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TKR I Feel Like the Tin Man these Days

Another new day of recovery. Feeling a bit down today - don't know if it's weaning off the Tramadol (does it really have anti-depressant qualities) or if it's just August (which I despise) and I'm sick to death of wearing the same old clothes. My knee didn't swell much after p.t. on Tuesday but did after my stretches yesterday. Talked my husband into getting out of here yesterday so I did a little more than in the past 4 weeks and was ridiculously exhausted last night (also a bit discouraging).

The other strange thing about this time around.... I really don't care anything about food and some things I've always enjoyed (usually as a snack) bother my stomach. None of this is bad news because losing weight would be a good thing but more than 5 or 6 bites of a meal make me feel very full. Sometimes it doesn't stay down either. The only thing which doesn't seem to bother me too much is fruit - and can't wait until apple season. Did you have an issue with food 4-5 weeks out from surgery?

Also have to admit I'm worried about my extension; it wasn't a problem last time. For those of you who didn't go to p.t., did you initially have a problem with flex and extension or just one or the other? @SusieShoes, you had a problem with extension & time took care of it, right? And @sistersinhim, you took long strides when you walked to help with extension? (I keep picturing John Cleese - Minister of Silly Walks when I try it.)

Hope everyone has a good day....and good night's sleep.
 
I get full quickly these days when I eat, also, and I’m almost a year and a half out from surgery. I know I eat too many carbs and need to cut back, but I no longer like to cook, so we just eat the easy stuff which isn’t good for us.

I have 3 kids, I used to make good meals, we had a lot of company over the years. I ate whatever I wanted and stayed thin. And a lot of what I ate back then would be considered really bad today, white bread, store brand margerine, koolaid, home made cookies and cakes, etc. I was skinny as anything.

Today, while I admit I eat too many carbs, my breads and pasta are whole wheat, I don’t bake anymore so I actually eat way less sugar than I used to, and I weigh more than ever. How unfair is that!

I don’t think my surgeon was satisfied with my extension until my 4 month check up, but it was usually decent enough that he didn’t make a big deal about it. I did try to take longer steps but that hurt my back so I stopped and just walked regularly. My extension is fine today. I have other problems.
 
I had a decreased appetite that lasted about three months. I filled up after a few bites. Normal part of recovery. My husband drank those supplements drinks after his knee replacement because of weight loss and decreased food intake.
 
@Jockette; there should be a law that we don't have to fix meals after being married a certain number of years! The one good thing about this process is that my husband realizes it's a lot easier to just order/pick up something pre-cooked. We eat a lot of veggies in the summer but are tired of them at this point and like I said, I really don't want to eat anything and stuff like cereal makes me feel bloated and almost sick. And I can't even imagine all the things you're dealing with....it must be miserable and depressing too.

@Mutti3; thanks, good to know. The only thing I really enjoy is a chocolate malt about mid-afternoon. It seems to coat my stomach, doesn't make me feel bloated and I've lost about 8 pounds!
 
Laurenkate said:
there should be a law that we don't have to fix meals after being married a certain number of years!
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I agree!!! Thankfully my husband is usually willing to go along with any of my suggestions, however limited they are. He actually agreed one night recently to my suggestion of cereal!! And yes, I felt bloated and blah afterwards, but it tasted good at the time. I really need to get back on my WW plan. Or South Beach. We’ve done both in the past.
 
Hi Laurenkate! In addition to being 4 weeks out you seem to have a case of the summertime blues!

And I found the weight you lost. :boohoo:Time for me to get rid of it. Too many yummy treats at the beach. That chocolate malt diet sounds good though LOL

From the post op threads I’ve read don’t you take 2 steps forward and 1 back?
Hope the blahs lift soon.:flwrysmile:
 
Can you drink protein drinks? I existed on them for more than a month. I wanted nothing to eat, but knew I needed protein to heal. Oh, and dark chocolate kisses! Crazy. Before my surgery I loved veggies, but afterwards it was months before I'd eat even a toss salad.

