Bilateral TKR BTKR 28th May 2019 - post op journal

[NikiT]

That’s so good to hear you are now returning to your near normal life Atlas. I’m now 10 weeks and feel pretty normal, sleeping well, walking and swimming again. I have two weeks before I have to go back to work part time. We are taking the next 10 days to head north for a holiday and my plan is to become more walk fit. I have been wondering if I should have still been doing my physio exercises I was originally given, however after reading many posts it seems to me that just day to day living is all that I may need now. My bend and flexion is good. I am very glad I had bilateral knee surgery too. I even danced a couple of weeks ago and had no knee pain the next morning. Very happy .

 

[Atlas_aus]

Hello everyone,

It has been a long while since I have been on here and obviously a lot has happened for both me personally and the world as a whole.... One good, one terrible...

Firstly to those that have been affected by this horrible virus I wish you my best. There are plenty of opinions and sites that catered for this virus so that is where I will leave it.

My recovery.

Nothing short of amazing.

I guess I have been one of the very lucky people that have had such great results. As bad as the first couple of weeks were, really due to the 'catheter complications' rather then the knee recovery, I have had a dream run, really.

Things I think worth mentioning, in no particular order :

• Rest, Ice, Repeat
• I took it very easy, I let my body tell me what I could and could not do. This was important.
• My Wife was amazing and without her help and support I know it would have been a totally different recovery
• Just going to the toilet and back to bed is about all the exercise I did for the first couple of weeks with very short walks around the house
• Physio was ok, but of little real use.
• Rest, Ice, Repeat

Timeline when did things start to be normal :

• 2 weeks - stairs, driving, cycling - not a lot but as I felt ok to do it.
• 1 month - walking longer distances - standing still was not good at this stage. Easier to sit and stand, egress of vehicle etc
• Steady progress, ROM was achieved without any particular exercise or effort. Straightening I spent lots of time on, but have yet to achieve full flat, but it does not seem to affect day to day life.
• I am restored to an old version of myself, long before I had bad knees, this is better than I had hoped for

I have always been an avid motorcyclist and I am happy to say I am back doing what I love. It's like I have been given a second chance with these new knees and I am taking full advantage.

Some things I was pleasantly surprised by :

• I can balance on one leg, which I couldn't do when I went for a job medical, which started me on this journey
• I was crouched down just the other day, putting air in my tyres, and realized what I was just doing, I had not done that in years !
• Ascending and descending ladders...

I am back to a point that my knees are a 'normal' part of my life, something that was missing for many years and caused great pain and stopped everyday life from happening.

I am very happy with the results and wanted to share that with people, as there never seems to be many good stories, just people that are having issues. Perhaps I am one of the lucky ones, I certainly feel so.

For those having issues I do hope you get them sorted.

Again, I am so glad this site existed when I started my journey it helped so much.

My Journey

Thanks everyone.

 

[Sara61]

@Atlas_aus Great feedback and very useful to others starting on this journey- I wish you continued success with your new knees and that you now enjoy life to the fullest- hope for us all xx

 

[Roy Gardiner]

You'll notice that I have merged your newest thread with your original recovery thread. For several reasons, we prefer that you only have one recovery thread:

• That way, we have all your information in one place. This makes it easier to go back and review your history before providing advice.
• If you start new threads, you miss the posts and advice others have left for you in the old threads, and some information may be unnecessarily repeated
• Having only one thread will act as a diary of your progress that you can look back on.

So please post any updates, questions or concerns about your recovery here.

 

[sistersinhim]

Great report about a super recovery!