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MUA Done in Time for the Carolina Basketball Game!

@LD of Michigan I still can’t get the rotation for a bike, which is a drag, but fortunately for me, the rower is my favorite cardio equipment.

I agree with @sistersinhim that there’s a good chance it’s not for everyone. There’s great potential for overdoing it because it’s not like other machines.

I spent a lot of time in the last two years learning to row efficiently, in the gym, and, as I look back, it was hard work getting there. I learned from coaches, not just by hopping on and giving it a go. Some people could do that, I gues, but not me.

Okay, enough of my warnings that sound kind of boastful. I’m glad rowing is an option for me because it was a hard-won skill.
 
Go for it I say. So many of us are in different stages with this TKR process. I can peddle a recumbent and spinning cycle fine, full revolutions. But on steps I am still doing the operated-leg down first, each step on stair case going down -- the opposite going up.

I tried a few more step-over-step attempts on actual steps today (can do it in PT) but operated knee still hurts, but getting stronger. I guess my confidence is still building that it can bear my weight... :kickedout:
 
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Steps are such a crazy challenge for our knees, huh? Up is possible for me now, but slow as a turtle. (A turtle would look pretty funny getting up the steps, but it would still be faster than me.) Down, no way.

I’ll get there. I’ll get there. So will you! I’m not so sure about the turtle, though.
 
I'd vote no on that poor turtle! My grandson has a box tortoise that tries to climb on it's little house (it's in a big tank...) the crazy thing falls backwards on it's shell every time. That is what a stair climbing turtle would do also, I'm sure of it :swoon:(this is the closest visual I could find!)

You all will do fine with the steps...it's just a time thing, just like the knee. As those quads, glutes, hamstrings, and calves become stronger and the knee gains ROM one day it will just happen!
 
Today, I hit 88 degrees and 10. I sent a series of questions to my surgeons PA, and the upshot was that an MUA is indicated in knees 6 to 8 weeks post op that haven’t hit 100 and 0. I’m about 9 weeks, and I just can’t say if there’s a hard stop or not. It feels hard not to stop at my current bend and straightening, that’s for sure. Does that count? :shrug:

Even if I do go with the MUA, I still think I was right not to let anyone wrestle my knee into submission before now. Thank you BoneSmart. I might not be able to climb stairs or sit in a theatre seat, but I can sleep, I can row, and I can walk pretty well.
 
I think with as active as you are you can give it a few more weeks or even months to see how your ROM improves. You can have a MUA at any time, not in any special time frame.
 
I’d be inclined to let it ride. You can mostly do the stuff you want to do, it sounds like, and isn’t that why we all had these surgeries? Even though I’ve been lucky and had an awesome recovery, I still feel myself gaining function and flexibility each week, and I imagine you are too. The improvement gets slighter and slighter as I get farther out from my surgery, but it’s definitely a thing.
 
Not being able to sit in a theatre (or a plane, or a synagogue pew) is a big loss to me, to be honest and that’s directly related to my ROM. I can be patient for many things, but this is one of the things that it feels awful to lose for the time being.

And this discussion has helped me clarify the issue for myself. I dearly want to be able to sit in the theatre for the next Broadway tour I see. I sorely grieve being able to see the Oscar Nominated Shorts this year because they aren’t in a theatre I can sit in. I’d very much like to sit with my students in worship services, instead of behind them in a chair or in the front row with them behind me.

I’ve been limited in a lot of ways and adapted to them for years, from managing stairs sideways to walking instead of jogging to grinning and bearing pain. That part of the recovery, I can wait on, but sitting with others, I’m tired of waiting on that.

That’s my sadness for the day, but it really helps to name it.
 
I think this decision is like making the one to have the TKR. I went back and forth with if and when I should do it. My physician told me that once you know you will have no doubt that this is the right decision for your life. He told me if I had serious doubts then it wasn’t time yet. That helped me a lot to make things clear. No right answer just what is right for you!
 