Yes, I walked with long strides, making sure I put my heel first, then rolled my foot to my toes. It was hard to do at first, but got easier the more I did it. If you try it, make sure you have something to hold on to until you get stronger.
 
Premier chocolate and vanilla were my favorites. I was really blessed. Sam's had them on sale the month that I needed them, so I stacked up. I would drink about a half of one about 10 minutes before taking my pain meds. They really helped to coat my stomach and keep the nausea down.
 
@sistersinhim - Protein drinks really upset my stomach....you're right about the protein so I try to eat some eggs each week. Other than the chocolate malt, the thought of solid chocolate makes me almost queasy too. This is an interesting diet!
@beachy - Yes; 2 steps forward and 1 step back is about right. For some reason, i'm completely freaked out my extension isn't going to get straight (no pun intended). This is completely illogical but also unexpected because it was so good last time. Between that and the blahs, it's been a long couple of days. Being in the house this long is getting to me a little bit but there isn't anyplace I really want to go or anything I really want to do. Ack! Looking forward to sweater weather and our trip to the beach in October....need to keep focusing on that for right now.
Enough whining for now. Back to icing, elevating and watching Aretha Franklin videos. Anything is better than watching the news!
 
Bummer on the protein drink problem. What about nuts, can you stomach those? Eggs are great! I'm glad you can handle those.
 
@Laurenkate I am late getting in on the conversation but I was hoping it would be ok to comment on extension because that has been a big issue for me.
Great flexion right out of the gate and off prescription pain meds after 2 weeks.But my extension has been another matter.I have had 2 issues effecting my extension.


1 Weak quad muscles that gave me balance issues and they also didn't help my leg to lift my foot off the ground while walking.It took almost 6 weeks for my quad muscles to finally help me naturally lift my foot off the ground.I hope that makes sense the way I described that issue.

2 And the much bigger issue was with my calf muscles and the calf itself being tight at the back.You couldn't see much but I really knew it was there.After 3 months I decided to ignore it and just get on with everyday living and some stretches and finally at about 4 and half months my calf finally loosened up and I could straighten my leg much better.It went from a +5 to+ 10 to zero and now at 7 months is minus 5 degrees.

I hope this helps you in some way.It just shows that there are other issues that can be a challenge once pain and flexion are under control.


All that being said I am very happy I had my knee done and my other knee is going be done the end of next month.I saw you made a comment somewhere else about heading toward a wheelchair and that was me too.I am very glad that I had this option for myself.I had two very close female relatives in wheelchairs from arthritis when I was a child.They sadly did not have this option.


I hope you are trying to stay positive and hopefully everything will fall into place soon.
 
@Nigella2 - Thank you so much; you're right. My calf muscle and Achilles tendon are both so tight which makes the extension tough. The thing which really helped on my first tkr was laying on the bed on my stomach with my legs hanging off of it so gravity would help the extension. It's more difficult this time because it feels like the muscles in my thigh are bunched up and it hurts to put pressure on them.

My husband asks very little of me so we compromised about p.t.; i'm going to half the sessions recommended by the surgeon. In the meantime and in the future though, i'm going to do like you did and just get on with my life. Yesterday I read someplace (and who knows about some of these studies) that a recent study showed that at a year afterwards, people who p.t. after a tkr didn't do any better (or any worse) than people who didn't have it. It's time to get on with my life and stop worrying about this; thanks for your encouraging words.
 
I would like to read that study! I also believe it’s not PT that makes the difference (unless negatively because of bad PT) in getting back ROM, but the patient. Some people’s knees just get ROM back faster for whatever reasons (there are many) and they will credit PT if they’re doing it, but chances are they would have gotten it back exactly as fast or slowly without PT. I think PT is great later in recovery for strengthening muscles and working on gait problems. And gentle PT early on can be good for patients who enjoy interacting with others in recovery, or who need the encouragement.

