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Bilateral TKR Journey Continuing June 4th, 2012

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A full day here. i showered, had PT, came back and felt nauseous (actually was retching in the waste basket), felt better after three hours in time for my daughter to come visit with the 8 and 3 year olds, and my hubby. The most theraputic thing I've done all week! :grouphug2: So good for the soul. James will come on the weekend with his brothers. Then went to OT. Both PT and OT, I walked all the way down to the room. For OT, I walked back as well. Then I fell hard asleep after dinner and they must have heard me snoring down the hall!:sleep: I'm getting to and from the bathroom on my own, (I'm not always letting them know). I'm sore, but not really in pain after a full day. I iced earlier and am using the cpm now.

Jonnie just cuddled right in on my fun bed. Daniel was very unsure about every thing, and had lots of questions, but wouldn't come over to me right away. He was finaly enticed with the fun of sitting on the side of my bed and having lunch on the rolling table. At some point mid lunch, he leaned over and hugged me and grandma was just fine with him after that. Until they came in to take my vitals and he looked stricken! Thank goodness they had done the blood draw earlier in the morning! I made sure to wear my TEDS so they could only see the line of the incision. He wanted me to take them off but of course I couldn't. We had a fun day and it was absolutely the best day for me! :wub2:
 
Hi Janet,
You are doing so much better! Thank goodness! The family sure was the best medicine. I hope that you continue to have better days and I'm so glad that you are not in much pain.
 
Janet,
Sounds like you're doing better. I know you hate the sick stomach though. That didn't go away for me until about week three. What do you do in OT? I didn't get that, just PT.
 
pmonroe said:
Janet,
Sounds like you're doing better. I know you hate the sick stomach though. That didn't go away for me until about week three. What do you do in OT? I didn't get that, just PT.
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OT is mostly upper body strength to help you move around as well as helping to find ways and use tools to help with Tasks of Daily Living. They cover topics about the logistics at home. I won't need as much OT as PT, obviously, but it's helpful for a bit I think. If I didn't have it at all, I would manage pretty well because I am strong and flexible, and did so much research here at bonesmart.
 
Janet, how fun for you to have your grandchildren visit. I love for my granddaughter to come over. They are such a delight aren't they?

I do hope that your stomach settles and that you feel better that way soon. Keep up the good work with your rehab.
 
Janet2012 said:
Hi KayeKaye, it's been 9 days today. Every day or two shows jumps in progress. I'm surprising myself. I can do straight leg lifts straight up in the air and hold them. A couple days ago I was showing off that I could lift one of them 6 inches. I'm not doing a lot of walking yet though. It will all come with time, some things quicker than others. It hasn't been as bad as I imaginened, but I didn't imagine having to have it done without an epidural, so last week was rough. Have you had surgery? Do you have a date?
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Thanks so much. No I haven't even picked the surgeon yet. I'm seeing a 4th doctor on the 24th. The 3rd doctor was the one that said I need both TKR but to wait 10 years till I was 70. :hissyfit: Can't imagine doing that. I'm down to doing nothing already.

But it is so encoraging to read your recovery,:thumb: I'm really scared of surgery.
 
Hi Janet,

You sound good! I hope that stomach upset stops soon, did they give you Zofran? That worked wonders for me.

My granddaughter (8 years old) was here when the visiting nurse came to take blood. She ran down the hall to the spare bedroom (aka playroom) and kept calling to see if she was done yet. She took a quick peek at my knee but that was quite enough medicals stuff for her. Her 2 year old sister was not impressed by any of this & headed for the toy box. They are the best medicine though aren’t they?
 
KayeKaye said:


Thanks so much. No I haven't even picked the surgeon yet. I'm seeing a 4th doctor on the 24th. The 3rd doctor was the one that said I need both TKR but to wait 10 years till I was 70. :hissyfit: Can't imagine doing that. I'm down to doing nothing already.

But it is so encoraging to read your recovery,:thumb: I'm really scared of surgery.
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KayeKaye, I don't know where you are at in terms of your knee pain interfering with your life and activities, but suggesting that you wait until you are 70 is crazy if it means you are going to be sitting on the sidelines for a decade. At 60, you may not ever need to have a tkr revised, but if I do someday, I will have had years of being able to walk places with my family and play with my grandchildren. There will be a moment when you realize that not having surgery is the option to fear. Orthodoc started a thread titled Introduction and if you go back to the start of it, he asks what the deciding factor was that pushed people to the decision to proceed with surgery. You should go back and read some of the stories. But don't fear surgery. It may not be easy, but it is worthwhile. Life with my deseased knees before surgery was not easy, and there was nothing worthwhile in that. There was no future to look foreward to. Select your surgeon carefully. You want someone who specializes in and does 200-300 or more TKRs with a quad sparing technique every year. Each good surgeon has expertise in certain surgeries that they are most comfortable with. They are good at what they do. But you can choose the best surgeon that does the surgery you want to receive. This recovery part is much easier than the decision part was. You are doing the hard part now. Don't be afraid!
 
