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Bilateral TKR Lene' two new knees

I'm glad you had such a good night's sleep.
 
Yay for sleep! I have been able to sleep on my right side since about 3 weeks or so after my LTKR. I tried to do my left, but I'm not quite there yet! I hope PT was good for you today. I too like PT, but can't go as much as I would like because of cost. I hope you feel even better today!

Thinking of you,
Jen
 
So PT wasn't too bad today my therapist seems really nice when I did complain of some pain he had me stop and rest it. I was thinking I hadn't made any progress, but on the bike today I sat much closer and could do full rotations forward and back! Also when I am done, they let you ice for 10-15 min. I did not swell up after as much today as Monday! So even though the improvements are small they are improvements. Just have to remind myself not to get discouraged! Thanks for being great cheerleaders!
Blessings,
Lene'


Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum
 
Well tomorrow will put me at 5 weeks post op. I am doing okay, I would not say that I am having an amazing recovery, probably just an average one. But...I can now sleep a few hours in my bed every night ON MY SIDE! And this morning while sitting in my recliner with the foot rest up, I could bend my knees up and put my feet flat on the foot rest!!!! Wow, that just seemed like the biggest deal to me! I haven't been able to bend that far yet!

I did however cancel my PT for this week!!! My main reason is we are having a new roof put on and my hubby needed to be here yesterday to meet the workers and the driver for the materials. Just too much going on to have to have him worry about taking me to pt and picking me up. My next appt is tomorrow but I cancelled that too as it is hubby's birthday and I don't want to be "recovering" from PT and not feeling good enough to go out with him. Also, I just can't really tell if the pt is helping me all that much!! It feels good to "think" I am accomplishing something, but I know afterwards, I have at least a day of pain and swelling!! It is the two steps forward and one step back deal!! I am going up and down the stairs a couple times a day, I have been outside to play with the dogs once a day, (although I sit and throw the ball for them only). Yesterday I swept the kennel and took out the garbage. Just living life and I seem to have less pain each day. I am down to half my pain meds daily. For the first time since surgery, I can glimpse what my future with good knees and no pain might be! I am not there yet, but I am certainly in a better place than I was a week ago!!
Sometimes it is hard to come here and hear how great others are doing when you don't think you are doing so well yourself, but on the flip side, it is wonderful to have all of your support. So Thank You Bonesmarties!!
Glad for the company!
Blessings, Lene'
 
I think you're doing really well, Lene.

With the activity you have at home, I don't think that going to PT would help you much at all, especially as you say that you have to spend the day after PT "recovering". That shouldn't happen. It means you are being asked to do too much during PT.
Your ROM is progressing naturally, since you could bend your knee onto the foot rest of your recliner. :yes!: :happydance:

Keep on "just living life," increasing your activity slowly.
 
Lene, I was think you'll find you're in less pain and able to sleep better without PT at this point. You're active through the day and using your knee as you would in a nearly normal day. You've been a real trouper though this TKR! It's so good to hear things have turned a corner!
 
So updated report...I went back to PT today, rather reluctantly. I have been doing well, and could tell last week even without PT my flexion was improving. Anyway, I go in today and he always starts me on the bike or recumbant stepper to "get warmed up" So 10 min on that, 10 min. on calf stretches, 10 min on stairs, bending. then 10 min on stairs stretching, (heel on stairs, leg straight stretch hamstring). None are painful per say but each causes swelling and tightness. Now he wants to measure my extention. He measures and says it is terrible... at -13. Then he says lay on table with ankle on roller, and " I am going to push down on your leg because your extention is terrible. I say, "not if you cause me pain, I don't do pain...only discomfort! He looks at me like I have ten heads...how dare I talk like that!! Anyway, I said ok, but you stop pushing when I say stop! So we did ten of those (5 each leg) at my discretion. Then I get the lecture about how the world will end if I don't get my leg straight. I counter back with, 1) I can't get my leg straight when I have swelling and 2) next time I come let's measure before I start the PT. He tells me "oh, you probably won't like those numbers...and I tell him, actually the numbers mean more to him than they do to me!! So then i do a few heel slides, and he measures my ROM, when I went there at three weeks it was only 50 and 62, Today it was 103 and 105. When I told my hubby all of this he is like..."why don't they get it?? And I said, because the faster the patient gets the numbers the better the PT is "scored". At least that is my theory.
So...I will gently work on my flexion, although my next PT session is Wednesday so most likely won't have a lot of improvement by then, but I don't care. I know it will come eventually, just like the improvement in the ROM.

I am continuing to do better at home, walking with no cane around the house now. Can ride in the car for longer now without being too uncomfortable. Saturday I drove myself to the store and back but it is only a mile or so away. Sleeping is still not great, but can sleep an hour or two in bed on my side now. Only taking my pain meds before bedtime (or after PT...LOL)..! It truly is baby steps... My next thing is to get new sneakers, I have been wearing just a cheap pair of slippers from Walmart, that I had at the hospital. I tried a pair of my old shoes, but they made my knee and my foot hurt!! Thing is I still get some swelling in my feet somedays so I probably will have to buy a couple pairs before I am done.. but I think I need more support now.
Shopping is still difficult, I have been avoiding riding the carts, but if I try to walk it, I get stiff and achy really fast! I can walk outside in the grass longer than I can on hard floors but still can only go a quarter mile or so. Guess this is where the patience comes in!
Blessings,
Lene'
PS.. I also go back to the cardiologist on Wed. I will get the results of the holter monitor I had to wear after my low/stopped heart incident in recovery!! Hoping they tell me all is well, and it was just the effect of the anesthesia. They told me a few years back that someday I might need a pacemaker. Hoping that someday is a long ways away!!
 
