MUA 5 week failure<

[Josephine]

Can I just point out to everyone that what you are all talking about it flexion and not ROM. ROM - or range of movement - is flexion and extension.

I feel like a failure hence my initial post. When will I progress. But I know I have to bend.

@Robinmhs88 Please do yourself a favour and change this mindset. You should be saying to yourself "I WILL progress" and "I know I WILL bend eventually"!! And you are NOT failure. Not noway!

I think a lot is mental since that pain was so horrible, I almost stopped pushing for fear I would feel that again.

Of course it is. There's nothing more powerful than the mind in these situations but it's still pain, even so.

I know he will be angry with my progress.I feel like a kid in trouble with my parent

I think you need to remember whose employing who in this situation! HE is your employee and is being paid to do a job. YOU are his employer and you call the shots! Be assertive and don't go in there quaking at the knees! You're paying him enough not to be chastised for anything. Discussion is okay but not being angry!

eventually he told me he had reached out to his colleagues at a major hospital he had trained at and they told him that I could still gain ROM.

Excellent! We've been validated!

Yes, it took me longer than most but I am continuing to gain ROM at over 7 months post op.

@liam2015 That's very good news and I shall put your post in our "Good Feedback" section!

 

[Robinmhs88]

I have followed your advice.. no exercise for the last three days. My thigh muscles are feeling better and the pain behind my knee is calming down, still a little pain but not as tight as they were. I am still swelling of course since I am working but I ice/elevate when I get home for 2 hrs. Than I ice/ elevate before bed for about 1 1/2 hrs. Trying something new.... figured if I get my muscles calm excerise might be easier

 

[Josephine]

no exercise for the last three days

Good but don't think this is a quick fix because it's not! It might take 3 weeks or even 6 before you see any real difference.

 

[KarriB]

At a week shy of 2 months post op I’m amazed you’re at work! My OS said he tells everyone to hold off on work until at least 12 weeks, but that it’ll take a whole year to recover fully. So you have lots of time, patience is a key ingredient in a TKR Recovery.

 

[jakeleg]

Robin, am happy to hear that you rested and that you noticed some benefit. I waited too long to get the Bonesmart message. I saw something on Dr. Phil that helped me. He told a young woman who had non stop negative thoughts that we speak at 125-150 efforts per minute. Our thoughts are at 1250-1500 thoughts per minute. So one negative word is repeated in the brain 10 times faster. I would like to see you take the word failure out of your thread. I think you did a big thing when you did not exercise for 3 days. I can say that because it was a big thing for me to get over that hump of feeling I was not doing enough. You get a lot of positive posts and that means people are cheering for you and do not consider you a failure. Have you read Josephine's accounts I and II of her recoveries. I'm a slow learner and just read it last week. I finally have some thanks to Bonesmart.

 

[Robinmhs88]

Some days are just easier than others . I hate the emotional ups and down

 

[Jockette]

Was today an up or a down?

 

[Robinmhs88]

It was a deep down down day days like this make it hard to be positive

 

[jakeleg]

@Robinmhs88 I've been wondering about you. I still have moods and I just posted that I go down easier than I go up. Bonesmart is a godsend and it helps me help myself when I try to encourage others. There are so many of us who are struggling with questions and whens? and whys? Many of us were not at all prepared for this. I am so sad to hear you had a hard day. Ice and sleep are what I look forward to when I'm discouraged. I'll pray for you if you're ok with that.

 

[Tanya76]

Hi Robin, I also wondered how you were getting on. I’m 4 weeks in and it feels like s lifetime even tho I now know that it’s earky in knee recovery days. I’m also having up and down days. I think I would feel more comfortable if I was able to bend more but I’m trying hard not to stress about it. Hope you having better day today.

 

[Robinmhs88]

My family is getting tired of helping me... I can’t bend my damn leg, I can’t even drive myself to work... I am beyond frustrated and feeling into depression

 

[funkymuse]

oh @Robinmhs88 have you had a chance to really rest this past weekend? I really had to pull back from all the little excessive PT exercises I was doing and just really rest with minimal PT exercises spread throughout the day yesterday and it seemed to make a difference. Also massive icing and elevation. For instance... I did several ADL activities and instead of working on bend inbetween those, I held off and only did like 5 heel slides in the morning. Then I took a sauna and did a shower and in the shower, just a few heel slides. Then nothing in the way of PT until evening when I did 3 min of half turns on my recumberant bike. Later on before bed I did 8 heel slides and I really think for the first time I could slide back further because my thigh muscles were fighting me. Not the stiffness but my thigh muscles.. so that was progress. Today I go into work for the first time and I'm not doing any PT this morning because I'll be walking throughout my time at work and sitting at my desk for several hours. I will also have my ice pads with me. When I get home I will stretch and if I feel ok, I'll do some slides. So... for me really pulling back from trying to force ROM yesterday seemed to be key. I hope you have a better day... i'm sending prayers.

 

[Jockette]

I’m sorry your family is not understanding of how difficult this recovery is. They need to get over themselves and help you. The more you do, the more you are going to swell at only 2 months post op.

