PKR JusticeRider’s rehab adventure

[JusticeRider]

Thank you @benne68! I’m feeling hopeful!

Beachy, last night after the biggest day, I felt pretty good but hit a wall about 9:30 pm and just wanted to be in my bed asleep. Getting ready for bed, my leg did feel like it might give out if I wasn’t careful. I think my muscles were just that tired. Knee was warmer than it had been. Not much swelling though (no pot roast!)

I was a little worried about how it would feel today, but so far so good! I slept in late though, and have just been lounging around all morning.

 

[JusticeRider]

EalingGran, I stop and just stand for a minute or two every quarter mile or so to let the knee stop moving. Then about halfway through I’ll stop at a picnic table and sit with my leg up on the bench for about 5 minutes, sit up on the table and do a little leg hang stretch, and then continue on. Those little breaks help a lot.

You’re doing incredibly well at just three months out! At that point I think I was still stopping every block to rest my knee.
And multiple people were stopping to ask if I needed help!

I love your coffee shop idea! Sounds like the perfect way to break up your walk!

 

[EalingGran]

Thanks. I find it really helpful to see what you are doing a couple of months ahead of me. Knowing you are making good progress but still getting some swelling and using ice is encouraging but realistic.
Not sure I would ever have been fit enough to muck out a barn though !!

 

[JusticeRider]

Definitely still icing! Still doing my 3x/day 45 minutes of icing my knee and heat on my hips. I still feel it really needs it. And yes I still get some swelling. The other day I was out running errands all day and then chores and I definitely had some swelling and heat that night. Have I mentioned that my knee is not a fan of being in the car? But the swelling is vastly improved lately.

 

[sistersinhim]

I think it's the vibration and the inability to elevate that makes the knees dislike the vehicle riding so much.

 

[JusticeRider]

I think you must be right, @sistersinhim
I can sit at the dinner table for an hour and feel fine, but an hour in the car leaves me feeling a little miserable. It must be the vibrations! There are things that help, but it is definitely my knee’s least favorite activity.

 

[Layla]

I find it really helpful to see what you are doing a couple of months ahead of me. Knowing you are making good progress but still getting some swelling and using ice is encouraging but realistic.

This is what I love about BoneSmart. Members reading other members progress with interest, gauging what they may be doing in a couple months.

I can sit at the dinner table for an hour and feel fine, but an hour in the car leaves me feeling a little miserable

I wonder if it's the feeling of confinement? Car rides longer than 30-40 minutes were intolerable for me for the first few months post op. While you are somewhat confined at the dinner table, there is more room to move your legs around and it's easier to get up and move about than when you're behind the wheel or a passenger. I think the amount of activity you are engaged in at this point in your recovery is wonderful, JR.

 

[JusticeRider]

Thank you Layla! I’m (cautiously) excited about the future

That’s an interesting question about the feeling of confinement. You might be on to something. I have wondered if I tense up more in the car. And maybe if I worry too much about what position my leg is in and if it’s going to swell, etc, I might tense up even more and create a self fulfilling prophecy type of situation! Hmmm. Next drive, I’m going to make a point to just really relax my leg and see what happens. Thanks!

 

[JusticeRider]

I find it really helpful to see what you are doing a couple of months ahead of me

I am cheering you on! I think you will be further ahead in a couple months because I heal rather slowly, but at least I can give you a rough idea

This is what I love about BoneSmart. Members reading other members progress with interest, gauging what they may be doing in a couple months.

Yes! I have learned so much from everyone posting here and learn more every day. It’s so helpful, and just a lifeline with all the ups and downs of recovery.

 

[JusticeRider]

Just want to share a quote from a friend that I think about on a near daily basis with this recovery, and all the little aches and pains and twinges that pop up in different places. We were hiking together, my husband and I, and my friend and her husband. Out on a long backpacking trip. As we’re hiking along, her husband says, ‘huh…my ankle hurts! That’s weird. I wonder why my ankle is hurting? It’s really bugging me!’

My friend barely glances up and says, “just favor it.” He says “what?”, she says “just favor it and keep going. And it’ll go away.” And you know what? It did.

