Revision TKR Chocolate at midnight<

[Dabber]

Well sort of crashed today. No food/little sleep yesterday evening/night and difficult morning, felt really ill, iced elevated and went to bed for 4 or 5 hours this afternoon.
Celebrating wedding anniversary tomorrow with a nice meal in London, already postponed to the latest date possible, very smart hotel and I'm on my knees before I go, well one good knee, Cheshire Oak firmly misbehaving, shoulder heading for frozen shoulder.
Pity party tonight.
Sue.

 

[Dabber]

3 months out of TKR, so I thought I'd update, if only for myself.
All seems to be going according to plan.
Reflecting back over the last 3 months, my first issue was pain control that I didn't get to grips with until the third week. I had a lot of pain in hospital. It wasn't well controlled, although every other aspect of the care there was really good. I found brain fog with meds really difficult and also, unlike most people, I suffer terrible stomach upsets with changes of diet/routine and with many meds. Loperamide rather than Movicol for me.

My ROM is about 120 on a good day. I still have one more physio session to go but it's never been aggressive physio, more a chat, sympathy, an aided stretch for the first few sessions, advice on the few simple exercises I should do for the stage I was at and ROM measurement.
I now do stretches, squats, lunges and the exercise bike. I can go downstairs foot after foot, but not up, maybe my stairs are steep but I always found going up far more difficult than down. I do remember trying to find a comfortable bit of the knee to put weight on and pulling myself up by the hand rail.

Now I'm in No Man's Land, I don't have the stamina to do much but look physically quite well.

Sleep is in general much better, the terrible shooting knee pain I used to get trying to turn onto my left side has all but gone although sometimes a big wave of pain sweeps through and settles in the joint when I try to move the knee during the night.
I try to walk heel to toe, use a walking stick when in crowds, have the famous tight band feeling, rest ice elevate as necessary and take paracetamol or co-codamol when needed, most often first thing in the morning. I still do a lot of reading/watching recorded programs/films.

My pacemaker implant site is settling down, although I noticed lots of palpitations to start with, they seem to be settling down too. It's set to kick in when my heart rate goes below 60BPM, previously that was most of the time, with long pauses between beats. I have a check up for that next week.

I am a (very) mature Open University Student (Language Studies at the moment), I've asked for the next academic year off, as with the 2 operations, an organic garden, greenhouses and a 50s house, 3 children with partners and 5 little grandchildren, we run a busy extended household......school runs, regular and irregular grandchild care, inset days etc.

Would/will I have it done again....yes, I remember all too well the grinding pain of OA, being unable to sleep/walk the half mile into town. I remember the year before last when I was trying to cook Christmas dinner for 13 and groaning. My Dd said, "Don't sigh mum," my reply was, "It's the pain dear." Last year I said no, I can't do it.

Sue.

 

[Toothfairy]

Hi Dabber, I have just found our thread again and have caught up with it.
You sound like you are doing really well. You have made a lot of progress in the three months since your TKR and have squeezed in a pacemaker op too. What a star.
I am six months out from my first TKR , left, and have made a lot of progress over the second three months.
You sound like a very busy lady. Enjoy those lovely grandchildren ,
Hugs, Toothfairy.

 

[tashia]

Please take care and go slow. Make sure you stay out of pain. Take care and keep us informed so we know how you are doing. Tashia

 

[Bionic woman2]

Celebrating wedding anniversary tomorrow with a nice meal in London, already postponed to the latest date possible, very smart hotel and I'm on my knees before I go, well one good knee, Cheshire Oak firmly misbehaving, shoulder heading for frozen shoulder. Pity party tonight.

Dang! I missed a Pity Party. I love those. I throw great ones too. lol
Seriously, hope you're feeling better and happy belated anniversary.

squats

SQUAT! you can SQUAT! Susie you are my hero! Could you squat before you had knee replacement? I can't remember the last time I was able to do one, let alone do one with pain. I think it may have been 10 years ago when I worked in preschool.

Glad you made it safely to your 3 month anniversary with no regrets. Smart move on postponing your studies. give yourself a minute to re-combobulate. Didn't you have a trip to France planned? or was that someone else... I may need to go back a couple of pages in your thread.

Just wanted to pop in and check on you. Sorry I have been scarce on here. Had a big Pity Party of my own a couple of weeks ago. Now I just have a whine and cheese social every once in a while.


Type to you later

 

[Bionic woman2]

little men attacking the underside of both kneecaps.

You have them too? What do they want!? My left tree trunk is in absolute protest mode today. It is officially more painful than my RPKR leg. Oh well, it will need to hold it's horses as it will get it's turn under the knife in about two weeks.

 

[Dabber]

Thank you so much Toothfairy tashia Bionic woman2

I thought I'd spoken too soon, had 2 nights and days of swollen knee and pain, finally went for a walk to our grandchildren's house where Dh was looking after them as it was an inset day, struggled walking, the pavements are dreadfully uneven too but after sitting for a bit found the knee had loosened up considerably. Came home and elevated and iced and feel much better. Contrary knees!

