TKR Round Two

MARYCOOL

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Hi!
I am new to this forum. Happy to find it!
My daughter was able to stay and help, but goes home today! It's more work than I thought, and I am very worried about having hubby take over. I have been to PT twice, making progress, I guess ..I am just so scared of my tub/shower combo, it was so hard to get in. We got an aerobic step, and will attempt again today. This all feels so degrading, having help, to get in the shower. One thing, never have TKR unless you have a walk in shower!
 
Hi!
I am new to this forum. Happy to find it!
My daughter was able to stay and help, but goes home today! It's more work than I thought, and I am very worried about having hubby take over. I have been to PT twice, making progress, I guess ..I am just so scared of my tub/shower combo, it was so hard to get in. We got an aerobic step, and will attempt again today. This all feels so degrading, having help, to get in the shower. One thing, never have TKR unless you have a walk in shower!
@MARYCOOL - Girl, invest in a bath chair ASAP. Because of other family members being ahead of me on medical equipment, I didn't need to purchase. But I'd buy in a minute as it is so very nice to have. I bet your hubby doesn't give a 2nd thought to helping you but I understand your desire to have independence.
 

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The only problem with that, is the sliding glass doors and a super small space.
We are going to try in a few minutes here, putting the walker in the shower to get in, and using the aerobic step!
Thank you for your reply!
 
I found a tub seat invaluable, along with a hand held shower head that did the job until I could stand and turn and do things the upright way. It was a few weeks before I could take a normal shower. I too have a tub/shower combo, so just had to deal with it. The tub bench was key in my case.

My husband did not have to help me in or out, at least not after the first couple of times, where I just felt safer with him at hand. It was definitely slow-going at first. Everything is slow-going at first. Healing. Sleeping comfortably. Standing up. Stairs. But just take it day by day. Before long, you'll realize things have gotten better!
 
My daughter was able to stay and help, but goes home today! It's more work than I thought, and I am very worried about having hubby take over.
I'm sure you would do the same for your husband. Now it's his turn to step up to the plate.
Don't worry if things aren't done just your way. Remember that this is all temporary.
I am just so scared of my tub/shower combo, it was so hard to get in. We got an aerobic step, and will attempt again today. This all feels so degrading, having help, to get in the shower.
Using a step to get into the shower sounds like a recipe for a fall. Please don't do it until you have something safer to help you get in.

Something like LINDA LOOHOO53 recommended, or this shower bench, would allow you to sit down and then swing your legs into the bath.
1614714327990.png
You can find this shower bench in Section 12 of this article:
Recovery Aids: A comprehensive list for hospital and home

Try not to feel that it's degrading to need help to get into the shower. Your husband married you "in sickness and in health" so it's part of the deal, part of the promises you both made. And it's just a sensible precaution to prevent a fall. Having a fall would be much more degrading, and painful.

This article may help you to feel better about needing to have help:
Nurturing mother: how to let go and accept help
 
Here are some guidelines to help you with your recovery:

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary.

People are all different, as are the approaches to this recovery and rehab. The key is, “Find what works for YOU.“ Your doctor(s), physiotherapist(s) and BoneSmart are here to help, but you are the final judge as to the recovery approach you choose.
2. Control discomfort:
rest
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​

3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you​
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​

4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these

5. Try to follow this

6. Access to these pages on the website

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
 
@MARYCOOL you need a transfer bench, not a tub chair. @LINDA_LOOHOO53 posted a pic of one. Also, I bet the sliding glass doors are not a problem to lift and remove temporally. I saw a poster in the hospital that said something like Your safety comes before modesty. Believe me, it took a little bit to get used to having someone walking me to the bathroom and waiting outside to make sure I was safe. If you are sitting on a transfer bench and you have a hand held shower head, you can be independent in the shower and wash yourself. Have everything you need at your reach - soap washcloth, shampoo, towel. I suggest you also get a non skid tub mat. I only needed to use the bench for 2 weeks before I felt comfortable to stand. I left the bench in for a while though, just to be safe, in case I needed to sit.
 
Thanks. I feel totally comfortable standing in the shower. I did get a new, longer mat. The glass doors are too heavy for my husband to remove, but there will be a walk- in shower installed before the next knee! Poor planning on our part. It will be fine, yesterday was much easier than Saturday.
 
Good news that you can stand up in the shower without any problems. I also had a transfer bench that I used for a few weeks. I kept it in there for about a month just in case I needed it. I, too, will want a walk-in shower with a tub before my next trk.
 
Knee replaced in Feb 2021. I was cruising right along, walking with just a cane occasionally, then after PT on Monday, my shin hurts real bad. Went back in today, and she massaged the muscle and now, it is worse!?!
I am using ice and heat, alternating.
What is going on?
 
What did you do at PT that day?
 
It sounds as if whatever you did at PT was too much for your new knee. Pain is a warning sign that you've overdone things.

Your knee doesn't need a lot of exercise to recover. Just using it in your everyday activities of daily living (ADLs) is enough for it right now.

I suggest you take a holiday from PT for a few weeks and spend more time resting, icing and elevating your leg, to reduce swelling and to help it to calm down again.

It's really better in these early weeks if you ice, rather than using heat, as heat tends to increase swelling.

By the way, @MARYCOOL ,
You'll notice that I have merged your two threads together as it's best if members in recovery only have one thread.
This is because:
  • That way, you have all your information in one place. This makes it easier for others to go back and review your history before providing advice.
  • If you start new threads, you miss the posts and advice others have left for you in the old threads, and some information may be unnecessarily repeated
  • Having only one thread will act as a diary of your progress that you can look back on.

Please keep all your questions and updates on this thread. We won't miss your new question as, between us, the staff read all new posts each day.
If you need an urgent response to a question, tag a member of staff.
Tagging other members and answering tags

If you prefer a different thread title, just post what you want and we'll get it changed for you.

Here are the instructions on finding your thread, How can I find my threads and posts?

A helpful hint - Many members have found it useful to bookmark their thread so they don't lose it.

Best wishes,
Celle
 
Bike, sit to stand exercises ( chair was too low so we moved to a bed) she also held a resistance band and had me push back against it.
Also step up and and down.
Quad exercises, too. I think that's it.
Bend is 105, flex is perfect.
 
That's a lot of exercises, some of them unnecessary. It's not necessary to use a resistance band. That's for strengthening and you should really leave that until you're at least 3 months post-op.

Your flexion(bend) is good. Do you have full extension (straightening) yet?
 
Thanks for your reply!
I do have full extension!
I was doing fine until PT today and Monday. She did back off a bit today, as it was painful to put weight on. Next appointment is Friday, but I am thinking of canceling it so I can recover.
 
Sit to stand as an exercise is not necessary this early in recovery. You do enough of them in the course of your day, and at a reasonable rate with time in between. Same with stepping up and down.

Cancelling Friday is a good idea, to let your knee recover from this PT setback.
 
Good morning!
RICE overnight, with pain meds. It does feel better this morning, although I still can't put all of my weight on it. I must have overdid it with PT. I am definitely canceling tomorrow and will have a chat with them on Monday.
It is my body, and I am not doing anything that hurts.
I will ride my exercise bike today, but that's probably going to be it!
Thanks for being here, I didn't even think I could stop PT, or question why I hurt.
 
I didn't even think I could stop PT, or question why I hurt.
I felt the same way the first weeks. After a 50 minute pool session at 4 weeks post op, with countless bending exercises, and which took me 3 days to recover from, I stopped being so compliant. I googled stopping therapy and found Bonesmart, and the rest is is history!
 
Pain in the shins, also known as shin splints, is often due to walking on your toes. If you think about it, the muscles in the shin then take all your weight, and aren't strong enough to do that. I had them badly, my PT looked at me walking for two seconds and said "make sure you walk by putting your heel down first and roll onto the rest of your foot"
So I did! 48 hours later the pain had gone, never to return.
 
I had been doing the heel/toe walk. I'm not sure it is shin splints, as I never had them before. I can only tell you there is bad pain right below my kneecap radiating out to the side of my lower leg. She did deep massage on my lower leg, and by the time I got home, I could barely walk. I will continue ice and rest today, I am just so frustrated as I was doing so well!
Baby steps, I guess.
 

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