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TKR Hopefaith's Ups and Downs of Recovery

Hopefaith,
You live in Colorado, have you thought about seeing a Rolfer? The method has changed to a gentler form, and an advanced practitioner will be trained in movement education. Just a thought.
 
My case is one that went to the wall. By the time I had my Right TKR I was wearing a load brace all the time just so I could walk. Before they put me in the brace I walked every single step in pain. Prior to the pain becoming regular I had resigned myself I would never enjoy Disney World trips or anything involving extensive walking ever again, be cause I had to stop and sit down my knee hurt so much. I had at least 3 scopes on my right knee and had a serious football injury when I was 20. Back then they didn't try to fix things for young people, they put me in a cast for 6 months and then I went through months of PT to get motion back. Somewhere in there I put my knee through a ten year army career, airborne school, and a bad fall from a tree where I landed on my feet. Roll forward to now. Yes the knee is stiff sometimes and I am still working on my ROM. Everyone cations me to slow down, but I am so excited, I have no pain when I step on it. And if I can just work through the ROM and get the swelling down, the stiffness should improve over time. For me I had nothing but the worst to start from. So I look up and forward. This may take a year or more before any since of normal is there. But I have to look forward to that day. I think you will get to that day also. Everyone's recovery is different. But given time it will happen.


Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum
 
sarainvt said:
I may be describing something different than the clinical definition of stiffness for TKRs and apologize if I am
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No need for apologies. There is no clinical definition for stiffness as there is no clinical definition for pain. It is what the patient perceives it to be - not one morsel more and not one morsel less!
 
I don't know of an OS that is going to admit to a poor outcome. it's too personal and way too much ego involved.
 
Not necessarily. I think you're assuming that the only reason for a poor outcome is surgeon error. That's certainly a possibility and in that case, you may be right - a surgeon's ego might get in the way of admitting it. But there are other reasons for a poor outcome. Maybe when the surgeon got in there, there was more damage than anyone could have anticipated, maybe a patient was non-compliant, maybe a patient was involved in some type of accident - something out of anyone's control but it affects the final results. It's just not black and white - lots of gray areas.
 
I know that surgeon went out of his way to not implicate it was the opp that has caused my condition even though his registrar let it slip they had immense difficulty then back tracked later. Things go wrong its life I accept this what I do expect tho is transparancy. Oh btw im down for second hip to be done and im going for it.

Legin THR Sep 14
 
My OS is actually considering no longer doing knee replacements. He says too many of his patients are not doing the PT and not keeping up with their exercises and then are complaining about the results.
 
Phil75070 said:
My OS is actually considering no longer doing knee replacements. He says too many of his patients are not doing the PT and not keeping up with their exercises and then are complaining about the results.
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Best not tell him about @Josephine. J. gets good results with hardly any PT/exercise. Phil I think your post is interesting. What is it they say `a poor workman always blames his tools'. Could it be that he is not that good and OS and that is why he gets complaints - enough to make him think of packing it in?
 
patient 99 said:
J. gets good results with hardly any PT/exercise.
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Everyone is different. There are those who do the PT, keep up with their exercises, do everything that should result in a good outcome but it just doesn't seem to work out for them. There are others, like Josephine, who can do little PT or exercise and get great results. All bad results can't be blamed on the OS anymore than credit for all good results should be given to them. If my results and the results of a friend of mine who used him for TKRs are any indication our OS is plenty good at what he does.
 
Phil75070 said:
There are others, like Josephine, who can do little PT or exercise and get great results.
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Count me as another who did almost no PT and yet had excellent results - three times, as I have had three knee replacements.
 
I was in no way "blaming" my OS for my lingering pain, stiffness. I was saying that my OS will not likely enter my results as "dissatisfied.". He is named in the top 24 Orthopods in the U.S. I think he knew what he was doing. That is not my point. He didn't, however do any pre op. teaching about how treacherous this recovery is for many.

My, my thread has had quite a dust up. :heehee:
.......and @Josephine, I have never seen so much of you!
@Jamie i hope you are right that my story isn't complete. Of course I hope my knee improves. One man was asked by someone they know how long it takes and he said "two years".

I will always stand by my belief that this surgery is waaay minimized and needs to be described as the procedure that it is. There are many videos that show exactly what is done in a TKR. It is eye opening. I did not watch these before mine. It would have been educational.
 
I agree with you, HopeFaith, about the lack of information provided pre-surgery for most people. That's one of the things we try to counter with the BoneSmart website and forum. Even with many hospitals offering the pre-op classes, still information about recovery can be minimized. I appreciate that you have put your story out there for folks so they can see that there are certainly times it is not a walk in the park. And I'm holding to that thought that you have better days ahead. :)
 
I also agree with you, MaryJean, @hopefaith . Here on BoneSmart, we get so many people who expect to bounce back quickly from this major surgery and are disappointed when they don't.
It is, truly, major surgery - and not gentle surgery either (orthopaedic surgery often isn't gentle).
The operation is a huge assault on your body and your body needs time to recover.

I give full marks to my surgeon, who has written his own, comprehensive booklet about knee replacement. It tells what to expect pre-op, what happens during surgery, and what to expect afterwards. He details when to start PT and how much to do, even showing the gentle exercises he recommends. He gives this booklet to every patient and asks you to bring this booklet into the hospital with you. He'll answer any questions you have and, after surgery, he again shows you the section on post-op progress.
 
Hello all,
I wanted to give an update. I am a little over 18 months from my RTKR. It has been a very very gradual recovery for me. I still have some stiffness and soreness at times. It doesn't feel completely like MY knee. But I can walk normally, do stairs with a small amount of pain. I still wonder why it feels like I have arthritis in my knee when it has been replaced, but who knows?
It is a very long haul. If I could do things a little differently, I would have done more quad exercises earlier on. Not anything hard or painful, just more. It is very important to get the quad muscle strong to "help your knee out'
PT shouldn't hurt but it shouldn't be avoided either.
So, there ya go.
I think about all of you and hope you are doing well.
~MaryJean
aka hopefaith
 
Hello Mary Jean

How lovely to hear from you. Oh I'm ever so pleased that things are improving slowly but improving they are and that is a wonderful thing. I'm doing everybody's head in at the moment with my latest motto..."a slow recovery is better than no recovery!"

Having a can do mentality helps enormously and I've been trying to get properly motivated. It's working. Yes it's rather slow but it's recovery and that's is fantastic.

I've found that recovery can take up to two years to start feeling right and from looking at some if the reports on this site, a lot of people are taking this long to recover fully or begin to feel some kind of normal.

Thank you so much for updating. I hope you'll pop by soon.

Sending you my love from across the pond
Ann xxx
 
How wonderful to hear from you, Hopefaith! I'm glad that you're continuing to improve. I know your story will continue to be helpful for those of our members who do take longer than "average" for recovery. You give a really positive message! Please don't hesitate to post any time to let us know how you're doing.
 
Good to hear from you! I hope things continue to improve for you.
 
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