TKR Knee recovery 2024

[ladyj]

We sure can. I can tell your from England? I am from West Virginia USA. My hip is also brilliant. We don’t say that here but I wish we did. It was super weak. With the bad knee I never had any way to strengthen it much. I haven’t walked up stairs with that leg for over 10 years. They are working on the hip
along with the knee. I am 60. Female my name is Shawn
Ps. I will watch your knee journey. I wish you the best. I hope partial is easier?

Hi Shawn,

Jess here. I’m 73 and live in Suffolk, which is a beautiful part of England towards the East Coast.
I am in a bit of a pickle.
I smashed my left knee to smithereens in a hiking accident in 2001. It was partially reconstructed, and then completely reconstructed in 2001.
The limping that this caused, has over the years, worn out my hip and knee on the right side.
Anyway, my hip is fine now, so I am hoping once I get my knee done I can get back to some kind of normal life.

We moved here to a bungalow three years back, it is great, we bought it because it was so accessible. The main bedroom has an en-suite bathroom so it is easy to get from the bed to the toilet, shower etc.
My operation is first thing Tuesday morning, I am a bit wound up about it today. My youngest daughter and her two girls popped round this afternoon, that was lovely.
I have two daughters and four grandchildren and they all live within a 40 minute drive away, they tell me they will visit me on a rota!
Also my husband is looking after me well.
I just want the op over now.

The surgeon, who is a specialist in partial replacements tells me he hopes I will make a quick recovery.
His physio said to prepair myself for a “rough couple of weeks.”

I am having to pay for my surgery, which is quite unusual here, but the NHS is in a state, and the waiting lists are horrendous, so I will be having the op done in a small local private hospital.
I had my hip done there, and they were excellent.

I will keep in touch and let you know how I get on.

All the best from me.

 

[mendogal]

We'll all be waiting for you to post after surgery!!!!

 

[Layla]

Hi there Sdfoxy1
Happy One Month Anniversary!
I hope you had a nice weekend and I wish you a great week to come.
Cheers!
@Sdfoxy1

 

[Jockette]

I asked can’t I get pain free stepping up on the little step before going to the higher one and it’s always you won’t get better if you don‘t move on. I think they are going to move me to the 8 inch step tomorrow and the five inch is still quite painful. I am going to have to refuse doing something for the first one and it’s making me uncomfortable. But we are paying them. Correct?

You are correct to refuse to step up on something that is higher than a step that is currently still hurting, or even to continue to step up, as an exercise, on a step that is hurting. One month post op is way too early to force your healing knee to do these steps. This is not appropriate PT. You will be able to do those steps, in the future, when you‘ve healed more.

I totally understand how uncomfortable it is to say no, but it’s your knee, not theirs, and you must take care of it any way you think is in your best interest.
Saying no to therapy - am I allowed to?

Here are some things that are not in your best interest:

BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy

You will have noticed there is a significant opinion here about the potential hazards of PT. You may feel that your therapists are experts and know what you should be doing. However, over the last several years I've been here, I have observed that the more intensive the regimen of exercising...

bonesmart.org

 

[Sdfoxy1]

Please tell me these things will fall off soon. ? Ignore my dry leg Nothing will hydrate it Not even gold bond medicated lol

 

[Jockette]

Wow, that’s a lot of steri strips!

 

[Sdfoxy1]

Wow, that’s a lot of steri strips!

Yes it’s reminding me of double fringe lol

 

[Jockette]

I found that mine did fray a bit. I thought they were so annoying.

 

[mendogal]

More fringes than a 1960s suede vest!
Yes they definitely fall off!!!

 

[Sdfoxy1]

1960s

Yes that’s what it reminds me off. I could see it in my mind but couldn’t put my finger on it. lol

 

[MSuki]

My skin was flaky like that but went away quickly after all was healed and I started giving it lotion. Probably rubbed most of it off.

 

[Sdfoxy1]

We sure can. I can tell your from England? I am from West Virginia USA. My hip is also brilliant. We don’t say that here but I wish we did. It was super weak. With the bad knee I never had any way to strengthen it much. I haven’t walked up stairs with that leg for over 10 years. They are working on the hip
along with the knee. I am 60. Female my name is Shawn
Ps. I will watch your knee journey. I wish you the best. I hope partial is easier?

Hi Shawn,

Jess here. I’m 73 and live in Suffolk, which is a beautiful part of England towards the East Coast.
I am in a bit of a pickle.
I smashed my left knee to smithereens in a hiking accident in 2001. It was partially reconstructed, and then completely reconstructed in 2001.
The limping that this caused, has over the years, worn out my hip and knee on the right side.
Anyway, my hip is fine now, so I am hoping once I get my knee done I can get back to some kind of normal life.

We moved here to a bungalow three years back, it is great, we bought it because it was so accessible. The main bedroom has an en-suite bathroom so it is easy to get from the bed to the toilet, shower etc.
My operation is first thing Tuesday morning, I am a bit wound up about it today. My youngest daughter and her two girls popped round this afternoon, that was lovely.
I have two daughters and four grandchildren and they all live within a 40 minute drive away, they tell me they will visit me on a rota!
Also my husband is looking after me well.
I just want the op over now.

The surgeon, who is a specialist in partial replacements tells me he hopes I will make a quick recovery.
His physio said to prepair myself for a “rough couple of weeks.”

I am having to pay for my surgery, which is quite unusual here, but the NHS is in a state, and the waiting lists are horrendous, so I will be having the op done in a small local private hospital.
I had my hip done there, and they were excellent.

