TKR Claudia's Recovery

[CLaudia]

One other thing from my pre-Florida posts -- I was at 3 months when I went to Florida. The warm pool was beyond wonderful and I worked out in it daily and felt it helped me SO MUCH. However, I did not like walking on the beach. The sand is very deep and soft and I felt like my knee was sliding around when I walked on it. Jamie was right on with his advice about the shifting sand torquing the knee. The day after my knee was sore and felt stressed. After that I stayed off the sand. I think I just wasn't ready for it yet.

 

[CLaudia]

Thank you Jamie, for reopening the post and sleep advice! I do take the 1000 Tylenol, but usually only when I go to bed. I will make it a point to take another dose when I wake up and combine it with ibuprofen. Now that you mention it, I do sleep for about 3 hours and then wake up with the aching.

 

[bottomshollow]

Hi! Claudia, so nice to hear from you after so long---and what a great update. So happy for you that things are going well and life is really getting back to normal. And golfing!!!! WOW!

Take care, keep us posted. We care.

 

[PooShay]

Claudia, high five on the golf thing!

I had GA and femoral/sciatic nerve blocks. I have numbness patches everywhere from top of thighs to toes, right side more so than left. That's really slow to resolve!

Thanks for bringing up Tylenol. Jamie: I didn't realize that it lasted 4 hours. I usually skip the daytime doses cause I don't need them, but I feel the pain in the wee hours of the morning (like now). I will take a dose when I leave here and see how it goes.

Glad o see you're doing well.

 

[Randi]

Hi Claudia - I've found that Tylenol PM works well for me though I don't need it much anymore :biggrin:...maybe worth a try.

 

[CLaudia]

Just a quick update 6 months and 10 days post-op --- aching during the night is gone!!! I usually do take a tylenol and ibuprofen before going to bed but might try stopping that as things are so much better. Here's my progress report:

Positives
Almost never experience the knee clicking
Going up and down stairs with no problems
Numb area seems to be shrinking
My gait is almost normal
There is nothing I can't do now (including climbing through a window at a client's home to care for her dog when the garage door wouldn't open)

Still Not Quite There
Can't stand for too long or the knee stiffens up, for instance when I'm standing to do hair and makeup in the morning. However, it eases once I start walking around. I do find that I must ride the exercise bike every day to combat the stiffness (that's a plus to motivate me).
Occasionally the muscles just don't feel like they are moving the knee correctly, weird and hard to explain, but it doesn't happen often.

Bottom line is, a lot of things that bothered me in the early months are gone. My other knee now plays up occasionally so at some point might be facing another tkr, but will go into it with much less fear.

Everyone recovering from a recent tkr, take heart, you're going to get there!!!

 

[Janet2012]

Thanks for the progress post! It's always encouraging to see how folks are doing down the line.