TKR liam2015: 1 Year Anniversary, Life Goes On!

[Jennszoo]

Ugh. I hate the pressure they put on us. But I'm most insulted that he expects you to come back with your husband so he can have a man to man about YOUR health. That has my hackles up on your behalf. Grrr.

My coworker had hers done years ago and she's at 90° and her knees just won't bend any more than that . She's no more a pegleg than my cat and her quality of life is fine. She regrets nothing. So their obsession with ROm is crazymaking.

 

[liam2015]

thanks for your support @Celle. i am so glad i found BoneSmart as i don't feel intimidated by these old protocols and i'm not worried that i will be stuck where i am.

 

[keefsmom]

Oh liam2015 I am so proud of you for sticking to your guns and keeping your chin up through that appointment! I have been fretting all day about my similar OS appt yesterday and doubting myself--I am going to take a page from your book and try to take this more in stride.
What's with him wanting you to bring in your husband!?! That sounds terribly condescending to me, grrr.

 

[liam2015]

thanks @Jennszoo ~ i know, so funny he wants to talk to hubby. hubby is quite the joker, so good thing he can't make it. he'd be telling surgeon how stubborn i am due to irish background lol!

@keefsmom...aw thanks; i probably would have been devastated if it hadn't been for all i've learned on BoneSmart. i think what he wants to tell my husband is that he has to be the one to push me and push my knee further, every single day in order for me to get the so-called appropriate r.o.m. his point was that i would not push myself because he could see i couldn't stand the pain and wouldn't do it, that i needed someone else to do it.

as celle posted, he's promoting what he's learned. as in a lot of issues today, change takes time. someone mentioned that the Mayo Clinic was promoting a change in protocol. would like to read more about that.

 

[Lilli215]

Here in the UK we don't go through the intensive physio regime that seems to be the norm over the water, we are however given stretching, lifting and heel slide exercises to do and told that if we don't do them there could be repercussions re ROM etc. None of the stretching or lifting exercises were painful , the heel slides obviously were and I never worked through them, as soon as it became uncomfortable I just released slightly until the discomfort had gone and held it for 10 seconds( hope this makes sense!) After about three weeks I suddenly got more of a slide without any pain and found then that each week made a bit of a difference unless I had overdid things a bit when I became more mobile and then boof back down the ladder of improvement a fair few rungs!!!

 

[Pheebs52]

Oh @liam2015, good grief, am I reading this correctly? Bring your hubby in to... what....get the *little lady* in line? If this wasn't so outrageous, I'd be laughing! You are one tough cookie and my hat's off to you for standing your ground with such aplomb! It's bad enough to be going through this recovery without all of this absurd pressure; sheesh!

My hubby comes with me because he's my *ears.* I am a bit hearing impaired so need his interpretations when I *hear* things that haven't been said. For instance, I may hear bell instead of swell, or grumble instead of mumble. He's also my chauffeur right now, but other than that, the doc visits are all my territory.

The other day, I was trying to explain to my brother just how much angst there is regarding ROM. When I said that the big issue seems to be reaching 90 degrees by 6 weeks, and explained that heel-slides are my downfall, he did his own experiment. His knees are fine, though 5 years older than mine. He could not do much a heel-slide in bed, and did a little bit better sitting in a chair, but certainly not to the point of kicking himself in the butt. His comment? Since life has a way of kicking us all in the butt from time to time, why would we want that as a goal for ourselves? He'd be lots of fun at a surgeon's follow-up, lol. And, for what it's worth, he has no trouble with stairs, riding his bicycle long distances, skiing, or engaging in any other fun activity. He just can't bend back more than 90 degrees.

 

[sistersinhim]

I am so proud of you for not letting your OS get you down! Finding BS has been a tremendous help to you and many, many others in regard to this old fashioned thinking.
I'm with the others at being aghast at your OS telling you to bring your hubby your next visit. How insulting! Gee, I wonder how us single girls ever rehabbed our knees without hubbies!
You stick to what has been proven over and over, that no pain means more gain!

