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TKR 4 months out

Hi Nensi,
Made it through the day accepting I can't stop at the store so easy now and that i have to stay diligent with icing, elevating and resting. My mental state needs the rest as well. Thank you for asking! What does it mean to be a senior?
 
It has to do with how many posts you have made. It doesn't have anything to do with age! Though, a lot of us on here are seniors, but with new knees we'll be acting like children again!

Rest, ice and elevation are so very important in this recovery. It helps to keep that swelling and pain down. I was addicted to ice! I'd do a little job and have to sit back down and 'take' my ice hit! It's so much better than drugs!
 
Ice has been my craving and spicy food is better. Seem to have lost my taste buds...
 
I also lost my taste buds for a few weeks post-surgically! I think it helped me lose 10 pounds, lol. They did come back though (the taste buds, not the pounds) and I'm sure yours will as well.:SUNsmile:
 
1delapisa said:
Off to work. Pretty nice job right now. Nanny for 9 and 12 yr old girls, take them to their many activities and also get to sit with a loving pug the whole time.
Click to expand...
You're back at work? At only 6 weeks? My gosh, that's early. How are you coping?

1delapisa said:
What does it mean to be a senior?
Click to expand...
Yes, it's to do with the number of posts - this is the list

[Bonesmart.org] 4 months out
 
Need to take more time on how to correctly manage forums!
New day, next question. My job is really easy and besides the driving, which yesterday had me in car 45-50 mins. I can stay on the couch icing. Did not stop at store! AND its only a 3.5hr job....
When i woke up Monday for my 1st day at work i felt strong and was walking good.
Now to today, so much pain. Wake up , go to sleep - when i do - all in pain. Was doing all my safe exercices, walking around my house, heel slides, etc. Havent done any this week. Im just scared im going to make the pain worse - do them or dont do them ? I know what i did wrong and yes, my head was telling me i could get out.
How do i get back to exercise not wanting to make things worse.
 
Many of us never exercised. I'm one of them. Just doing the ADL is enough to rehab your knee. That's all I did after 11 knee surgeries, including two that were immobilized for 6 and 8 weeks after the kneecap removals. My ROM and strength came back just fine without all the pain of exercising!
 
Forget doing any exercises for now. Spend all the time you can resting, icing and elevating your knee.
You're getting enough exercise with the activities of daily living and going to work part-time. In fact, it's probably going to work that has upset your knee. There is a reason why we recommend not going back to work until about 12 weeks post-op: Phased return to work

In any case, it's not exercising that gets you your ROM - it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your ROM is there right from the start, just waiting for all that to happen, so it can show itself.
 
Guess it never sunk in my head i should wait 12 weeks to go back. If i just stick to my guns and ice and elevate when i get the girls maybe i can make this work. Are there pt massages that would be good to get and help get rid of swelling?
Im just sad I'm so limited to what i can/should do. The pain is no joke. I fooled myself and family last weekend. Id love them to go to the grocery store for me! But im sure they believe I'm just imagining the pain. I will talk to pt about a break. I can do the same exercises at home... Man I feel i even messed up my own surgery......Sorry a bit of a pity party...
 
It's a shame no one tells you before your surgery that recovery is going to take a long time. Maybe they think you'd be frightened off having the surgery if they said complete recovery takes a full year, but they could give you an honest estimation that it will take at least 3 months before you start to feel anything like normal.

A knee replacement really is major surgery that takes a long time to get over. You can't just bounce back in a few weeks,no matter how fit you were beforehand.

In truth, this recovery is a marathon, not a sprint, so you do need to pace yourself. Your family might understand better if you show them some of the pictures here:
TKR surgery - WARNING: real life photos
 
I was blessed. I had been on BS 6 months before my tkr, plus my OS said it'd be at least 6 months before I started to not hate him! I was prepared.
 
1delapisa, you are 6 days behind me and we have both had a similar setback. I completely overdid it last weekend and I've spent a lot of time this week on ice and elevation. My knee still isn't where it was before the weekend but it's coming back slowly. We need to allow ourselves to rest and heal!
 
Hmm.... so your family doesn't believe the pain?
Did I read this correctly?
Like Celle wrote last page:
Ask them to go see a video of what happens to a knee that gets an implant. It could be a real surgery on video or a graphic representation.
I've started asking anybody who makes a comment about therapy or pain or activity levels, if they've ever watched such a video.
It sure makes many change the topic or say something nicer to me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
1delapisa@ I can fully understand that we all tend to overdo it , myself I terrible for it , I guess it this desire to get back to normal to quick and I think others expect it of us too getting back to normal, this leads to ourselves paying the cost in pain and swelling of knee , and we are only weeks from the op so we must try to be kind to ourselves and not trying to please others regardless how others see it:upright:
 
Don't beat yourself up. We've all heard stories of people who were running half-marathons three weeks after they're TKR. Those are myths. Anyone who's had a knee replaced knows that anyone who really did that would be 1) insane with pain after the ordeal, and 2) laid up for weeks. But EVERYONE has heard of these mythical cases, including our loved ones.

If you had incurred the damage to your knees by some other means, say an auto accident, people would not doubt your pain. Your knees were mangled. Well, they're no less damaged just because a surgeon did it. Those bones are just as broken. Those soft tissues just as bruised and displaced and in need of healing. But people don't make that connection. It wouldn't hurt to remind them by showing them a video.

Oh, and no way did you mess up your surgery. You're on here, aren't you, figuring out how best to manage your recovery to get a great result. That's being proactive and doing it right. :smile2:
 
Susieshoes is right--you haven't messed up your surgery. You've just accidentally made yourself hurt more than necessary. We've all done it and even call it the ODIC (Overdid it Club) around here. :heehee:

Even though you're only working 3.5 hours, that's a lot of being up and around at your stage of recovery. Your family will need to step up and do the grocery runs etc. Remind them that helping now and letting you take it easy will pay off in a good recovery and a "better than normal" mom. :)
 
Thanks for that....i sent my two sons and daughter n law the photos of surgery . They were an eye opener for my own understanding. Pretty sure my sons understand anyway....
 
I'm 4 1/2 weeks post PKR.. I was a week late starting PT due to miscommunication upon leaving hospital but when I started PT my therapist told me this is NOT a "No pain no gain" situation. You must work hard to get the bend and extension back but not hurt and exert yourself. I've had a few setbacks due the week out of surgery before starting PT, excess swelling on the opposite side of pkr and my quad muscle completely shut down from the nerve block and just woke up finally this past Saturday (right at a month post op). I'd personally find a new PT to work with! I love my place and the PT's are all fantastic to work with.
 
Hi Lynn:

Sorry for what you experienced regarding the extension exercise or PT..............Like others, I have been asked to push down on towel or mattress with each of the knees to improve extension. When incisions were properly healed, I've also found some benefit to a hot bath. It has seemed to help loosen the joint (s) up for me. Good luck as your journey continues......I read all of the posts in the thread - it appears that I may be a member of the Over Doing It Club - thankfully, I do listen to the knees when they chatter and go back to the things that always work well for me - ICE and elevation.
 
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