over 150 miles away. Now we live in Yorkshire, we moved to be nearer daughter and her family and Mr Ps family all live here too. And then our older son and his wife and two children moved here too, quite out of the blue. So there's only one child living away. He's happily settled in Bristol. But we never expected to have two kids so close to us. It's such a blessing.

But busy! Since we moved here apart from babysitting, both my father in law , aged 95 and his sister 90 have needed a lot of extra care. Dad lives alone, still drives, does his own housework and shopping but has had several major illnesses this year from which he's recovered but
It's been lots of hospital visiting. My poor husband will be glad to get his top year over with.

Hope you have a good few days between appointments. With lots of rest and pedalling thrown in.
 
@sandbar525 ayenthey will make you tired I have just finished loads of tests. Im same as you didnt start family till later, proves point im a slow learner, rest well

Legin THR Sep 14
 
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