Bilateral TKR 2 years out and facing up to facts

I had my opp 17th march it was my left knee. The excersize s I do is stand and bend steps up and down straight en left out front when sitting down bring foot in beside level to the other leg pull leg up behind me. And I have just bought a excersize bike
 
The euphoria didn’t last long! My old enemies the steel bands are back, they just can’t keep away. Fortunately not with a vengeance. I DID NOT overdo it yesterday, but have done something today to offend my new knees.
Hubby, bless him, just when he thought he was in the clear, was sent back to the kitchen to cook tonight.
I am beginning to become an expert on going backwards, and an expert on knowing that a day off tomorrow is called for.
 
We are bound to offend our knee from time to time, the good news is, as time goes on, it takes less time to recover. :console2:
 
The euphoria didn’t last long! My old enemies the steel bands are back, they just can’t keep away. Fortunately not with a vengeance. I DID NOT overdo it yesterday, but have done something today to offend my new knees.
Hubby, bless him, just when he thought he was in the clear, was sent back to the kitchen to cook tonight.
I am beginning to become an expert on going backwards, and an expert on knowing that a day off tomorrow is called for.

I really didn't want to read this =). I am hopeful those things will never rear their ugly head but every once and awhile - there they are.

I've convinced myself that the bands will dissipate over the course of the next year or so. Our bodies are remodeling for the new straight legs and that is an awful lot of work to do at our age so it will take time. The tourniquet bands are what I think they are and it's lumped right in with the rest of the "stuff".

I equate it to "growing pains". I seem to recall I had a growth spurt in 8th grade and my legs and arms didn't like it. I was sore all the time.

Then again, I am constantly offending my knees so perhaps I am not an example to aspire to =)!
 
15 weeks out, just counted, and it seems like 15 years. I am better overall, a great deal better, but my expectations have also increased, and I am getting fed up with the aching, random areas of soreness and increase in swelling as the day progresses.
There’s not much that I am unable to perform on a daily basis, but whether it hurts or not is another matter.
Going to the gym is helping me to realise that my strength Is returning fairly rapidly. Or I walk up and down a rough sloping path for between 20 and 30 minutes, and my legs are much stronger than they were a few weeks ago. Both on the same day is not a good idea, been there, done that and renewed my membership of the ODIC.
I’ve not done anything to try to increase my ROM, but it’s at 145/135 first thing in the morning, dreadful in the evening.
I’m longing for the time when my days don’t centre around my knees.
 
Wow! Great ROM! I am far behind you, but then I was slow to come back after meniscus surgery too. I think you sound like you are doing great. Rough path for 20-30 minutes!!!? Sounds amazing!
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Yep! Doing great Ghostpipe! Be patient with yourself and those new knees.
 
Well I’m at 17 weeks now, and our pool has finally warmed up to 29 degrees, so I have started the swimming adventure, and it’s a weird one.
As a scuba diver with more dives and years of experience than I care to admit, my sense of buoyancy is very finely tuned. I can safely say that my legs weigh a great deal more than they did, at present. I used to lie on my back and float, totally relaxed and with no movement, breathe in, toes appear out of the water, breathe out, legs slowly sink a bit, breathe in, toes reappear and so on. Now, they hang down below me, and no amount of inhaling will budge them! The extra weight of metal, and fluid from the afternoon swelling, is possibly the near equivalent of having a kilo of lead around my knees.
If I swim freestyle, I have to kick slightly faster than I would before to stop my legs from sinking.
I am thrilled than I am able to do breaststroke leg kick. But try to do a strong kick, and my knees do not like the sideways thrust of the lower legs. So it now takes 10 kicks per length of our pool instead of four. So hoping that this will improve, I want my strong leg kick back for diving. My back aches from trying to keep my legs up without kicking hard.
So it’s early days, and hopefully the extra weight of my knees will become a much more minor issue once they are not carrying the fluid.
The pool steps are great for practicing kneeling. Water up to my shoulders, fine. Chest, weird feeling. Hips, slight discomfort. Mid thighs, burning sensation, from scar I would imagine. I think I will eventually not have a problem with kneeling.
Another weird thing, I wobble and buckle more now than I ever have done. I almost feel that my knees are overextending. Don’t know whether this is because I have not been walking so much because it’s in the mid 30s and too hot, or because I am missing the support of tight swelling!!! My centre of gravity seems to have changed, and I am back to having to think about straightening up.
Otherwise, things are ok, just ok. I continue to have good days, achey days, random sore areas and the odd zinger. But I can stay on my feet for a couple of hours in the morning, and the same again in the afternoon after a rest and an icing session over midday. I can finally tackle most things, and all that remains that causes a lot of discomfort is deep squatting actions, particularly in the afternoon onwards. Things like getting up off the couch, or going down steps properly. So I can’t complain.
 
