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TKR Let the bells rings, let the birds sing!

@Diane LTKR Thanks Diane. My husband puts me to bed at night and helps me lift my leg. He does it so well. He's been sleeping in the spare room though, and last night I had to get back in bed after using the restroom. I had the leash around my foot but I don't think my arms are long enough to lift it the distance without it bending. I scared myself with how much it hurt.

Im thinking maybe if I put a chair next to the bed, I can lift my foot onto the chair then scoot back further before lifting it the remainder of the way. Does that make sense? I sure hope it works. Maybe I can do a trial run while my husband is there to assist me. Crossing my fingers. I'll let you know how it turns out.




Diane
RTKR 7/12/16
 
I never liked using a leg lifter. Have you tried using your other leg to assist the operated leg? You kind of hook your foot under your operated ankle. It may be too early for you to do that--it kind of depends how your recovery is going. I was able to do that after the first few days. You might try it with your husband standing by to assist.
 
@kneekeeper Yes I do that for my ottoman at times but my bed is just too high. I almost need steps it's so high. In our spare room we have a Murphy bed but that ones too low. This is starting to sound like the three bears. :p


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16
 
dnslbrg said:
Maybe I can do a trial run while my husband is there to assist me.
Click to expand...
That's a wonderful idea Diane. Please do be careful this early in your recovery. There are those who have had accidents and, not trying to alarm you, but it was devastating to their recovery. Avoid anything that puts you in a compromising situation. You don't want to fall! When I was where you are in your recovery I found myself not paying full attention to my feet when walking and came very close to falling on several occasions.

I know it's hard to ask for assistance, especially in the middle of the night, but it would be a good idea to have your husband help you until you are a little stronger and are able to find a safe way to get back into your bed in the middle of the night.

I say this only because I care!
 
Thank you Suz. It means so much that there are people here who care. I have been on crutches several months prior to my replacement and finding other people going through the same thing is priceless.


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16
 
Hi @dnslbrg
Your comment about the three bears made me smile. However I am not making light of the pain you are in and the difficulty you are having doing things that most people take for granted. I am one of the ones that Suz mentioned who had a bit of an accident which set me back, so I would second her advice to always take great care when moving around and don't take any risks, remember your knee is just a baby and needs lots of tlc. As time goes by things will get easier, I promise.
Tabby xxx
 
Thank you @tabby. My original plan before leaving the hospital was to just use my crutches when I got home. During my first walk around the hallway I was trying to adjust my robe to make sure everything was decent and I let go of the walker just as my knee buckled a bit. It caused me to feel dizzy like I was falling. Luckily my PT had me by the belt and I was under control. I immediately knew I should get a walker for home rather than just my crutches. I'm not sure how I would have managed without it so far.

I'm sorry to hear you had an accident. I'm afraid to ask what happened. I'm sure it had to have been a horrible set back.


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16
 
It was silly really, but I slipped and lost my balance in the bathroom, I didn't fall but instead over extended my 4 week old knee and pulled ligaments. I reckon it took about 6 weeks to get back to where I was before I slipped. I'm 12 weeks out now, and just beginning to see progress and feel more confident.
I hope you have an uneventful recovery.
Tabby xxx
 
I'm just a week out of surgery and my range of motion is 76 if I push it. I didn't start doing the heel slides until today. I thought I was doing well following the ice, elevation, medication mantra but somehow didn't read the article that says to do the heel slides. :O Now I feel like I've screwed up. Has anyone else done this? Any suggestions?


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@dnslbrg Don't worry about this. With my second knee I got to 76 or thereabouts in hospital, but with my first I had it splinted until week three, and then started from about 45, my OS was happy that I got to 90 after 8 weeks. After that progress was slow but I still got a good ROM in the end. You are still at the beginning of a long road. Take it slowly and follow the bonesmart method and you will get there in the end.
 
DO. NOT. PANIC.

Nothing is wrong, nothing need go wrong, you have done nothing wrong. Rest, ice, elevation is 100% correct
 
[Bonesmart.org] Let the bells rings, let the birds sing!
[Bonesmart.org] Let the bells rings, let the birds sing!
@dnslbrg, you may notice that I have merged your two threads. We like to keep our members' recovery posts all in a single thread. That way it's easy for us to go back and read your history before responding to a question or concern. In addition, the thread becomes a journal of your recovery for those who come along later and want to read about you. So, please post in this thread from now on when you want to give an update or ask a question. If you have questions or concerns that need an immediate answer, please tag an admin, a mod, or other members or all three.

If you decide you'd like a different thread title at any point, you can change it by just posting what you want here and we'll get it changed for you. THANKS!

Please stop worrying about ROM and give your poor traumatized knee time to heal----lots of rest, elevating, icing, and very gentle exercise. The ROM will come in time---and lots of time is what it's going to take. Unlike other surgeries, knee replacement required lots of TIME and PATIENCE. You just gotta roll with the slow, slow flow and keep a positive attitude.

Take care and keep us posted. We care!
 
You are doing fine, my OS did not expect 90 degrees until 3 months. Most are there earlier, but it did take the pressure off to hurry ROM.
 
Majic said:
@dnslbrg Don't worry about this. With my second knee I got to 76 or thereabouts in hospital, but with my first I had it splinted until week three, and then started from about 45, my OS was happy that I got to 90 after 8 weeks. After that progress was slow but I still got a good ROM in the end. You are still at the beginning of a long road. Take it slowly and follow the bonesmart method and you will get there in the end.
Click to expand...

This is very reassuring. I'm officially back on track! Thank you.


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16
 
Pumpkln said:
You are doing fine, my OS did not expect 90 degrees until 3 months. Most are there earlier, but it did take the pressure off to hurry ROM.
Click to expand...

It was about 2am last night and I was going through the list of things to read that we are all given after we get to the other side when I ran into the heel slides. I almost got out of bed at that moment to do them. I'm so happy to get reassurance from all of you. Thank you.


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16
 
@bottomshallow sorry about the new thread. I've got it now.

Thank you for the reassurance. I kept telling myself this today but until I had some feedback I knew I would continue to worry about it.


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16
 
Tabbycat said:
It was silly really, but I slipped and lost my balance in the bathroom, I didn't fall but instead over extended my 4 week old knee and pulled ligaments. I reckon it took about 6 weeks to get back to where I was before I slipped. I'm 12 weeks out now, and just beginning to see progress and feel more confident.
I hope you have an uneventful recovery.
Tabby xxx
Click to expand...

Oh my goodness! That had to have hurt so bad. I'm glad you're seeing progress now. That had to be so depressing.


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16
 
You can do heel slides on the bed. You don't have to do a lot of them at a time. I started with maybe 5 twice a day.
 
Thanks kneeper. I've been doing them while sitting in a chair. I'll give the bed a try in the morning.


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16
 
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