At least once a week I have a new pain here or there…shin, foot, back, etc. It’s usually fleeting…sometimes only one little twinge, sometimes lasting for a few days. Thanks to BoneSmart I know that this is common and everything is probably fine. Still, it’s hard not to worry sometimes. So as I’m walking along and something new starts to hurt and I start to worry, I will hear her voice in my head saying: ‘Just favor it. Just favor it and keep going. And it’ll go away’. And it pretty much always does.
Thanks CC!

 

[JusticeRider]

Full disclosure: as I write this I’m sitting here trying not to worry about a new little pain in my lower back and on the outside of my foot!

 

[EalingGran]

Full disclosure: as I write this I’m sitting here trying not to worry about a new little pain in my lower back and on the outside of my foot

Hope it settles soon.
Know what you mean about worrying about new pains. I have lower back pain currently ( MRI shows arthritis and one area of spinal stenosis). I have had it on and off for years and always worse in the cold. But I am currently more worried about every ache and pain. I think this surgery/ recovery has knocked my confidence in my body and increased my awareness of any symptoms.

 

[JusticeRider]

Thanks @EalingGran ! They’re actually both much less noticeable at the moment We’ll see how everything feels when I go for my longer walk. I’m gonna adjust a few things too that might help.

I know what you mean about worrying more about those little aches and pains after PKR. That pain in my foot was in the exact spot I had a stress fracture in about 5 yrs ago, on the same side as my op knee. So of course I catastrophized for a minute about how if I fracture it again it’s gonna derail my knee recovery and I’ll go backwards and not get better and…Ack! And then my hip will tighten up and I’ll panic that it’s got arthritis from having two surgeries and now I’m gonna need my hip replaced and…yeah. But really, I know it is all probably gonna be just fine (see above…just favor it and it will go away)!

I hope your back will get better as you go along. I have to imagine fixing your knee will help! And I know your hip was a concern too. As your knee recovers, hopefully your back and your hip will continue to get stronger too. Try not to worry in the meantime! I know, easier said than done. At least we can come here and vent in a supportive forum and cheer each other on!

 

[shr]

If nothing hurt when I got up in the morning, I'd think I was dead. I do some mobility exercises and things are better. If something isn't I watch it to see if I might need to change something. We're in this for the long haul.

 

[JusticeRider]

Unfortunately I know what you mean, @shr I saw a funny tweet that said, “I thought there was something wrong with me but then I realized this is just what morning feels like when you’re over 40.

 

[Jockette]

So as I’m walking along and something new starts to hurt and I start to worry, I will hear her voice in my head saying: ‘Just favor it. Just favor it and keep going. And it’ll go away’. And it pretty much always does.

In a similar situation about aches and pains in general, as we got older, my friend says, “Every day is a surprise!” So true and it applies to this recovery, too!

 

[EalingGran]

If nothing hurt when I got up in the morning, I'd think I was dead

@JusticeRider @shr - do true

 

[EalingGran]

@JusticeRider You are absolutely right about catastrophising. I do hope your foot pain continues to improve and is nothing serious. But it is so easy to worry particularly about stuff we have had before.
I have to try and stay positive. At least my hip pain has gone and so has the really bad sciatica. Straightening my leg must be helping. I just need to add back strengthing exercises into my regime. Good job I am pretty much retired- don't know where I would find the time if I was working full-time.

 

[JusticeRider]

Good job I am pretty much retired- don't know where I would find the time if I was working full-time.

It’s funny you say that, EalingGran. I was just thinking this morning how much time I still spend on recovery right now! I’m not happy I’m not able to work right now (not training horses at any rate) but if I were I don’t know how I’d fit it all in. And being that I’m still very limited in ROM and working on that (gaining ground slowly but surely!) and also still taking measures to limit swelling, and also working on getting strength and stamina back…whew! It’s a part time job.

 

[JusticeRider]

At least my hip pain has gone and so has the really bad sciatica. Straightening my leg must be helping.

Can I just say, I’m so excited for you that your formally crooked leg is now straight and there are so many possibilities for your body to really find a new state of wellness now? I just think that is so great, and I hope you thrive in ways you never even expected.