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TKR Late Bloomer<

I'm in awe of you all going back to work/teaching so soon. There was no way I could have gone back before 12 weeks.
I had something similar to the kneeling happen when I went back in September at about 10 months (still not kneeling at that point) . Our chief of security wanted each of us to demonstrate how to use the door bolt they had bought for all our doors to keep intruders out. Of course he looked at me first and said, you'll have to kneel. I said, that's not happening, but I can bend, then proceeded to bend down (I'm really flexible) and put the bolt into the hole they drilled at the bottom of the door. We never get down with the kids when we do a weather drill and I imagine if one was actually happening I'd huddle around kids instead kneeling alone.
 
Just had to share, because they seem so few and far between that I had a good P/T session and could see progress being made again.
The therapist can't get over that even now (today's the start of 9 wks ) I am showing faint bruising all around my knee, still have a open wound direction on the knee cap but that isn't draining any longer.........yeah. Feels that I must still have lots of healing going on inside my knee. My steps def feel like baby steps and it is so easy to become discouraged, as most appts don't show much progress ahead. It really is the 1 step ahead and 2 back that seems to hold true. But I am very satisfied with today and tonight I am having my husband move the recumbent bike upstairs, so I use it even more to help to keep better movement in my knee joint, therapist said I am only lacking flexion, extension isn't bad and I have good side to side movement of my leg bones when he worked with me. I haven't been pushing myself, can't see when I did that I made any progress doing better by just taking it day by day and doing what I am able to do. ( today we reached 95 Rom on my own and 100 with assistance after stretching, full rotation on the bike with my foot in the strap verses just using my heel to get myself around, what a difference from using the heel at the top of the pedal to having your foot directly on the pedal like it should be, and this was going forward pedaling. ):heehee:
 
I'm 12 weeks today and still have bruising, especially on the lower part of my knee where the tibia meets the implant. Do you find you have more there? Is it extremely painful there? Mine is. It seems like the more I do, the more I bruise. My OS said to not worry about it so you shouldn't either.
 
I'm happy to hear you're seeing a little bit of progress and I think riding the bike will help. It helped me so much! I always felt it loosened up my knee and was the first thing I did at pt. Remember no tension.
 
Great day @zzevi! Keep the swelling in check, (Bonesmart mantras), and your flexion will sneak right up on you! Did me! = )
 
@Josephine need to figure out how to send you a photo, but I am writing to you again about my concern of my incision drainage.
I am at the start of 9 wks post surgery, this wound is direction on the most stressed point of the knee. Above and below the wound, it's completely healed over nicely.
I started using butterfly strips on it , as they are open enough to allow air flow, but yet also help hold that area together to heal.
I just had about 4 days of no drainage, yesterday the butterfly strips did get loosen and this morning some slight drainage started again after stretches.
I am not running a fever, there is no redness around the wound, I personally think it has a slight smell, but the O.S. or P/T can't smell it. Cleaning daily with just hydrogen peroxide per O.S. directions. I am just fearful that I could have something deep going on in there that will cause me issues. Your thoughts.
 
Josephine, I went to the link and have followed directions - I have an iphone and it says that the link is too large, any way to modify the image to post on this site?
Sorry to post on your recovery thread @zzevi but you might be having the same problem i have?
 
Could you try cropping the photo a bit. I've done that before when a photo won't upload because it's too large. It sometimes works. I'm on an iPad and there are apps for photo resizing which I got, but still can't work out how to transfer them to my photos to then upload. I'm sure there's a way, just haven't found it yet.
 
Here's a photo Josephine

[Bonesmart.org] Late Bloomer<
 
@Josephine it seems deep and wide, but it has a nice hard scab over it currently. The drainage seems to seep out besides the scab. If you need a better pic let me know, have to use my phone and go that route to post, otherwise I use my notebook to reply on this site.
No redness, no heat, not painful, this is directly on the middle of the knee cap.
After surgery had a drain tube and had lots of drainage, on the day it was removed earlier in the day the nurse had emptied the tank, the next shift the nurse came in and said oh we can remove that you don't have much drainage. It had only been emptied about 3 hrs prior.
After removal and when I came home I had like a swollen pocket of fluid right directly to the right side of the incision, This area was swollen, bruised, and somewhat sore to touch for about 5 wks. The therapist mentioned elevation and massaging that area to push the fluid back towards my groin area for my body to process it. This did work.
I still seem slightly bruised in that spot where the pocket was, is not painful, P/T seems to think I just have some deep healing taking place yet. P/T has been watching wound but doesn't seem concerned, O.S. has seen it twice, will be going to a return visit in approx 3 wks. He also didn't seem concerned, didn't think it needed to be stitched shut, just to clean it daily.
 
