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TKR Counting the Hours to Left TKR

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good report @butterflydancer and your ROM is terrific....going up stairs at this point is not that easy good to call the Doc but you have not been going up steps for awhile ....12 hour shifts as a nurse I would think 12 weeks is what you need different if you are sitting behind a desk part time...you are doing great and sounds like you are not feeling much pain....

Vinny
 
I agree with vinny. Since you'll be going back to 12-hour shifts as a nurse, that will put a lot of stress on your new knee. I think you'll need to take 12 weeks off at least.
Have you read this?
Phased return to work
 
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Twelve hour shifts will certainly challenge you if you go back too early---take all the time that you can---twelve weeks at the minimum---see if you can work back in gradually, as your knee will complain to you---and you will be also exhausted and mighty stiff and sore if you return too early.
 
Hi @butterflydancer , I'm glad you're taking extra time off. I also work 12 hr nights (I'm an RT) and I wasn't ready to go back at 12 weeks- still had pain, swelling, and buckling. I'm going back next week at 4 months post op. I understand about the weakness and fatigue, too. You're still healing, and new TKR legs suck energy.

But hey, your ROM is fantastic!
 
This surgery takes the stuffing out of your for a while. You are not that far out of surgery so even minimal exertion will likely feel like a lot for a while. Certainly see what the doc says, but my guess is you'll find things getting better over the next few weeks.
 
Thanks to all of you. This is a great site. There are so many things "they" don't tell you about before your surgery. Maybe because I am a nurse, I should know all of that. But I don't work in ortho, never have, and this is new to me. You have helped a lot.
 
Just wanted to touch base and again thank all of those that encouraged me. I am doing much better, up and down steps, and walking unassisted. My new knee still feels a bit odd, and it feels like my leg is longer than the other, my skin is still numb, and I have occasional sharp pain that goes away quickly, but I understand that with time that all will also improve. I am going back to work in a week.
 
Well done. Great update☺
Tell us how it is back at work...keep takimg care of you. Maggie x

Maggie via Tapatalk
 
Your leg may well be longer now--there might have been a curve that is now straight. That happened to me and caused some hip pain until I had the other one done. A friend of mine was prescribed lifts for her shoes for the same issue.

Good luck with going back to work!
 
Opposite for me for me once the leg was straightened my hip pain was gone and I did feel taller...at least I blamed being taller as the reason I was only hitting the top half of the golf ball instead of the bottom..

Vinny
 
It was interesting. I kept thinking my leg was longer on my surgical knee leg. I was told that this was normal, and would go away. I happened to be at a chiropractor's office who asked me when my surgery was. I told her Jan 7. She said, well, your left leg is much longer than your right leg now. She showed me a lift for my right shoe which cost $12.00 It made a big difference. I now feel like I am walking straight, (except when I am barefoot, and at home I am a barefoot kinda girl).
 
Hi Buttrflydancer
Everything is so inconsistent - I had the feeling of one leg longer than the other but it wasn't and the feeling went. it is lucky you have a good chiropractor, sorting out for £12 is not bad!! I love feeling straight as if I have gained several inches!
Karen
 
Thanks Vinny. It went ok. I was glad that we were unusually not busy during the week. Still, my knee did have a bit more swelling, and I started back on taking a tramadol to sleep (I had stopped all pain meds except my arthritis med Feldene) I was surprised that some of the pains I had right after surgery came back after the 12 hour shift. It still does not feel quite like it is my knee though. I cannot cannot cannot imagine how anyone lived through a bilateral. You must be really tough.
 
Good news then...I would think you expected it would be a little difficult to do those long shifts at first but would guess that it was not as bad as before surgery....you are 3 months out and I am nearing 5 and feel almost normal now.....I think as far as the bilateral goes I was really in pain and although I have had many injuries in the past the knee pain prior was like nothing I have ever experienced.....I have a very high tolerance for pain as evidenced by not taking any pain meds after I left the hospital and when I see what others have gone through I realize how very lucky I have been....As an example of my pain tolerance my wife and I just came home from dinner and I have a large bleeding gash on my calf and have no idea how I got it...never felt a thing......I am glad you are back to work and know that it will get easier for you.....please drop me a note from time to time to let me know how you are doing..:wave:

Vinny
 
I cannot believe it has already been ten months since my total knee. I have amazing range of motion, am working, and continue to dance. The only thing that I have trouble with is kneeling, and I think that might never happen. I have recently developed a throbbing pain, mostly at night to the medial aspect of my knee. It hurts quite a bit, but it is not keeping me awake like my old knee pain pre op did. Has anyone experienced this?
 
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