TKR Amberpep's Recovery Thread

[kneeper]

Good to hear from you, amberpep!

 

[amberpep]

Thanks kneeper! I like your little penguin! How are you doing? I see your LTKR was one day before mine was.
abby

 

[kneeper]

Thanks kneeper! I like your little penguin! How are you doing? I see your LTKR was one day before mine was.
abby

Thanks. I thought of the penguin b/c I always say I walk like a penguin in the winter so I don't fall on ice. Much less so now with the new knee, but the left one is going downhill so it still applies.
I'm doing well. I had some residual quad/scar area soreness that I got some PT for and have been steadily working on the quad strength and stretching and it's much improved.
Overall I'm pleased. I can do things like walk around the mall or park etc without giving the new knee a thought. Now if the other knee, ankle etc would cooperate...

Happy birthday to our new knees

 

[RestAssured]

Hi Amber!

Good to hear from you! I am glad things are going well!

 

[Jamie]

Hi, Abby!!! It's always good to hear from folks who are moving on with their lives after surgery. It sounds like you've done just fine. Please do check in now and then to let us know what you're up to!!! We love success stories!

 

[amberpep]

Kneeper .... I am right there with you. I seem to have gotten the right side straightened out, now I'm working on the left! Good grief! It's odd because it's just like my Dad was. Internally he was fine - never in the hospital. But structurally he never left the house to play tennis without a wrist wrap, knee wrap, and ankle wrap! Me? I've had tendonitis in my right hip, then the knee, and I tore the ligaments in my right ankle about 3 years ago and had to wear a cami-walker. I guess I figure it's time to go to the left side! Good grief! I've got a strain or sprain in the outside of my foot, and my left knee hurts. Guess it all goes with getting older. YIKES!
abby

 

[amberpep]

Hi everyone. Just an update here .... it's been over a year since I had my RTKR and all in all it's doing great. I still have one spot, about 1-1/2 in diameter on the right side of my knee that has no feeling and that's also the spot which hurts at times, especially when it's going to rain ..... strange but I guess it's just something I'll have to live with. Well, about 3 weeks ago I was walking my dog and when stepping off a curb, somehow I rolled my left foot in some particular way and it hurt like crazy ... it subsided and I didn't think too much more about it. I had some discomfort but figured it was a strain or sprain. Week #2 it hurt somewhat more, so I decided to wrap it. Week 3 I went out of state to visit a girlfriend for a few days and when I got home Weds. this week I could not put any weight on it. I went in to see my Orthopedist yesterday and ..... I have a broken foot. It's a bone on the outside of the foot which he said is the most common one people break. He was NOT happy I had waited for 3 weeks to come in, but I thought it was a sprain or strain until I couldn't walk on it. I'm now in a tall cami-boot, am not to drive til Monday and then only if it seems to feel better, and I'll see him next Thurs. All of this has made my right knee - the TKR one - very unhappy, and it's hurting a good bit when I walk.
Sigh ..............

 

[sunflower]

Amberpep, good for you for wearing shorts! Don't let anyone discourage you from what you want to do. After all, you've been through one of the most difficult surgeries. I consider my scar as a badge of courage. I now have a new set of scars on my left knee and it makes for interesting conversation.

 

[kneeper]

Oh, your poor foot, Amberpep. :(

 

[amberpep]

Hi kneeper .... yea, it's sort of a bummer, but you know, once you've been through the TKR, P.T., and recovery .... everything else pales in comparison. And, it gives me an excuse to just be home and rest this weekend. I don't think my doctor has a sense of humor (this isn't the one that did the TKR, but another one in the practice) ..... I jokingly told him that "when I'm frustrated I think how much fun it would be to throw a brick through a window, but since that's not socially acceptable, now I break things." Dead silence and just again the words .... "don't wait so long next time." oops .....
abby

 

[amberpep]

Did something change with the forum? I'm having a terrible time finding my recovery thread. Finally, I found it, but everything seems changed. Is it me? or has it changed?
Went to my Ortho. Thurs. again, he x-rayed my left food and saw no break. He said there's some inflammation possibly from a torn ligament or a ruptured tendon. He gave me a cortisone shot in the side of my foot and said if that works, great. If not, he wants me to have an MRI.
All this mess with my left foot has thrown off my walking and made my RTKR ache, so I'm back to the Ibuprofen. I seem to be quite a klutz.
abby

 

[amberpep]