@lene'
Don't let the PT treat you like that. You and your knees don't need it.

You don't need all that exercise (it's excessive) and you certainly don't need some number-obsessed bully pushing on your knees.
I'm glad you said what you did to him, but from now on tell him to keep his hands off your knees - or leave.
You were doing fine at home, without his ministrations.

Your new knees are only 6 weeks old and they're already at 103 and 105. That's quite satisfactory.
From now on, as long as you don't allow anything to upset them, ROM (both flexion and extension) should continue to increase at your knees' own pace.

The exercise you are getting in your daily life is enough for your knees and just walking is the best exercise of all for them. If you try to lengthen your stride, that will help to increase extension.
 
My dad and BFF went to a PT group that pushed down on their knees to get better extension. They both were so hurt by this, that when I went there (it is just a mile from my house) I kept my eyes on their hands. I was bound and determined to stop them before they pushed down on my knee. Well, they didn't push on my knee, but they did put heat on it and weight on top of the knee. I didn't realize that was a big no no at the time. After my infection I decided to go to a different PT group and I'm so happy I did. No one pushed or pulled on my knee at all. It was 20-25 minute drive, but my family felt it was worth it.

I hope tomorrow you don't feel the effects of the pt's pushing. You may want to have a "hands off" talk with him.
 
@KarriB, yes the PT told me to put heat on it, then push down too! I think I will just do easy hamstring stretches for awhile or some of the extention excercises I see here. I am quite stiff tonight but not excessively so. I will run both ice machines all night and if there is no improvement tomorrow, I may cancel my PT for Wed. We shall see.
Lene'


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Lene, I learned here (a year later) that putting heat on your knee will cause additional swelling. If you feel you need to continue PT, look for another group. I'm not sure how these groups continue to practice using techniques that are detrimental to healing.

I was able to gain extension by resting my foot on the ottoman as I sat on the chair with some space between the chair and ottoman. I didn't know it would help with extension, but I sat this way because it felt good! It isn't an immediate answer, but it will help over time. Check out the photos in this link.

https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/extension-how-to-estimate-it-and-ways-to-improve-it.9529/
 
Your ROM will continue to improve while you heal with just your daily exercises. You've already found that out. The PT is the one causing your extension to not be up to his expectation. It usually takes longer to have full extension than flexion and you will get there by the using the link Karrib has given you.
 
Back to the cardiologist today, had an EKG, all looked normal, they only had data from one day wearing the holder monitor when the should have had twenty! He will let me know once they get the rest of the data but it looks like the low heart rate was just a result of the anesthesia/pain/meds.
Been feeling just fine so I am not worried.
More concerned about going back to PT, lol



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Great to hear the news from the cardiologist. Hopefully further info gathered from the Holter monitor shows nothing else.
 
Best wishes for the rest of your PT. I did some sums when I read your Post #129 and that PT had you doing 40 minutes of solid exercising, without a break. No wonder your ROM was not good when he measured it immediately afterwards. 40 minutes non-stop is too much. Don't allow that again. Remember that you're teh boss, not your PT.

As I understand it, the Holter monitor is only used to record your heart activity for 24 hours. That's all my husband has had each time, anyway. Did you wear the monitor for 20 days?

I'm glad your ECG was normal. Best wishes for the rest of the results.
 
lene' said:
Also, I just can't really tell if the pt is helping me all that much!! It feels good to "think" I am accomplishing something, but I know afterwards, I have at least a day of pain and swelling!!
Click to expand...
In which case I can tell you that it isn't helping. You know it too, I'm sure.

Remember the mantra. If it causes swelling or pain, don't do it.

lene' said:
Now he wants to measure my extention. He measures and says it is terrible... at -13.
Click to expand...
You can improve that simply by walking. As you take a full stride you will feel a pull up the back of your leg. That is a fine stretching exercise that will improve extension. As walking gets easier, take longer and longer strides to get that stretch. And you probably only need to walk 50 yards at a time for it to be effective, if you do it several times a day.
 
@lene'

It sounds like you are doing so well!!! I am nowhere near as capable as you are with walking, but that's ok!! My gait is so uneven and I hope this will change soon. One of the advantages of a BTKR for sure. I'm glad you are speaking up for yourself at PT. They did the push thing with me too, and it seemed to hurt more afterwards, for longer. No PT for me this week and I feel good.

I hope you've been able to get out and about. Went to Niagara Falls Canada last weekend and Lewiston. It was beautiful as always. Supposed to get snow on Sunday too. I really hope this winter makes up for our lack of winter last year...after December 5th when I'm cozy and back home!!

Oh, your ROM is awesome!!!! I'm so happy to follow your amazing progress.

Jen
 
Ouch! I agree with. @Celle CPM machines make NO difference, i speak that from brutal experience lol im not going into my entire story because its been very long and if your interested you can read my journey on the forum. But I will say this surgery #1 i was forced into a CPM and it was torture, surgery #2 4 months later the new doctor didnt believe in the use of CPMs and its made no difference in my ROM. It DID however make a difference in the level of pain i was in.
As for your PT pushing down on your leg, again i speak from experience... dont let them do that. Your extension will come when the swelling goes down. PTs have a habit of getting bent out of shape when your ROM isnt exactly where they want it to be, when they want it to be there. I learned that lesson the hard way. Forcing it wont make it come any faster, trust me on that.
I do hope you have the issues with your heart straightened out :)
 
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