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TKR Getting my Life back on May 1

Hey all, I noticed the small forest growing around my scar today too. It's a bit raised and that makes me afraid to shave around it. But I can't avoid it too much longer!

My weird spot is on the inside of my left knee (medial side). Annoys me mostly at night -- of course.

Yes, @tigz , I have a wonderful chauffeur. I will be home on Sunday unless we decide to go home a day early. We are ready to get home but hate to cut it short here either.

@kmann , the trip has been good but I was walking a couple 1/3 mile jaunts prior to the trip so knew I could walk for a bit at least. I overdid it a couple days and paid the price but mostly, it's been good.

Roxie
 
@kmann I took 2 trips a little too early. The worst thing was the car ride. I suggest you go somewhere within an hour's drive..the walking is easy to control.
Roxie have a safe drive back!
 
Roxie..I also have one sore spot as well on the medial aspect of my knee. Feels like a bad bruise. It hurts mostly when I put my knees together on my side at night. Maybe they had to tug a bit harder on that spot.
 
Roxie,
I had a sore spot on the medial side of my Left knee until about 4 or 5 months. That was the leg that had the bad bowing and had to be realigned. I couldn't sleep on my side with my legs together or even with a pillow until 4 or 5 months. My right knee which I just had done is the exact opposite. I have some soreness on the lateral side but none on the medial side and I've been able to sleep on my side with my knees together from day 1. That leg did not have any deformity that needed realigning.
 
@bluejuju and @Gigi32 , I love this forum for so many reasons but one of the main ones is that you all help me "normalize" all the weird things that go along with recovery from a TKR! I think you're right about them doing more work on that side -- that is the side where on the pre-surgery x-ray it showed that the knee was actually laying on top of my tibia and a bit in front of it because the cartilage was completely gone. I was in horrible pain when I walked! I'm sure it took some work so I shall continue to be patient. I did buy a "knee pillow" awhile back that actually slides over my knee and helps some but the pressure from my other leg still bothers some. I am generally a side sleeper so the most annoying thing is that it's hard to get comfortable partly because of the sore spot and partly because of the IT band on the outside of my leg. I have decided that when I get back to Wichita, I'm going to find a good masseuse and see if she/he can help with the IT issue. The surgeon wants to give it until my 6 month check-up in November because he thinks it will settle down on its own by then. He's probably right because he has been pretty much about everything else but impatient me is tired of dealing with it and if the massage therapist just focuses on the IT band, what harm can it do?

On a good note, I can tell my quads have gotten quite a lot stronger just by doing more walking and even some minimal hiking. Today, we were going to hike up to a waterfall which we were told was a half mile up and a half mile back down. However, after hiking a half mile on quite a steep grade, we saw a sign that said it was another half mile up! We decided that was too much for my knee right now and came down. We also did a 1/4 mile down and the same distance back to see an amazing mountain meadow full of wildflowers -- almost too gorgeous to describe. We came back to Crested Butte, walked a couple blocks and had lunch and now I am back in the room icing for an hour or so. The great news is that my TKR knee actually handled it all very well and I had no pain. Any joint pain I had came from my "so-called" good knee -- sigh. It really boosted my spirits and gave me a glimpse of how wonderful it's going to be to have my life back soon. I took some amazing photographs and would post one here but don't want to get in trouble for getting off topic.

Hope everyone has a great day.

Roxie
 
That all sounds wonderful! A taste of all that's to come, and it's all good! Swimming today made me excited for our vacation and no longer scared. It's nice to have a positive outlook.


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Kansas Teacher said:
Any joint pain I had came from my "so-called" good knee -- sigh
Click to expand...
LOL - this is what I used to say about my right knee until 3 weeks ago. Now it will eventually become "one" of my good knees again, I just have to be patient and let the healing occur. Do you have plans to have this knee done sometime?
 
We decided to wait for big vacation next year, and are planning a 2 week trip to beach front house!!! Will do short trip this year, maybe just weekend trip... Decided it would be best if I was back at a 100% so I could really enjoy it!
 
The beach sounds wonderful @kmann ! It's actually my favorite place to vacation even though the mountains are gorgeous.

@Gigi32 , I will have to have the right knee done eventually but it's still nowheres near as bad as the left was. However, my OS is keeping an eye on it so we discuss it at all of my appointments.

We are hunkered down in a room on Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs. It was just too long of a trip to drive all the way back to Wichita from Crested Butte today so we will make the rest of the trip tomorrow. I'm looking forward to being home even though it's been a wonderful trip. I feel a lot better about my knee and what it's going to be able to do in the future which is exciting!

Roxie
 
I still having some swelling but it is definitely going down. However, as it goes down, I notice what feels like my kneecap (?) clunking around a bit -- mostly when I go from bent leg to straight leg or vice versa or change positions in bed. It's not really painful but feels a bit unsettling to me. I'm pretty sure I've read that's normal but wanted to check for sure.

Roxie
 
Roxie,
That clunking is perfectly normal. You'll find as your quad strengthens it will just about disappear. Mine had all but vanished in my LTKR until I had my right knee done. Now that I haven't been exercising that leg like I was it is happening again . Mine only happens when I turn over in bed or straighten my leg like yours. It doesn't hurt it's just annoying. Look at the positive - it means the swelling is down so much there is room to "clunk"!
 
I've noticed that when rolling over in bed... and last night it was a lot!
 
Hi Roxie,

I also still have hypersensitivity and numbness in the medial aspect of my left knee. It affects approx 8 inches of my inner leg. The good news is that it is improving and no longer disrupts my sleep at night. I'd say that when I was at bout week 10 1/2- my sleeping was much better. I change positions througt the night, although prefer to be on my tummy when I sleep.
 
Well I had hoped my clunking would go away. After another 6 weeks of PT, my knee is looser than it was. I got bad news about mine today.


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@wberry , I read your update today and am so sorry. I answered the question about the surgeon you had asked about.

I am amazed at how much my swelling has gone down over the past few days. Of course, now the clunking drives me nuts a bit so I have to get busy and really try to strengthen my quads. I even noticed today that my exercise stepping up and down on a step result in a bit of popping -- that's never happened before but the swelling was holding everything in place before I guess.

We got home from our mega-trip around 3:30 this afternoon. Home looks and feels so good and I'm anxious to sleep in my own bed tonight. Once we left Colorado Springs, it was a very short time until we couldn't see the mountains anymore and got into flat Kansas. It's a long way across western Kansas with nothing to look at!

Roxie
 
My issues started as clunking. But it was clunking with pain.


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Hi Roxie, welcome back home! I hope you get a great night sleep in your own bed tonight!!
I enjoyed your stories about your good vacation with your new knee and your family.
Are you going back to work in August? I just went back last week and so far so good.
:fingersx::fingersx:
 
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