TKR Amberpep's Recovery Thread

[aretha]

We too were at a large family reunion last weekend celebrating my sis's 66th birthday and my nephews 60th! Hotel for 3 days, lots of lovely food and the champagne was flowing. At one party there were 40 of my family, and we only see each other all together around 1/2 times a year, and we are a pretty lively bunch, so Eastbourne certainly knew we were there!!!:biggrin:

Now its back to slimming club today to ascertain the damage - hope its not too bad!

My knee also lets me know when its going to be cold, I think its a well known thing that they get cold, and wearing thermal longjohns seems to help. Will keep watching your posts with interest. Glad you too enjoyed your family celebrations. Bye for now

 

[amberpep]

My neighbor, across the hall, just had a knee replacement, right now she's in rehab. and will probably be home this week. I may have mentioned her before, but she's a very demanding, "it's all about me" person. Yesterday another neighbor and I went to visit her at the rehab. facility, and obviously she was on medication for pain. She insisted she was "normal." Well, last night at 12:45 AM my phone rang, when I fumbled to get it and said hello, they'd hung up but the name on the screen was my neighbor's! She also called my downstairs neighbor.
I hate to say this, but depending on what my doctor says tomorrow, I may go to my girlfriend's house in PA. I've done a lot for my neighbor, but it's never enough .... and I know I'm going to be the one that gets probably 5, 6 or more calls a day for something. I don't mean to sound unkind because I'm really not, but everything for her is "so much worse than anyone elses, and we don't understand how bad it is." I can only take so much of that.
I'll see how things go and then decide what to do.
abby
<*)))><:hissyfit:

 

[srn]

I think that sometimes you have to put yourself first, and that''s OK. I think I would probably take a trip too.

 

[Roy Gardiner]

Well, last night at 12:45 AM my phone rang, when I fumbled to get it and said hello, they'd hung up but the name on the screen was my neighbor's! ... and I know I'm going to be the one that gets probably 5, 6 or more calls a day for something.

That's why you have caller ID. Just don't answer -- if you can't be doing with that, turn the phone off; you can get another for your real friends to use.

 

[Jamie]

I agree with the above posts!!! You can't let this woman's demanding behavior put you on a guilt trip. It's great that you have helped her and you may choose to do more in the future. But in the end, we are all responsible for ourselves and right now YOU need to come first.

I like the idea about just turning off your phone. Hopefully your real friends only know your cell phone number!:th_heehee:

 

[Jaycey]

I agree as well! Your recovery is priority now. If you think your neighbor will repeatedly call you may want to visit your friend. Please don't feel guilty!

 

[amberpep]

Thank you all so much for your reinforcement .... I don't feel like such a scum anymore. I sort of felt I was bailing out on her. I do want to help her, but it's never enough.

I have my appt. tomorrow morning with my own Orthopedic surgeon about my left knee. I'm keeping it wrapped during the day as it buckles (sometimes to the front and strangely enough, sometimes to the back - that makes no sense to me). If he talks about a torn meniscus, I know that's only the beginning and in all honesty, I'd just rather get the TKR done - it's inevitable most likely. But, I'm putting the cart before the horse, so first I'll see what he says.

Again, thank you everyone .... this is a great group of "titanium troops."

abby
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[aretha]

Abby, I concur with all of the above, time to think about yourself and keeping your own spirits high as you go through the process. You could always take your phone off the hook when you go to bed and not put it back on until you are up and ready to take any calls.

Please don't make yourself her "slave", it will put too much pressure on you when you are already suffering, and could make your situation worse. When she does ring, you could always reverse the tactics and change the call to one "all about you" for a change. She may get fed up with this and think better of calling you if she is not getting the appropriate sympathy!!:th_heehee:.

Keep your spirits up, and go to PA and stay with your friend if the situation gets impossible to deal with. We are all with you Abby!!

 

[sheryl7]

I agree with the others, you are on the mend too. While i think its a good idea to shut off your phone during the night, i am thinking you might be worried if there was an emergency fro your family etc, you might want to make sure you have a back up phone like your cell, that they could you if they needed you.
That and take your trip to see your friend if she keeps up. But I do agree its not right for this neighbor to run all over you and call multiple times, thats almost harrasment on her part.
I hope alls well that ends well, take care...:flowerysmile:

 

[Josephine]

Some people just are always too needy. They can suck you dry without any compunction whatsoever. You have to have a line drawn "this far and no further". I fell victim to one or two of those in my more naive years!

 

[amberpep]

Hi everyone. Well, I saw my Orthopedist today and told him about the progression of this pain in my left knee (I'm sure doing a number on my knees!) Last night when I got up off the sofa it hurt so badly that I could hardly walk.. I made my way to the frig. and got a bag of peas and took 4 Advil - Rx strength. I laid back down and after about an hour I was able to take my dog out for her last wee. I couldn't sleep because of the discomfort, so I was actually glad to go see him today. He x-rayed it, and then had me get on the table and he began to bend and flex it, twist and turn it ....... YEOWEE! Oh my it hurt. He asked me if it buckles and I told him yes, both ways - frontwards and backwards. I'm going for an MRI and seeing him again on Monday, but he said that he wants me to stay off my feet as much as possible, when I do walk to use my crutches, and when I walk my dog and crutches would be difficult, to use the brace I have for my knee. He said he believes I have torn the meniscus, and he also thinks I have torn the ACL. He said if the ACL is only partially torn, he can fix that, but if it's totally torn, "we have to talk," whatever that means.
abby
5/24/11 - RTKR
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[karmigirl]

Abby,

Sorry to hear the bad news from the OS today. But you really need to take care of yourself now. Please don't worry about you neighbor and just ignore her phone calls. You are not doing YOURSELF any good trying to appease her. Does she have any family that you could talk to to tell her to basically leave you alone??

