TKR a wee bit impatient I guess

[CATSMUM]

Just read your post regarding the incision. Did you have staples to close the wound? I had problems with dissolvable stitches not dissolving which caused the incision to open, it wasn't obvious at first that it was a stitch but it did work its way to the surface and it had to be cut. Also the ends caused a 'pimple' to appear that burst , the nurse said it was my body expelling the end of the stitch which had dried out and was to all intend and purposes, a foreign body. She gave me iodine to put on it and it healed within a few days. Perhaps it could be that? If it were me, for peace of mind, l'd be going back.

As for the knee post, mine deteriorated so much that l could hardly walk,

 

[KarriB]

I'm not a moderator or forum advisor and I did have an infection in my knee which seeped puss from the incision, but as long as it's not getting bigger or seeping I think you're alright. If it gets bigger or begins to ooze, I'd head to the dr immediately. It never hurts to call and let the dr know what's happening though.
One of the moderators may think differently and have more experience than me.
Before my surgery my knee ached even when I was sitting. I would find myself rubbing and massaging it often.

 

[janetg]

Hi, I think I certainly fall into the same category. I was SO worried before the surgery reading all the experiences of such horrible pain and agony. By NO means do i diminish the fact that this is NOT an easy thing, real bad pain at times. I also felt the same as you in the beginning. Four days home and i was going to the basement to get the laundry, vacuuming and watering my garden. So in fact I did hit that 'did too much' situation. Then learned to rest up and do it all over again. As long as you're careful and don't hurt something you're only limited by yourself. Twenty three days out and Im starting to feel less pain. The real PT starts next week, we'll see. So keep on going!!!

 

[ritaxis]

"Twenty three days out and Im starting to feel less pain. The real PT starts next week..."

So I'm not sure what "real PT" means. A lot of people here describe demanding physical therapists and grueling exercises...but my physical therapists are not like that. The difference between the home phjysical therapy I had for the first three weeks and what I'm getting now is a five-minute spin on a stationary bike set to low resistance with my PT saying "don't push it," another five minutes on a machine I don't know the name of where you push yourself off a wall, and just recently another thing where you bend your leg against a modest weight. And today when I came in with a swollen knee (not sure whether it's from sitting too much or going upstairs the regular way instead of taking half-steps, but oit's getting better already so I'm not worried), Ayub only put me on the bike for three minutes and skipped the others. Instead I did quad sets with the biofeedback monitor and discovered that those muscles are weaker than I knew because I've been using other muscles to fake it. So that was good to know. And the homework I got from it was to push my big toe into the ground when I walk to correct my gait and use the right muscles.

Also I got a recipe for homemade ice packs! I'm going to make these for sure! It's 3 parts water to 1 part rubbing alcohol, double-bagged in ziplock bags in the freezer. So simple.

I'm going to adjust my computer situation so my legs are better elevated, but I don't want to quit going upstairs the regular way (I only do it about half-time anyway). It feels good to do it. I experimented with coming down the regular way, but... that was less successful, so I put it away for now.

 

[PolarBear60]

ritaxis, it sounds like you're getting PT the way it's meant to be -- targeted for specific needs and with emphasis on not overdoing it. That's what I call "real PT."

When I checked out a PT place close to home in an attempt to avoid an 80 mile round trip commute, I wasn't impressed with their set up, but thinking maybe they had a great philosophy, I asked about that. The answer I got was a shrug, and "Rehabbing a knee is hard work." To me, that sounded like "I'm going to hurt you," so I thanked them and walked out, never looking back. The place my doctor recommended was wonderful, and I've just finished working with them; however, they left the door open to answer any questions I have.

(In truth, rehabbing a knee can be hard work for the therapist, but the patient's hard work should never be painful.)

 

[ritaxis]

I don't know whether I would have the strength of will to shop around for a physical therapist if the first one wasn't good for me, so I'm really glad I lucked out.

Today I went to folk dance class. Don't get excited--I mostly just sat in a chair and tapped my toes. But there were two dances that were just basically walking, so I joined the circle for those. I'm really glad I went even though I'm not ready to really dance. I love the people there and the music and tapping my toes was pretty great.

Right now? legs up, ice, blackberries and cream. I forget to elevate and ice sometimes and I always regret it. But tonight I remembered. I also spent most of the afternoon elevating and icing, so I'd be in decent shape to go and say howdy to the folk dancers.

edit: so of course this morning, it's more ice and elevation. Still worth it, though.

 

[ritaxis]

One of the tiny pimples on my leg turned into a boil, burst, and now looks scabbed over and clean (no red around the edges). Using a stronger antibiotic cream and planning to call the regular doctor if it doesn't shrink a lot in the next couple days. The incision looks a lot better, though!

I'm finally seeing a little more strength in my legs for going up stairs. When I'm feeling energetic and not in a hurry, I am trying to take all the weight on my legs (not quite succeeding) and very slowly feeling what all the muscles are doing, trying not to hike my body around ineffectually. If I have a lot of time but I don't feel like my operated leg wants to take my weight, I just raise my foot to the next step and don't step down on it before I bring it to the step my other foot's on. Or another compromise is taking half-steps but alternating which foot takes the leading role. In general, because I am lazy and averse to pain, I've been trying to work little exercises into my daily routine instead of doing heroic things.

I'm getting better about remembering to ice--probably because I'm challenging myself a bit more and thus feeling the tiredness more. And sleeping better! Six hours almost every night and sometimes seven!

I havre my bike set up in a trainer with a step stool to get on and off. But unfortunately I can only bear it for a couple of minutes at a time. Just enough to get warmed up enough to go all the way around, and then a minute or two more. On the PT fancypants stationary bike I can go for several minutes. Disappointing because I want to get to the stage of riding around the block on my real bike before my next surgery. Will it happen? It will if it will, and if it doesn't, it doesn't.

The ravenous hunger came back, and then I got an intestinal bug, so I've been fighting to keep food in me long enough to get a benefit from it. I've been trying to be meiculously clean, but a skin infection and an intestinal infection do not reflect well on me!

People are funny--on the one hand they want to coddle me and protect me from the slightest effort, on the other they don't understand why I'm not driving more than a few blocks, and why I have to be home after a couple of hours so I can rest and ice, etc.

I wonder about going to the movies with my neighbor soon, though--and there's an art exhibit in San Francisco I'd like to go to with my sister-in-law (SF is about two hours' drive...so a big deal) It'll be there in a couple weeks, though!

 

[KarriB]

Sorry to hear you had the stomach flu. That makes it hard to keep pain meds down for sure. You'll find sleeping gets better the farther out you get. Doesn't it feel good to not hate your bed?
I had a regular exercise bike that I used on my off pt days, but then got a recumbent bike for my birthday. Love the recumbent! It doesn't hurt my back like the regular exercise bike.
I'd think you could probably go to the movies, especially if the theater is a new one with the recliners. Take an ice pack with you and ice during the movie! But I'd hold off on the art exhibit as long as possible, sounds like quite a bit of walking.

 

[kneeper]

Just do as much as you can on the bike. Gradually you will find you can add minutes.

 

[ritaxis]

Today at physical therapy I rode their bike for 1 minutes and only stopped because they had other things for me to do. I wish it was so easy on my own bike!

Last week my passive flexion was 122 degrees: this week active flexion is 117 degrees. The PT said the best he's seen is 135 and that 120 is good enough for everything. Nice reminder! I keep getting distracted by people talking about fancier ranges of motion... honestly I don't think I was much past that beore the arthritis got bad.

 

[kneeper]

Sounds like you're doing fine. Remember tkr is an "individual sport."