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Bilateral PKR Di's Double Replacement Recovery

I am approaching 4 weeks post op on Tuesday, and you are doing better then I at 14 days! Sleep is not very good, always a 4 ache/ pain wise...can negotiate stairs up foot over foot , not down foot over foot.. dressing myself is still an adventure, so I think your doing well!,

Time is your best friend , it will get better each and every day!
 
Thank U @Qdogpa. Sometimes it’s just reassurance from others helps get u over the edge.
Thank God for my patient husband for being there for me when I’m a crying mess!
I’m thankful that my son came for a visit. Sometimes a big hug from ur boy helps with everything.
 
So very sorry for you. I can't even imagine what bi-lateral TKR is like.

I felt pain was porly controlled 1st 2 weeks out. So sick of pain each day it made me cry and think I was worthless. Oxy helped, but only a little and only lasted about 2-3 hours max. And it still hurts every day.

Does not seem like good medical practice to make us suffer to the point of utter discouragement and depresssion. I have never had this much uncontrolled pain for so long with prior foot, 2 spinal fusions, 2 hand surgeries or even full hysterectomy before. What are these doctors thinking? And the PT starts before you even leave the hospital the next day!

Funny, but horrible, horrible pain to lift my leg the first 7 days (lifter or pants leg), then just started swinging it out after that. Got much better very quickly. Still having terrible time with bending knee, however. ROM is less than 90 degrees and it feels like tight bands criss-crossing 3 sides of my knee to prevent it or else it will tear entire knee apart.

Getting much better each day now (tomorrow will be 3 full weeks out), but overdid yesterday because felt good, was so crazy to get back to normal and so now mostly resting today with knee aching and muscles/bands on side of knee very tender.
 
Thank U for your response @Julia1911. I know exactly where you’re coming from. Hoping as I pass my two week mark (tomorrow) I will start to see some pain improvements. I’ll take anything at this point.
Glad you got some time yesterday to enjoy yourself and feel like U again. We will all get there soon!
 
Are you icing and elevating? Ice is a great pain reliever and, along with elevating, helps to get some swelling down. I iced continuously for the first month. This was day and night. When the ice melted down then the pain got worse. You can't ice too much unless you don't have something between your leg and the ice baffle. I had the circulating cold water machine that was wonderful and I highly recommend it.

When elevating, make sure your knee is above your heart and has a slight bend in it.
https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/pain-and-swelling-control-elevation-is-the-key.7602/
 
Oh dear! That stinks big time!

Chronic pain is so demoralizing on top of the pain itself.

It should get better.
 
Hello Diane - thanks for your recovery thred. My bilateral PKR surgery is tomorrow. It’s always the unknown that gets me most, so I appreciate being able to read your journey. I will start my recovery thred tonight and hope to be able to do the same for others. I am actually very excited to get my surgery. It has been two long years of pain, swelling and loss of quality of life. I also have two grown boys and am looking forward to those bear hugs from my boys. They are the best and always looking out for mama. We’ll see how my hubby and I fair after all this. Lol! I have a whole room set up on my first floor with a lift recliner , TV and cold therapy machine. I am hoping all the prep will help. Would love to stay in touch and follow your story. Here’s to kicking OA’s butt! Cheryl
 
Hi Cheryl! @Ready2HikeAgain
Good for you! Glad youll be on the other side of surgery tomorrow! You’ve got this!
Yes, it’ll be hard but remember it’s temporary. best of luck and I’ll be sending prayers your way and looking for your recovery thread!

I’ve decided to have this week be my turning point! PT was rough yesterday but I powered thru! Iced when I got home and took my Tylenol. No additional swelling so that was good. Took two walks outside yesterday and one today so far. Today’s was 1/4 mile. I’m kicking butt :heehee:

I’ll be thinking of u.
 
Oh one more thing Cheryl @Ready2HikeAgain
My sister’s name is Cheryl :egypdance:and I have two grown children too. My son is 25 and my daughter is 21. My son came for a visit this eeenend and yes, those bear hugs are game changers!
 
Sounds like you are coming along. Did you have lateral (outside) PKRs? Medials (inside)? Pf (kneecaps)? Or a mix? And is your OS’s plan for you to (much further in your future) have partials in the other compartments ? I have 2 lateral PKRs, done 11 months apart.
Good luck. It gets better.
 
Hi @marieltha
I had two medial PKR. The plan is if needed (far in future) they will convert me to full replacement. My surgeon said this was the best option for me at my age.
Things are moving along now. Unfortunately the right is much worse than the left. Hoping tomorrow to have the right knee make it all the way around on the exercise bike at PT. Was almost there yesterday.
Thank you for the kind words. I’m hoping to turn the corner this week since I am not a very good patient. :beg:
 
last week was my first attempt on exercise bike, 10 minutes of no revolutions. Two days later , timer was still for 10 minutes, and in the last 5 seconds I got a revolution ! Proceeded to cycle for 2 minutes, was very excited! Tuesday this week, I get on the bike and can’t get a revolution right away...what the heck ? After a few anxious minutes, I was able to break thru and pedal for 10 minutes..today, no problem on bike, 10 easy minutes...point being time is your friend, you will get the revolution and you will pedal for the specified duration!

Today, my therapist again massages my knee, moving it gently back and forth, assisted on gently bending knee towards my buttocks...She is excellent... achy and stiff, but I can see and feel progress!
you will too!
 
Thank U @Qdogpa Looking forward to being myself. LOL like I said I am not the most patient person but I’ve been through two hip replacements and now these knees. I know I can do it. I’m taking it one day at a time. PT again tomorrow. Wish me luck!!
:biking:
 
Day 18 here.....
How is it that I had the same procedure on both knees but one is feeling great and the other feels like they took everything out and randomly put it back together! My right knee is SOOOOO stiff! While walking it feels like i have a blood pressure cuff inflated around it-just below the knee. Weird right? It SO annoying!
Getting up from a seated position is much easier now. This time last week, I was using the arm of the chair and the crutch/cane to help push me up. Now I’m not using anything to stand up.
 
Getting up from a chair was so great when I first realized I was doing it too!

There is nothing that makes a ton of sense to me about our bodies except that they will heal and we will get better. The path is so cluttered with our histories and the ways we adapted to our deteriorating joints that it’s hard to find a pattern. But we’ll move along that path for sure. (Well I’m feeling poetic today!)
 
Good feeling right? It takes time. I remember my first revolution. We have to celebrate each milestone big and small!
Qdogpa said:
....last week was my first attempt on exercise bike, 10 minutes of no revolutions. Two days later , timer was still for 10 minutes, and in the last 5 seconds I got a revolution !
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