 

[amberpep]

Hi Rose .... yes, she has a 43 year old daughter who lives about 25 miles away and is already complaining about "how exhausted she is." Both of these women are totally self-focused complainers.
I have to admit, Rose, I'm feeling a bit discouraged this morning. My right TKR is doing so very well, and now this. But, then I have to remember that there are many people, including a lot of our Vets. who can't walk at all, and it brings me back to reality.
I'm leaving in 15 minutes to go for the MRI and also the "garage door squeeze" :th_heehee: .... so I guess I'll sign off for now. I've got my short runner brace on because I still have not gotten used to the hang of how to use the crutches without flipping them all over the place. Scares my cats to death!
abby
5/24/11 - RTKR

 

[Mountain Kat]

I hope the results from your MRI show that the problem isn't serious, or at least easily fixable. I saw Josephine's comment about having a meniscectomy a couple of years ago and still doing well, I had mine removed when I was 7 and was fine for many years. I also apparently have walked without an ACL for about 30 years (MRI showed that it was completely torn, only injury I can remember that would have caused it was when I was 17). Not saying that is usual, or even recommended, just that it might not be as bad as you fear. I was able to get around fine, but some of that is never expecting that much from my knees - running, or even jogging, was never OK, but I could play tennis, ride bikes and just about anything I wanted. The most important thing though is that you feel good about it and are able to do everything you want to in your life! I've got my fingers crossed for you!

 

[karmigirl]

Abby,

Sorry to hear about the daughter too. I thought maybe you could have talked to them to get things across to her to leave you alone. But sounds like that won't work. If you have caller ID, then you just need not answer her calls, she won't be able to come over to find you at least for a little while.

I hope for the best for you, please let us know how things are going.

 

[amberpep]

Hi all ..... well, I called her daughter and left a message on her voicemail. I told her what was going on with me, said that I know her mother (my neighbor) would be wanting me to help her a good bit, but I was not going to be able to do much. I explained why and what the doc. has said. She got my message and told her mother and her mother (my neighbor) called me this afternoon from the rehab. facility to see how I was doing. That was a bit of a shock. So, I've gotten the message across.
I've had 2 arthroscopic surgeries on my meniscus on my right knee and the first one lasted for quite awhile ..... the second didn't really help as by then the meniscus was gone and it was bone on bone ..... after 2 rounds of Hyalgen shots I had the RTKR.
I need to do some reading on what they do about a torn ACL ..... I'm not very familiar with that surgery.
You know, I actually feel embarrassed about all this. I don't know why, but I do. Thanks everyone for being there and understanding.
abby
5/24/11 - RTKR
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[Josephine]

This is roughly what they do

The new 'ligament' is taken from the fibrous covering of the quads muscle in the thigh. You can see more about it broken link removed: https://www.londonkneeclinic.com/article.asp?section=4&article=24.

He means that if you have any arthritic changes in your knee, there's no point in a repair, just go straight to TKR.

Amber, why don't you put your info in your signature like the rest of us do? Then you wouldn't have to keep typing it in - specially that cute little 'ictheos' fish! You can find the instructions here How to create a signature.

 

[amberpep]

Hi Josephine ..... Oooo, that doesn't sound like much fun. Think I'd rather just go for the TKR, but he told me today that since there's no arthritis in that knee, he wouldn't do that. I did do some reading about it on-line and it said the recovery time can be up to 12 months! That's as long as a TKR! I'll have to see what he says on Monday.
abby
5/24/11 - RTKR
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[Josephine]

Oh it is! And a lot tougher as they have to immobilise the knee for a while until the new ligament is secure. Then, of course, you have a struggle to overcome the stiffness and possible adhesions that have developed during the immobilisation! I feel for you because it's the same story with shoulders and I am shortly to have a similar surgery on both my shoulders! I may have mine done in late spring or summer so we can suffer together! :th_heehee:

 

[amberpep]

Oh gosh Josephine ..... that sounds really rough for you ..... both at one time? How will you function? I hope you have people around you to help you. Do they cast your shoulders? Do they cast the knee? I feel very sorry for you .... it sounds like rough going. When are you having this done? Maybe you and I will both have "wonderful" summers together! How's about we go to a luxury Spa for the duration? Oh wait, that costs $$, doesn't it? Guess I'm putting the cart before the horse though ... I won't know anything for sure til Monday when I see him. I'm going to have to check on line about how to use crutches as when I try they're merely flying sticks ..... scare the bejeebers out of my cats!