TKR Careful what you wish for

[Jozilla]

Wow you are doing !! It is wonderful having the surgery behind us. Sounds like your surgeon and hospital were both great! You are doing well with your rom too! You have been thru an awful lot it sounds like with your accident. Here is to a pain free recovery!

 

[tiredwife]

@Reebok My husband just added exercises to his daily living. While sitting with leg up he does the pushing knee down (under its own power) one, if going up the stairs he stops and does some stretches with his foot up on the next step or two, and then lean forward on it to bend it. Leg raises if sitting in a chair, and sitting heel slides. ETC. He just does them randomly throughout the day and it works for him.

 

[lavender]

Hi @Reebok Welcome to the bonesmart family and nice to have you with us. Great to have your surgery over and hoping they are keeping track of your medications to make sure your pain levels are in control. Take it easy and give yourself time to rest and do not let anyone push or do anything to hurt your knee. I wish I had found bonesmart before surgery did not know about it until it was suggested maybe it would help and this was at 3 weeks. You will do great it just takes time and so much to manage at first. I found the sliding my leg for the one exersize very difficult just could not push it as far as pt wanted this resulted in lots of swelling. It seemed the way she had mine scheduled I seemed to just finished the first round and then another round was waiting made me feel exhausted. The advice to take it at your own pace do not overdo it was given to me after 3 weeks of doing it the pt way and slowing down the pace made things go a lot better. I thought if I kept trying to do the exercizes my bend would reach the standards set. It just made the swelling worse. I am sorry that you had such a difficult time that the accident has caused so much for you to have to handle.

You are very brave to have made it through your injuries so well and know that your wife would just want the very best for you I managed to life my leg early on just felt like it was made of cement and very surprised when the pt who came to our home first visit insisted on lifting my leg onto her shoulder couldn't understand why but know it really hurt. I am now just past a year since surgery so happy that I had the replacement on my right leg . I had second thoughts at the beginning but quality of life has been gained now looking to my left replacement (but not the pain)which I know will help even more. Best wishes for you and hoping things go smooth for you. Holly

 

[marmora]

@Reebok only getting to internet now, it is almost 8 pm Dublin time/Saturday. Impressed with your progress and your recovery seems to be very similar to mine. My OS doesn't do the CPM, but encourage ice, ice,ice and again like you without elevation.Maybe our two Orthro Surgeons read Bone Smart !

Haven't had shower yet and really looking forward to that.

Take care and hope your sleeping improves.

Cathie in Dublin

 

[Lovestoread]

So glad things went so well for you! Isn't it great to have this behind you? As everyone says, just don't overdo! Ice will be your best friend!


Sent from my iPad using BoneSmart®

 

[Reebok]

And my next post will be from home.
Released this morning!
Bend @ 85 all exercises demonstrated to physio at the required level.
Surgeon happy.
Me too!

 

[tiredwife]

@Reebok way to go! May you continue to have a great recovery!

 

[Reebok]

At home, relaxing on the couch, my new home away from home.
Everything supposedly under control.
Nice to be home.
Big shout outs to anyone else having this done, it IS worth it, even in the early days.

 

[tiredwife]

@Reebok My husband said it was a relief to come home. He was a little scared of the stairs, luckily they are short flights and he did great on them. Possitive attitude will really help you.

 

[lavender]

Hi and congratulations going home will be wonderful your own enviroment and your wife with you. Take time to rest when tired , medication when time and wishing you painfree days and a smooth recovery. Best wishes Holly

 

[sleenie]

Congratulations on a successful surgery. Your positive attitude will take you far. Lots o stages of rehab to go thru yet but it only gets better. My OS is like yours, only elevation was in the CPM machine but had lots of ice. Said he even may stop the CPM soon also as he is not convinced it really helps that much.

You will have the urge to do more than you should but your knee will tell you to stop in many ways. Best of luck on your recovery.

 

[Reebok]

Yeah, the balance thing is a juggling act.
Want to get back to normal life, but am a long way from that at present.
Just concentrating on doing my exercises, resting, icing, and elevating.
Like the exercise where you gently pull back on the leg with a sheet or belt to get more rom.
You are in control of where comfortable is and pain starts.
Likewise, the swings where you let the legs swing, and gently coerce the operated leg into flexing more.
You can spend a lot of time on these two, and still only do two sets of ten, but you get a lot from them.
I am not a very patient patient. But I am learning to be.
Dont want to overdo it, but dont want to limit the recovery by not doing enough.

 

[tiredwife]

@Reebok Sounds like you are in contol, good! Do not forget the trying to get the back of the knee pushing into the bed exercises. Important to extension.

 

[sleenie]

It won't take long before you figure out what is too much. Lol

 

[Reebok]

Doing the exercises religiously, and today managed to ambulate around on a single crutch comfortably.
Have over 90 degrees of rom now, day 5, can comfortably sit, lie down, stand and walk.
Will take it easy, rest, ice and do what I am told for a while yet, has worked so far.
Pain levels are about a 1-2 normally, 2-3 after exercises.
So glad I had this surgery.
Dont want to brag, then karma might come and bite me. But good news should be shared right?

 

[tiredwife]

@Reebok You are doing amazing! So very glad for you! Now don't get upset if you do have a bad day because it happens, but I hope you don't have any bad days. There is a new person on the pre-op from Australia with questions maybe you can help with. Maybe you could look her up. I hope you don't mind I tagged you to her thread?

 

[lorl]

Hi, how encouraging is yr story, thanks for sharing the details. 100% agree, good news needs to be shared. I don't think you are bragging, just telling it how it is for you. If karma does what they say it does then goodness and optimism will be heading yr way.

Good to hear an Aussie experience. As I read the various posts I have wondered if our experiences are different because of the differences in our health system. Hard to tell if it is. Nonetheless good to hear positive experiences from "a local".

Sounds like you are having a really good journey. Long may it continue, more power to you.
We grew up on Melbourne so I appreciate what a lovely place Ferntree Gully is. Sounds as like you enjoy life there.

 

[marmora]

@Reebok Great to be able to keep up with your recovery progress and really admire your positive and realistic attitude towards your recovery.

While I can read posts, the wi-fi here in the hospital is beyond patchy and goes down through out the day and can be in the middle of a post and it goes down. It's on now, so trying to catch up on posts.

I was also noticing while the Aussie, UK, US and Ireland hospital stay length, rehab, at-home PT, or outpatient PT, may be different our exercise routines and goals seem very similar. And it is through BoneSmart that I have learned that.

Wasn't there a Disney song that goes, "It's a Small World After all "

Take care of you.

 

[letsgo]

@marmora there is a song "it's a small world after all" This group of people is real proof of it. Or at least it makes us feel close anyway. We are all there for one another thru this bittersweet event.

 

[kneeper]

You're doing great! Definitely cause for sharing and celebrating.