BJ and Morning Glory, grandkids are the best! They are my best motivator through this! When Daniel was told that I got my new knees, he asked if I could go downstairs with him now, to play. They are so aware of my limitations. I don't want to be that grandma who can't. The only consolation is that the other grandma is 85, needs knee surgery and can't get medical clearance for it. It would kill me if there was a fun grandma that wasn't me!

I am taking Zofram, and it helps. I think maybe yesterday, we missed the Prilosec in the morning.
 
Glad to hear the zofram is helping.
How medicinal to have the grandkids visit!
 
Well, I got word that I'm suppose to go home on Monday. Being the weekend coming up, I was only scheduled for one more PT and one OT. They are going to give me PT for both sessions instead. Problem being, I haven't done steps yet, and I have 5 steps to get into the house. I panicked at first, but now that I have my head wrapped around it, I think I'll be ready if we can tackle the steps.

Overall, I'm feeling much better and actually went out to the dining room and sat at a table with some other ladies for lunch today. It was a nice change.

Update: I just went down with the OT and did the step up and down with the parallel bars. Not bad, but the bars were supporting me. I bet I'll be fine to go by Monday.
 
Janet,

Sound like you are doing great. You will find you feel so much more comfortable once you go home. Our creature comforts are wonderful pick-me ups.
 
Janet, I am so happy to here your progress!:friends: yes, grandkids are the best for healing and being the fun grandma is the cat's meow! Great news!:thumb: You'll be fine for Monday and you'll be so happy to be home! :biggrin:
 
Hi Janet
How lovely that your Grandchildren can come and visit to cheer you up - healing powers I'm sure. Our Grandson lives miles away and we don't get to see him very often :sigh:, you are so lucky to have yours close by.

Doing steps can be very daunting - try not to get too worried about it. I put a lot of thought into the whole ordeal and got into a bit of a state as I have very awkward stairs in my house. I did them slowly and got to grips with them eventually. You will be fine - just take your time. You and Jacky have got some good fun banter going between you!!! Take care and keep up the good work.
 
Janet, my PT gave me a chant.....good goes to heaven...bad goes to hell..to help me remember which leg went first...my kids god confused when I was going Down the steps muttering...Hell...Hell...Hell... :hysterical: Hope the steps go well, I was surprised how easy they were.
 
amf013 said:
Janet, my PT gave me a chant.....good goes to heaven...bad goes to hell..to help me remember which leg went first...my kids god confused when I was going Down the steps muttering...Hell...Hell...Hell... :hysterical: Hope the steps go well, I was surprised how easy they were.
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They tried to tell me the same thing, but I don't have a good leg! But one is better than the other, and strangely it's the opposite of pre - surgery.
 
Janet, I've just been catching up on your threads, sorry it took me so long. You know how PT/OT and the meds can ware you out!!! Wow what I tell you about the bed pan experience:sigh: sorry to hear that you were not feeling so well. Glad you had time with your family.:biggrin: Sooooo do you think you've had enough PT/OT? Are you getting therapy this weekend? I came home yesterday had therapy until Wednesday. You know you had some health issues that hindered your therapy time. My therapist made me go up and down 12 steps. Glad you're feeling better, stay positive you'll do fine at home just stay motivated. They say it gets better:thumb:
Kim
 
Janet, I didn't tackle the steps in the hospital until about 2 hrs. before I went home. They were actually very easy to do. I have a whole flight of steps to get to my bedroom, I used one crutch and just did one step at a time. I think my husband was more worried about me getting up the stairs. They were no problem at all. Going down was also very easy.
 
Kim, I sure do know! There's only so much limited time, energy and allertness in a day these days! I'll be working on steps tomorrow and Sunday. My husband has to bring my forearm crutches to practice with because I only have a partial rail on one side at home to get into the house. I hope to have PT once I'm home for a few weeks. In September I'll go back to the pool and walk laps and do stretches 3 times a week. I love that! How about you? You sound like you are ready for a break.
 
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