Ha ha with the squat!! My physio calls it a squat and a lunge, it's more of a dip and a step forward. He asked me to start trying to stand from sitting with the aid of hands/arms.....in your dreams I thought. Yikes, only 2 weeks to your next op!!

I cancelled the course in France, I saw the light after the pacemaker fitting. I'm so glad I did, I'd never in a million years have managed it.

Sue.

 

[Bionic woman2]

Sorry you had to cancel for Parisian Excursion , but you'll get there.

Now about the squat, lol Okay... gotcha, but you'll get there too. Soon we'll both be doing the Russian Kozachok dance... HEY!

 

[Dabber]

Erm, if you say so!!

 

[Bionic woman2]

Hi Sue, just saw your avatar and thought about how my dad (may he R.I.P.) use to say "Do the Susie Q!" while he was dancing with me.

Hope you're having a kneerrific day.

 

[Dabber]

I haven't been keeping up very well with posts, will look when I have a bit of time. Went for my first Pacemaker check up...2-3 weeks post op. All is well, it's healing nicely and kicking in 10% of the time. Decided to have appointments at the Cardiology hospital although it's a long way to travel it's the best centre in the NW.
Knee is a bit of a pain, literally, but I'm pretty sure it's OK. Not sure at 3-4 months whether to take regular meds or as and when or what really. I'm doing as and when, paracetamol or co-codamol either strength depending.
Daily, it's finding that balance between rest and activity and being "the knee," it has it's own thoughts that I don't usually find out about until afterwards!
All is relatively good though.....hairdressers and gossip later.
Sue.

 

[Toothfairy]

Hi Dabber,
great news that your pacemaker is settling in well.
If your knee is causing you pain it might be an idea to go back to regular meds for a week or two.
Enjoy the hairdressers.
Toothfairy x

 

[Bionic woman2]

It's so nice to hear from you. Seems you had a little more on your plate than the rest of us standard knee people. A pacemaker working properly is much more important than my knee. :iagree: I can always go somewhere and sit down, when my knee acts up. Glad your pacemaker is "playing nice." The knee on the other hand must be related to mine. For instance your comment below...

"the knee," it has it's own thoughts that I don't usually find out about until afterwards!

MmmHmm, Sounds a lot like mine. I can start off feeling great, then do something normal (which if I was truly on the healing timeline of the miraculous "3 months" I should be able to do! ) and it stiffens up like an ole tree trunk again. I KNOW this will pass. It has to. Guess we have to hang in there until then. I had a couple of good mornings where I thought, Oooo... maybe "Groundhog Day" is over with. Then my knee sees it shadow and runs back inside.


Oh well, this too shall pass. Hopefully with the right medicine dosage you can ease the pain a little.

Gotta get moving, have a Drs appointment this morning. It's not for my knee, I have to take care of the rest of my body too.

Have a good as it can get today day!

 

[Dabber]

Hope your appointment went well
Maybe our knees just need to GROW UP a bit!!
Had my hair cut today, was in two minds about whether to reveal the secret of hair restoration to my stylist

 

[Bionic woman2]

Thanks, my appointment went went, it wasn't for my immature knees. I guess I better stop acting GROWN and sit down somewhere till they're mature enough to hang with me.
So what's your secret? Was it the knee surgery, like the hair now growing on my knees? So, do you like your new cut? It always takes me a minute to get adjusted to my hair after a salon visit.

 

[Dabber]

Yes, our famous hairy knees, actually my foot is a little hobbit-like too.
I've had the same cut for many a year now, it just gets slightly greyer each time....a bob. I did once or twice have it with a deep red layer just below the top, I loved it but then I really got too old and grey so I thought I'd grow old naturally and disgracefully.

 

[Bionic woman2]

Don't even talk about grey hair! I look like I'm 100! I started going grey in my 20's. It was cute then. I wanted it to go all grey so I could add rainbow colors too it. YES, that's what I said. That was during my wanna be Punk Rock stage. Needless to say, IT'S NOT CUTE NOW. I almost have to color my hair every 2-3 weeks to keep from looking like GRANDPA from the Munster's TV show. lol See below, although mine comes in more in the top crown of my head. A streak would be nice but Noooooooooooo

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Figured you could use a good laugh. Feel free to delete the pic, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Dabber]

Going out to an open day at my language centre, then coffee with a friend was TOO MUCH! Elevating, icing, resting and weeping today. It was good at the time, but it's payback day today.

 

[Bionic woman2]

Sue, I know all about doing too much , but CONGRATULATIONS you are know a member of the ODIC (Over Do It Club. ) Try not to abuse your privileges by swiping your card too much, otherwise our fearless president daughter stalker will have to come and take your card away.

I keep mine safely tucked away in the back of my wallet. BE CAREFUL THOUGH, sometimes criminals swipe your card without you knowing and you end up paying for it later.

 

[daughter stalker]

Congratulations on being a new member of our ODIC! Please don't over use this card as Bionic woman2 stated, I will have to revoke your card.

All kidding aside, please take it easy. It really isn't fun overdoing things. Try to take it easy because your knee is the boss!

Feel better soon. Take care