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TKR Ladyj has a new knee!

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Hi Jess!
You're doing so awesome! I'm so glad for you. Thank you for always being there for me!
 
Way to go, ladyj!
 
Oh Jess, that is so good to hear. You have done marvellously well. I hope you have a lovely few days away. Tell us about it when you come back, won't you?
 
Ladyj, You are doing "Marvelous Darlin"! Isn't it just be wonderful feeling so much better now then before your new knee!
Keep up the good work and enjoy your time away!:thumb:

Stay well my BoneSmartie friend!:friends:
 
I am back, had a great time, but stiff as a board, and I don't mean the new knee, although it is joining in well!:rotfl:
We walked miles around York, which was great, probably two or three miles a day, also our hotel room was up four flights of stairs!
I managed all of it, but by the time we got to the second part of our break, which was in the Cotswolds, I was almost seized up!
Both legs ache, I seem to have pulled my achilles tendon slightly on the operated leg, and I even have pain in my hip. One morning my back was so stiff I could hardly move.
Having said all that, we had a great time, and I can only imagine that not walking properly for eleven years is going to take a fair bit of recovering from. It certainly seems so.
 
Welcome home ladyj, now you can rest and recoup from your wonderful and painful trip. Your next one will be easier, just glad you enjoyed it! It's wonderful to get away for awhile.:friends:
 
Hi ladyj i have read your posts with interest. Especially the pain medication. I had TKR on 13th October and had my staples out this morning. Feeling very well but sometimes the pain does get to me. I am on co-codamol and iburofen at the moment but as ive been on co-codomal for the last 8 years to help with the arthritic pain im not sure if my body is immune to it now. Night times are the worst times keeping so still. You seem have had a fairly easy recovery which is nice to hear. I will keep up with your recovery with interest. I start my physio next week and they have advised me to remove the dressing Monday. Not looking forward to that. I am so squeamish. How did you cope with that.
 
Hi robynhood, thank you for taking an interest in me!:) I hope that you are not feeling too bad, because you are still in the very early stages of recovery, and those first four weeks or so are pretty horrible. Because I had such a major operation, having the top part of my tibia rebuilt as well as the actual TKR, the pain was pretty bad afterwards and I was in hospital for ten days until they could get the pain under control. They weren't at all keen on letting me out while I was still on controlled drugs, in the end I came home with co-codamol and a bottle of liquid morphine.
The co-codamol was effective for the pain, but made me feel so sick that I then went on to the "Bonesmart Cocktail" of Ibuprofen and Paracetemol, which I am still on, although now, only twice a day.
I think I am making a very good and speedy recovery, mainly because right from the start I have had no problems with bending my knee at all, but it has still been, and continues to be, a hard road. At first, the weakness, the nausea and the total exhaustion were very big problems, now it is stiffness and aching, and regaining some kind of muscular strength, after years of walking with a limp and a three wheeled walking aid.

Why do you have to keep still at night? I didn't!
The nurses told me not to keep my leg bent for too long, but as it was the only way it didn't hurt, it was my "default" position, and I straightened it as much as I could.
Anyway, it doesn't seem to have done any harm.
I was glad to get the dressing off. I can be squeamish, but as this is third operation I have had on this knee I knew what to expect and wasn't worried.
Good luck with the physio. Again, I think I have been lucky, and have only ever had to do a few gentle exercises. I am trying now just to do a good walk everyday, although that has had to be curtailed somewhat this week, because I walked so far on my holiday last week that I am having to rest up and recover a bit!

Hopefully I will be able to resume the walking again tomorrow. I did walk to the shops today though, and went to the hairdressers, so I am keeping moving.

Thinking of you and wishing you all the best for a speedy recovery.
 
Hi, the only reason i stayed in the same position all night was because it was just too painful to move and it was really stiff in the morning. Hopefully this will improve now the staples are out and i will get a better sleep. You seem to be getting on really well with your walking. Are you still using crutches and if not how long did you auctually use them for. I still use the frame upstairs in my bedroom but only because I can move round the room properly and get my clothes from the wardrobe and drawers etc. I just hate asking people all the time to pass me this etc. Every day seems a little easier and i hope it contunues. I must admit ive learnt more from this site than anything the hospital has told me.. Its brilliant.
 
I used crutches for about two weeks, but a lot of people need them for longer than that. It was such a pleasure to actually "have a knee to stand on" that everything seemed easier than what I was used to!

I agree with you about this site. The advice here is superb as is the support.

Hope you get a better sleep tonight.
 