I will keep in touch and let you know how I get on.

All the best from me

I am so sorry. I did not see this post. Your family sounds wonderful. How did your surgery go. I hope you are well. I am lucky. So far everything in the left side is fine. Please let me know how you are progressing Shawn

 

[ladyj]

Hello Shawn,

Yes, two weeks today I had my knee done.
It’s been a bit off and on, but nothing I haven’t been able to cope with.
One problem that has been very annoying, and it happened when I had my hip done too, is that I have had days of incontinence.
I was prepared this time and had the knickers in!
Not pleasant, but I suspect that it will settle down, as it did before. I think it might be to do with the general anaesthetic.
The pain hasn’t been too bad, but I have been taking paracetamol together with oral morphine. I finished the morphine today, so I have an appointment to speak to the doctor tomorrow, then I might just get something stronger just in case I need it.
The nurse redressed my wound today and that is healing beautifully. Still hobbling around on a Zimmer frame. I can’t wait for the walking to get easier.
Unfortunately we have had the most foul we winter here, which feels like it’s been going on for months, everything is flooded, trees down etc. Just hope we get a glimpse of sun soon so we can at least have a short drive around the villages.
Let me know how you are doing.
Jess.

 

[Sdfoxy1]

@ladyj Hi Jess. Happy to see you doing well. I feel your pain with bad weather. We had a week in the 70s then it turned cold again. It’s supposed to be 79 by the end of the week. I’ve seen people much older than me zooming around church at the point I’m at. I thought I would be less sore and stiff at this point. The weeks just keep slipping by and I have to go back to my retail walking all day job at 12 weeks. I get a little depressed at times. I cleaned a good bit upstairs today and that made me feel more
Accomplished my husband is retired so we are going to tackle repainting my kitchen cabinets next week. I hope I am able. I found out really quickly when I tried to go off my pain medicine that it was the reason I was doing so well. Haha. I had to back on and tapered
Off around five weeks but still take tramadol and Tylenol at bedtime. Sometimes a muscle relaxer during the day. I feel my pain now is about like week four on pain medicine. Okay enough complaining. I am watching my 2 1/2 year old grandson in the morning so I had better get to bed. Shawn.

 

[EalingGran]

The weeks just keep slipping by and I have to go back to my retail walking all day job at 12 weeks. I get a little depressed at times. I cleaned a good bit upstairs today and that made me feel more
Accomplished my husband is retired so we are going to tackle repainting my kitchen cabinets

Go easy on yourself. I would be very careful about tackling a painting job early on. You don't want to be twisting to reach corners of cupboards, or standing/ sitting in one position too long.
Going back to a physically challenging job at 12 weeks is tough. Can you ask for adjustments or part- time return?
I am so sorry you feel down. This is incredibly common after knee surgery. It is physically and emotionally very draining and the recovery can be so up and down- that it's very hard to know where you are.

 

[ladyj]

It is an emotional roller coaste.

 

[selketine]

I'm transitioning back to work now to the "sit all day" office job and just going back for a few hours at a time. I couldn't do something where I'm on my feet all day at 12 weeks I think. I couldn't have done it pre-surgery either but still that is a lot. I am hoping they can give you an option to sit and work (like a cash register). My mom worked at a grocery store and I don't know how she did it standing there all day.

I also couldn't do much in the way of painting either unless we wanted the "splatter effect" haha! Sounds like you are doing very well for around 6 weeks along. I hope you and your grandson have a great day today and the weather is nice for you - 60's over here in Maryland for us today!

 

[Jockette]

so we are going to tackle repainting my kitchen cabinets next week. I hope I am able.

I would be very careful about tackling a painting job early on. You don't want to be twisting to reach corners of cupboards, or standing/ sitting in one position too long.

As someone who painted kitchen cabinets when I was not recovering from a knee replacement, I don’t recommend this. I agree with all the movements EalingGran mentioned, been there, done that! I had a hard enough time when I did that, I could never have done it this early in recovery.

 

[Sdfoxy1]

Let me know how you are doin

so we are going to tackle repainting my kitchen cabinets next week. I hope I am able.

I would be very careful about tackling a painting job early on. You don't want to be twisting to reach corners of cupboards, or standing/ sitting in one position too long.

As someone who painted kitchen cabinets when I was not recovering from a knee replacement, I don’t recommend this. I agree with all the movements EalingGran mentioned, been there, done that! I had a hard enough time when I did that, I could never have done it this early in recovery.

That’s what the husbands for lol. Perfect timing when I don’t have to do it by myself. I will only be doing door fronts and drawer fronts laid flat on the bar haha. The picture below is where I painted them about 5 years ago. Top is sort of cream. Bottoms a sagey green. I’m going for a pale grey and a turquoise island. Good thing he doesn’t care. I didn’t paint the insides. Are you supposed to lol. Only on the ones wirh no doors.

 

[Sdfoxy1]

'm transitioning back to work now to the "sit all day" office job and just going back for a few hours at a time. I couldn't do something where I'm on my feet all day at 12 weeks I think.

I did do a few register shifts after my hip replacement. I’m used
To working on painful limbs but I will have them phase me back in like last time. 20,25,30,35,40 hours. That gives me some extra weeks to get my stamina back. Also I can ice on break with my leg up in the lunch room. I’ve had four surgeries in the five years I’ve worked there. They are pretty used to me lol. I have no illusions that I am going to be fine. I wasn’t last time. But at least I know the pain will be getting better instead of worse from now on. And they are pretty lenient with me.