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5 weeks post RTKR

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harleyrider

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Well, I'm at 5 weeks post RTKR. My knee feels absolutly terrific. I actually got on a plane this week and just finished teaching a 2 day OSHA seminar, which kept me on my feet for the better part of the 2 days. I had very little swelling and not much pain at all.

While I still have some stiffness and my ROM is not where I would like it to be I am so glad that I finally had this surgery, I wish I had done it sooner. It is so great to be able to walk without the grinding and pain that I lived with for so many years.

We are all blessed to be able to have this procedure available to us.

Mike
 
5 WEEKS? My goodness! That's truly awesome.
 
Boy, I'll say, Harley! Great recovery and I'm glad to hear you're doing so well!!! Keep it going!
 
Great results, I wish everyone knew just how life changing this surgery is. I am 9 weeks post BI-TKR and I am still amazed at the way this surgery has changed my life I am doing things and planning to do things that I have not considered in 10-15 years.

Max
 
Mike, that's fantastic! I can't imagine being able to stand and teach a class for two days at the 5 week mark! Isn't it great to feel so much better? Karen
 
It is wonderful before the surgery when I would teach a class I could hardly get through the day. While I still have some pain from the surgery, the knee joint feels great.

How long does it take to get ROM back? I seem to be stuck ay about 100
 
I'm a hippy (12 wks RTHR)n that wandered over,,,,,,Hey!!!Congratulation s all for all your achievements in the recuperation area! Truly great news! Keep up the great work!
 
Mike, the return of ROM varies from knee to knee. Just keep working it. Mine would get stuck at a certain point for a long time and them bam, I would get a huge increase overnight.
 
it's good to hear about positive recovery at 5 weeks! I went home yesterday from TKR - 2 and a half days in the hospital. Tomorrow is my first home therapy session and today I filled the gap with all the exercises I was given in the hopsital and in the prep booklet my doc sends out. Doing the whole routine 3 times and going outsdie, finding a flat, plowed, no ice road and walking with the walker for balance and then one crutch for balance --about a quarter of a mile or more.
I am waiting for the pain everyone talks about but honestly I haven't had any. The first day the knee was fed some kind of novacaine through the epidural and the second day a switch to a patient controlled pump of a drug I didn't like so I used as little as possible. And now Percoset (sp). Today I only took Tylenol and tomorrow I will pop a Percoset for Therapy until I see how bad it really is. Somehow I think the most aggressive therapy comes after the staples are removed at 2 weeks out. It hurts to push my leg back to increase my ROM but actually it's a "good" pain because it means I'm progressing. It is bedtime now and I am on nothing and will take nothing unless i wake up with pain. I keep waiting for the boom to fall but so far -- this is a great experience. And I am walking around the house unaided. Not yet outdoors, though.
I was told by my surgeon to expect my knee to blow up like a balloon from therapy and my leg itself to swell during the first 2 months -- and not to worry. I don't care how much it hurts and what my knee and leg look like in these first few months as loong as the therapy is working !!! already I can stand longer without pain or tiredness than I could before my surgery. And walk without pain from the first day in the hospital. It's really quite amazing----

Stephani
 
Strephani, You sound like you are doing great! Sometimes the pain is bad from a tkr and sometimes it's not. I've had both replaced and I had one of each: One had killer pain and the other was very minimal. Don't hesitate to take some meds if you start to feel pain and remember to ice and elevate, especially if you see the onset of swelling. The swelling prevents you from getting the ROM you are seeking to achieve. Do you have any idea what your ROM is at this point? Karen
 
WOW, Harleyrider

That sounds pretty amazing.
You had the surgery so obviously your leg was bad enough. Do you think you did anything different than others to be so lucky. As for going to bed in comfort, this is one of my worse areas. I can't stand the way my legs feel, they drive me right around the bend. Any advice\\

Deb
 
I love hearing the part about how one leg can have killer pain and the other not. Since my first one falls in the killer category, there is at least hope that the second one won't. Actually, the worst of my pain was the piriformis and IT band stuff--from the 1st minute. The knee itself wasn't the worst of it.
 
News flash! Every operation if different! No kidding!

Deb, is that the tightness in your calf that you mentioned in another thread? Have you tried ice/heat to try to improve it? Of course, proper pain control will help! Go roar at your doctor ASAP!
 
Deb, I had trouble finding the perfect postion for my leg once I got into bed. I slept in my recliner for the first 2 weeks. It took me a couple of weeks to finally be able to sleep through the night. I also have to sleep with a CPAP so not only was I having trouble keeping my leg comfortable but my CPAP mask seemed to bother more than ever so I kept taking it off which made me snore which woke up my wife who then would push me and wake me up.

But now I'm sleeping through the night with my mask and there is peace and harmony in the bedroon once again.

Mike
 
WOW Stephani - that sounds fantastic!
You've given me hope! I 2 weeks pre-op for a LTKR and have been having second thoughts and been worried about recovery pain.
I sure hope mine goes as well as yours is.
Thanks again,
Diane
 
Interesting about the some TKR's come with a lot of pain and some with minimal pain, Karen. My roommate in the hospital had her first knee done last April and her second knee done a day before my surgery. And she said she had a much easier time with the first knee. On the other hand her attitude was "I can't do it" no matter what they nurses and PTs asked her to do. Which tells you something. I think positive attitudes as in "just do it" make the difference - pain or no. It's something you know you have to get through and I am prepared for good days and bad days. I had ACL surgery back in 1981 at the dawn of sports medicine. and my leg was put in a cast for 6 weeks and I went back to work on crutches. Then when the cast came off the pain of pushing frozen quad muscles back through scar tissue was monumental. and no fancy meds then. I can remember crying at PT sessions and then crying at home as I pulled my knee back. But 6 months after that surgery I ran the New York Marathon - my first - and just kept going. I got back almost all my ROM. And I am VERY flexible. The memory of that pain is seared into my brain even today and I don't think anything can be as bad as that was. So that is probably helping me get through this.
I was very scared before the operation. I'm a control freak and worried about being helpless in the hospital and all the rest plus, of course, the expected pain. When I woke up in the recovery room it was like a weight being lifted from my brain and body. It was over and now the road to recovery and getting my active life back was in front of me and wide open. Now there is nothing to worry about and nothing to fear. It's just the most incredible feeling!!! You will see, Diane!!!
Stephani
 
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