What I’m trying to say is to stay with your own program. Whatever your program is, make sure you are in charge and stick with what you know is working for you.

I too just got on with life while my left knee’s extension was not yet 0. My OS just said to keep up my walking program (something I was doing anyway) and my extension would come around. It did. One day I just noticed I could stand for much longer. Tested my extension and... flat. It’s like a -1 now, which is normal. But it happened without my doing anything truly special. Mother Nature all the way.

I think having knees done in stages is a built-in trap of sorts. You compare one recovery to the other. It’s inevitable. I had bilateral replacements and I compared my knees to each other in unfair ways. Of course you are measuring your second recovery against the standard set by your first, even though you know you shouldn’t. It’s difficult to avoid such comparisons. :chinstroke: I can say you should try not to, and I will say that, but I kind of know I’d be doing the same thing.

Try not to compare.
 
@Laurenkate I didn't mean to say that you should get on with your life.I think it has only been 5 weeks for you?I did the PT exercises until three months.They kept harping about stairs and walking both of which I couldn't do very well.I wasn't in any pain doing them but I was very frustrated and it affected me mentally.I finally just stepped away and just lived my life with my family.

I have a son with mental health issues who requires guidance from me and I try to really be there as my daughter deals with my Grandson who has Autism.I didn't dwell on issues to do with my knees and luckily things improved.

I was using my knee because I was up and down all day getting things done and going to the park even If I had to sit on the bench some of the time and walking around stores looking at things which I like a lot better than just practicing walking.

My walking and stair climbing at 7 months are still not the greatest but that is to do with my other knee which is being done next month.

I hope I made a valid point in my rambling posts here.I think that sometimes when we concentrate on something really hard and spend mental energy worrying about it so much that it isn't always the best thing to do.Speaking about studies there is one that I think says that 80% of what we worry about never happens.:groan:
 
Nigella2 said:
and walking around stores looking at things which I like a lot better than just practicing walking.
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I took a lot of my walks like this! A shopping cart was an added blessing, it was an walker in disguise!
 
@Laurenkate - just read your concerns about extension. With my first TKR 3 years ago it took many months to get extension. At PT they worried me about it, I did those exercises which I found very painful. I worried about it until I went back to work and had to try an extended all consuming Murder case. So I forgot about it. And at some point I realized I have full extension - no problem! I did do a lot of walking which I’m not doing so much this time but want/intend to get back to. So no answers but if my experience is any guide nothing to worry about! And I am also not finding food appetizing, which is completely strange for me.
 
Thanks for all the comments. Even though each recovery is individual, there are so many common denominators too and it helps to hear other people's ideas and experiences, isn't it?

It's hard to believe it's almost the end of August (thank goodness) and for the first time in a month and 4 days, I feel fairly normal. My knee obviously has a long way to go and sleeping is a definite issue (but one that's just necessary to accept). But the rest of me feels like coping with stuff like paying bills, fixing easy meals, and just generally getting on with it. P.T. is....p.t. but I only have 4 more sessions and then will be free of that. My husband finally realized I probably wasn't going to wreck the car by driving so I've run a couple of quick errands in the past 2 days including getting a much needed haircut earlier today. (It was wandering into "mullet" territory). It's always good to get home but it's greater to feel like i'm accomplishing something and not being so dependent on my husband. (Having said that, it's wonderful to have him home so he can constantly go up and down the steps to carry everything.)

It's important not to compare recoveries but I think that basically, if you don't have any post surgical issues, life starts to feel more "doable" again at 5-6 weeks. Not sure I could handle working full time with a commute but easing back in like everyone suggests would probably be ok (especially if working from home).

Hope everyone is having a good a week as possible - back to my afternoon chocolate malt. It's still the only thing I look forward to food wise and have lost 12 lbs at the same time. Crazy!

 
Drinking chocolate and losing weight! What more could a girl want?!
 
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