LTKR 4 Month (18 weeks) Post-Op Status Report
Time for another update and hopefully provide info for anybody wondering what to expect at this point. I can certainly understand how anybody who doesn't realize that complete recovery takes a year or so would be feeling pretty bad about now, thinking they had made a mistake and had ruined their knee forever. I am seeing progress on a month-to-month basis and I'm satisfied with where I am right now in my recovery. It's not perfect yet, but there is on-going improvement.
First of all, for Christmas I had 11 people for dinner and some of them were houseguests for a few days so I really overdid it for several days last week. For 3 or 4 days after Christmas my knee was badly swollen and I had the spasms pretty bad. But then it settled down and now it's feeling pretty good.
The spasms haven't happened much, if at all, in the last few days. No, the muscle relaxers didn't help at all with that, it seems to just be a matter of time and healing. I suspect if I overdo it again like I did at Christmas the spasms would be back, but there are no big plans until mid-March so I should be good in that regard.
Sleep is still an issue, even without the spasms. I can sleep on my side for a while, until the bursitis in my hips makes me move. I got a Fitbit for Christmas so now I can officially say I'm averaging between 3 and 4 hours of sleep a night, all broken up into chunks of 1 to 2 hours with an hour or more of wake-time between the sleep chunks. I've had exactly 1 night where I made it all the way through without taking some kind of sleep aid. I know those can be addictive so this weekend I'll try harder to get through the night without taking anything. When I have to get up and go to work, though, it's hard to avoid doing what I need to do to get some sleep. I still sleep in the recliner at least half the time, which was something I had to warn my houseguests about so they wouldn't freak out if they got up in the night and saw me lurking in the family room......
I can walk around pretty well now, although the knee and hip on my non-operated leg are also bad and will need replaced too and they cause more pain than the operated knee. What hurts more than walking, though, is standing for any length of time. I can walk for a longer period of time than I can stand still. Seems weird to me, but that's how it is. Anyway, when I concentrate on my walking I don't even limp and I look like a normal person again. Yay! However, when I've been sitting for more than a minute or two, getting up is very painful and when I'm in public I'm sure I look like I'm 104 years old since I slowly hoist myself out of my seat and then stand there for a few moments waiting to see if the leg is going to work, and then slowly hobbling to the door. After a few steps it starts working again, but those first movements are tough!
I have been icing about once a day and haven't really felt any need to do more. I probably should, though.
I get an occasional twinge of pain in the scar but rubbing a scar gel on it seems to do the trick. It's still sore and numb on the outside of the knee but that rarely bothers me. Don't ask me how it can be both numb AND sore, but it is. It's also a bit tight when I bend it but I expect that'll loosen up with time. When I left PT at 6 weeks post-op my flexion was 120 and it's still at least that, if not better. I can stretch it out flat, like when laying bed, but it's not comfortable for long like that and I end up either bending it to the side or putting a pillow under it or heading for the recliner. I'm still not doing any exercises other than normal living, but I'm starting to think I can head back to the gym pretty soon. We'll see how it feels after another week or so.
So I still have sleep issues, getting up after sitting is quite painful, and standing for any length of time is difficult. That's where I am after 4 months (18 weeks). Your mileage may vary, of course.
NOW I have to start thinking about replacing the other knee in April - which means going back to square one. That's kind of depressing, but at least I'll know that's the end of it and have a better idea of what to expect (keeping in mind that every knee is different and the second one might not go as well as the first). And at some point my hip will need replaced too, but after two TKRs that should be a walk in the park....
United States
Definite evidence that our knees continue to heal even if we don't do exercises!
