Guest viewing is limited

TKR 5 Years Post Op

Hi dvannie, Like, liam2015, and Pheebs52, I am a slow bender - I have my 8 week anniversary next week and am barely past 90 flexion - the Campervan timeline was very helpful to me as well - it's tough to think you are behind or abnormal . . . . I prefer to say that we are "taking the scenic route through recovery." While my surgeon is a bit pushy - he mentioned MUA at my 6 wk visit - my PT is gentle and says I do not need it - I go to PT, mostly for the social time - he only measures once a month (probably required by insurance) and never pushes. I swell easily and find when I overdo it my flexion drops so I have cut way back on the exercises. I would concur with the others - quit the PT for now and give yourself permission to rest and heal! :flwrysmile:
 
@flyaway79, I literally hibernated until my surgical date, mostly to avoid catching a cold or any other germ that might postpone my knee. I can just imagine how frantic you must've felt; pffft.

I think it's absolutely normal to feel that way for 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 or even 16 weeks. It's not so okay at 6 months, 9 months or further out. Hopefully, we'll all be happy-campers by the 6 month point!
 
@kmak81230 , you just made me choke....in a good way, lol! I love "taking the scenic route," through recovery! Yeah, I'm a back roads kinda girl!:heehee:
 
@Pheebs52 I flew my last trip to Shanghai and back and got home 3 days before my surgery. Got sick on my way home. I have an amazing immune system from all the people I come in contact with and was so surprised when I got sick. So glad I was able to keep it from really turning into something worse. I did nasal rinses and sucked down Emergence C all weekend long.
 
Wow, talk about really bad timing but an amazing immune response @flyaway79! I know your right about developing great immunity when exposed to the public all the time.
 
LOL liam2015 and kmak81 and Pheebs52, I'm definitely taking the scenic route! I wish there was a tshirt, I would wear it! I should have known it was going to go this way, I never do anything the easy way.

I'm hopeful that I can just go back to work in a couple of weeks. Although a 90 degree bend would be great, I want my life back without obsessing about ROM and I think getting back to work, at least part time to start, would be a nice distraction.
 
Just like @flyaway79. I too have had (might continue to have) hours and entire days where Ill question my sanity and wonder why I have done this to myself. It's the blinkety clunkity-clunk sensation that triggers it still one month later.
But I know how awful I felt when I could no longer walk more than 100 m without sticks or crutches and when I couldn't climb steps, not down at first and then not even up without bad pain. All conservative measures over 8 months (aside from getting rid of excess weight) failed to see any improvement. Perhaps I was lucky that OS found a date quickly because I second guessed my decision the entire month of May. If I had had to wait 3 or more months I might have had so much more time to read more and I may have cancelled.
I so badly want to be a success story! +To go on our dream trips we've been saving so long for.
 
@VW54, I think most of us go through a period of asking why we did this to ourselves, especially at the beginning. You might even be asking yourself this 3, 6 or 9 months from now. Hopefully not, but it is a real possibility. However, the day will definitely come when you'll stop questioning your sanity, stop focusing on every little twinge and clunk, and actually *forget* you have a bionic knee. It's really a miraculous transition when it does occur. My belief in this is based entirely on what I went through with a THR. It healed, just not in timely fashion. It (and I) became *normal* 14 months post-surgically. From that point on, I've never given it a second thought and I'm certain the knee will follow a similar path.

We all want a success story and barring infection, a loose implant or some severe accident, there's no reason it won't happen. The only *iffy* part is how long it'll take to get there. We've all been told a year and that rings true for me. If it should go a bit longer, so be it. Just try to relax about the clickety-clacks and other oddball sensations because they're all *normal*.
 
I plan to come clean about my lack of pushing things at my 6w follow up, assuming knee #2 heals as wll as knee #1 did. I didn't want to get too cocky when I still needed this man to cut me open. But once I'll have the proof in the pudding in two knees, I'll cop to ignoring all his advice about pushing hard. Lol.
 
@Jennszoo I'm sure more of us need to push it back onto the surgeons that pushing hard mindlessly is NOT the only way to get ahead.

