TKR 2nd TKR on May 7

[sistersinhim]

That's is a good report. The tight feeling is normal at your stage. As your knee heals more and the internal swelling goes down, that tight feeling will go away. It is something almost every one of us has had to deal with.

 

[VSing]

I am 5 weeks and ready to not feel that ’tight band’ around my knee too!

 

[Golfguy]

All,

Just a quick cautionary tale for everyone recovering from TKR, and one the moderators have heard a thousand times. I've felt pretty good about the way my recovery has been going. Yesterday I did my morning walk, did a 20 min (easy) Peloton ride, and hit golf balls at the range for 35-40 min (just wedges, nothing aggressive). Did the evening walk and watched TV and went to bed (Yes, another exciting Saturday night).

When I woke up this morning, my knee had swelled up measurably and was very painful. It hurt to walk, and all the plans I made to do stuff today were scrapped. Dialed up the Aleve and Tylenol, and started icing.

Hopefully this is a one day setback. But quite the reality check to remind me that recovery is never linear, and it rarely goes exactly as you hope.

 

[Jaycey]

@Golfguy You are right - that knee will quickly tell you if you have done too much. This is a good graphic of a typical recovery:

 

[Starpoint54]

Is there anything for that band to be nicer to me.....it has ruined my day.....I already iced, but no sure what else to do......

 

[Golfguy]

Very funny Jaycey! And all too true...

 

[Golfguy]

All,

It's now been 4 months since my surgery, and about two months since my last post. Here is a quick update.

The Good:

• Extension at 0 degrees
• ROM at 135 degrees
• Can walk as much as I want. Walked 5 miles without stopping on Saturday
• Back to walking all 18 holes on the golf course. Started playing again (badly!) on July 15, and game has slowly gotten better. Trying to figure out whether to blame my loss of distance on my knee or advancing age.
• Can put my left leg up on my right knee and put a sock on like normal people
• Can go up and down stairs no problem
• Riding the Peloton bike 3-4 times a week. Haven't tried to stand up in the saddle yet but I think it's coming soon
• Can finally sleep in my bed again. This time took much longer than the first knee surgery for some reason, as I could not get comfortable. My wife is both happy (glad to have me there) and sad (waking me up due to "occasional" snoring)

The Bad:

• There is not a lot to complain about on the bad side
• Still have tight band feeling but it is much reduced from two months ago
• Knee is still numb and uncomfortable to kneel on. If the recovery path is similar to the first leg then the numbness will be significantly reduced around the 18 month mark as the nerves slowly regrow.

All in all things are going well. I hope this is helpful to the people who are in their first two months of recovery since the day of surgery and want to know if there is light at the end of the tunnel. I know that it's hard to stay positive in those first three miserable weeks following the day of surgery.

Best to all!