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Thank you but I could do with one a little bit further away so I can see it in context with the whole scar.
zzevi said:
The therapist mentioned elevation and massaging that area to push the fluid back towards my groin area for my body to process it. This did work.
Click to expand...
That is just nonsense! And it would have dissipated anyway. It doesn't need to be 'moved' to do that!
 
@Josephine above and below that area the incision is great, healed nicely, the bottom can't hardly see the scar it's faint already, the top part healed well also a little rougher looking then the bottom but in time won't be able to see the scar there either. ( just that directly on the knee cap, still thinking in my mind removing the drain to soon caused me the problem, also I am fair skinned redhead don't know if that matters or not.)
Just concerned about infection, do I need to be fearful? The longer it takes to close up do I have more of a risk? Also while showering should I be keeping it dry instead of letting the water and soap run over it? Will take some more pictures when I remove the current butterfly strips, I just put them on today so I am hoping to get a day or more out of them.
 
Sorry - I missed that out!
It all looks pretty dry to me and superficial. Don't disturb the scab, leave it alone and it will be fine.
Any exudate will be the result of the skin contracting as it heals so don't worry about it.
 
@Josephine , thank you so much. That is pretty much what everyone else has been saying. People stare when they see it. Just seems like 9wks is a long time for something to heal over. But thank you, now I can move on to finding something else to worry or fret about.
 
Hi zzevi! About an inch of my scar reopened after I pulled the steri-strip off. Just opened right up as I was pulling the strip off! I thought it was going to need professional attention, showed it to Josephine and she said it was just fine. Sure enough, it closed back up in time and she was right, again! We are so fortunate to have her 40+ yr medical expertise here.

My adult son came in yesterday afternoon for the weekend. It wasn't long ago that he was here for a visit a few months prior to my replacement and while we were walking my arthritic knee buckled. I went straight down, hard. He helped me up, dusted me off and made me promise I would go ahead with the replacement.

Yesterday we were walking in that very same area and he was absolutely amazed at how well my gait was! I even did a little power walk for him and he couldn't hardly believe how far I had come.

I made it apart of my recovery to give my knee the time it needed to heal and keep a positive attitude about it all. Which is hard for me when going through something like this- I'm a wimp to be sure!

To help me keep positive I started reading & responding supportive posts to those here who were just coming out of their surgeries! Not only did this help them, it reaffirmed for me that I was indeed recovering!

Sorry I rambled. My intent was to let you know if Josephine says it, that settles it, for me! Have a great Saturday- you're on your way to a strong surgical knee that will be pain-free when recovered! It's worth whatever we go through to get that!

[Bonesmart.org] Late Bloomer<
 
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Oh how I enjoying reading the postings on this site. I am amazed by how the same and yet different we all are. So many things we have in common, although they may or may not take place at the same time on the timeline of progress. Where 2 people can have surgery on the same day and have different out comes and progress. What I lack at this stage of recovery others have down, and yet things that are going well for me others have difficultly with. I guess we each do need to take inventory on a daily bases and be thankful for what we've gained. I am finally beginning to feel confident that I may not be here at this point in time, but I intent to get there over a course in time. ( feel like the characters out of the story of the Hare and the tortoise and how slow and steady in time will win over. ) I've given up on beating myself up, I am where at this point in time I am suppose to be.
 
Also thanks for the suggestions of a good brand of foot wear, I am flat footed also and have a wide foot, always looking for a sturdy reliable footwear will check out the Vionic brand
 
You are so right, we all have so many things in common with our recoveries but at the same time we each have unique challenges or successes, some may take a little longer than others in recovering but what counts is that we get to the finish line!!!
 
@zzevi, you've got a really good attitude to this, accepting what is, and taking a day at a time. I got so het up about my slow recovery compared to others, but had to learn NOT to compare, and to appreciate the good days, and not get too down over the bad ones. We are all getting there, in different ways, step by step.
 
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