PKR Is all ok?

[NavyGunns]

@2labcrew,
It’s good to see that much of the info and advice you’ve received here is helping you. I had PKR a little over 3 months ago. I took a vacation at 9-10 weeks where I did a lot of walking and even bowled in a tournament (my surgery knee was NOT my post leg so that helped). I won’t fool you and say it all went great and that there were no issues, but I will say it’s not impossible. The key is that you be realistic in what your knee is capable of and how much it can tolerate. Expect there to be days of discomfort and days where you might need to adjust plans. However, all that is around 8 weeks in the future and you have a LOT of healing to get done before then. Do not get caught up in the ROM rat race. As your knee heals and inflammation goes down, you will experience significant changes in what your knee can do and tolerate. You will begin to figure out how much you can push yourself and when to back off as long as you listen to what your knee is telling you. If you ignore it, it WILL get your attention and you won’t like the result .

Keep your spirits up, follow the guidance you get here, have an honest heart to heart with your OS about what you want and the approach to recovery you expect to be taken. This will help to head off conflict between what your OS says and what you are comfortable with. If you have doubts or are confused about anything, feel free to ask this group. They won’t steer you wrong.

 

[2labcrew]

Thanks Guns! Every post has been helpful and I really appreciate it!

 

[sistersinhim]

I used my old leg to lift up and down my surgical leg. I found it easy to do. Before you know it, you can lift it all by itself.

 

[CaliCat]

Welcome, @2labcrew! Looks like we're "surgery twins" - I had a LTKR on July 20 as well! And I absolutely agree with you about that anxiety-fear-terror about not being able to lift or lower your leg. I asked my PT about it last week at my first visit and he explained that it comes from the way they had to go through the quads, I think, to actually get to the knee. Until that heals some, you won't be able to really engage the quadriceps and use it in lifting or lowering the leg.

I found that when I was lowering my leg - esp. when getting off my rather high bed - it didn't take much support to ease the pain; what I seemed to need most was something to control the movement so that I wasn't trying to both guide the motion and support the weight all at one time. Not sure if I'm explaining it well enough to make sense. However, between my first PT session last Wednesday and my second one yesterday, I noticed a very abrupt improvement on Sunday. All of a sudden I could do left leg extensions well enough and with little enough pain that I could get out of bed or put my leg up without the strap.

I should add that my OS uses a "minimally invasive" technique that gets in from the side of the knee and involves less cutting of the muscle tissue, which almost certainly affect speed of healing. But your leg will get there. Just be patient and keep working on pain management.

Oh, and I TOTALLY agree about the lack of preparation from the surgeon's office about the recovery time/process. I feel like I dropped the ball somewhat; I've had enough medical procedures over the years that my standard practice is to research things to death so I know what to expect. For whatever reason I didn't do that this time - and as a result, I relied much more on the materials the doctor gave me, which didn't really cover things.

Anyway, I hope this helps. It'll be interesting to see how we do moving forward. Let's keep in touch!

 

[PicklerJay]

Hi guys. So glad I found this thread today. I'm 8 days out of a RTKR. I have my PT, Nurse Ratchet coming over in a few hours and found myself this morning shaking like a dog going to the vet (except for some reason my dog loves going to the vet, shots and all). I'll try to come up with a better example. Although now, I'm wondering about our pup. Maybe it's us. I mean how dull are we to be around if the dog is happy to get attention at a place where they poke and prod her? I promise to be a better owner from now on. Gonna play ball with Bunnybear right after I write this... Yes, Bunnybear. My wife's idea... although it does fit a mini Golden Doodle.

Meanwhile, I too have had the hardest time trying to lift my leg. I do the prescribed exercises, ok, not as often as I should, but that low grade fever, and subsequent sleepless nights I should've read up on knocks me for a loop. The fever is just beginning to subside, I hope, and I'm just starting to move around more with the walker so that should improve my ROM which is, "just ok at this point in time" according to my PT, but then again she is a "No pain, no gain" believer. BTW, today I'm setting the pain limit.

