TKR Finally!!! The second new knee!

[fiberlady]

I don't want to have to repeat the last week and a half. We went from colds to stomach flu. We ended up having a very quiet Easter. I can't say I have been without pain as the last few days my knee has been swollen and painful. Last night I started having sharp pains in my hip and I wanted to cry. I took a pain pill and went to bed. I am hoping this was just a passing thing and that it will get better.

@Threads We can't seem to find the time or energy to put the loom together and I am very disappointed as I wanted to spend time playing. I am trying very hard to put a ten yard warp of 10/2 white cotton for an overshot name draft as a guild project on my baby wolf. The yarn is from Valley Yarns and it is the worse yarn I have ever worked with, you would have thought it was mill ends, just nasty stuff. Hope your back is not giving you any trouble and that you have been able to get some weaving done. I have been reading Jane Staffords website, wow wish I lived closer, what great workshops and activities that go on. You are lucky to have such a place.

 

[Threads]

@fiberlady - I'm so sorry to hear that things haven't continued on the upward path you were on. The nasty colds certainly don't help. Hopefully, this is just a blip and you'll be feeling better soon. We had a very quiet Easter as well but we used to always go away over Easter weekend when we were working and the boys and their families developed their own traditions.

Sorry to hear about that bad yarn. I get all my yarn from Jane now but I have a lot in my stash that I have no idea where I got it. Did I tell you my story??? I was winding a warp for my Louet David on the weekend and ran out of silk halfway into the warp. I search the house high and low to see if I had another spool of it that I had wound off the skein, no luck. DH helped me measure and do the math over and over again and it all added up correctly. I was talking to a friend of the phone and he came down, picked up my measuring tape, went over to the mill and said 2 yds. I couldn't believe I had done that. I'd wrapped the string around my warping mill 7.5 times for a 7.5 yard warp! I wondered why the warp going on to the table loom seemed to take forever, but I hadn't wound a warp or dressed a loom since way before my surgery. So - I had a 15 yd. warp on the table loom - lots left for more Fox Fibre scarves. I carefully unwound the warp on the mill, wrapped the right length string around and started over. I had just enough silk for the warp with a bit left over should a thread break or something. Just the way I had planned. As I said on Ravelry - no matter how long you weave there is always a new mistake for you to make - that you will never make again

Hope tomorrow is better.

 

[fiberlady]

We are experiencing a lot of wet weather lately, just wonder if that has any thing to do with the unhappy knee. I can't say it is horrendous, just more of an annoyance. I am looking forward to some warmer weather and sunshine, maybe this weekend.

@Threads oh my, that is one very long warp. I am prone to do those kind of things also. I have almost finished winding on this warp, ugh, what a mess. I normally order my yarns from the woolery and didn't this time, I will not make that mistake twice. I ended up losing about two yards of the warp, but I can live with that.

 

[Threads]

I hate "junk" yarn - it's just a waste of time and money. I had some old bamboo in my stash (not from Jane) and every time I looked at it the wrong way, it snapped!

Someone asked a question on Jane's Ravelry group about a bag for her Jane 40 loom today and Jane piped up this evening to say she had 5 more bags arriving soon. I wondered if it was something that you might want to transport your Jane to workshops. Here's the link:
broken link removed: https://store.janestaffordtextiles.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=1937 The American dollar is strong against the Canadian now. I just did the exchange rate and - at this moment - $119 US buys $150 CAN. I'm afraid to check my Visa bill to see what my lace knitting chart keeper is going to cost me from KnitPicks!

Hope the warm weather comes soon and that will it help your knee and hip feel better. We spent over 3 hours in the sun today wandering around one of our local botanical gardens with our cameras.

 

[fiberlady]

The weather is slowly getting better here a little warmer today, it is raining tonight. The grass is starting to turn green and we are seeing bids appear and flowers starting to pop up. Spring is coming.

@Threads Your day sounds fabulous. We hope we can get to the conservatory Sunday morning, have some lunch and head over to the local chamber music concert. We have not attended since November. It will be nice to get back to our routine. Hopefully my knee will behave itself as I have been experiencing some discomfort all week, with this evening being the worse.

