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TKR Barnmom22's recovery thread<

No, you can't compare with anyone else, but it sounds like you are doing very well so far. Ups and downs are to be expected, but you can always come on here and express your feelings, many of us will understand and empathise. A few more weeks will make all the difference, I promise.
Tabby xxx
 
@KarriB, no, I didn't discuss work with him. But from his comments about other questions I think he would say it's up to me. He strikes me as having a don't baby the knee attitude. I told him we bought a weekend house that I haven't yet stayed at two hours out of city. He said go enjoy your house. But I am not ready for a two hour car ride--not even close. I haven't read your thread yet so I don't know what complications you suffered from but will read it now.

I might have to wait until September to resume work.
 
If you need to get away and sometimes a change of scenery is good, ride in the back with your knee propped up and ice with you. Quite a few people have had to travel distances for dr appointments and did it this way. But in a week or so you may feel up to it.

I wasn't on BoneSmart during my recovery, but there are details on my thread.

https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/one-good-leg.29940/
 
Dear @KarriB. Thanks very much for the link to your blog. I just read through it and feel so humbled by all you have endured. Yet you often reach out to others with support and advice. Your "voice" is kind and knowledgeable. Now I understand you learned the hardest way. I gather you haven't had the left knee done yet? Or did I miss that. I will be front row when you do cheering you on for the shortest least painful recovery ever!


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Thank you for your kind words. It was a rough time, but I learned and grew through it. Isn't that what we all want, for our troubles to not be in vein, to come out stronger and better? I'm sure that will be the case for you. :SUNsmile:
 
@Barnmom22 trust me you are not feeling anything the rest of us haven't, I'm at week 5 and still have to ice and elevate, my ROM was 101, when I saw my OS at two weeks it was 90 and he was happy, I think your doctor 's opinion is what counts, I'm still fighting lack of energy, I have lost my appetite again and nausea and light headedness on occasion, overall I feel like I'm doing well but all of these minor annoyances drive me crazy, I even feel very emotional today.

So you see we all throw our own pitty party, haha, but it's great that we have BS a safe place where we can vent, share our problems and also our successes and find out that what we are going through is normal and we all go through it.

I understand your feelings about returning to work, I also thought I would be able to do it much sooner, I'll be going back on August 1st, which is at 7 weeks, and I would love to be off a few more weeks, but I have to make the best of it.

We all need lots of patience with this recovery...you are doing fine and will continue to see small improvements on a daily basis which really add up when you look back on your recovery :flwrysmile:
 
Thanks @uva55. Guilty about my pity party today. For me managing my emotional responses to this disability is as much work as the physical responses. I am 65. Felt like I was 40 until a few months ago. Now I feel 80. I've never been ill or sidelined before. I can tell already though that I have grown and learned quite a few lessons from this. Feeling better this afternoon-roller coaster stable again.

Work is an issue for a lot of reasons. I earn not a penny unless I work so there's the loss of income angle. But I have saved for such an event so not a hardship. I have a lot of people counting on me though and I wish I didn't have to let them down. To be really honest though, I wouldn't mind just putting it off until September. Then I could heal my knee, and maybe get of of the city and refresh my soul. I've been working since 1973. 43 years. And I still feel guilty taking time off.


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@Barnmom22 I totally understand, I have always been very active, my husband and I love to travel, go for rides on his motorcycle, go dancing, due to my knee pain prior to my surgery we Were unable to do much of that and now after surgery, sitting for too long at a restaurant or a long car ride is a challenge so I know just how discouraging it can be. I also can't wait to get my life back, but it will happen for us.

As far as your work, I really think 4 weeks is way too early but maybe at 6 weeks you can ease into it a a few hours a day??? Remember that if you start too early and hurt your knee then you may be out even longer.
 
@uva55 love the image of you riding the motorcycle to the dance hall. It's such a blow to our body egos when we lose the joy of movement. I know you are gearing up for the challenge of returning to work soon. I hope to hear before too long that you are working the gears on your motorcycle! My great pleasure was tennis. I don't think I will be playing again. I've heard that tennis in particular puts too much stress on tkrs and shortens their life spans. But if I am able to walk and hike and swim and chase my puppy around the rusts and not be in pain I will be satisfied.


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@Barnmom22 I thought I give you a small laugh, in my previous post I said I was on week 5, well this Monday was only 4 weeks...I guess this has been a really long recovery, hahaha:shrug::bawl:

I guess I'm doing better than I thought :flabber:
 
You're doing fine. Don't ever feel that you can't have a pity party when you need to. We've all been there. It is very difficult going through this recovery. It also can at times make you feel very old. Have you considered playing doubles tennis? I was only told to not play singles. I'm hoping that if I can drop some extra weight that I can get back to it someday.:tennis::tennis:
 
@uva55 glad the clock is ticking slower and you gave me a chuckle because I look at the calendar a few times a day. I've lost track of time since I sleep little and am not working. The whole rhythm if life is different.


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@newlybionic about tennis...my os said I can play whenever I feel I'm ready. I'm just doing that Google research thing which I should not be doing and have read that it is ill advised. This has been a terrible experience and I don't want to do anything to increase the odds of having to go through it again.

Then again let's see how strong I am next spring when the courts are freshly brushed.....


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There was a time and a certain type of surgeon who cautiously said that tennis was okay but not singles. Tennis can be a bit of a problem as it's typical kind of turning and twisting movements, short hard stops and jumps that could (only 'could, mind you) cause the kind of sheering forces that night result in the tibial component coming loose. However, there is little or no evidence to support that so I think they've mostly given up on the advice!
 
Thanks Josephine. Believe me I am grateful for a mobile life sans tennis at the end of this recovery.

Today I am stopping Percocet and trying the Tramadol/ Tylenol regimen that so many have endorsed. So far so good. Pain is low. A little sweaty and shakey but I know that will subside.

My OS was not in favor of this but it's got to be better than the effects of oxy on my cognition and constipation.


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I've tried Seena, colace, miralax, and Metamucil. Not much help. But yesterday I tried milk of magnesia and got some relief. So I will stick with that for awhile.

By the way I started out at 170 pounds and am down ten. Not complaining as it's nice to lose some weight but I hope that's normal for this recovery.
 
I think most have a loss of appetite. I lost around 20lbs with my TKR and everything that went with it. Your appetite will return, unfortunately :groan:.
 
Never lost my appetite - wish I had! Only weight I lost was muscle and that was replaced with fat which takes up more room.


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