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TKR liam2015: 1 Year Anniversary, Life Goes On!

Liam2015 I started wearing a sleeve this week too. No idea if it will help or not but I've worn it to work the last two days and it feels okay and my swelling seems to be down a little. Heck, I will try about anything to help this process. :). Good luck!


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thank you @mechellec ~ yes, anything that helps. i'll wear it tomorrow on the pack walk. the trainer told me the ground is uneven, so will wear my hiking boots as well.
 
@liam2015
Is Melissa your PT person? You can ask her to massage the outside of the lower leg. I had that done by a massage therapist last week & even though one time she got a little too deep (right above the ankle), overall it felt so good, & helped so much!
Taza :SUNsmile:
 
yes @KnewKnee, melissa is my p.t. ~ thank you, good point ~ i will let her know where that pain is and hopefully she can target that area. glad you enjoyed your massage last week. ahhhh now for a foot massage (preferably on a beach in the caribbean).:wink:
 
@liam2015 i hope you have had some time to actually rest, ice, elevate and recuperate since your granddaughter has been on vacation. You may find you are able to get the swelling down and relax your muscles a bit. I am still struggling with a slow bending knee and haven't had any great improvements in ROM but enough that I am able to do most things like get in and out of the car, sit in a restaurant booth, put on my own shoes and socks and ride my exercise bike. If I had to guess, I would say I am maybe at 105 degrees. Hopefully, whatever your ROM you can get to where you can function at those things you most want to do in life.
 
yes, @Canada35, i have had time to "work" on my knee by resting, elevating and icing more than i had been. i wish my r.o.m. was at your level 105 degrees but i think it's only around 95 degrees, although it seems a tiny bit better in the last few days. the last milestone to pass will be doing a full rotation on my bike, which still seems awhile away. i'm hopeful it will improve in the next few weeks. i'm happy i can walk fine. how do you like this weather? i'm loving it but it was only 19C/67F degrees in our house, had to turn on the heat for awhile. have a lovely weekend.
 
Hi @liam2015: glad you have been resting since your family left on vacay. I hope you have a helpful informative PT session this week. I, too, can still fit a hand under my knee - I know that I still have swelling so am trying to be patient. I work on stretching the hamstring and calves so that when the swelling lessens perhaps it will get better. I tried a sleeve for hiking a couple of times but found it hot and uncomfortable. Yesterday I hiked without it and didn't notice any difference. I use trekking poles for hiking. I have not noticed much difference in my flexion in the past couple of weeks. I have PT on Wed so we'll see. It's hard being patient when the surgery pain is behind us yet we're not fully functioning yet.
 
Hi @liam2015, I haven't been on your thread for several days. As Pheebs mentioned my PT does tape me usually at least once a week. It really helps the swelling go down till I over do it and it swells again, then she tapes it and on we go.... the assistant taped it Fri and didn't do it the same and it made no difference at all so they need to know how to do it. I also got a lymphatic massage when it was huge and that helped as well. This right one likes to swell. Lefty had minimal swelling the entire time. I just thought it was big till I saw what big was with the right:rotfl:. The pool really did help me too but you really have to be very careful not to overdo it. I imagine this time of year it has to be an indoor pool for you up there! Also I know I still guard my right knee much of the time on the stairs even tho my flexion is really good. I try not to but I do. The nice thing is I remember I did it on my left and I don't anymore. I don't know when I stopped but lefty has been fine since my second knee so there is hope!!:friends:
 
thanks @kmak81230. i used the sleeve for the 2 hour drive to the "pack walk" and 2 hour drive back plus the walking around. after around half an hour in the car i didn't notice it anymore. i was thinking that it would help me stabilize if one of the dogs slammed me once off leash; luckily that didn't happen, but came close with an 8 month old german shepherd running at full speed just missing me. i then spent most of the time in the middle of the field with the trainer. i also thought the sleeve would keep me stable walking on uneven ground, in case i twisted. one of the ladies was wearing a brace on her knee and i asked her what happened. she said she had an ACL repair in june and last week on the pack walk she did get slammed by a dog, so was being cautious. this pack walk was a wonderful experience. the trainer had it all organized so the dogs would be acquainted with one another.

we started out walking in the parking lot in a circle, dogs on leash. the trainer called out which dogs should sniff another dog's butt, just very briefly, until all the new dogs sniffed and were sniffed. then we lined up with space in between and each dog and master walked serpentine around each dog; then 5 lined up on either side and we had to walk across passing each other; then everyone walked to the middle. it was like an obedience class. after that we walked with dogs on leash to a large enclosed field with trails around the perimeter and long grass in the middle and one other path through the middle. the trainer would give the command to let each dog off leash one by one until they were all free. we were told to keep walking around the perimeter so the dogs wouldn't bunch up in one place. there were 2 little swimming pools for the dogs to splash in and large water buckets. towards the end of an hour you could see the dogs were losing steam as were the masters lol! i took video and hubby took a pic of me and liam, not sure if i can load the video as it was on hubby's phone and i texted it to my phone.

