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TKR I Feel Like the Tin Man these Days

At a little over two weeks from surgery you are doing well to sit in a chair for 30 minutes. Keep on resting the knee, and elevation. :ice:
 
Well, this is interesting. Swelling has gone down 1/2" on the top part of my knee just since the therapist was here this morning. The nurse was somewhat alarmed when she saw it and couldn't believe it was getting bigger (since Monday) even though I've been wearing the stockings, icing and elevating.
 
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@Laurenkate I think I'd avoid sitting in a typical chair for a while, at least not for more than a few minutes. They're not really good for your knee the way they hit the back of it and also keep your knee down instead of up. A recliner is good if you put pillows or a Lounge Doctor, etc, under your knee. The same goes for a sofa. That way you can sit up without making your knee ache and stress more. I sit out on my deck, when it's not 400 degrees out there, on an anti-gravity chair, or my swivel rocker, with my leg elevated and comfortable. There's nothing hitting the back of my knee or leg that way and I can sit for quite a while.

The swelling on your knee is going to go up and down for a while-it's part of the TKR recovery roller coaster you're on. I think what you need to do is go get a fifty gallon bucket of PATIENCE and draw from it constantly. When that one is empty, go get another one. You're going to go through a bunch of those buckets before this recovery is over. :wink: You're barely two weeks out and still have a long way to go. This recovery really does take around a full year to complete, even though somewhere around three months you will be feeling a lot better, but your knee will still need some time to finish recovering. So two weeks is barely a drop in the bucket time wise. I'm at six weeks and my knee is still swollen and stiff. It's better than it was at two weeks, and at three weeks, and so on. But, it's still letting me know it's not done healing, not even close, so I need to cater to it for a while yet.
 
I'm not particularly worried about the swelling. As mentioned, the last one swelled like a blowfish and this one is doing the same. The home health nurse (who visits twice a week to check a couple of things) is very worried about it; the physical therapist, not so much. Of course, having said that, it's concerning when the nurse says something about blood clots - but she's doing her job.

We don't have a recliner and I can't lay on our sofa. Wish I could because it's very comfy but it's too low to the ground and I can't get off of it. When I sit in my chair, nothing hits the back of it because I put my leg up on the pillow stack. My thigh is still tight or feels like the muscles are bunched up in it which is why sitting in the chair is uncomfortable.

And great! It's raining again. A friend wondered the other day if we should be building arks.
 
My sofa was too low at first to get up by myself, so when I sat on it I made sure I had someone home to help me back up, and didn't sit on it when home alone. But after about 3 weeks or so I was able to get back up by myself. Without thinking when I was sitting on it one day, I just stood up as usual and was surprised when I did it, and I didn't use the arm rest either. I was even easily able to get back up from the doctor's office exam table, which was set even lower than my sofa, at my one month check. Keep trying, you'll be able to do it soon.
 
Thanks; I thought that too....but have never been able to get up (by myself) since October, 2015 which was the beginning of this saga. I really miss sitting or laying on the thing....
 
Oh boy! My favorite part of recovery started this afternoon....feels like little gremlins are inside my knee poking at the incision and nerves with torches. I would KILL to be sitting in the cold water off Cape Cod this afternoon. There are a lot of seals just off our favorite beach there; told my husband it would be my luck to have a great white swim by and think my leg was a seal. It's about as big as one.
 
Laurenkate said:
feels like little gremlins are inside my knee poking at the incision and nerves with torches.
Click to expand...
For my RTKR, I had the glue. This time, with the LTKR, I had staples (due to having a different OS). Lets just say, staples are not exactly comfy, lol!! Especially when you are wearing the TED hose!! And, not to mention during the ROM stuff in p/t, when she pressed down on the top of my kneecap (I guess that was to help the leg straighten out)!! Oh, that was such a pleasant experience......not!! LOL at your comment about the great white!! Having a great sense of humor helps in your recovery. They say laughter is the best medicine. My warped sense of humor is what helped keep me sane during my 2 recoveries!!
 
