Bilateral TKR 2 years out and facing up to facts

[Ghostpipe]

@reader thanks for your reply. Did yours go away within a couple of days? Will re-read your thread before I bombard you with questions!

 

[Ghostpipe]

Unbelievable. Thursday awful pain, yesterday hobbling around unable to straighten my leg, this morning a bit tender, this afternoon walked dogs for half an hour over rough terrain. What is going on?
It’s almost as if something gets caught up then releases.
Now happened like this three times. At 5 months, fair enough, but at eight months?

 

[Ghostpipe]

Ten months out now, still ups and downs. Some days I feel that I am walking on air, go for a couple of hours without noticing my knees, and life feels great. That is, if I stick to just walking a moderate distance at a moderate pace and do a moderate amount of daily chores. Anything more boisterous and things go a bit pear shaped. A good session at the gym, without overly stressful leg work, results in soreness in both knees on the lateral side, and a nasty little twinge at the lateral top of the tibia on one leg which has been there since month 4. In the evening thereafter, standing from sitting is consequently uncomfortable and the first few steps a pain. And a bit of swelling, heels a couple of inches further away from my backside. I refuse to be defeated by this now, some day my knees will have to get used to my lifestyle, not the other way round. At least it is much better again by the next morning. Aerobic exercise involving impact is still a no go, not that it bothers me as I never liked distance running.

A few days ago, after a quiet day, I was astounded to find that I could just about push a finger between my backside and my heel on my best leg. It has been about an inch out for very many months now, and I thought that I had reached the limit! Also, being on my feet for lengthy periods no longer means puffy, stiff knees. So I am still having significant improvements.

Kneeling on a hard surface is still rather uncomfortable, but so much better than it used to be. Glad I didn’t torture myself trying earlier on. I can kneel pretty well if I keep my legs apart and take the weight off the patella, rather ungainly but useful for gardening. Just wish I could squat on my heels, that I can’t is rather a disappointment as I missed that ability with the decline in my old knees.

At eight months I finally kicked out the pillow between the legs at night, kept finding it on the floor or on top of the husband. Life is slowly getting back to normal. I really hope, and often, but not always, believe that my new knees will knock spots of my old ones.

 

[FCBayern]

10 Months feels like you should be fully healed, but 12-18 months really is the timeline @Ghostpipe. I had significant improvement in my second your of recovery, things will continue improve with time.

 

[Ghostpipe]

Thank you @FCBayern. I would be in the depths of despair if it were not for inspirational posts such as yours.

 

[DJL1967]

@Ghostpipe Did you ever get a diagnosis for the medial knee pain you had?

I've been having the same type of medial pain on my right knee which is very painful to walk, I have pain on palpation and have localized swelling to the medial side. I spoke with my surgeon and he was pretty confident it is bursitis and requested I have my family Dr do a cortisone injection. Unfortunately my surgeon is 1400kms from me so hence why he recommended someone in my home town. My family Dr is not comfortable doing the inject as she has not done one on someone with a TKR and she is looking to see if an OS will do it here.
Wondering if you had cortisone or any other treatments.

 

[Ghostpipe]

Hi DJL. I did not get a diagnosis, just took a few days off all exercise and mine improved. It then reappeared several times after the first bout, but with decreasing severity. I’m pretty active now, and it seems to have gone for good. It would seem that these random problems can occur for a very long time, and really only need treatment if there is no improvement with rest. Tedious, but true.
All the best, avoiding that journey to your original OS would seem like a good plan. I don’t know how you ever coped with that fresh out of surgery.

 

[DJL1967]

@Ghostpipe Thanks for the response and glad your issue resolved on its own. I have been having this pain for the past 2 months with no significant improvement. It is really setting back my recovery. Hope I can find someone to do the cortisone or it will be another long travel day to the surgeon.

 

[Jockette]

It would seem that these random problems can occur for a very long time, and really only need treatment if there is no improvement with rest. Tedious, but true.

I agree!

 

[Jeaniesknees]

@Ghostpipe I am still dealing with the puffy, stiff knees after being on my feet. I wear compression hose that help some. I sleep with them elevated too. I am so over it!

 

[Ghostpipe]

Same here, @Jeaniesknees. On my feet all day = puffy knees.

 

[Jeaniesknees]

@Ghostpipe, I had CoV a month ago and laying around was great for the knees, they looked so good, (plus lost 5 pounds) Over that now and the knees are back to swelling and gained 3 pounds back.

 

[Ghostpipe]

Well I’m 15 months out now, and despairing. One knee looks and almost feels normal, and one is still so problematic that I am considering taking the next step and consulting a revision specialist. It swells every day without fail, regardless of whether or not I do anything other than a bit of pottering. Still very uncomfortable around the quad tendon area with straight leg lifts. Tendon pain on medial side next to the tibia, so much so that I have ceased to walk anywhere apart from round the supermarket, even then I start to limp. I recently went on a diving holiday, and it played up dreadfully although I hardly used it to swim, and when I wasn’t diving or eating, always had it elevated. My ROM is still good, but only if I spend 24 hours in bed, which I did recently due to illness, but it still wasn’t as good as it has been on occasion months ago. I am doing less activity than I was last autumn because it is causing me problems, and I’ve had enough. Is it too early to consult a revision specialist? My OS said that everything was fine at my 12 month follow up, and soft tissue problems would subside, but there’s been no change since then.

 

[Ghostpipe]

Mods, please could you change the title of my thread to 15 months out and not happy

 

[sistersinhim]

I changed your title for you. I'm so sorry to read about one of your knees giving you a fit. It is not too early to seek out a revision specialist and it sounds like you should. Just make sure your current doctor has no affiliation with your new doctor, not even in the same town. If you need any help finding one just let us know and Jamie will help you.

 

[Ghostpipe]

Thank you, @sistersinhim. I need to go out of this tiny country, as everyone knows each other, and would like to consult a specialist in SE U.K. or Turkey, if Jamie could help with that I would be grateful as I wouldn’t know how to start looking.

 

[Skip]

I can’t believe after doing one knee you’d have the guts to do another….this sucks….I would never recommend replacement to anyone!

 

[Ghostpipe]

Just want a second opinion at this stage, with options! I am horrified at the prospect of a revision, but a lifetime of being in more pain and more disabled than I was before the ops is also not appealing.

 

[Jockette]

I’m really sorry to read of your struggles with your knee. I hope you are able to find a solution.

 

[WFD]

I had a revision for scar tissue which was ultimately unsuccessful and am now in the 10th week of recovery from an arthroscopic procedure. Recovery from the latter was so much easier than the open revision that there really is no comparison. So far the results are better too although not enough time has gone by yet to be sure.

Note that a revision specialist may be biased towards an open surgery because that is what he does and you may have to insist on seeing an arthroscopic specialist as well.

My revision surgeon tried to discourage me from seeing the arthroscopic specialist but I was stubborn and insisted, and the results have been good so far.