I am headed over to the website to check out the bag as I knew they made them, just could not find anyone that carried them. Hubby promises to get the loom together this weekend. The guild members will be here tomorrow to weave on the warp with the yucky yarn, we will need to get another pound but will buy the UKI brand this time.

Hope you have a good weekend.

 

[fiberlady]

@Threads Darn it only fits the smaller one. I will just have to sew up a little slip cobpver for it, just toproyptect it from the elements.

 

[Threads]

How is your hip doing???? Sorry your knee is still misbehaving but hopefully it will be happy enough for you to have an outing this weekend.

I thought you got the Jane 40 for your workshop travels - sorry to get you excited :-( It sounds like you can sew a straight seam and make yourself one. That is one of many skills I haven't mastered!

 

[fiberlady]

@Threads I think I need to re-read these posts that I do in the middle of the night. Yes, I can sew, used to work for several years sewing display garments for the sewing machine department of the local fabric store and also sewed pillows for a local store. Not to mention my poor son had all had made clothing until he was almost in 4th or 5th grade. I haven't done much sewing these past years, except a few quilts here and there, and the reason I started weaving was so I could weave my own cloth to sew my own clothes. Still a dream, however the body is a lot fluffier than it was all those years ago and now it requires a lot more fabric to cover all the important areas.

The hip is doing okay, occasionally I will have a little twinge, but nothing like it was. I am really hoping it holds on like this until fall. I have been sitting with my knee propped up today as members of our guild have come over and wove on the 5 plus yards that are on my baby wolf. I have been trying to nudge hubby away from the TV so that he will help me get the loom together. My workshop date is looming closer and closer and I need to get the warp on. I am excited about using this loom.

The weather is getting warmer here and really looking forward to our outing tomorrow.

 

[fiberlady]

What a beautiful day, we were able to sit by the water for awhile watching the barges and a few fishermen. Then off to our Chamber Music Concert. It was a lovely concert but sitting for an hour and a half, did my knee in. Hard to walk once we got up. Didn't get to do all we wanted to do today but that is okay, just to be able to enjoy the warm weather was great.

@Threads my darling husband put together the loom today, I am so excited. Now to make my warp for the workshop and get it on. We decided that it would be best to make a cover out of a plastic table cloth that way it would be protected by flannel on the inside and protected from the elements on the outside.

Hope you are doing well, and that your back is behaving. My knee and hip were happy today so I am hoping that this is a trend.

 

[Threads]

How wonderful to have a day out doing the things you wanted to do! Sitting for any length of time seems to be a normal problem. We just met our youngest family at a restaurant for supper and I had trouble getting up from the chair after sitting there for 1 1/2 hours. It takes me a moment or two to get my knees wanting to move, and then I'm fine.

What a brilliant idea - using a plastic table cloth to make into a bag. I think our closest fabric store has that kind of material by the roll, so if you could find it that way, you might be able to get just the right amount you need.

Thanks for asking about my back - it seems to be behaving itself for the last few days so I think it will be a come and go thing. I've spent the weekend stitching a napkin with shibori stitching - I drew the design out in a moment of weakness and only just yesterday counted out how many lines I have to stitch - 56! It's the shibori wood grain design but I'm getting there. I've been listening to an audio book while my hands were busy.

Fingers crossed for a happy hip and knee this week. When is your next workshop?

 

[fiberlady]

I am getting so frustrated. My knee has been stiff swollen and painful all week. I even took a pain pill this week to help ease some of the pain and even that didn't help. Can't sleep because of the discomfort.


@Threads The workshop is April 25 and 26 "diaper weave". I need to make my warp, plan on doing that in the next couple of days and then to put it on my loom. My hubby put the Jane together on Sunday and the other day he said he thought this loom would be good for me at workshops. That made me feel good. I think he had fun putting it together. I can't wait to try it out.

