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TKR Barnmom22's recovery thread<

@KarriB I'm glad to hear you say that your recovery continued to improve past one year. It's heartening to have a sense that there is no "timeline" at which everything stops. And you are sooo right about there being nothing easy about this recovery! I haven't read your recovery thread but now I will.
 
Barnmom22 you have articulated my feelings so keenly. The emotional response was overwhelming....feeling helpless, dependent, old, etc. But, it passed! It was a temporary response to an enormous assault on the body.
I think you mentioned in an earlier post that you are a therapist. Well, if so, this is the perfect time for you to take time off. It's almost August....the time when all therapists take vacations!
As the psychiatrists I worked with used to say, August is when all the patients in New York get better....(I'm a psychiatric nurse)....maybe a lighthearted joke but it is the time for vacation. Your patients will understand and they will be happy you have taken time to recover so you can focus on them.[/user]
 
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@mamazipp thanks for the encouragement to take August off. Today I drafted a plan, I think I can work on a limited basis for three weeks starting 7/25 and then take three weeks off--out of this hot noisy city-- and back full steam in the fall. Many of my patients request evening sessions which I try to accommodate. However I am exhausted these days by 6 pm so I won't be able to work nights for awhile. And I think I will sit on couch with my leg up and icing and they can sit in my chair. If our work is good that won't matter at all. An interesting double standard often arises about the August thing. Patients want to be able to come and go but don't like it when therapists needs or plans alter the schedule. Just human nature.

Now what in the world to do about my hair?????
 
When I couldn't shower I just stuck my head in the bathroom sink. I did this in transition care too. Bed head with short hair is very very ugly. Then I sat on the toilet seat to dry, style. But days went by with no makeup. When I returned to the transition unit (I spent 2 weeks there) three months later to deliver chocolates and thank you cards the nurses didn't recognize me. Once I told them who I was they were very complimentary. I just didn't feel like myself for so long, I remember telling my favorite PT that I was usually very chic. Haha! My favorite aide did recognize me and came running for a big hug!
 
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I completely understand looking terrible and not like yourself. I'm sure I looked horrible when I went to my 2 week app't after my last surgery. I was really, really, really ill and have no clue to this day if my hair was washed, what I looked like, or even what I was wearing, and at the time I didn't care nor even think about it, all of which is probably a good thing. :rotfl: When my OS walked into the room at my appointment last Friday, his face lit up and he said,"You sure look a lot better than the last time I saw you." I'm sure I did as I know I had taken a bath, shaved my legs, was wearing a summer dress and had washed and done my hair. But most of all I wasn't falling over and passing out as I almost was the last time. I shudder to think about how awful I had to have looked and acted.
 
Same here! After the infection was gone and I'd have my monthly check ups the office staff and nurses would comment on how good I looked. I think that's when I realized how sick I was and how bad I looked.
 
I know what you mean, I also washed my hair in the kitchen sink. I didn't wear makeup either for some time, the first time I unzipped my makeup bag my cosmetics screamed, poor things, I scared the heck out of them.

I have always believed that you feel better if you dress up and wear makeup, but I felt so crappy for so long and was so drained that just thinking about the steps to putting on makeup made me feel exhausted, so I settled for clean, and my crazy hubby would wake up in the morning and greet me with a "good morning beautiful" even though I looked like a troll with my short hair standing up all over the place. I finally got a haircut yesterday, I feel so much better, I'm trying to figure out how to change the polish on my toes, that's tonight's entertainment.
 
@Barnmom22 your going back yo work sounds doable, I'm glad you are going to be able to get away for a while. I think we all need stress therapy after TKR.
 
My toenails got too long and I really didn't feel up to getting a pedicure, so just cut them myself. What a disaster! I'm never very good at it, but trying to add a knee that won't bend to an already difficult situation was a really big mistake. And I don't do well bending at the waist-I do need to breathe. Anyway, my toenails look so awful now, I even cropped them out of the pictures I posted of my knees yesterday! :rotfl: Now I have to suffer them looking terrible until they grow back enough to go get them done as I usually do.....:gaah:
 
So glad you mentioned your hair, barnmom! At first others were styling mine for me, and I looked exactly like a parrot. Now by the time I'm done with my shower and getting dressed, I'm too sick of standing to blow dry and style, so it's au naturale! Not a pretty sight, and time for a hat!
 
@Barnmom22 how far is your office? Sounds like you have a good job and plan for going back to work. You can elevate and ice at work! Can you ease in that first week? We has a pediatrician who went back to his office hours around week 3 I think.
 
@KarriB I live in NYC and my home and office are in the same high rise-5 floors apart. So three minute commute via elevator. Lucky setup which made being a working mom doable as I was always able to sculpt my schedule around the kids needs and get home in a jiffy when need be.


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Catching up with this thread has made me laugh so much (and I was crying because my dog escaped and I thought I'd lost her), it did me more good than any medicine. Thanks to everyone for your ability to see the funny side of things.
I've had a problem with my toenails too. I cut them short the night before the surgery as I was afraid it would be a long time before I could reach them, but the oddest thing is that the nails on my big toes have not grown at all since then. I think they went into shock. I bet no one else had that happen.
On the subject of makeup, I am so pleased we are all thinking about prettifying ourselves and not feeling like this

[Bonesmart.org] Barnmom22's recovery thread<


Tabby xxx
 
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@Tabbycat I keep saying the only way to make thru this crazy, exhausting time is to keep our sense of humor and laugh at ourselves from time to time.:rolleyes:
 
Today I decided to go to the gym in my building and try a few minutes on the recumbent exercise bike. I had to walk down two flights of stairs using the cane.*Managed a few rotations but had to lean to the left to do so. Afraid I will wrench my back so just rocked the pedals back and forth a bit for about five minutes. Now I'm resting and icing. Guess I wasn't ready for the bike.

Separate topic: my OS suggested I eat a lot of red meat, spinach, kale and broccoli. I guess for iron. My husband loves this steak every day plan. And it tastes great to me. But I wonder if anyone else has heard this advice? Additionally I would love to hear what you are eating to aid healing.

*my empathy for handicaps is growing by leaps and bounds. Going to speak to the condo board and find out what they can do to make the gym accessible. I can navigate the stairs but what about those who can't?
 
@Barnmom22 I'm still not eating much, my doctor prescribed iron pills for 4 weeks...I'm also craving hamburgers from time to time, which is something I never eat, maybe my body know it needs the protein, the little that I eat I try to make it protein, but I force myself to eat it, I did made a pot of Cuban black beans yesterday and I was able to eat some, that's a great source of protein.
 
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I agree that we have to laugh to keep from crying! And laughing at ourselves is the best way to do it! @Tabbycat, I'm so glad you found your dog!
 
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