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TKR Apricotpie and his right TKR

cleartoday said:
Apricotpie, I had my left TKR on August 5th. I have been following you as I an right behind you on the healing process. I seem to be doing pretty good. I am trying to back away from the pain meds. So, a med at night, over the counter starting when I wake up. As I have read above not moving it at night wakes me up. I like to bend my legs at night and this thing wont let me. Ive not had a full nights sleep yet. I walked quite a bit yesterday, and I am putting it to the test today. I have to get out of this chair and moving. This morning I fired up my smoker, and put on 4 briskets. My wife is helping me for the first time, and I feel I will need it before the day is over with. Thanks for posting up, your progress is helping me get past the learning curve.
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Last night I did not take a pain med at all for the first time.... well almost. I woke at 5:00 AM with the knee being sore so I popped an acetaminophen and slept a couple more hours. I have not had to touch the oxycodone for sleep purposed for at least four nights. Today, I may make my first outing the the store for a bit of grocery shopping. I have had good helpers but sometimes I think they have been too good, keeping me in my recliner when I should be out doing more of the normal things of life.
 
It's a bit early to go grocery shopping. If they have a motorized cart, be sure to ride in it. That will help some, but not much. My first grocery shopping short trip my knee looked like a balloon, ready to pop. That was all I could do for 2 days.
 
sistersinhim said:
It's a bit early to go grocery shopping. If they have a motorized cart, be sure to ride in it. That will help some, but not much. My first grocery shopping short trip my knee looked like a balloon, ready to pop. That was all I could do for 2 days.
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It was a short 20 minute trip that replaced my morning walk. Of course, I iced the knee upon returning home.


RTKR July 15, 2019
 
cleartoday said:
This morning I fired up my smoker, and put on 4 briskets. My wife is helping me for the first time, and I feel I will need it before the day is over with. Thanks for posting up, your progress is helping me get past the learning curve.
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4 smoked briskets! Now that’s a recovery strategy I like!


RTKR July 15, 2019
 
I so envy your renewed ability to sleep on your side. sigh. My knee is just not having it yet. Such a diva. :(
 
I'm thinking of adding this stretching exercise to my knee PT workout. I am wondering what the BoneSmart experts think of it.

Note: I stumbled across this on the Internet, so you have been warned.

It's called the Tailgate PT for the Knee. First, get your hands on a pickup truck. It doesn't even need to be street legal. Park it under a shade tree in the summer or a warm garage in the winter. Drop the tailgate down. Sit on the tailgate and swing your knees back and forth. On the backward swing gently force the knee to go a little farther than normal so you feel the stretch. Do this for as long as it takes you to down a few rounds of your favorite beer. If your knees are very sore afterwards, skip one beer during the exercise, and consume it when you are done as your reward.
 
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I like it. And I do have a pick up. Although I quit drinking years ago I can still do the exercise.
The briskets turned out really good. In the process I found out a good friend of mine got his leg crushed by a fork lift. So my wife and I spent this afternoon putting together a few meals the them.
Last week I asked my dr when I could go back to work. He said when I thought I could get off the pain med. so I have been pushing away from them. Taking only at night. Tylenol and Aleve during the day. So tomorrow is the big day. I set behind a desk and I plan on taking some ice bags. So we’ll see. Cooking the briskets had me up and on it quite a bit. And I went to church today.
So I’m going to give a shot.
 
You can do that exercise while sitting on the dining table, if it's strong enough. No need to buy a pick-up.:heehee:
 
6 weeks post surgery. On my 7th week.

My pedometer says I hit 7000+ steps yesterday. I walked a combined inside and outside of 3.5 miles. Sometimes I amaze myself. My easy ROM is still at about 95-100. I can with work push it to about 105. The therapist with some massage, warm-ups and a gentle nudge can get me to 110 degrees. I walked downstairs on my surgical knee yesterday. About 6 steps. It was stressing out a bit, but the knee did it.

FWIW, my other knee, the left which has a bit of arthritis in one spot, used to be called my 'good' knee. But, it is now in danger of losing that title to the surgical knee. Not yet. Perhaps not soon. But, the handwriting is on the wall.
 
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Hello @cleartoday. Welcome to Bonesmart! How about starting a recovery thread for yourself and tell us all about your replacement.
 
Can anybody explain why when I am finished with my weekly PT session, I can bend the knee to 105 degrees on my own, to 110 degrees with a slight gentle push from the therapist, But...... When I return home a few hours later I am stuck at the same 95 degree bend I had before the therapy? The only way to get past 95 degree is for me to use some form of outside force - push with the other foot, or lean into the bend using my body weight.
 
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That’s because your knee has not yet healed enough to maintain that higher number. There is a big difference between 95 and 110. That is not gentle help. It may feel like improvement at the time, but as you can see it’s temporary, and may even cause some extra swelling.

As you heal that better bend will stay. It can take a long time but it will come. Patience is the most important thing we have to exercise in this recovery.

Your knee knows what it’s doing. Give it the privilege of sorting itself out.
 
All that bending has made it swell a bit. But if you got there once, it's "in there." Do ice after any of those sessions.
 
Another day, and another bump in the road to recovery.

I got up this morning and while getting out of bed I looked down at my knee. What do I see but a small pea size ball of pus. YIKES! It's coming out of the side of the last scab I have, at the top of the incision. I dabbed it with a cotton ball to remove the puss, and then gently squeezed it several times, a few more small drops of blood and pus came out, much smaller than the first. I put a band-aid on it, reached for my phone and called the surgeons office.

About an hour later a nurse returns the all. I am in luck. This is the doctor's surgery day and he is normally out of the office. But, he is heading back in about 15 minutes to see another patient who also has a problem. He has time to see me also before his next surgery if I can get their inside a 1/2 hour. I make it there in record time and see the doctor.

He takes a look and explains that it could be a stitch that was trying to come out and allowed bacteria into the incision. Or it could be the stitch has dissolved, leaving a small open space inside the skin that fills with fluid. Bacteria love their new found open space in skin. No stitch is found, so he cleans the wound applies antiseptic cream and puts a band-aid on over it. I also get a Rx for Cephalexon. He doesn't think the wound will be a problem, but he sent some tissue out for a culture just in case. Once a day I have to remove the band-aid, and replace it with more antibiotic cream and a new clean band-aid.

And here I was bragging about how I can go upstairs and downstairs on my new right knee better than I can on my old left knee.
 
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I know it causes a major freakout, but suture reactions are actually really common. I had one that we treated with topical and oral antibiotic. It calmed down and then it popped back up. I'm just glad it's down again so it can't prevent the next upgrade surgery. Keep an eye on it, but don't let it make you crazy. It's not a huge setback, it's just a thing.

Isn't it a wonderful feeling to go up stairs with your shiny new knee that works just as it should? That was huge for me.
 
luvcats said:
I know it causes a major freakout, but suture reactions are actually really common.
<snip>
Isn't it a wonderful feeling to go up stairs with your shiny new knee that works just as it should? That was huge for me.
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Thanks for telling me your experience.

Best of luck on your next surgery.
 
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