The physical therapist just left....swelling has gone down an inch in my knee and the only thing I've done differently is to wear the kt tape. My ROM went up just a bit too....don't think i'll be at the "goal" by the end of next week but who cares. I'm way ahead of where I was at the same time with the first knee.

Finally figured something else out too. My leg keeps wanting to flop over to the right side and is sometimes uncomfortable. Took my thin (Linus) blanket, threw it around my foot, criss crossed it and tied it behind my back which holds it up straight on the pillow stack. *sigh* One more thing to undo when nature calls but it feels better.

Can't wait until next Friday when I have my OS follow up appointment. I'm really ready for this phase to be over with although he's going to recommend physical therapy. Think I've decided to go for a relatively short period of time because it was somewhat helpful last time; the therapists don't push but are encouraging and the massage at the end of it feels really great. If it's not the same as the first go-around, then I just won't go back.

Also wish it would stop raining and it was mid-September. This past few months have flown by and we're looking forward to our beach trip in October.
 
You're doing GREAT! You KNOW that slow and steady wins this “race” ( which is really a marathon! )
I'm with you wishing the rain away! But, we have sunshine today! :) :-) (: Sending it your way!
 
beachy said:
What is kt tape?
Click to expand...
It's kinesiology tape used by a lot of athletes and people who are very active. I'm a little muddled right now but I think the theory is that you put it on a certain way which allows for more blood circulation. When I broke my ankle several years ago and tore an Achilles tendon, a physical therapist used it and it helped with the pain. When I had the first tkr, the pt taped my knee just to add some support to it. A lot of people think it's hocus pocus but it helps me and, except for the cost, doesn't hurt anything. This p.t. really likes the Kinesio Gold tape and uses it on her stroke victims. One of her patients couldn't open his hand until she used the tape on it and two hours later, he could open it halfway - and then fully by the end of the day.

Right now my knee looks like a blue spiderweb is on it and it's certainly more comfortable than those TED stockings! It sort of looks like this except the "fingers" are wiggled down my knee and leg.

 
These guys drive me nuts because they are so goofy but here is the other side of the argument about tape:

 
This was an exciting afternoon. My husband had to go to the little neighborhood market and I just decided to go too. Actually got in and out of the car without getting my foot stuck & was relatively comfortable - unlike last Sunday when we went out to breakfast. We split up in the store, picked up what we needed and I went back to the car while he finished up and checked out. The whole outing took 25 minutes; it was good to get out and it was good to get home. Sometimes my husband has convenient hearing so it was also good to get a few things I wanted without having to explain why I wanted a particular brand or type of thing...which he usually ignores or "doesn't hear". :)

Thirty years ago, never would have guessed the thrill of the week would consist of being able to put on underwear in less than 5 minutes and being happy about picking out the right color and type of cantaloupe.
 
You are making great progress!
I did see the KT tape on Pinterest. Interesting!
 
@Laurenkate just a thought about your low sofa, when I had my hip replacement I raised the sofa by getting a piece of 4 inch foam and cutting it to match my sofa. The other option are risers that go under the legs of the sofa. I loved being able to stretch out there with all my pillows
 
Love that idea! I'm going to try that before I buy or rent a recliner.
 
My husband and I were just discussing ways of making the sofa work and he thought the risers would be a good one.
As expected, my knee started swelling after our excursion this afternoon. The tape has helped with the pain but apparently swelling is the one thing I do very, very well. And, of course, a pair of shoes I've wanted have just gone on "final sale" and I don't know whether to get my regular size or go 1/2 size up because my foot is going to swell too before it's all said and done. That's one good thing about a tkr...it's too hard to make these decisions so I end up saving money.

Oh joy; "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" movie is coming to Netflix in a couple of weeks. That will be a good one to watch while icing and elevating!


 
My previous chiropractor (in Ohio, I’m in Delaware now) used to use that tape on my back, as my ribs have a tendency to get out of place on a regular basis. I liked it and never had a problem having it on for days.

Several months ago I used it on my knee. It did help.

When I put it on again a few days later and left it on longer, I got quite a skin rash that took weeks to clear up. (Sometimes I just can’t win!)
 
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