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TKR Jancat's story

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Jancat your doing fabulous. I know what you mean about walking normal! Im a couple weeks ahead of you with my new Right knee. I will be having the left knee done on July 23rd. I constantly have to tell my brain not to limp with my RTKR. Im looking forward to hearing about your progress. Best of luck to you. Enjoy your new knee!

Margie
 
Jancat. My PT has me actually sashay around the room! My hips don't swing equally as I'm STILL protecting the right leg. Oh, the bad habits my body acquired while I was deluding myself that exercise, diet and shots wold improve my knees!
 
I know, my PT has me walk around, too, and he tells me "Bend the knee, bend the knee, you have the flexibilty!" It is amazing how TRAINED we are now to walk the OLD way! I try to wiggle the hips, too, anything- it now takes a conscious decision to walk normally. But at least now I can!
 
Jancat you are doing very well. Your walk will come in time. I found that planting my heel first really helped to get my walk to be strong with an even stride. :thumb:People tell me that I have a really good walk, and it doesn't look like a replacement walk.:wink1: Whatever that means!:th_heehee:
 
Tx, Mimi. Every time I walk now I say to myself "bend the knee, bend the knee, you have the flexibility..." It has a nice rhyme to it, too!
 
Jancat, mine was, "Heel first, heel first"!:friends:
 
I'm with Mimi, heel first, heel first! I find if I don't think about it with the first step it is very easy to just limp along and not move my legs and feet as I should. Good luck, Jancat!
 
Good morning, Jancat!

I quote you as follows; I have reached the point where I can say with so much joy that I AM SO GLAD I HAD THIS SURGERY! My post-op pain is still there and still need and want to ice and elevate, but it is SO MUCH better than the pre-op pain. :yes 4:

I love it when I read a post like this. It's just what new members to the forum and those who are in that first stage of recovery need to hear. And I love it for YOU. I keep telling folks here that it just gets BETTER & BETTER, and you are living proof.:biggrin:

I also love your avatar--is that your cat? What a great pose--cats can be so funny.

Well, I just wanted to give you a BIG THUMBS UP. Keep us posed. We care.
 
Thanks, Judy! Yes, that is one of my rescue cats, Snippet! She is one of 2 cats I have that had to have an eye removed from herpes infection when she was a kitten. She loves to drape herself over the top of that chair and dangle her legs-it is so funny! Plus we call her a 'pocket-cat' because although she is 3 years old, she is kind of small for a full grown cat. She thinks she is the boss of the house, so her nickname is The Sheriff or El Jefe!
I am so glad to be in this state and I know it will keep getting better! If you had asked me in the first 3 weeks, I would have told you it wasn't worth it. I think that is the toughest part of the recovery period, because I was in the midst of the post-op blues and I didn't realize it could last so long.
On another note, in my euphoric state, yesterday I took my dog for an hour long walk on the river path in our town. It is a nice level path, we walked leisurely, but a half hour into it I started getting achy and all night I was over-achy. SO I think I walked too much yesterday, and that was a surprise because I thought I was taking it easy.
Still so glad to be where I am now! Thank you for your encouragement!
 
Jancat - you are doing GREAT! It is a wonderful feeling to walk without the cane! I find myself forgetting where I left it sometimes :hysterical:. I take it with me for my walks, etc. for security right now.

Sounds like you probably walked a little too far yesterday, but I know it is easy to get caught up in the moment now - we don't really take walking for granted! I had the "bend the knee, bend the knee" going in my head too!

Glad your PT is working with your walk - mine did too. She told me to keep my head up while walking (I always wanted to look down - make sure there wasn't anything in my way while walking). She sometimes told me to hold the cane in both hands (tip and handle facing out) straight out - that would show me if I was still limping or getting better - still do that each time I am out for my PT walks by myself. Keeps me in line.

