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Knee Infection* Knee #2 Vent

@sondrals, Helizabug, sistersinhim, thanks! What you all said makes so much sense. My knee is who he is (gotta be a male to cause so much pain), and will heal on it's own time. Standing even for a short time causes stiffness due to swelling? Who knew? Seems like an over reaction by a 4 1/2 month old recovering knee.
 
@Rockgirl4, bless your heart! Yes I'm from the south. You have dealt with so much. What a great attitude, I can and should learn from you. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and progress!
 
Ha.....my knee has been Mr. Knee since I came out of the anesthetic.

I figured it was hard to curse at something since there was no first name involved......

I hope you feel better soon.
 
This post is an inspiration to me. I went to the PA last week and he told me I should be pain free and glad I had my knee replaced by now. I’m three months out today. I was so discouraged as I continue to have mild to moderate pain everyday. Standing for any time is horrible especially if I then try to get in the car.
 
I am astounded by all the stories of medical professionals forcing healing at a pace that might be wrong, too harsh, or simply not possible.

Upon what data are they plotting the typical recovery path, I wonder? There are lots of data out there, but I’d like to see how clearly defined that typical path is. And how are expectations warped by the marketing of joint replacement hardware? And how can they assess the likelihood that my path will be in the neighborhood of typical? (Not rhetorical questions; this might be a project for me.)

It seems to me that the only time it makes sense to say ‘you should be feeling this way and doing these things at this point’ would seem to be when they are trying to figure out where they went wrong or where your body’s healing system is going awry.

(Kind of ranting, and I think there are times I might need a push, but there would be better ways to say that than to point at some ‘failure’ on my part.)
 
Christmas Greetings! Is anyone else concerned about getting through the holidays? I had a rough weekend, more pain than usual and thought to myself this week may be really hard. We all have Holiday obligations and those often require prolonged car rides, standing for long periods during food prep. and just not having the opportunity to rest, ice and elevate. In my case my grandson asked me to make a Boston Cream pie for Christmas Day, not an easy feat for me at this point. I have several cooking/baking obligations this week to add to the stress. I'll get through it, just not looking forward to the pain I know is ahead of me. I thought by late December I'd be further along in my recovery so that's adding to my stress.

Anyone else have similar concerns? This coming weekend I expect a bunch of us will be members of the overdid it club. Good luck everyone, we'll make it!
 
I was 5 months post op when my son got married. I knew the wedding date way ahead of my surgery, but I figured by 5 months.....

Just as you said, lots of standing, lack of ability to ice and elevate. I lived about 90 minutes away, so there were the long car rides on the rehearsal day and wedding day.

This all came a month after I’d had a major set back at 4 months, that had taken me a month to recover from. It took me another month to improve after the wedding. Talk about stress!
 
I’ve decided this year is the year it’s ok to say no. I’ve tried to minimize the expectations of everyone around me and we’re doing a very small Christmas just the two of us and our dog. I started before surgery and let my family know. I do feel a little guilty but I’m just not at a place to go through the normal Christmas stuff we do
 
@Jockette, I feel your pain re a wedding, must have been tough. @sondrals, I planned on Christmas at my house at Christmas last year. I figured 5 mo., I can host right? Wrong? Your second knee is so young a small Christmas is best. Maybe Christmas movies/music/ religious services? That sounds nice to me today.
 
sondrals said:
I’ve decided this year is the year it’s ok to say no.
Click to expand...
Yay!
Starsfan22 said:
We all have Holiday obligations and those often require prolonged car rides, standing for long periods during food prep. and just not having the opportunity to rest, ice and elevate. In my case my grandson asked me to make a Boston Cream pie for Christmas Day, not an easy feat for me at this point. I have several cooking/baking obligations this week to add to the stress.
Click to expand...
You need to say no, also. Tell them that you're still healing and that next year you will be back to doing your normal things.

People need to realize that this is major surgery and that we don't just snap back in a few months. That's when we have to be assertive and take up for ourselves. We are the ones that have to suffer through the pain and swelling and no one else. Just say no! I know it's not easy, but it is just temporary.
 
@sistersinhim, it's hard to say no when you're the one who has always made and provided the traditions. My family does understand, they see me struggle at times. I think it's more me and my expectation/expectations! Bad on me.
 
I understand what you are saying. But, you have to ask if the pain will be worth it.
 
Not ’bad on you.’ You want a great holiday for you and your family, like you always want. It can be wonderful this year too, and I hope it is. Give yourself a break, gift wrapped, tied in ribbon, and tucked under the tree.
 
This seems kind of funny to me anyway. You ladies refer to your knee as mister? I refer to mine as Ms and a complete :censored: at that. ( no offense ) Hate to say it Christmas stunk how can you get in the spirit when the knee is non-stop complaining. Being German we do Christmas on the 24th to be honest yes it was okay but knee was a royal :censored: so I excused my self early and went to bed. Today somewhat better I guess I had my mind made up for today to stink as well. A couple days ago I treated myself to a new stereo receiver with the latest and greatest features ( cheap thrills!! ) so being quite stupid I decided to move a couple speakers for better sound mounted on a wall. What should have taken less then an hour took almost 3. knee at the moment is screaming. So yeah Merry Christmas I guess.
 
I haven’t visited BoneSmart for a few weeks but now catching up and reading this thread it really resonated with me that reading about others faster/better/sooner recoveries can bring on the blues. In the early months When flexion wasn’t coming and I hurt and I was reliant on others for help with so many things I could read about a speedier recovery and end up in a puddle of tears.

I too avoided threads that just made me feel as if something was wrong with me or my new knee. I try to remain focused on only comparing me to me and celebrating what are real victories for me—even if these victories arrived much later for me than for others, or if others might not even recognize these achievements as victories.

I’m stretched out on my back on the sofa as I write this and almost without thinking I started tightening my quads and flexing my feet. A year ago, this caused pain in both knees. Today, my new wonderful left knee has no pain, but ouch! the right knee (scheduled for RTKR on Feb. 6) is saying, “Umm, would you stop doing that?”

Two days ago my husband called me to come outside and walk down the drive so he could show me where a delivery van knocked over our mailbox. Without thinking I went out the front door and (slowly) walked down the two steps from porch to drive—and no railing! And then on down the drive to the destroyed mailbox. Two steps! No railing! Victory!

What hurt? The right knee. Going down the drive I felt that too familiar grind with every step. But my new left knee gave me no pain! And I trusted it. That trust was a long time coming.

Never has the saying “slow and steady wins the race” had as much meaning for me. And I’d be lying if I said the thought of launching into another year of recovery on Feb. 6 doesn’t scare me. But my quality of life is better now since the LTKR and I think with a matching set things will be even better.

What has been so great about the BoneSmart community is that we are here to cheer every victory. Whether it’s a leap of 15 degrees or 5 degrees, BoneSmart is here to say, “Way to go!”
 
@jellycats, what an encouraging post, thanks for this. As I sit here icing this morning I'm surprised that non operative knee is the one that really over reacted yesterday with terrible pain. I have another event today and Friday. I will take it easy today and may cancel Friday's event altogether.
 
I hope the rest helps you and your knee. I hope your family wraps you in comforting company and reminds you that you’ve been doing all this for them for years.
 
If you listen to your knee you should do fine. Cancel tomorrow if you need to. If you don't feel like going, then you will probably be sorry if you do.
 
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