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TKR It's The HoneyB's Knees

I’m just checking in to chart my progress. I had my 6-month checkup for knee #2 (9.5 months for knee #1) today with my surgeon’s assistant, and all is well with both knees. I’m very pleased with my new knees. I’ve continued strength training at a local gym three times per week using the leg press machine, extension machine, curl machine, and adductor/abductor machine. I’ve even started doing a little upper body strengthening which is a bit challenging because, at 5’0”, I’m a little bit too short to use some of the upper body machines by myself. I need a staff member to pull the weights to me to get started and to release the weights for me when I finish.

I’m still working on stretching my IT Bands (I feel like I’ll be doing this forever), and I have some soreness in my quads and hamstrings, but that soreness appears to be from the strengthening exercises. I’m continuously increasing either the number of repetitions or the weights so I have the type of soreness that feels like I worked in the yard a little bit too long. When I reminded my surgeon’s assistant that I can’t take NSAIDs, he gave me sample packets and a prescription for PENNSAID. I’ll let y’all know if it works miracles.

My range of motion hasn’t been measured since my previous post, but I feel like knee #2 is slowly continuing to improve. I'm hoping it'll make it to 0-135 like knee #1.

My knees survived college football season like champs even though my beloved Auburn Tigers didn’t fare so well this season. I marveled at how I was able to walk from our game day condo to the stadium (almost a mile), sit and stand in the stadium for hours, and then walk back to the condo without knee pain. I did, generally, wake up with stiff legs the next morning, but was ok after moving around a bit.

To anyone who is contemplating having knee replacement surgery, I wish now that I’d had mine earlier instead of enduring knee pain longer than was necessary. Go for it!
 
Great progress on both knees HoneyB glad things are going well. We got our knees replaced so we could enjoy the thin we like to do so it is great to read about someone doing just that.
 
Fantastic report HoneyB. I am so glad you are able to recognize the continual improvement, painstakingly slow though it sometimes feels. My knees are now 6 (righty is 6 and 6 weeks, lefty will be 6 in December) and I still need to remember to stretch the IT bands and do deep knee bends to stretch quads and hammies every once in awhile.

Sorry about the Tigers, but so great you could enjoy the season!
 
New Year with two New Knees! This evening after work, I went to the gym and did strengthening exercises using the leg press machine, leg curl machine, and leg abductor and adductor machine. When I got home, I went for a 1.5-mile walk on the sidewalk and followed that up with a 4-mile ride on my exercise bike. Now I’m about to continue packing away Christmas. I’m still almost constantly reminded that I have two new knees, especially when I'm working and get up from my desk, but they sure are BIG improvements over the old knees they replaced. Happy New Year, Y’all!
 
You are off to a great New Year! Sounds like quite a workout you gave them today! Well done. Those "reminders" will become less frequent as you continue to heal.
 
Way to go HoneyB. I want to be where you are in a few more months. Lefty is almost 11 months old and Righty hit 12 weeks yesterday. Just keep reminding myself that slow and steady win this race. I may wake up with or develop stiffness during my day, but that constant grinding pain is absolutely gone. With Righty being so young I am still fairly aware of the replacement but Lefty has days when I don’t even think about him. Good stuff
 
That’s so good to hear, Well done. Gives us all hope for a brighter future!
 
Sitting at my desk makes my hamstrings (or maybe it's my IT Band) sore. That's my biggest issue now. I try to remember to get up and move around periodically, but it's hard during a busy work day. Still, I'm happy with my progress.
 
You are so right - having to sit at a desk or computer for extended periods are a real barrier to getting stronger quickly. I know some folks on here have gone to setting their phones to ring every 45-60 minutes to remind them to get up and walk around a bit. So glad you can identify the improvements you are continually making!
 
@NightQuilter - I get up, move around, and stretch a little every hour, and I go for a half-mile walk twice during my work day. It only takes about 10 minutes in my chair for me to start noticing my hamstrings. Seems odd since I think they're stretched out pretty well. My office is in my home so I don't have any barriers to moving around except work deadlines. I'm swamped with work right now.
 
Sounds like you are handling the sitting side of things well. It does seem odd about the hamstrings. Do you have any back issues which could be causing pain in the hammies? Or perhaps a more ergonomic chair would help???
 