It does help to name your sadness...now you can work toward alleviating it.

88 isn't that the same as 90??? My ROM changes throughout the day depending on what I've done.... You are quite close to being able to sit with others. I also did not know that the MUA could happen at any time?? Interesting.

I think you are doing well, rowing, sleeping, and walking; making this decision can be difficult. It does appear that you know what is most important to you and whatever you decide you know that Bone Smart will be here to walk through this with you.

Have you read through @Steelergal 's thread? She had to make a MUA decision and did decide to go through with it. It seems overall she was glad for that decision....

Best of Luck @Helizabug, warm thoughts are with you in your decision-making!
 
I couldn't wait to get back to church. at a little shy of 4 weeks, I hobbled in there with my walker, ice pack and pillow. I sat on a back pew with my leg across the pew, on top of the pillow. It worked. I did that for a couple of weeks, then I was finally able to get back up into the choir loft! That was a huge celebration for me. I love singing for God!
 
Take something with you to rest your foot up on. I took a small stool (or even my beloved ottoman, if we were going to the home of friends.) Even though I technically had the ROM numbers, it was many months before I had the function. A friend suggested extending my cane and propping my foot up on it. I did that for a long
 
New question.

I am trying so, so hard not to pick the last part of this incision. It’s like when I quit smoking almost 36 years ago. I’ve gotten through several days at a time, then I can’t stand the unresolved compulsion any longer. This time, it’s itching like a poison ivy outbreak, and that just makes me want to pick because my pathological way of thinking about this is that the scab is bad and the itching is the symptom and everything would magically improve if I could just get rid of the bad scab.

Now, in case you’ve never been at the mercy of a compulsion, let me make clear that I know, intellectually, that the itching is a sign of healing and picking would probably derail that healing. And, I know that including the word ‘probably’ in that sentence is an indicator of my pathology, BUT . . . BUT . . . BUT it’s making me nuts.

Has anyone tackled this kind of problem successfully?
 
@Helizabug How are you doing now? We are on a similar schedule and II would live to keep in touch. My surgery was Nov 19th, 2019 - A revision TKR on Left knee.
 
Thanks. I think it will help.

Except for my ROM, I’m doing pretty well. My pain is manageable, my sleep is as good as it has ever been, and my activity level is okay. I’ve been more active in my life, but I’m okay easing back in. I’m actually back to using the rowing machine, which is heavenly for me, though it might not be great for folks who haven’t done it before. Last week I towed 12 minutes. This week 15. Next week a conservative 18 is my plan.

My biggest challenges, from my point of view, are getting the incision to finish healing before I lose my resolve and getting a flexion that will allow me to sit comfortably in a row of seats. I can be patient for the rest, but I miss theatre and new movies and sitting with my students in synagogue. It’s all temporary, I know, but I dearly miss that.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to go with my surgeon’s recommendation of an MUA, so we’ll see how that helps. It’s a hard call for me because I think the gentle approach has allowed me to heal more comfortably than I might have done otherwise; but I think I don’t have the patience to continue without a better ROM in the short term.

I’m going to read more about your recovery now. Nice to find people to walk this path with!
 
Yeah it's a fussy incision isn't it H? Tight jeans are still uncomfortable. And I dare not put any of my fancy lotions on it just yet. My ROM is good but I'm descending and ascending stairs like a DRUNK :scaredycat: with cane/ impossible without cane still.... :doh:LOL! I have try to bear up with the pain more to do the step-over-step, slowly, to get better. Just more time needed I suppose...
 
Many of us couldn’t do stairs foot over foot at 8 weeks. I can barely do them now, at 3 years, but my knee is a different story.
 
So, I agreed to the MUA because I really want the ROM now. Things are starting to hurt in other parts of my body because I can’t walk with a straight-ish leg and I’m tired of not being able to sit in a row of seats.

I hope I have a great story to tell about how it met my needs.
 
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