@VW54 and @Pheebs52, I do admit to a tiny bit of regret, but that's mostly my little pity party that it's not 'easy'. Why I ever thought it was going to be easy, I have no idea! I'm sure I'm not the only one who has heard of those oddities that recover in 4 weeks and can climb stairs and be back to work right afterwards! I have to admit I'm feeling far less pain than I used to and the only issues other than a stiff leg is the extreme pain and swelling being caused by PT. looking at this this logically, which for some reason I haven't been doing, it makes complete sense to cut out the PT if it's causing all my issues.

They must have thought that I was just making up the pain when they were forcibly bending my leg. I'm now sitting with less than a 40 degree bend this morning, down from the 65 last Monday before I started PT. If that's not proof to the surgeon that pushing is hurting I don't know what will. I plan on icing, elevating and doing some small bending exercises to try to get it back this weekend. Thank goodness for movies and do it yourself shows not to mention the great company of my pug or I would go mad :smile2:
 
Dvannie, my hairdresser's first cousin's parrot told a story of an Octogenarian who was hitting the ski slopes at 3 weeks post-op. I believe it.:rofsign:

Have you tried heating just your quad? You can heat the quad while icing the knee and then try some *Throne-Sliding.* This routine has helped me enormously. Throne-Sliding beats the heck out of bed-bound, prone heel slides every time. Also, try lying on your tummy with a pillow beneath your hips. Put a small, rolled up towel under your quad. Let your legs dangle over the edge of the bed about 4-6 inches for roughly a minute, or until it begins to feel uncomfortable. Then, pick up your OP leg with your other leg and bend it as much as you comfortably can toward your bum. Hold it for about 30 seconds. Do about 3 of these, 2x a day. It's working for me.
 
My PA said her favorite exercise for ROM was sliding your foot underneath a chair and just slowly trying to get it to go back farther underneath the chair. I do that a lot and it goes farther back than the "throne slide" after your range improves.
 
Glad you are going to rest this weekend @dvannie. I am really stiff in the mornings - bad Frankenstein walk - and I have been using @Pheebs52's tip of warming up the quad and hamstring (not the knee) and it really helps me to loosen things up. I also do a few throne slides - not too many - throughout the day and the other bed exercises that Pheebs mentioned. Hope your restful weekend will help you to recover and lessen the worries.
 
Bonesmart usually suggests (as did my surgeon) 12 weeks away from work. TKR means elevating for a good amount of time, even in months 2 and 3 to keep swelling at bay. Once you begin feeling well enough for activities it's a good idea to elevate more than you've been up and about. So if youve been out and active for a half hour spend an hour or more elevating. Even after I went back to work at 3 months (part time to phase in) I had to elevate and ice most of the afternoon and evening.
 
dvannie said:
I'm sure I'm not the only one who has heard of those oddities that recover in 4 weeks and can climb stairs and be back to work right afterwards!
Click to expand...
I know someone who actually did go back to work at 2 weeks after a TKR. He boasts about it, but he doesn't tell the full story:
  • He went back to work in a wheelchair.
  • His wife helped him get dressed and drove him to and from work.
  • He stopped taking pain medications, saying they were for sissies, so he was in pain and grumpy all day.
  • His colleagues wished he had stayed at home.
  • When he got home, he stayed in bed and his wife did everything for him.
  • By the time he was fully recovered, his wife was a physical wreck.
So, you see, although he did go back to work at 2 weeks, he doesn't tell the full story. I bet there are a few like him! I always take those stories with a large handful of salt.
 
Ladies, I have just removed a few tags at the beginning of some posts, because they weren't necessary. We do ask you not to start a post with a list of tags, because it makes it difficult for people reading BoneSmart on smaller devices, such as a phone. All they can see initially on their small screen is a list of tags.

You're all talking to each other and reading this thread, so I don't think you'll miss anything if you're not tagged. This article explains how we'd like you to use the tags:
How to tag another member; how to answer when someone tags you

I do hope you'll understand. Thank you.
 
flyaway79, well...I would slide the legs under the chair if I could, but....just not there yet!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Active Antimicrobial Hydrogel

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 828 (members: 0, guests: 828)

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom