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TKR Finally found a new surgeon

@Mr Gary Just wanted to stop by and give you a few words of encouragement. I have been where you are. I had my left knee done in Nov 2014. Right now am recovering myself from my second hip. The knee can be slow going but that's OK. When you push yourself exercising, the tissues don't have time for the swelling to go down. And when there is swelling, the movement is just not there. All you feel is tight swollen knee and pain from overworking it. I too thought I should be doing better. I was 54 when I had mine done. It took me 12 weeks to be able to make a complete rotation on the exercise bike. I now have 106 degrees bend and there are many more that have a lot better than that. Everyone is different and every recovery is different. Each of my hips were different in how things went. The main thing is allow yourself time to rest and be sure to ice and take your pain meds. The rest will come. Doing exercises should not be done to the point of pain. Discomfort is expected but not teeth gritting pain. You will do fine just take it easy on yourself. Hoping your pain gets better controlled and you have a restful upcoming weekend.
 
@mystikfairy61
Thank you so much for the encouragement, my whole life I have been very hard on myself, thinking I should have done better, I should be better, or I should be farther along that I am in no matter what, but I am going to take your advice and just take it easier on myself. I didn’t do any PT yesterday and I do feel some better this morning.
 
@Mr Gary Good to hear that you are feeling better. After this hip I had a rough several days with swelling in the hospital due to not having decent icepacks. Once I got home and was able to get ice packs on as often as I wanted, I was able to get the swelling down which increased ease of movement. I will say that my hips were a lot easier than the knee.was, but getting the swelling down is what helps with the ability to move. I remember someone saying to me about these surgeries in comparison. If you have a broken leg or ankle, you would not push it would you? The same goes here. This is major surgery with a lot of tissue trauma and it takes months for it all to settle down. This is a journey not a marathon. Again good to hear you are feeling better. Just wanted to tell you some things I remembered. Hope you have a restful pain controlled weekend.
 
If you think about it, you have two broken bones, where they were sawed off and drills and the implant top and bottom were hammered into those two bones that were cut off. No wonder gentle, easy movements are the best way to rehab these knees.
 
Thank you all for the words of encouragement, it means a lot to know you have someone in your corner.:console2:
 
@sistersinhim
Why did you have to have two patellectomys, and did they replace the patellas, and how was your recovery from those surgeries?
 
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I had birth defects in both knees. The kneecaps were too small and rode too high. I had always been very active and the kneecaps just wore away and was told tkrs were in my future. I had already had two scopes and a lateral release on each knee, so the OS suggested the kneecap removals with nothing put back in. The recovery was extremely painful, just shy of a tkr, but the time frame was about 6 months instead of a year.

When removing the kneecaps, the patella tendon had to be shortened. This left both knees weaker than normal knees. But, I could do just about anything I needed to do except squat, get up off the floor normally, jump or kneel. When I was told that I'd have to have tkrs, they said I'd never be painfree. I'm not painfree on my tkr leg, but much better! That's all I prayed for!

So many times I hear that tkr patients are having pain in their kneecap, so I am blessed that I don't have to worry about that. My downfall is that I'll not be as strong as those with kneecaps. I do consider myself blessed, though!
 
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@sistersinhim
I wasn’t being nosy just curious. Well I am almost 9 week out now and last two days were pretty good, however today I am having those stabbing pains around my Knee cap again, feels like someone stabbing me with an ice pic, but I guess it will all pass in time. I’m just not a sit and do nothing person, I’ve been a very active person all my life, the last two months have just been crazy not doing much of anything, I am the only one to do any yard work at all at my house, so having a couple of Great Neighbors that pitched in and done my mowing for me has truly been a wonderful blessing. “ I owe them big time”
The Lord has been so good to me by giving me a wonderful wife of 47years now, she is a month and a half younger than me, I retired this past December and she wants to continue to work for about one more year, but I couldn’t have made it through the past two months without her.
Here I go rambling again, will touch base soon, have a blessed day.
 
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I’m thinking of trying to mow my yard myself today, just not sure if I should or not, I’m having the sharp pains again today, and if I stand too long I have to sit for a while, I’m just real antsy today. I do find if I rub my knee real hard that it seems to relieve the sharp and aching pain somewhat, but it haste to be rubbed with a lot of pressure and for about 5 minutes.
 