Just checking in. My left knee will be one year old February 19, and my right knee is eight months old today. I’m continuing to see gradual improvements.
  • Even though I’m still usually aware of my knees, I still marvel that I walk with no knee pain. When I’m engrossed in something while standing and walking, I sometimes have brief periods when I don’t notice my new knees at all.
  • I have much less soreness now when sitting at my desk at work, and it disappears quickly when I get up and start moving.
  • Even though both knees stiffen up overnight while I’m sleeping, they feel fine as soon as my feet hit the floor when I get out of bed. I have negligible stiffness as I take my first steps of the morning.
  • My flexion in my right knee is still lagging behind my left knee. My range of motion hasn’t been measured in months, but I’m guessing my left knee is about 0 – 135 and my right knee is about 0 – 125. The limiting factor in my right knee is still a tight quad muscle right above my knee.
  • I can go up and down stairs at a normal pace without use of the handrail, but I’m always aware of my right knee when going down stairs.
  • I’m still going to the gym three days per week. I use the leg press machine, leg abductor/adductor machine, leg curl machine, and ride a stationary bike four miles during each visit. I’m very, very gradually increasing repetitions and weights on each weight machine. The increases are so gradual that I didn’t even have any soreness after my latest weight increase.
  • I’m not going for as many walks as I’d like to, but that’s due to a true lack of time. I’m still working full time while keeping my 3-year-old granddaughter about three days per week. I try to do my walking on the days I don’t go to the gym, but I’d like to walk EVERY day just as I did for years before my knee replacements became necessary.
  • I still have to use my hands when getting up off the floor. With a 3-year-old granddaughter, I do a lot of getting up from the floor. I’m determined to be able to do that again without using my hands.
Since I talk about my granddaughter so much, here’s a photo of her enjoying her swing set. Winter on the Gulf Coast in Alabama means playing outside in a sleeveless dress in January. :)

Wherever you are in your knee journey, I hope you’re like me and are happy you have new knees. Best wishes to all who are on this journey! If you’re just starting out, be patient. You’ll get there.
 

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May I talk about something other than knees for a minute?

I was diagnosed with my first-ever case of the flu January 15, 2018. I took my first dose of Tamiflu that day and my ears started ringing almost immediately. They’ve never stopped ringing for more than a year. This past week, it was like a switch was flipped and the ringing sound doubled (or tripled) in volume. It stayed that way for about 24 hours and then went back to the old volume. However, that volume increase was very scary to me. I couldn’t imagine how I could have coped long-term with that noise in my head, so I went to a doctor today (an Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) specialist). The good news is that I don’t have any hearing loss. The bad news is that he said I’d probably just have to learn to live with this. He gave me LIPO FLAVONOID to try to see if it would help. It’s a vitamin supplement so I don’t see any harm in trying it. For future episodes when the sound may briefly (hopefully, very briefly) become so loud that I couldn’t cope, he gave me a prescription for Amitriptyline 25 MG (antidepressant/anti-anxiety medicine). He said, when/if necessary, to take it at bedtime, and that I’d wake up groggy, but probably with the noise level reduced. I don’t want to take the Amitriptyline and don’t plan to take it unless I’m desperate.

The doctor said that since this is typically a result of hearing loss, and since I don’t have hearing loss, if I could ever get the ringing to stop, it might not return.

I’m well past my minute now. Since this seems like a common problem, if any of you have this problem, would you tell me anything that has been helpful for you? Having a TV or music on in the background helps some, but I can’t always do that when I’m trying to work. I notice it less when I'm outside so I really look forward now to my walks.

By the way, I had other bad side effects from the Tamiflu. It made me feel like I wanted to run out of the house and run away from something. I’d have to tell myself over and over, “I’m in the house, on the sofa, and I’m ok.” I reported the ear ringing and panicked feelings to my doctor after 2-1/2 days, and he told me to stop taking the Tamiflu.

Thanks for “listening.”
 
I know how aggravating ear noises are. I don't have ringing but I have cricket sounds plus my heartbeat. I use a 'noise maker' that sounds like a fan at night to help me sleep. The less sleep I get, the noisier my ears are. There is nothing during the day that helps except for sometimes a nap.

Your recovery has been really good! It sounds like you are just about back to normal all ready. Good going.
 
@sistersinhim - I found a meditation song with no predictable rhythm (so my brain wouldn't listen along to individual notes) when I was trying to sleep with TKR #2. It worked and I guess my brain got well-trained during all those weeks because, while it doesn't mask the tinnitus, it still puts me to sleep. I have a head cold now. That seems to be making the ringing much louder. :sad:
 
HoneyB said:
I found a meditation song with no predictable rhythm (so my brain wouldn't listen along to individual notes) when I was trying to sleep with TKR #2. It worked and I guess my brain got well-trained during all those weeks because, while it doesn't mask the tinnitus, it still puts me to sleep. I have a head cold now. That seems to be making the ringing much louder.
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I'll have to try the meditation song. When I have a sinus infection or cold, the ear noise is always louder. I think the ears gets partially plugged and it's harder to hear outside sounds.
 
@HoneyB, I have tinnitus because of a L acoustic neuroma which did cause hearing loss in the left ear. I have worn a hearing aide now for 2 years which does help. Since you do not need a hearing aid, you still might want to make an appointment with a good audiologist. They can program a device like a hearing aide that mask the tinnitus out.
@sistersinhim, I too thought I was hearing crickets....it was tinnitus.
 
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