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TKR Christine's Post Op Recovery

Christine, at least your team won. And you had a good time at the game. And your husband got to prove how awesome he was by standing in line for the ice. And you learned a lot about how long you can comfortably sit with your knee bent. Sorry your trip was cut short, though. I'm sure you were looking forward to seeing your friends. Any chance they might be able to come visit you?
 
Try to organize my friends to come visit is like herding cats. I have two groups of friends, my Gaelic friends, (I travelled 3,000 miles to learn my own language), and my geek friends that I met through going to conventions and joining fan groups. The Gaelic crowd came for a visit a few weeks ago, but the geeks, well, they are the difficult ones. Full of good intentions but hard to pin down. I have a few friends who belong to both groups and one of them is a good organizer. I'm leaving it up to her.

My knee survived the trip home and doesn't feel too bad now that I've been icing and resting. It does tend to bounce back quite quickly after being over used and that is a good thing. Have to be ready for work on Monday.
 
It's good to hear the knee is bouncing back. I hope you're being kind to it today. Bummer about those cabbies that drove away. :(
 
Worked for 4 hours today and will be doing the same again tomorrow. My knee hurts but I did it and felt a bit more normal. I just wish I could get rid of the tight feeling around my knee. It hasn't really eased much at all in weeks.
 
@cairistiona60 I have been absolutely AMAZED that in the past few days that tightness that you speak of has all but disappeared! It no longer feels like my knee is in a vice or has a tight band around it all the time! When I get tired and it needs icing and elevating, the tightness returns but diminishes after a while!! So, hang in there... It will go away!!!
 
I worked two days in a row! Yay me!! Off tomorrow for Physio then back to work Thursday and Friday. Still just doing 4 hours a day but it will go up to 6 hours next week. Not being able to ice my knee during the day is a problem. The girls in the office offered to get me a bag of ice today but the bags are too big, we don't have a freezer and I only use about 1/4 of a bag. I didn't want to put them out, they have been very good to me so far. The boss is still sympathetic but he wants things done and I'm not sure how long his patience will last. His wife had her knee done 18 months ago and I'm sure he is comparing my level of function with hers. Problem is, I don't know how quickly she recovered.

The good thing is that I am a law clerk (paralegal), in a personal injury law firm, so my boss wants to be seen as a compassionate, accommodating employer because if he treats his staff badly, people will question how he will treat his injured clients. The co-worker who was a bit distant when I first went back has warmed up a bit, but our new articling student stole my chair. I was off for two months and he stole my specially ordered ergonomic chair. I got it back. He said he had borrowed it because the arms were adjustable. Ha! Get your own chair Mr. Junior soon to be lawyer. Actually I'm always very nice to the students because one day they could be my boss!

Anyway, this is supposed to be about knees. Mine still hurts, it's still swollen and tight and I have a new pain at the back. It's just a niggling ache that comes and goes. Here's hoping it goes.
 
Spoke to pt today when I went in to do the anti gravity treadmill. He said that when I go back to full time hours at work his job will be done. I have full ROM and all I need to work on is strengthening. I bought one of those step exercise things to practice going down stairs good leg first and I have my recumbent bike. So the week after next I will be done with pt. I'll miss the treadmill but I won't have time to use it if I'm at work for 8 hours a day.
 
Major swelling after work today. I am going to have to get the girls to bring a bag of ice in to the office on Monday morning. If I am this swollen after 4 hours at work, I'm going to be much worse after 6 hours.

It's harder getting my brain to function than I thought it would be. I had to read a complex legal document today and it was like a foreign language. Then I had to do some accounting. Math was never my strongpoint and math on a Friday afternoon when I haven't had to do it for 10 weeks was next to impossible. My boss needs a full time bookkeeper if he wants this stuff done right!

I was going to try to cut down on the nighttime pain meds but maybe that can wait until tomorrow night.
 
Great news on the physical therapy front!

You didn't ask me for advice, but I'd like to give you some, anyway. Keep those nighttime pain meds going this weekend -- you need the sleep. Working's hard business, and the Sabbath's for resting.

Sounds like the atmosphere at the office is improving. That's good. I wonder if there's a way you could rent a tiny little freezer for a month or so. I have no idea. I do think that you can rent dorm-sized fridges, at least in the states, and they have a small freezer area. A couple of cold packs could fit in there.
 
