TKR Kelpie's First New Knee

[copsham]

Hi @Kelpie
I was impressed that you made it to the Gaitsmart session just 6 weeks post op. At six weeks post op I think I was having melt downs, feeling pleased with my progress one minute and cabin fever the next. I was a regular attender at the ODIC and the Sleepless in Bonesmartland Club. Take it easy with work one thing I learnt through out this was the need for patience and being kind to ourselves. Take care.

 

[Kelpie]

Thanks @copsham. I'm not taking the return to work lightly. I'm lucky to work for one of the UK's largest employees and have a wonderful boss who is incredibly supportive. I can limit my work to an hour at a time if need be and I can stay in bed if necessary, provided I can perch the laptop somewhere! If I can surf the Internet for an hour then it's not much of a step up to actually working. My concentration levels are much improved since being able to manage without the codeine during the day. I spent three hours yesterday trying to finalise the Christmas presents for all the family!

My husband is taking me to Dartmoor (where he comes from) at the end of January for a week. I'm so looking forward to it and our company policy on sick leave is quite clear in that we are expected to be at home or in hospital if we're off. By returning to work next week, albeit part time, I shall feel no guilt in using up the last of my holiday entitlement and enjoying a lovely break away from both the sick bed and work before rejoining society properly!

Then I need to start thinking about a date for knee number 2! I'm looking st September next year. I'd like it done sooner but don't want to do it in the spring for work reasons and can't bear the thought of trying to recuperate in potentially hot weather.

 

[Kelpie]

I had my 6 week check up with my OS today. He said he was very pleased with my progress and although the knee had ballooned by the time we got there, he was impressed with my 100/0 deg ROM. He said I've obviously been "a good girl"!
He said I could do whatever I was comfortable with provided I continued to rest. Actually, I kept quiet about the fact that I ride a 900cc motorbike! Plenty of time for that for a while yet but I'm looking forward to driving again! Back to see him again in another 6 weeks before I'm off the hook. At the next appointment we'll discuss knee 2 but he wants this one to be good and settled before he tackle the next one.

Thank you forum team and members for all your wonderful advice and support. I have indeed tried to be a good girl and followed the BS mantras and it has clearly paid off! I dread to think where I'd be if I hadn't found you all. I'm almost looking forward to getting the next one done now I know what to expect and how to deal with it.

Pyjamas are on, feet are up and ice applied. It's been a very long day!

 

[suemegane]

That's great news Kate, keep up the good work. I'm not so sure I have been "a good girl"don't know why but i've been very tearful & have not done anything but rest/elevate/ice today. I have physio tomorrow & my knee feels like a balloon! Let's hope I will be in a better frame of mind tomorrow

 

[Kelpie]

Oh Sue try not to worry. I think you've really exhausted yourself at the weekend. Today is the first day since the op that I haven't been in tears. I've found the emotional side the hardest part of the whole recovery process. Al has never seen the side of me before and found it particularly distressing to watch.

I had one great day last week but by the evening I was so tired, I tried to say something and just dissolved in tears for no reason at all! I mentioned it to my OS today and he said he thinks the anaesthetic can be partly to blame.

Stop being so hard on yourself, you're doing just fine. We're still in the very early days of recovery remember. I still really struggle with the exhaustion! There's so much I want to do but just can't.

 

[Celle]

This tearfulness and unstable emotions has several causes, not just the anaesthetic. This article talks about it:
Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it

I know that my emotions were fragile for quite a long time. Not only tears, but sudden temper, too.

 

[Kelpie]

Not only tears, but sudden temper, too.

Yup, been there and done that!

 

[suemegane]

Thank you Kate & Celle for your support, I am feeling alittle better now as i had a sleep. Mike has never seen me like this either. When I get upset on goes the kettle, a cuppa is such a pick me up. He has gone to work now so on my own snuggled up in bed with my trusty hot water bottle for comfort watching TV.

 

[Celle]

@Kelpie
Enjoy your week on Dartmoor. Don't do too much, or let the Hound of the Baskervilles get you.

Whereabouts in Essex do you live? My mother's family are all from there (and East London). I spent seven happy childhood years (from 7 to 14) living in Holland on Sea and I still slip into "Essex girl" accent when I meet my cousins.

 

[Kelpie]

Thanks you @Celle . We go down to Dartmoor whenever we can but since moving here for Wiltshire earlier this year, it's a long way now! We are used to walking the moor all day long and particularly love winter when it's much quieter and most tourists have more sense than to venture onto the high ground. This year will probably be spent by the fire, catching up with family. Oh and we own the "Hound" (Great Dane) so no worries there.

We live just outside Harlow. I'm working on the accent!

 

[Celle]

One of my cousins used to live in Harlow.
I did some of my midwifery training in Wiltshire and I used to tour around the countryside on my Vespa scooter my days off. Ah, the days of my youth!