 

[Threads]

Just checking in before I head to bed. Glad to hear the Jane is ready to be dressed! Sorry to hear that your knee is giving you grief still. With me, it's a headache - I've had it for 3 days. I was doing a lot of shibori stitching - white on white - so I'm not sure if I strained my eyes or not. I have more to do, but I will leave it for a few days. Tomorrow is the Guild meeting. I'm not looking forward to it. For the first time in the 25+ years I've belonged, there is a slit in opinion and it doesn't make the meetings enjoyable :-(

Hope tomorrow is a better day and you sleep better tonight.

 

[fiberlady]

Another day of stiffness, swelling and pain. I have been sitting here elevating and icing. Did some stretches today hoping anything will help. Maybe I am not doing enough? I can only stand for a few minutes before I have to go sit down. I will be 4 months on the 29th of this month. I had really hoped I would have made better progress. I don't have another appointment with my OS until June. Maybe I need a new plan.

 

[Pumpkin]

Fiberlady,
Sorry to hear you are having problems with stiffness, swelling, and pain. Four months is still early in recovery, we all heal at different rates. Glad that you are elevating and icing, are you taking any pain medications?
I suspect that you may be doing too much for your knee and it is letting you know. For some people it does not take much.
Here are @Josephine questions for you to answer, she will be along later with advice.

First I have some questions to ask you:

1. what are your pain levels right now? (remember the 1-10 scale: 1 = no pain and 10 = the worst you can imagine. And don't compare this with the bone-on-bone pain you had before surgery!

)

2. what pain medications have you been prescribed, how much are you taking (in mg please) and how often?

3. how often are you icing your knee and for how long?

4. are you elevating your leg, how often and for how long?

5. what is your activity level? What do you do in the way of housework, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc., and

6. what kind of PT/exercises are you doing? How much and how often? (and detailed details would be appreciated, please! Reps, sets and session and all that)

 

[Threads]

@fiberlady - I had a post written about how working in water had helped me but I see that Pumpkin has tagged Josephine for you. I hope they can come up with some ideas to give you relief. How is your hip holding out?

Thinking of you.

 

[fiberlady]

1. what are your pain levels right now? (remember the 1-10 scale: 1 = no pain and 10 = the worst you can imagine. And don't compare this with the bone-on-bone pain you had before surgery!

)

Since Sunday the pain levels have gotten to about a 4. Tonight it has gotten to about a 5


2. what pain medications have you been prescribed, how much are you taking (in mg please) and how often?

I only take pain meds when needed. If it gets bad I take the norco (hydrocodone) or I take excedrin, as I cannot take tylenol.

3. how often are you icing your knee and for how long?

I have been icing about forty minutes once a day

4. are you elevating your leg, how often and for how long?

I elevate all day off and on, up to an hour or more at a time


5. what is your activity level? What do you do in the way of housework, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc., and

No shopping, minimal housework, cook simple dinners,

6. what kind of PT/exercises are you doing? How much and how often? (and detailed details would be appreciated, please! Reps, sets and session and all that)

None. I do do some heal slides either first thing in the morning or when I go to bed. Maybe about five or six. I do walk around the house and work on hobbies which require me to stand for a bit, or to use my legs while in a sitting position.

I keep thinking I need to do more, I feel like I have gotten lazy and the knee wants to do more and that is why it is stiff and swollen. I am really bad as I keep comparing it to the last knee. I was already just getting on with life, I just keep saying my knee hates me.

@Threads my hip has been great,thank goodness. I am winding on my warp on the Jane. Taking me a long time as I wind a few inches, sit down and come back to do more. I am using Jane Staffords way of warping the Jane. Liking it. Cannot wait to weave on it.

 

[Pumpkin]

Thanks for answering the questions, @Josephine will be along to respond to your replies.

 

[Josephine]

Before I address your answers I need to know two things:
1. which knee are your referring to? (assume the right but can't take these things for granted!)
2. what is your ROM?

 

[fiberlady]

It is the left knee, surgery date December 29, 2014 ROM is 118

 

[fiberlady]

Oh my goodness, my knee is not as stiff today, but the pain is a good 5. Nice sharp pains on the outside of the knee. I did get in a good walk today and then came home to elevate and ice for awhile. We have our granddaughter today and she is a super sweet heart, she sits on grandmas lap while I ice and she will play a game. Just wish the pain would go away.