Hi Christine

Well done on returning to work. Totally understand about reading stuff and it doesn't make any sense!!!
Well done on your great recovery!

Love Ann
 
Thank you @SarahJane and @Nana moon 27 things seem to be getting better. I'm not giving up on the meds yet, although I am going to try reducing the Percocet from 2 at night to 1 1/2 then to one over the course of a week if I can. Our office is tiny and there is no room to bring in a small freezer, but there is a convenience store a block from the office that sells bags of ice and I might take my Cryo cuff into work if one of the younger, fitter girls will go get me a bag of ice. Last week when they got me a bag we were all having ice cubes in our glasses of water so if I don't use the whole bag it won't be wasted. I'm very Scottish, if you pay for something you have to use it all.

Yet another night when I can't sleep. It has nothing to do with the knee though. I'm just a night owl and my husband is a lark. He'll be awake at stupid o'clock, just as I'm getting to sleep!
 
Hi Christine

If you do find it impossible to come off the meds yet maybe you could discuss alternative pain relief with your doctor. I have no alternative but very strong pain relieving drugs. I'm also weaning off slowly. They definitely do weird stuff to our brains.

I only said to my husband last night that I don't know how I'd've been able to have returned to my jobs. My brain is so fogged up I can't even imagine lesson planning and marking. Never mind driving and assessing in schools and nurseries in our inner city. My job ended this year under a frustrated contract. I'd been sending in doctors notes every month, then three monthly. After having exhausted my sickness pay, six months after that, the decision was made as I was unable to give an imminent return to work date.

Sleep can be elusive at times. Drives you mad sometimes xx

Once again, well done at your return xx
 
I wish I could have stayed off work longer but without sick leave I had to go back. I was a civil servant in Glasgow up until I came over here in 1996 and we could get 6 months off on full pay then another 6 months off on half pay as long as you had a note from your doctor. That system was easily abused though. We had one guy who,stapled his finger and he was off for 6 months. Another was off because of stress but the managers found he was working in his uncles shop. Still, I could have used some extra time as my knee is still very painful.
 
The College I was working for had that scheme you mention too. You're right about the abuse! It used to wind me up watching people go off sick with a sniffle, when I'd come in with bad osteoarthritis pain and still kept two jobs xx

Almost 7am. Going to try and have another hour sleep. Thank goodness for the games room. Having the most beautiful Indian summer here!!!

Night xx
 
I have no idea what I did today but my knee is killing me. I took my usual meds, the only activity was doing laundry which involves doing the stairs twice. Did exactly the same last Saturday and it didn't hurt this much. I have iced and elevated and taken my night time drugs all to no avail. This is becoming tiresome now and I want it to stop. We are going to see Craig Ferguson tomorrow and I don't want to be in pain sitting in the theatre.
 
@cairistiona60
It's not quite 10 weeks since your surgery. Do remember that this is a year-long recovery. Your knee is still a baby. It's going to swell and get upset if you ask too much of it - and you have gone back to work quite early.
For your knee to get swollen and painful is perfectly normal if you do too much. It's time and patience (and treating that knee gently) that are going to stop that happening.

Don't be surprised if your knee does not like you sitting in the theatre. I hope you are able to get an aisle seat, so that you can stretch your leg out from time to time. This explains why: Pain: Movie sign in TKR
 
I don't think I have an aisle seat so I may be hemmed in for about two hours. I may just have a lazy day tomorrow until it's time to go out. Or knowing me, I'll over do it again and suffer at work on Monday. It's so weird how even a little bit of activity can result in pain, but I understand that my knee is still a baby and needs to be treated as such.
 
A suggestion for you if you plan to take a cryocuff to work. You can purchase a few small bottles of water and freeze them at home for the tank. Or freeze water in margarine tubs, Cool Whip containers, or other fairly good-sized plastic containers. They don't melt as fast as ice and can be transported to work in a bag. If you have access to a refrigerator, you can keep an extra set of them there (freezer is best, but a refrigerator will keep them mostly frozen while you use the other set). You also could keep the spares in a small cooler at your desk.
 
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