We call those sharp pains zingers. Massage can be great for them. Depending on where they are, ice might be the thing to do - but I get mine above the knee and moist heat is a godsend. Can't speak to the lawn mower - I did that at about four months and maybe shouldn't have for the pain it caused for a couple of days. You'll have to be the judge of how strong you feel. It's so nice you have great neighbors who helped you with your yard.
 
It does seem a bit early for lawn mowing. If you feel you really must do it, can you split the job and do half today and half another day?
 
@Celle
@phrog
I do have the pains just above the knee cap just to the inside a little, and I chickened out on the lawn mowing, normally it would take me about 3 hrs, so it’s just going to have to wait for an other time.
Thank you so much to the both of you for the feed back, I really appreciate you guys.:happydance::yay:
 
I have a riding mower, which hurt like the dickens on my bumpy yard. I broke it up over 2 days, taking breaks and iced and elevated every 15 minutes or so for at least an hour. I have at least an acre that's cleared. The really trying part of the yard work was the string trimming. That's walking. It took me 3 days with lots of breaks during those days. If you decide to do it. Cut for about 15 minutes, then come in and ice and elevate for about an hour. Do this until your yard is cut. You will feel it some, but the most important part is to take breaks and ice and elevate during those breaks. Each week your knee will feel a little better.

Is your wife able to help with the mower at all? Even a little bit will be a big help.

Don't worry about sitting and doing nothing, because you are not doing nothing! You are working hard at healing your knee! That is your #1 job for the next few months. And it is a job! Your body is working. It's your job to help it do just that. Too much aggressive activity is working against that healing. It is not doing your job! It is hurting your healing!
 
@sistersinhim
Thank you for making me feel so much better. I have a push mower, and I live on a corner lot, so I think I’m just going to let my precious neighbor mow it for me again. I am use to always doing stuff for others, it’s just so hard to just sit back and let someone do things for me. At 65 it’s just hard to change.
Thanks again.
 
@Celle
Thank you, I will read it.
I am just very independent. I am going to take your advice and just “chill”
 
@Celle
I just read it and it was very good, thank you for sharing.
 
I'm also a helper and used to doing things for others, and it goes against the grain a little to be helped. I felt so... lazy and worried that people would think I was "milking" my surgery because things were taking soooo long. But they didn't feel that way at all. Among the many things this surgery taught me was how to be gracious. Now that I'm up and about again better than ever, I am repaying with cookery!
 
@MrGary I'm at 8 weeks also. My knee pain is minimal if I'm icing or elevating knee. If you've been overdoing your rehab and general activity/walking standing etc. your knee will be giving you more sore spots and aching.
If I sat for awhile 30 to 60 minutes or so and then get up it's generally stiff and sore. Takes several minutes to loosen up. I still take 2 or 3 5 mg Percocet each day. Last night my knee got very sore around 1 AM and the pain pill was the difference in being able to get back to sleep. Otherwise I would have been up for a better part of the night. I made sure that the surgeon wasn't going to try and cut off pain pills early. This is my 3rd TKR surgery so I know how painful it can be. Pain must stay in control. A couple mentioned earlier the Lounge Dr. wedge pillow.
I use that and still sleep with my legs elevated at night. I'm just starting to sleep some on my side with a pillow between my knees but last night my knee got sore within 5 minutes of trying that position. So I move back to flat on my back and both legs elevated on the Lounge Dr. pillow. Slept soundly for 5 additional hours.
The stabbing pain stuff is common from time to time....I tend to think it relates to too much activity and a sore point of inflammation. I'm fighting a sore stabbing spot and I had increased my activity and exercises over the last week. Today I went to rehab and cut out 2 exercises that seemed to hit the pain spot and have taken the rest of the day much slower; more icing and elevating and starting to feel better already. Rest is the answer for a great deal of the pain at 8 weeks I think. My ROM is about 90 or so and extension is 15 to 20. My leg has been very bent for a long time so It's going to be a challenge to see how it improves over time and how much it will let me do. It's my most concerning area of my recovery. Good luck!
 
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