Going back to work so early is definitely taking a toll.

Just refuse to do things and insist they help. Only do what you absolutely have to. “If you won’t die if it doesn’t get done, don’t do it”. This was in the list of info you got when you first joined here.

You are slowing your recovery by doing too much, which is obvious in the way your knee is responding.

Fire Wolf used to post a lot and one time she said she felt like hitting someone in the knee with a baseball bat and telling them, “this is what knee replacement feels like. Tell me when you feel fantastic!” Not that I’m telling you to hit anyone, but it’s an excellent analogy.

 

[SusieShoes]

What a shame your family is being so unhelpful. Right when you need their support, they’re being anything but. You’ve had one of the most major surgeries a person can have. At least temporarily, your knee qualifies you as disabled. What they should be doing now is finding ways to help you do less, not more. You should be doing no chores (unless you want to, just to get up and about a little) and should spend the majority of your time off your feet.

A damaged knee (even if the damage was inflicted on purpose to fix it) needs TIME to heal. Until it heals, it cannot bend as much as it will when it has finished getting better. Our society is so fixated on being able to make things happen by “doing” the right things. In the case of TKR, though, the right thing to do is rest and provide the best possible environment for healing.

Because you’re back to work, and that’s already slowing your healing, do as little at home as you can. Rest. Ice. Elevate. And tell the family you are on medical rest, you are healing your knee, and they will have to pick up the slack for a while. This isn’t about them. It’s your knee, not theirs, and it’s all about you. If they won’t give you what you need, you might have to insist on taking it for yourself.

 

[jakeleg]

Maybe someone in the family needs to get educated by Bonesmart articles. I don't even know what they are thinking if they can see what your poor swollen knee looks like. Is there anyone who is open to reading a little of this stuff. I guess it's too soon for medical leave at your new job. I'm going without pay because I have very few benefits from my part time job. It's tough. It's not like we're enjoying this.

 

[KarriB]

I think you’re frustrated because of the limitations, but the limitations are because your knee isn’t really ready to do everything you’re doing. If you were able to give your knee time to heal I don’t think you’d be in pain or as frustrated. Is there anyway you can take some time off work?

I agree your family needs to know what type of surgery this is. You can show them a YouTube video of a TKR surgery or the Activity progression for TKRs so they know exactly what the path to recovery looks like. And relay to your family that you need to rest/elevate/ice to have a fully functioning knee in the future.

 

[Robinmhs88]

Thank you for all the encouraging post today. If life was perfect I wouldn’t have to work and I definitely wouldn’t have chosen to start back to work at 3 weeks but it’s too late now. I have Christmas break coming up soon... looking forward to it. Thanks again everyone for your support you keep me going

 

[bertschb]

Robin-

I didn't read all the posts in your thread but I read enough to see how frustrated you are with your slow recovery and lack of ROM. I went through something similar last year. My surgery was 10/24/2016. Here is a history of my pathetic ROM:

1 month - 60 degrees
2 months - 80 degrees
3 months - 85 degrees
4 months - 90 degrees
5 months - 90 degrees
6 months - 110 degrees
7 months - 120 degrees
8 months - 125 degrees
9 months - 130 degrees
10 months - 135 degrees
11 months - 140 degrees
12 months - 140 degrees

I gave up on PT after 3 or 4 weeks because all it was doing was causing more swelling. Your ROM will improve but if your recovery is anything like mine was, it will take a LONG, LONG time! Hang in there!

 

[funkymuse]

@bertschb - I'm traveling along with Robin and a few others on this forum in the slow bend dept. Last visit with my surgeon at 6 weeks was only 60degree bend. I feel like since then my knee is loosening up and I'll find out tomorrow at PT what my new ROM is but my doc has threatened me to try and get to 120 in 3 weeks. There is no way. He gave my husband this awful push back exercise to do while I am seated that really is quite painful so we have not been doing it. He said that would give me the biggest bang for my buck as far as improving ROM. So I really appreciate seeing your ROM timeline. Do you mind me asking what you did yourself on a daily basis as your ROM slowly improved, and did your doctor threaten you with an MUA?

And @Robinmhs88 are you working full time? Sitting or standing? I'm curious as I had my first day back yesterday. I have a desk job. I worked 5 hours but there was the getting ready, getting to work, setting up, etc. I was up and down a bit and I tried to elevate and ice as much as I could but came home pretty stiff. My mid back was killing me from the way I had to sit at my desk. So I'm going to go in every other day instead and allow myself to rest up on the days off. I sure wish you could do that.

 

[Robinmhs88]

I have a mostly sitting job, secretary at a K-12 school. Everyone including the students have been helpful and patient. I used a pillow under my feet when I first went back and still do in the car. My car is to small for me to drive, I tired yesterday but couldn’t figure out how to do it without indangering others or myself so...
I think part time back is the best until you feel comfortable. I would be happy with a slow progression I just feel like I have no progression. Being a slow bender is tough on the mind!