Hi there

thanks for sharing .. it certainly has come as a shock to me how incapacitated I will feel initially and that the recovery is a long process but I know each day is another day ticked off

Glad you are feeling better

Jan
 
Thanks , Jan. I keep posting, as I hope that it will help somebody else at some stage recognise that things do get better, and what to expect at various stages.
Take care and heal well, and try to stay positive!
 
Now, they hang down below me, and no amount of inhaling will budge them! The extra weight of metal, and fluid from the afternoon swelling, is possibly the near equivalent of having a kilo of lead around my knees.
I never thought of how 2 metal knees will affect my buoyancy in the water, floating in the pool or scuba diving! Thanks for the heads up- I’m only 4 weeks out from bilateral TKR and it sounds like my future in the water will be “interesting”.
 
If I go diving again maybe I won't need so many weights in my dive jacket!
 
I don't notice my knee or hip at all buoyancy wise when I dive @Ghostpipe & @Taoquest. If there was any lasting affect I would look more like a fish swimming with my replacement side down! :rotfl: The fact that you can do a breast stroke kick at 4 months is very impressive. Full strength takes patience to achieve without setting yourself back, but it will come.
 
I think it’s so noticeable because there are two, hence no normal leg to use to compensate, plus I am still swelling up so there’s that weight to add in. I’m probably a lot lighter than you too,, so it’s proportionally a greater change to my body.
A few years ago I bought a new BCD, which turned out to be slightly too long in the body for me. I only carried one and a half kilos in each pocket, but because they were a couple of inches too low, my hips kept sinking.. fortunately it had enough lift for my small husband and he was able to use it after sewing the chest straps lower.
Glad I don’t have your configuration of metal, I’d be swimming like a mola mola, and have to get the other sides done to even up!
I am planning to do a dive shortly, just waiting a couple more weeks until my knees can cope better with kicking, and the swelling a tad better. Will try out fins at the end of the week. Sadly, all the dive boats here are ribs with no ladders, and I dare not kick hard enough to get back on, will have to be dragged on! The shame!
If I lived in Roatan, I would be much more enthusiastic at the prospect.
 
@Ghostpipe The implants weigh about as much as the bone they replaced. It's probably the swelling that is making you feel like your knees are heavy. This article is a bit dated as the author didn't have a titanium sample - but you get the idea Weight of hip and knee prostheses.
 
Thank you Jacey. My OS said that they weigh around 300 g and would be slightly heavier than the removed bone.
 
Another weird thing, I wobble and buckle more now than I ever have done.
You might benefit from working with our partner OneStep. They have developed a gait analysis program. You have a phone consultation with a physio and then work to improve your gait. You can sign up by clicking the image on the side bar (top right of any page).
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Strangely, it’s not when I’m striding about, but rather stationary but perhaps moving upper body around a bit. It’s not a big issue, just odd that it’s started so much later on. Possibly I’m using weakened muscles more that don’t get strengthened by the exercise that I am doing . The muscle structure of our bodies is so complicated, and to target every single one whilst effectively disabled by recent surgery is nigh on impossible. Work in progress.
 

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