 

[Kelpie]

Well I managed 5 whole hours of undisturbed sleep last night. For the first time, I rolled onto my operated side and snuggled into my husband's back. Absolute heaven!!! I didn't care that I felt like my leg had been run over by a steam roller when I woke up. It was worth it!

 

[suemegane]

Well done Kate, another milestone conquered. Its so much better than having to sleep on back & elevate

 

[kneeper]

A definite sign of progress.

 

[Kelpie]

Coming up to week 7 and my 2nd physio visit today. She was very happy with the progress I've made in the past 3 weeks and she agrees that healing must come before any effort is made to strengthen the leg. She didn't measure my ROM but did say it was very good.

She specialises in Myofascial Release which consisted of a gentle, pain free and very soothing massage of some of the particularly sore spots. Hey, I'll try anything so long as it doesn't involve pain! My next appointment is in 4 weeks and then she's suggested I join a "lower leg class" after that if I wish. She also said I may not need it. Here's hoping. I'm not a great "group" kind of person.

I managed an hour round the supermarket at very low speed, at 7.30 am while it was still very quiet. The knee is hot and swollen this evening which is to be expected, but no pain. I'm finally getting the hang of what I can do and what I can't!

 

[suemegane]

Looks like you are doing really well Kate. My physio did some massaging this week on my tight muscles gently stretching them, it was very relaxing & the leg & knee felt really good afterwards. I went to lower leg class last year for 6 weeks there were only 6 of us, it is done in a gym & you have the use of the bike, treadmill, cross trainer & other gym equipment so I would say go if they offer it, it's just circuit training really not a class as you do your own thing!

 

[Kelpie]

Thanks Sue, I'll see how I'm doing then. We usually do some pretty serious walking (when able!) and the sooner I can get back to that, the better. I need to keep knee #2 going for the next op. All the walking we've done in the months leading up to my op seems to have paid off, thankfully. It was awfully sore sometimes though! Good job I'm too heavy for Al to carry as there would have been times I'd have asked him to carry me down from the occasional hill!

 

[Kelpie]

Not only did I run back to the ODIC yesterday, I think I was voted as Chairwoman.

We went to get our eyes tested and new glasses yesterday to take advantage of a small health insurance policy we have through work, before year end. It took much longer than I thought and we had a lot further to walk than I'd expected too. In the afternoon I also decided the Christmas cake I made in September couldn't possibly wait a single day and absolutely had to get "marzipanned".

Good job we did the eye thing as they found what may be a tiny bleed at the back of my eye. It may be nothing but I've got to get it checked out. Does it ever end?

Anyway, absolutely awful evening and worse night, not that I didn't expect it of course. Lots of pain in BOTH knees and no small measure of anxiety over the eye thing. I know when I'm doing too much now as I get that "burn" in the muscles when I should have had more sense. Got it all under control with extra codeine doses but I'm glad it's morning. Feeling much better, had breakfast in bed and icing my knee which has finally quietened down!

Today is my first day back at work (from home). I'll put in a few hours (probably from my bed), catch up with my colleagues via a conference call and go through my emails and that's all they'll get out of me today. I know I have their full support; they're a great bunch.

We're going to meet my sister to pick up my 93 year old Mum tomorrow to give my sister a break over Christmas. My sister lost one of her daughters very suddenly to undiagnosed cancer aged 32 just 2 1/2 years ago. We do what little we can to help. It's only an hour each way so I should be fine. We'll break in the middle for lunch with my sister. Mum is wonderful and will still want to baby me (I'm the youngest of 4... she still thinks of me as being 10). I'm looking forward to having her stay for Christmas.

 

[copsham]

Hi Kelpie
What a lovely email. You have such a lot going on but I bet you don't wish it was any other way! Your mum sounds lovely. Mine has dementia, still recognises me but when I visit her once a week she exclaims as if she hasn't seen me for several years.

You are right about going from one thing to another health wise. Suppose it is quite normal really but I am not used to it. I have had 11 months of THR then foot injury. Yesterday felt like a normal day for me. I did several bits and pieces in preparation for Christmas and only had a mild ache in the evening so can't complain. Christmas trees are up and now need to wrap presents. What a lovely season. Take care

 

[suemegane]

Oh dear Kate, this ODIC keeps coming back to haunt us. I am so sorry to hear about your eye, hopefully it will be nothing. I'll be thinking of you. I do hope your day is going ok with your work calls & emails. Looks like you will be busy at Christmas but don't overdo it. I didn't bother making my own cake this year as knew I wouldn't feel up to the icing stage, so have bought one. Its so said about your sisters daughter it must be hard for all of you at this time of the year. I am getting into the spirit of things a bit more today (will fill you in on my thread) take care love to you & Al x