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TKR Fire wolf recovery<

At just over three months I felt returning to my classroom was a big step to normalcy. Because of my complications I took things slowly and the only other exercise I did after a day of work was riding my recumbent bike a few miles and not even every day, just when I had the energy. I kept that routine until summer came around month 8 post op when I began swimming again.

When I felt defeated or impatient I thought back to where I was pre surgery or even a month or two post op. That made everything I was doing look like a superhuman feat! I'm still celebrating new activities at 4 years post op (I'm a slow learner). :heehee:
 
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Thanks @KarriB, I hear what you are saying. I guess part of the challenge is that I never let anything stop me before Bionic Spence, no matter how difficult it was or how much it hurt. I even went skydiving for the first time 2 days before TKR, and that required me kneeling in a small plane for several minutes, in spite of brace and discomfort. I guess my mental recovery has a long way to go. I guess I need to find some physical outlets that Bionic Spence can tolerate well.
 
Lap swimming was my go to physical activity before and after TKR. My OS and PTs said swimming was something I should continue. My PTs in rehab and out patient thought I did yoga or Pilates due to my flexibility, but once I told them I was a swimmer they just nodded and said,"yes, swimmers are typically flexible ". It was just the least painful exercise I could do pre TKR.

Now I walk, bike and swim, but couldn't bike or walk pre op and didn't start walking as early as I should have. Whatever you do, start slow, give your knee and body a chance to acclimate before pushing for more. When I began swimming again I could only swim 3-4 laps, it took nearly a month to work up to my normal 15-20 laps a day. What you're experiencing is temporary, activity will return, but your mind needs to remember the body calls the shots.
 
Well, unfortunately I do not know how to swim, so that rules that out! Lol! Although I am told that it is a great activity post tkr, well not immediately after, but once things are more on the mend. So I guess I stick with walking until I figure out a better option.
 
There are water aerobic classes that you don't need to swim strokes, but walking is great for TKRs.
 
@Fire wolf, I hope my ennui from yesterday wasn't contagious? I don't think it was, but suspect you are just completely wiped-out from your week. Oh, and your TKR, of course! I'm delighted to see that when Spence says "rest," you respond accordingly. After all, he's the boss, right? And he will need to be in top form tomorrow, so don't feel one shred of guilt about your couch-potato weekend...not one. You earned it!

Like you, I've had a gazillion surgeries, too many to list and only two orthopedic, but the TKR has been the biggest challenge of all. There are many reasons for that, but one I find especially grating is it's unpredictability. There's just no rhyme or reason to how it feels on any given day and that's disconcerting and can be discouraging. I've never experienced such a zig-zag path with any prior surgeries, even THR.

There are days when walking on hands definitely seems preferable, eh? My back and bum are in tune with yours; achy-breaky if I don't get up every 30 minutes. Yep, sad but true, for now. Now, if you look at what @sandi4213 posted on my thread tonight, she says she's basically *forgotten* that her first TKR was ever done! It took her 5 months and another new knee to get there, but I'm holding her to it, lol! You should as well.:heehee:
 
@Pheebs52 , no way am I getting other knee done to forget this one! However, I will mark my calendar for the 5 month part. And no, you were not contagious!:snork: I am frequently finding myself full of much more negative emotion than I would like, and most of the time I just suck it up. On top of everything else, I have a boo boo belly tonight, and I hope it settles soon so I can get some sleep!
 
I think you'll find it much more productive to spit things out rather than sucking them up. Try it for awhile?

Oh nooo, crummy-tummy? Bah!
 
Oh dear! Boo boo tummy is not good especially when it takes a while to get to the bathroom these days! Hopefully just a temporary thing because of something you ate or Meds. Feel better soon!
 
I need to find out what I did to the universe! Considering some sort of sacrifice at this point....perhaps my walker burned in effigy? Although metal probably won't burn that well. Sigh
 
Well, I hopefully averted a TKR crisis today. I found out that someone who works in a different department at work will be going for TKR in the near future. I immediately gave her the address to Bonesmart and told her that I wished I found it sooner. I told her to be careful not to push through the recovery. She gave me an odd look, and said *everyone is telling me I need to push hard*. I let out a big noooooooo! Then gave a brief explanation of the Bonesmart perspective. Hopefully she checks out the site, follows the mantras, and has as much of a positive recovery that one can have with TKR!
 
Due to being violently ill last night :sick: , I skipped Tylenol all day today, even though I was considering going back to a regular regimen of Tylenol. Fortunately Bionic Spence was fairly well behaved, and hardly noticeable most of the day. While I was in a room with no windows all day, he did send out some zingers around the time that the eclipse was happening. I guess he wanted to go see it, but sadly this was one time he didn't get his own way!:snork: So, now I am back to uncertainty as to the Tylenol. Too early to tell if the fancy compression sleeve has helped with muscle to brain communications, but it certainly isn't making anything worse.
 
I hope you and Spence are doing better now! I've had some pretty big zingers today, too. One just made my iPad jump almost off my lap a few minutes ago, as my leg jerked straight up.
 
Oh Marie, I hope you are feeling much better now. It's bad enough recovering from a tkr, but add tummy problems to that is just too much. Do you think it was something you ate?
 
Thank you, @sistersinhim! Not sure if something I ate or caused by pills I took, but it was awful! Wish I could have stayed home from work today, but Spence and I made it through. Unfortunately he had to endure a little kneeling last night with only the comfort of a small rug, but he was a trooper!
 
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