7 weeks post op TKR

[Young Turk]

I am just over 40 years old and had TKR 7 weeks ago and it has been extremely trying and tough. I am still at 12 degrees on straight and 98 on bend That is with PT pushing flat and bending with all their might. I had a minipulation last week and it helped some, but I am so frustrated with the progress, for me 0 degrees is my main goal since it will allow me to walk right. It just seems like all my hard work does not show. I seem to kill myself in PT and home PT and I gain little. I dont think people understand the pain you go through as the push and pull your knee. I lived 15 years with a bad knee so the pain isnt bad till I do PT. I just wish it would go staright!!!!! my PT says try anti-infamitories so i will ask my doc about it and let you all know if it helps

 

[TitaniumMan]

Hi Turk..your a newby to the room? Jospehine is the Boss here but I'd like to welcome you. YOU have found the best place for support in the world right here. YOU will achieve your goals and get where you need to be soon. PT is grueling, I know what you mean...but allow me to say my motto "No pain, No Gain! In my opinion the TKR is 50% and the other 50% is our desire to recover and participation in our PT program. Its good to have a chat area like this because we really support each other here and we have Jose', she is great and tells it like it is...and we have Patti "the Hemi"..if she dont make you laugh with her straight forward talk, no one can! Fight the good fight my Brother.
Godspeed in your recovery,
Chuck T-Man

 

[TitaniumMan]

and your right, no one understands our pain except each other because we have been thought it~!

 

[Skeet]

Hang in there, it will happen. Patience, grasshopper. There are lots of ideas for how to straighten our your leg in another thread - labeled something like straightening out leg or something. Lots of great ideas like sitting in a chair across from a coffee table and putting the involved leg on the table and relaxing so the leg goes as straight as possible. Over time this helps. Hot tubs help relax the muscles and allow for more range of motion, too.

We're all here for you and wish you the best. Did you have the manipulation where they put you out? How did that go? Most of us have not been through that.

God bless you!
Skeet

 

[Pattipoo]

Turk.....Our Ruler, Josephine, will be around before long to instruct, lead and guide you. DO WHAT SHE SAYS!!! She's "been there and done that"!! I'll cheerlead, cry, whine, giggle and hoopdihoo with you as you get through this hurdle. I'm at the same post op time as you....hang in there!! BOY, did YOU come to the right place, or WHAT????????

Welcome!
Patti

 

[Doug]

Tomorrow is my 6 week anniversary. Hang tough our club is surely unique. Also, some of us are pretty much on site most of the day and a bit of the night. Read the insomnia thread.

 

[Josephine]

Gee, you guys - you are soooo hard on yourselves! 7 weeks is very early days. Yes, you need to be committed for your PT but you also need to be kind to yourself. Try to make a balance between the punishment and the reward.

And FWIW, you seem to me like your are doing fine and have a really good, positive attitude. Keep coming back - you'll get all suport and cheer leading you can use!

 

[gatiger]

Josephine, your last post really hit the target for me, pain versus gain. I was extremely down on myself after therapy yesterday because I refused to let the therapist bend my leg. That was the first time I had told them No. I have tried my best to do everything they had asked up until then. I HAVE made progress with their help over the last 6 weeks, I am 9 weeks PO today. I can walk without limping, for which I am grateful; I can go up and down stairs in a normal manner, again grateful. I have moved into the gym an am currently doing leg curls, forward and backward, with 25 pound weights 30 times each way; I have moved up to 10 minutes on a semi-recumbent bike with the seat set at 5. With all these signs of improvement, I have only(?) gained 15* of bend. I'm good to 110*. I don't know what my OS is going to expect next Wednesday, this is another one of those things they don't tell us up front. However, logic tells me that if 15* is all I've gotten over 6 weeks I am not going to get very much in 6 days. I am not crying here, I am better off than many at this point, but in terms of what I get from their bending and my pain, I really do not see the justification. I am very interested in how the lady does after her recent 'manipulation' as I think that is where I am headed. In an earlier post, I said I think based on my earlier surgery, there will be some gains after PT is over. I don't how much. I know that more ROM would be BETTER, but I can do pretty much do what I need to do now. This is a mental battle that I am really trying to fight but all I can see at this point is the pain vs gain; and I can't win that one on my own. Any help? Anyone?

 

[Pattipoo]

I'm riding in that boat with you. I can't push myself into that psycho pain realm!!....even medicated!

You row a while...I'm slap dab tuckered out.....


zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...zzzzzzzzzzzzz
wait a minute....I'm at work....GEEEEEEEEEEZZZ
Must..........have..............coffeeeeeeee

 

[Doug]

Pattipoo,
Did you take your pills to work with you????

Gatiger,
I have my next Dr.'s apt. in a couple of weeks. That will be my 8 week post op. apt. I'm going to continue to work it and stretch it. I have no idea what degree it is now but I do know I can comfortably cross my legs and walk. Yesterday, I went by the school where my son and I have studied karate for years and I was able to throw a few low power kicks.---I know I'm not in my 20's so I don't expect that I can do what they can do. So, the bottom line for me is I'm happy and it would take a whole lot of convincing and big men to hold me down, knock me out and bend my leg. I like and respect my Dr. but I am just worn out with I.V.'s and white coats.

 

[Pattipoo]

NOPE....just high on life!

(I know....I have toooooo much fun!)

 

[ladyblue]

Brother..I know where you are coming from with the limitations of flexing and straightening out the TKR leg but I am learning that it does get better day by day. Guaranteed there are going to be "good" and "bad" days and the weather will affect how you feel, but don't give up! If you need to vent or just need some moral support--you came to the right place!! Everyone here has been wonderful to me and has let me ramble and wallow in self-pity . Most of all, I know that there are others out there that know what I am going through and can help me along the way. Hang in there and know that we are here for you!

 

[gatiger]

The person that is in charge of Quality of Care at the hospital where my surgery was done, (thank goodness my English teacher isn't grading this) is a friend of ours. I told her about this board and suggested they include the site as part of their patient information package for all their TKRs.

 

[Skeet]

Doug, I took my pain meds to work with me. Took one in the morning and I felt like I was wandering in someone else's dream for the next 3-4 hours. Maybe I need to back off at work, ya think?? I started getting paranoid. Felt like folks were looking at me. Too bizarre.

Skeet

 

[gatiger]

She's a doper, I can tell.

 

[Skeet]

Who? Me or Pattipoo. I had my time back in the 70's.... lived to tell my kids the stories. They still don't believe me. Oh, for the good old days. But my Norco is pretty good.

Skeet

 

[gatiger]

I was talking about you Skeet, I remember those 'Hey, man. They're lookin at us.' days. Patti aint a doper...........she just aint right.

 

[Doug]

I believe the song was "Paranoid" by Grand Funk Railroad!!!
I spent my high school years and first two years of college in Miami. Now tell me there wasn't some partying going on. It was so funny when I went to my 10 year high school reunion and had so many people say "You're a cop?"

 

[gatiger]

Life is some funny stuff aint it man? Doug, I have no idea what a "low power kick" is, low power- I got that, the kick is whats throwing me. But you make a point for, with where I am, I don't know how much more I'm willing to do. I want to keep working on strengthing my leg, but the ROM, I don't know. I go back to therapy tomorrow and I'm really going to have to change my mind between now and then to get back on 'the bending table'. Appointment with the OS next Wednesday may change things, and the Lord may change things any time, but I'm OK with where I am. It aint where I wish I was, but hey, I always wanted to be taller too.

 

[Doug]

Didn't mean to sound technical. It means to pick a target, use any type of kick, and just touch it with your toes rather than drive hard into it.
Good luck tomorrow.