we're going to try to go every saturday. hubby was hesitant as he thought liam would misbehave but he didn't and wasn't the worst dog of the bunch lol. the worst of it was the drive home and the sleeve felt so hot, was driving me crazy so i rolled it down to my ankle. i think i would just wear it for certain situations.

i've been wondering how your camping weekend went ~ will have to go over to your page and see.
 
thanks for the tip about the tape @becticu and the massage. i will be asking melissa about both of those tomorrow afternoon. i'm not sure how much longer i'll continue going as it's expensive and i feel i'm having some progress at home with flexion. i'm noticing i can bend my leg back moreso than a couple weeks ago and going downstairs is getting slightly better too, but i'm still guarding. i'm even guarding sitting down on the toilet lol, even though a couple weeks ago i forgot to hang onto anything and it was fine; however, now i've become hyper-aware and i think about every movement. i still have to find an appropriate pool; will have to be indoors as i think they are closing all the outdoor pools soon and this week the temperatures are getting quite cool. that's great that your physiotherapist was able to help your swelling with the taping and lymphatic massage.
 
@liam2015, what a fun event! I'm so glad to hear Prince Liam and your knee were on their best behavior and no rowdy canines body slammed you! Did you ride up front for the two hour tip or in back? We went to visit friends in NH this weekend and it's a 2 hour ride. I thought I could make it in the front seat, but after an hour, the back seat became my best option, lol. We stayed overnight so I didn't have to deal with 4 hours in the car in one day and also because these friends really enjoy a good party, as do we when with them; hah!
 
hey @Pheebs52 ~ sounds like a good story there with your overnighter...hehe! no, i haven't sat in the back seat. i wouldn't be able to hear "golf radio" lol! just kidding. my knee was actually okay on the way (rested on my backpack) and not too bad on the way back. it would have been better had we stopped halfway and got out but wanted to get liam home ~ he was exhausted and i was getting one of those headaches from the sun shining through, even though i was wearing sunglasses. it was really so much fun, wish we had started doing this a few weeks ago, although i probably wasn't ready for it.
 
LOL at lack of *golf radio* in the back seat @liam2015! I know what you mean about the sun creating headaches; pffft! Have you ever tried Blu-Blocker shades? I started wearing them when we were boaters and they provided my very light sensitive eyes with the most protection.

Yes, these particular friends are from college days and have always maintained THE PARTY HOUSE, though we've all slowed down just a little bit, hahahaha! Because of the distance and the partying, it's always an overnighter. :heehee:
 
I just finished with the rolling pin for tonight; pffft! Today, when getting in the car, I somehow inadvertently pivoted my foot and twisted the knee about 45 degrees sideways; ugh. I'm sure it's nothing serious, but the knee certainly didn't care for that action. I wasn't overly fond of it myself!
 
That pack walk sounds like so much fun! My Cate would be running all over and dragging me with her. She's totally de-trained for walking now. But it would be fun. She and Liam would get into some kind of trouble, I'm sure. It's great you're getting back into something you enjoy so much.

I take ice packs with me on long car trips, the smaller kind with Velcro straps that secure the pad to the knees. I ice midway during the trip and it really helps. I haven't tried the sleeves everyone is talking about. From the sound of it, you found them helpful?
 
i'll have to look for those icepacks with the velcro @SusieShoes. that would really help in the car. it's hard to tell if the sleeve was helpful or not. maybe it gives me a feeling of security that everything is being held in and protected, not sure. some people say it helps with the swelling, which in my case, never changes (at least visually never changes). i'm not wanting to wear it on any consistent basis.

it's funny but the dogs just chased each other, mainly around the perimeter of the field. we were all told NOT to talk to the dogs and NOT touch them. the trainer kept an eye on them and if any of them got a little too friendly with another she would use this whip like device to separate them; not whip them. it reminds me of the device a lion tamer would use in the circus. liam fell in love with a much older golden retriever, lol, and had to be separated from her before he put a paw on her. it really is wonderful to do things like this i've wanted to do.
 
I am so happy that you got to do your pack walk and did ok. Hopefully you have recuperated successfully so you can go again! I used to say when my kids were small that I actually had 4 children. There were the two that lived at my house and then my other two well behaved children that went to other people's houses. Maybe it's the same with dogs lol!
 
The pack walk sounds really fun - and a great way for dogs (and owners) to do a little friendly socializing. Glad you were not harmed by any rambunctious dogs! I'll bet Liam loved it.
 
Thanks for your reply on the other thread! At my 6 week check up I asked my surgeon if I could stop PT, because the bike was causing a lot of pain and several days of recovery, as did my 50 minute pool session at 4 weeks post op, and he said "but we haven't finished fixing you yet" or something like that. I had already found Bonesmart at that point and knew it wasn't them fixing me at that point. I think I went to 2 more appointments over the next 2 weeks and PT discharged me.
 
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