Hi everyone ..... it's been awhile since I've been here. Thought I'd come by for an update. My right knee - the TKR knee - is doing very well, except for the outside. When I get up in the AM or up from a chair it takes awhile to get going. That's also the same area that is still numb. And, now my left knee is really beginning to complain. When I saw my Ortho. Surgeon for my year checkup last May, he asked me how the other knee was doing. At that time I told him it was a little "cranky." He said that's very common as it's been taking the brunt of walking pre-TKR, so it's been overworked. Well, now "cranky" is no longer the word. In the AM it downright hurts. I'm not going back til I can't stand it anymore. But never a day goes by that I don't take Ibuprofen, Tylenol, or aspirin. the aspirin works the best, but I need to be careful with it, and I know that.
Am I discouraged? A bit.
abby
5/24/22 - RTKR
<*)))><

 

[Campervan]

Hi Abby, good to hear from you. Sorry that your left knee is now getting worse, mine is too. I guess its only to be expected. I'm thinking the opposite to you and I won't wait until it gets as bad as my right one was. I don't want my left knee ligaments and muscles in the same shortened etc state that my right have been as I think that has hindered my recovery. Just my thought at this stage.

 

[amberpep]

Hi Margaret .... You're probably very wise for doing it that way. I just don't want to go through everything I had done before the last TKR ...... meniscectomy (2x), a brace, 2 rounds of something similar to Synvisc but I forget the name. It was one shot each week for 5 weeks, and fluid drained from my knee a few times. Maybe that's what they have to try before they do a TKR nowadays, I don't know.
Thanks for writing ..... it was good to hear from you .....
abby

 

[Jaycey]

Hi Abby, welcome back. Sorry to hear #2 knee is not behaving. But please don't wait until you can't bear it anymore. Every TKR is different. Take care!

 

[speccybecky]

An by, I never had any of those treatments you mentioned, just looked at x ray and sad 'treatment is a new knee , waiting lst is three months' ...and I nearly fell off the chair!

 

[amberpep]

Hi all ......
Well, it's Tuesday and I'm paying dearly for a wonderful weekend. My son lives in Olde Town Alexandria in VA, so I went over for the weekend - about an hour for me. I had a wonderful time, but did LOTS of walking .... went to the Museum of Natural History and Mt. Vernon (Geo. and Martha Washington's home). Well, by the time I'd go to bed my left knee (not the TKR knee) ached so badly I had to take Ibuprofen. The knee part ached and it hurt down both sides of my tibia. I came home yesterday (Monday) and today both knees are very sore .... the left one is the worst. I know my doctor told me the last time I saw him that the left knee was carrying the burden of walking for so long that it's little wonder it's hurting ..... it's deteriorated some also. I'm not going to go in to see him til Spring, and then only if it's still a problem. I know one thing, if I have to have another TKR, when I get out of the hospital I'm coming right home...... not going to the rehab. facility I was in before. That one was horrid.
So, here I sit, taking Ibuprofen, rubbing Arnica gel on my knees and then knee warmers on both knees. Wow! I feel like I'm falling apart!
abby
RTKR - 5/24/11
<*)))><

 

[Campervan]

Hi Abby, Sorry to hear your hurting. Give yourself some TLC and rest, ice (you know the drill) and I honestly think your non-TKR knee will settle down somewhat. But you and I both have the same thing - eventually our left will need doing and its just a case of when. Take it easy.

 

[amberpep]

Hi Margaret .... you were right .... my left knee is some better today, but I sure learned a lesson. I just can't spend several days in a row walking without paying for it. I don't think my 3 adult kids want to really let it sink in that Mom is getting a bit older. I truly think that at least 2 of them try to put it out of their minds and pretend it's not happening - denial.
I know at some point that knee will have to be done, but I'll have to be crawling around on my belly before I do. The other one really went very well, but I'm not one to jump on the table and say "just do it." When it must, then we'll take care of it.

 

[amberpep]

Hi all again ..... it's gotten very cold here, and I don't know if that's the reason both my knees are really hurting or not, but they both are. When I get up from a chair, I have to take the first few steps very slowly til the pain stops, and then it's better. My left knee really took a beating before the right one was replaced, and now it's "very unhappy." I don't really want to go to see my doctor again, but I'm wondering when it's time to go. I don't want to have any surgery done til the weather is warmer, and I don't know why the right one (the TKR one) is hurting.