As it is nearly New Year, I though it was a good time to give a roundup of my progress so far.
Well! I am certainly glad I had the knee replacement, it has given me a whole new life, and I know that although I still have a way to go that things are getting better all of the time.
I know that actual TKR wise I was very lucky. Although it was a long and complex operation, and very painful for the first few days, things very soon settled down and the knee gave me no more problems.
What was a problem was extreme nausea, utter exhaustion, stiffness, and lots of aches and pains in the other leg. Because I walked so badly for so long I have tendinitis in my "good leg" which results in pains in the back of my knee, in my hip, and even sometimes down to my toes.
The physio thinks this will get better as my gait improves, and I feel sure he is right. I got my husband to film me walking, and unless I concentrate I still rock from side to side rather than having a forward motion. I think this is habit rather than anything else and I am trying really hard not to do it, with some success.
Also unless I think about it I still do the "good leg to heaven, bad leg to hell" on the stairs, even though I no longer have a "bad" leg.
However, I am able to shop endlessly, I walked all over the West End of London with a friend before Christmas, I have done a three mile hike, and I can stand to cook and do things in the house much better than before.
I still get very tired and stiff after leading a "normal" life for several days!
I did Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, entertaining and having family staying, then I cleaned the house and took to the sofa, the Kindle and the TV for a couple of days, too stiff to move!
I have so appreciated the support and advice I have received here. I suppose I could have done it without you, but I wouldn't have wanted to!
I have my postponed trip to the US National Parks to look forward to in May, and it will be interesting to see how that goes.
I do know that it will be one hell of a trip.
I also have a new grandaughter expected in February.
I am so grateful to my surgeon Mr Palmer for the marvelous job he has done, that I took him a bottle of wine for Christmas!
I have my new life, I have retired, I intend to get to as good a level of fitness as I can and enjoy it.
 
Sounds like u are doing good ladyj. good recovery, i hope you enjoy your retirement, and acheive tht fitness level you want. Thanks for updating:flwrysmile:
 
What a wonderful end of 2012 you have had. Thank you for always being there during my dark days of healing. You're awesome and deserve a happy 2013!
 
[Bonesmart.org] Ladyj has a new knee!
What a great update, ladyj!! So glad that things are going so well for you and that life is fun again. Your recovery story is a real inspiration to those just coming along. Every success story helps someone on the forum know that success can be their's, too. Enjoy your coming grandbaby and your trip to the national parks. Don't be a stranger---let us hear from you from time to time. And yes we want pics of the baby and your trip!

Take care 'cause we care.
[Bonesmart.org] Ladyj has a new knee!
 
LadyJ sounds like you are doing great. As far as the way you walk one of my physical therapist told me that I would have to retrain my brain like coming down stairs. I kind of take one at a time. They say you get use to doing things the same way and you need to retrain the brain to do it the right way. Makes sense. I also had a lot of stiffness after holidays. MY LTKR was June 27 and RTKR Oct 1 with two MUA's in between where they bent the other knee each time. So in all I have had 4 MUA (only put to sleep twice) on both knees. Do you still feel a tightness.I feel like there is a band around the top part of my knee that someone is twisting and making tighter. Good luck in the near year and hope you enjoy your visit to the US.
Sherry--Texas
 
Great report Ladyj!:goodpost: You're an inspiration to those who have yet to face TKA and those who are struggling!:thumb:
That trip you are taking sounds like it will be so much fun and you'll be able to enjoy it with your new knee!
Congrats on your up and coming granddaughter! New grandbabies are so much fun!
Enjoy your retirement, you've earned it my friend!

Stay well and have a Happy and Healthy New Year!:friends:
 
Congrats Ladyj! So glad to hear your positive report! My newest granddaughter was born a couple of weeks after my PKR and so she and my new knee are about the same age!:heehee: They're so much fun; congrats on your new little addition! It's so good to hear about you planning a trip! I'm almost 4-1/2 months post-op after only a partial and I can't imagine doing a trip. A few hours at the leash-free dog park is about all I can handle these days, and only because Hubs goes along.:sigh: But better days are on the way I know.

All the best for your 2013! Thanks for the wonderful update!
:thumb:
 
Apologies to you all for taking a few days to get back to you, the New Year kind of intervened.:loll:
I did another short hike with the walking group on Sunday. As it has been raining here since living memory:) it was very muddy. I wore my husband's wellington boots and used a walking pole, but I didn't fall over, and although I was tired at the end I wasn't too stiff.
Hope you are all also doing well.
I will post a few pictures of my grandbaby when she arrives.

A very Happy New Year to you all, and keep striving. We are all going to get there.:thankyou:
 
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