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TKR liam2015: 1 Year Anniversary, Life Goes On!

feeling a little optimistic today. we went to a mexican restaurant downtown tonight (los colibris) which was sending proceeds to help earthquake region in mexico. we took the subway down and i walked up at least 2, maybe 3 sets of 40 (altogether either 80 or 120) stairs, alternate feet, not holding on to railing. i also had to go downstairs, alternate feet, holding on to one railing. although i still have a long way to go achieving a better r.o.m., i'm happy i could do that tonight.
 
Wow, that's a LOT of steps @liam2015! Congratulations! How great to be able to contribute to the earthquake victims through dining out; huzzah! Of course, I see that in print and feel that's a high number, but I probably do that cumulatively on a daily basis in this silly-styled house. 26 steps for a round trip to anywhere here and I must do this at least 4-5 x a day. You can bet my next house won't have this foolish set-up; hah!

Now, listen up, all of you. There IS no *graduation* from the "The Slow Benders Society." We're "The Hotel California," of TKR. We can "check-out, but we can never leave," lol!

If anyone here recalls, Gary told me to carry on more with *natural* activities regardless of swelling. As we've all seen, and still see, the swelling is there if we do nothing and it's there if we do *something.* We're bonded, ya know? It's probably going to be like this for 6-9 months, possibly 12 months, so we all have quite a way to go, but why not have some fun while we're on the path, right? I use my baseline swelling as a yardstick for activity. If something makes me swell a lot more than my baseline, then I've done too much. If it remains similar to my baseline, then I've done the right amount. There's no way of knowing any of this if we don't try new things, right?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find the basic swelling fairly easy to ignore. Sure, life would be better without it, but we've made a *truce* if you will. Not much causes me actual or lasting pain these days, other than a real *mishap* and most of those fade pretty fast. My most recent one was a biggie, so it's still hanging about, but improving slowly. Tonight, I smacked my foot on a footstool of all things, and it hurt a bit for a few minutes, but quickly faded; yay!

Photos of pickle-balling or it didn't happen, lol! I will confess to having whiffle-ball phobia. Got hit in the face with one, hard, as a kid and now that I have had cataract surgery, I'm squeamish about anything coming close to my face; eeuuuww. Still, kudos to the rest of you who give it a whirl!
 
A "little" optimistic?? I would say a lot more than a little! I agree with everything @kmak81230 said. That's an incredible number of stairs, and it sounds like you didn't even think twice about them. You are making real progress and I believe your ROM will improve. Just keep doing what you are doing, and I bet you will be pleasantly surprised. Stay happy! (By the way, I would do most anything for good Mexican food!)
 
@liam2015, I do agree with everything @Pheebs52 had to say, and would like to reinterate that your ROM is already there just waiting for the right set of circumstances to make itself known, mainly by reduction and elimination of swelling.

I don't know if this will help you and other slow benders out there, but I hope it does, and it goes back to my experience with Original Spence. To put the meniscal allograft transplant in, they surgically fractured my tibia so that they could set Spence in like a Lego piece. He was a cadaver meniscus attached to a piece of bone.

For the 1st six weeks I was wrapped up in something that was like a cast, but wasn't, and it went from the top of my thigh to my ankle. So it was straight, but unusable. Once that came off, a full length leg brace went on. It had hinges that were able to be locked at varying degrees of flexion and extension. Was initially set to allow no flexion, and I could only put about 20lbs of weight on that leg.

Was changed to allow up to 30° of flexion after a few weeks, and weight bearing slowly was allowed to be increased. It was a very long recovery, and while not as extensive a surgery as a tkr, still took a long time to recover. I spent a good 3 months on crutches.

Eventually the brace was set to allow for full flexion. I did go to PT, but that was focused on building up strength again. Despite everything, I regained full flexion, but only after several months and when swelling was gone. My point is that even though I was braced up and limited in what I could do for some time, I was still able to regain full flexion without the help of PT. So when everyone says that the ROM is already in there, please try to take heart in that! It will come for you, me, and everone else! Keep focusing on the positives, and be gentle with yourself and your baby knee! :thumb:
 
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May I suggest that you jump up and down a bit and scream with joy and wild abandon? Just be sure to wear well-padded sneakers, hahaha!
 
@Fire wolf, that procedure you described almost sounds worse than TKR; just ....ugh! I'm a bit claustrophobic and can't imagine having my leg locked up like that!:yikes:
 
thanks for the support everyone. no worries, i'll be in the "slow benders club" for awhile longer but in the meantime life goes on and i'm grateful i can get out and about this vibrant city; last weekend for TIFF, so lots of activity in the area we were in. my last goal to conquer (for now), riding any sort of bicycle, is still elusive. i have to remember that in the grand scheme of things, a year more or less recovering is a small price to pay for improved mobility.

haha you gals are so sweet. @Fire wolf, how didn't i know you were in a cast-like device for 6 weeks? amazing you've made such great progress (although i realize it has been and still is a struggle). @Pheebs52 i have to credit you and gary for the tip about walking downstairs backwards, even though i was very skeptical at first. now i do it every day to warm up my knee and somehow it encourages proper form. the stairs are my gym. i'm still so happy about all those stairs on the subway today but i must confess, they are not like the steep stairs in my house, they are more shallow...but, i didn't hold on to the railing...woohoo. @Lil Cyborg thanks for your encouragement and the mexican food was unlike any i've had before; sure would love to be in mexico though. @kmak81230 that's a nice compliment coming from you, the athlete and i now have to look to see if pickle ball exists up here. i think i could actually do it lol!:old:
 
@liam2015 the cast like thing and everything else I described was from a prior surgery, not this one. I was attempting to convey how little I was allowed to bend leg, but despite rhat, healed well on my own
 
oh i see @Fire wolf ~ i knew you hadn't mentioned that before on your thread, or at least i thought i knew and hoped that i hadn't forgotten something so significant. the body sure is a miraculous thing isn't it?
 
That was a swell bit of advice about swelling @Pheebs52 - important to remember. If I let the swelling stop me I'd never leave the couch :loll:. Today I went to watch a cross country meet just down the street as I knew a lot of the kids running. You have to move to different places throughout in order to cheer on the runners. I brought my chair but did not spend much time in it and in fact at one point caught myself jogging a bit. Not pretty and of course swelled more as the day wore on. But I expect I'll be back to "baseline swelling" by the morning. So glad to know that I'll be in such good company in Hotel California!:cheers:
 
@kmak81230 ~ well what do you know ~ i just found an article about pickleball, saying it's the fastest growing sport in north america and toronto wants a piece of the action. there are stores that sell the equipment and a few places where you can play. fancy that! another reason to recover and try something new.
 
I thought is was *swell* as well, @kmak81230!

Jogging? :holysheep:

And yes, ditto on the couch business, lol. Let's face it, the knees want to move regardless! They want action and a dash of excitement. They've been might bored for 4 solid months post tkr and for most of us, quite a long time pre-tkr! So, move it or lose it, sensibly, of course. :SUNsmile:
 
no i have never played tennis, just fooled around in my driveway but i used to love playing badminton, not at a competitive level though, just playing around. i was not an athlete in any sport but i did love skating and cross country skiing.
 
I suppose I should try to throw this *swell* knee to bed with my book. The dogs and Mistah have all retired in there for the night. Sweet dreams everyone!
 
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