Keep up the GREAT work - I'm sure the OS will be really pleased with your results!:yahoo:
 
Hi Jancat

I have caught up with your thread and see you are trying to get rid of the dreaded limp. I am also trying to retrain my brain not to limp - it's so hard :sigh: The heel first is good but I still have to concentrate on every step for that, I have tried the hip swinging, shadow watching and many more! I am really hoping it will all come in time as many folks here say - fingers crossed. Good luck with your recovery and let me know if you get anymore good tips :thumb:
 
Jan...I'm so glad you're so well, too. I don't have to use my cane unless I'm on uneven sidewalks. I keep telling myself..walk normal, don't limp. Seems everything is going in the right direction for us...FORWARD. No looking back for us, girl !
 
Yay, Deb, the NEXT best thing would be to win the lottery so we wouldn't have to go back to work!
Today at PT my flexion was 110 degrees and my extension almost 2 degrees. Still not worried as I know I will get there, only 5 weeks out and I feel so good.
I am so glad you are doing well!
 
Those are great numbers:thumb:! And apparently there is an upside to getting old----you get to retire!:hysterical:
 
Jancat, welcome!! You sound like your recovery is very Bonesmart!!! Your story is an inspiration to those waiting, and hopefully reading all those articles. Awesome recovery so far!!
 
Dear Jancat,
You are doing great in your recovery, and I think your positive attitude is the reason for that. I had mine about a month before yours and I can already say that it is worth all the things we go through to be able to walk without pain!
 
The day started out fine!
I am 7 weeks post-op today! My TKA knee feels great! So all I did today was: take daughter to doctor (sitting in car and sitting in office); ran into 2 stores real quickly (on feet only abt 20 minutes); quick grocery store trip (on feet maybe 20 minutes). That is all!
WHY AM I EXHAUSTED! Plus, my RIGHT (non-TKA) knee is now acting up and I have a pain in the mid-top of right foot that feels like it could be a stress fracture!
I cannot imagine going back to work in 5 weeks feeling like this!
I have the so-sads now because I didn't do anything to feel so bad!
WAAAAH!!!!!!
Sorry for crying here but I knew you would understand.
PLUS- I have my post-op checkup with the OS tomorrow, and it is a biggish trip for me. Minimal walking but so was today!
 
RELAX!!!
5 weeks is a long time in knee lingo.
Your OS should be very pleased with your progress.

As far as the limp, I would talk to my leg as I walked (aloud..) heel,toe, heel, toe!. Bend that knee!
I realized that I was limping because it still hurt, and went back to a cane until my gait improved. I am still using my cane, BTW.
Best of luck to you tomorrow!
Sandy
 
Sandy, My TKA knee was FINE!
My complaint is with my 'good' knee and foot, and just the tiredness. I am on my feet almost all day at work, so if I will feel like this when I go back to work, uh oh.
Just feeling tired and blue now, I guess because of the pain and tiredness....
 
Oh dear, I am sorry to hear that you are not feeling so great and are down in the dumps.

Maybe instead of 'Why am I exhausted?' think just, "I am exhausted! Time to take care of me." I know that you are further down the road than I am and you are probably quite discouraged that you still get exhausted. I have to think that it is still OK, and somewhere within the range of 'normal', but your body is telling you that you have a need. When you listen to your body and take care of the needs then your body/mind/leg are all going to be happier to serve you.

I think that maybe your right leg is a bit jealous of all the attention that your left leg has been getting. He has worked sooo hard over the last who knows how long, while the other leg was so useless. He wants for you to coddle him a bit and go ahead and talk nice to him and thank him for all of his hard work. Maybe even draw a face on him and give him a name like someone around here has named her knees (neil and buzz, I believe lol)

And it doesn't surprise me at all that you may be worried about tomorrow's check-up and worried if you will really be able to stand long enough in 5 weeks to go back to work...

But, remember THIS is the place to come and cry and whine, cause we are the ones that get it and care about you just like you are. :friends:
 
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