Bilateral TKR in January - I have questions

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When I hear you are walking two blocks I am so happy because my knee is so bad I can only walk within the rooms of my house. Scared of the surgery, but excited to start my new life.
 
I too like being independent. A tray that fits over the walker hand grips allowed me to roll things from place to place like my ice bottles, meals etc. I have wheels on the front of my walker and tennis balls on the back it's smoother than the pick up kind! Make sure your family members read the articles on BoneSmart so they know the right things to do and understand what you are doing. Once my hubby read some post op articles he seemed more confident helping me and got off my case to "get your self up and moving". Time makes everything better.
 
:wave:Hi from another resident from PA. As a current nurse and a definite take charge type of person I found that after a couple of days I was taking care of all my needs as I live alone and have three small dogs to let out and back in several times all day. Get your 'nest' set up. We are here to answer any of your questions.
 
@newlybionic i am very much independent woman and I know now I hurt but want to get things done.. i also know my hub will not feed my wild birds like I want and that will drive me outside quicker in Jan. i will have to make him a list! ha like that will work! i will hopefully be able to do for myself and not bug him too much


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I wouldn't be going outside into a yard in January in PA with a new TKR unless you have a tunnel. Put the bird feed near a door and throw it out. The last thing you need is falling on the ice and snow.
 
I had a BTKR nine years ago, and I was 80% excited to be losing a painful and restrictive lifestyle---the other 20% of the time I was nervous. I can tell you that, in looking back, I would have done it the same way again. One pre-op, one surgery, one hospital stay, and one recovery.

My recovery took some time---and you need to be patient and realize that your knees will set up the schedule for recovery---anything you think you should be doing---either too fast or too slowly--is entirely up to the knees.
 
Hopefully he will be able to handle a 'short' list! Just be careful going outside as a slip can cause you to have some additional pain and slow down your recovery. Maybe a trusted neighbor could feed the birds if your husband balks.
 
@newlybionic i shall call my trusted daughter and bribe her. ha eventually she will need new knees. ( has OA already at 43) i have some trax spring like thing to put on my shoes. for traction.


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Kathi, I just realized where you are in PA. You are in the snow belt! Definitely call your daughter!
 
@Kathi 777 I too am making my hubby a list. There are some chores around our home that just won't get done the way they normally do on a daily basis and I will be okay with that. Now, tell that to my 150 mastiff - I hope she gets the message pretty quickly when I open the door and tell her to go potty without me. :) I hope your pre-op went well. It will be a long, slow, recovery and like others said, we shouldn't expect daily improvements, but look at it more as weekly improvements or even monthly and eventually we'll get there.
 
@jaschembra the fish need fed, the birds, the cats need scooped and fed, dogs in and out, lol and yes, we burn wood so please trot on down to the basement lol yes, this should be a wake up call for him what all i take care of . good thing we have a fenced yard so the dogs are on their own. do their thing and get back in.


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My three small dogs learned very quickly to go out on their own. I live alone so they had no choice!
 
i will have to make him a list! ha like that will work!
Message to Mr Kathi.

Hi. You have an opportunity here. You've been looked after for years, now's your chance to pay just a bit of it back. Kathi is going to need lots of rest and sitting and recovering for at least a month; if she tries to do too much, she is likely to worsen her recovery. This is serious stuff; now it's over to you.
 
thank you Roy, KarriB and Celle .. i have a serious question, i am a stomach or side sleeper, how soon will i be able to sleep on my side with the bilateral done? i am putting that at the top of my list for the DR. i have sleeping issues now, so i know surgery will not make that better until the knees are more pain free.


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I'm a side sleeper and I couldn't sleep on my side for 4 weeks and then it was for short periods. I was able to lay on my right side and lay my left knee the RTKR? Some side sleepers find using a pillow between their legs helps, but I'm not sure how that works for BTKRs. If you go to the knee replacement forum and click on the bilateral banner you'll see posts just from BTKRs. Those threads may be helpful to you.
 
At 7-8 weeks post bilateral, I was just starting to be able to comfortably sleep on my side. The top leg needed to be offset from my bottom leg (not directly above it: legs do not touch each other) and I needed to put a pillow between the top leg and the bed. Now that I am almost 10 weeks out it is getting easier to roll over and get my legs in the offset position. Sometimes I need the pillow and sometimes I don't. Stomach sleeping still isn't particularly comfortable but I think part of that is I get too tangled in the bedding trying to get into the right position, and then I need to spread my legs more and run into my husband. If I had the bed to myself it might be easier.
 
@Kathi 777 I too have dogs, cats, turtles, my outside birds, birdbath and a horse! My hubby and yours might be long lost brothers. My girlfriends have been AMAZING! I set up a schedule for visits and had a list of " daily activities" that needed to happen. When they arrived and said "what can I do for you?" I handed them the days list. Pre-op I had made zip bags of the bird suet and seed and had a reusable gallon bottle for the water. I think they really felt good about having something to do when they came and I didn't have to nag to get the things that are important to me done. Don't risk going out on the snow and ice to do the birds. You won't want any setbacks on the recovery journey!
 
@Kathi 777 re sleeping. Although it wasn't easy getting on my stomach I have been able to sleep on my tummy from day two. I get into the bed facing downward vs trying to flip. Side lying is still difficult but every once in a while I can get comfortable.
 
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