On her last visit she seemed flustered at my inability to do straight leg lifts, or seated kicks in a chair. She looked very concerned by my lack of quad strength; so much so that it had me scouring the internet this morning to find out just what devastating event happened to cause my quad to go to sleep, and would it forever remain in that atrophied state. Eventually, that long info loop led me back to this forum where I found others who also weren't prepared for what I now can believe is a common phenomenon.

So best wishes to all my knee buddies. Just wanted to show there's one more of us "sleepy quad people" out here (very spooky sci-fi reference, right?) and here's hoping that all our quads activate in short order.
Feel good fast!

 

[Celle]

Hi @PicklerJay I see that you don't have a recovery thread of your own yet. Please will you start one so we can talk about your knee there?

 

[chicklet]

I’m almost 12 weeks out and still have a sleepy quad ....or something. Maybe it’s just a lazy quad. It’s improving, so I’m not worried, but I do wish it would hurry up.

@Pickler Jay - you really must start a recovery thread. Your sense of humor is evident and Lord knows we all need some laughs along the way as we all make this (long, winding, sometimes arduous, boring, stop me now!) journey.

Nurse Ratchet - lol!!!

 

[2labcrew]

Hello all,

Well, I’m at 16 days post surgery. The pain is definitely at a minimal level. At this point I am taking Tylenol a few times a day. I do however have quite a few bouts of nerve zingers which can almost be worse than the initial pain, especially bc you can’t do anything to quell that discomfort...as far as I know...

I feel best when I have ice strapped to my leg. I have been up and about trying to do short household chores, but always sit with ice in between. I still think elevating CORRECTLY since last Sun has made the difference...thank you for that, I learned it here through reading the info Celle posted for a reader prior to my joining.

I am walking with crutches now. I have more movement in my knee regarding bending, and my quad seems to be waking up a bit. It is still difficult to lift it every time. But the fact that I can lift it on occasion was a huge win for me. I do elevate during sleep, but it seems that I am feeling well enough to move bc I am finding myself waking up on my side a couple times a night. Not sleeping very well though...lots of tossing and turning and bouts of hot flashes and sweats during the night which could also coincidentally be the onset of menopause at my age...this of course would be my luck!

I see my surgeon on Wed morning. I am anxious to know when I can swim again as I feel I missing out on my beloved summer right now. I am just anxious to get back to my normal routine. I am incredibly independent and just have massive anxiety about not being able to “do my part. I also take care of my elderly mom who doesn’t drive, so while I’m down, her also elderly friends are taking care of her needs. I’m just that person who lives with guilt about everything...down to feeling guilty that my hubs has to take the trash out after a long day of work! LOL

Anyway, that’s where I am currently. I will update after the surgeon visit on Wed as to where he feels I am in the realm of recovery.

 

[Jockette]

Try to relax and rest and take care of yourself for a while so your knee can recover. We all have responsibilities, and sometimes the responsibility is to take care of ourself after this major surgery. It is nothing to feel guilty about.

At only 16 days post op you have a long way to go.

Be thankful that your mom has friends to help her while you are healing, and I’m sure your husband can handle the trash.

My husband was happy to help me in recovery and do whatever I needed, because that’s what one does when one’s spouse has major surgery.

 

[2labcrew]

Yes, 16 days is nothing, I just need that “control” as a control freak does.

My husband is more than happy to help and can certainly handle the trash, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect me and my assorted emotional issues about needing that help.

 

[Jockette]

I know, it’s so frustrating to not be able to do things ourselves. It drives me crazy to have to walk my husband through (whatever) when if I was able, I could do it 10 times faster! Just sending him to the store means an extremely detailed description of what we need, instead of the one word I would put on my list. And I’m not even a control freak!

But, you need to take care of you!

In the early days you will need lots of rest, so even though you feel you are doing nothing, try to look at it as if you are working hard to give your body the best circumstance in which to do it’s job of healing.

 

[chicklet]

I also feel driven to “do my part” but sometimes I’m able to convince myself that I’m depriving others of a blessing if I don’t allow them to do for me or to fill in for me when I’m not able. It’s just another way to use the guilt, I guess, but sometimes it works.