 

[Pheebs52]

@sistersinhim, I also immediately wondered how this surgeon would have treated a single person. Perhaps in his Lucy Ricardo world, there are no singles? Yes, that must be it.

 

[sistersinhim]

@Pheebs52, of course that's it! I guess I was just one of the lucky ones, without hubbies at the time of my surgeries, and was able to do it myself!
@Lilli215, your keep doing what you know is right and what works for you!

 

[Pheebs52]

@sistersinhim, no, lucky can't be the right term. I think the good doc would say you were somehow endowed with magical properties, lol!

 

[mechellec]

I am sorry the surgeon acted like that. I sure hate that the surgeons and the physical therapists can say things that make us feel bad when we are just trying to heal. My parents both have two replaced knees and no one ever ever pushed on their knee or made them do agressive therapy and their ROMs are fine. Just like so many on this site! I say we continue to stand up for ourselves and not let anyone push on us and our ROM will continue to get better and better. Hang in there!

 

[liam2015]

good morning everyone...just got on my computer after getting breakfast for myself and g.d. and taking dog out. thanks for all your wonderful replies. in slight defence of my surgeon, he did ask me if i had anyone at home living with me, didn't specify (i should have said "my dog"). his point was that i wouldn't push myself enough through the pain, that it had to be someone else and even twice a week physio wouldn't be enough, it would have to be every day. geez he probably would have told hubby he had to hurt me every day by pushing on my knee for more r.o.m. i might just cancel tuesday's appointment as hubby can't make it and i'd rather go back when i've had improvement. i don't need another lecture from the surgeon and i don't want anyone pushing my knee by too much. it doesn't make sense to me, that you push, not just until it hurts, but until it bends a lot and hurts a lot, and then it swells up and you're back to square one. i'll see how it goes tomorrow at physio. i'll be happy if i can get to 90 and then be done with follow up appointments unless needed.

thanks again for lifting my spirits and giving me the knowledge to know i will be just fine even if i don't obtain the magic number in a certain time frame.

 

[kneeper]

To give the surgeon the benefit of the doubt on the husband comment, he may have only meant that since your husband is the one at home with you it would be helpful for him to get the scoop directly. (Though I suspect it might have been as you said, that he wants to tell your husband to crank on your leg. )

I was a bit of a tortoise and had not reached 90 at 6-7 weeks either. I got the worried looks from the PT.

But I simply had too much swelling. I did a few stretches each day, and did heel slides by that time mostly in the form of:
sit in a kitchen chair and in sock feet just try to slide my foot back and hold a few seconds. I would do maybe 3 repetitions and do that a couple of times a day. As time went on I would do that "exercise" just sitting and watching tv here and there. I'd take one very short walk a day. But mostly it was ice and elevation.

Between week 6-9 I got to over 100.

 

[liam2015]

wow, @kneeper that's good to know. i've been doing the exercises the physio gave me last thursday twice a day and just today i noticed i could get my knee bent ever so slightly more with the heel slides. other than that i feel i'm very functional, doing everything for myself, other than driving and shopping. i even walked down the hill in backyard with dog, hanging onto fence, foot over foot and tried a couple of stairs like that, but wasn't ideal, had to swing my new knee out a bit. if only i can get to 90 in the next couple of weeks and hopefully no more pressure.

 

[sistersinhim]

Since you are seeing improvement, I bet you'll get the 90 before you know it! It's best to not obsess about it. It will happen when you are not thinking about it!

 

[liam2015]

i took a day off of home exercises yesterday after my physio appointment and now ready to start up again. there are only 6 pretty simple exercises, 3 on my bed and 3 standing up, with bending and extending. is there a way to warm up the knee or leg before exercising as you would do before a fitness program? maybe just walking around for a few minutes before or gentle massage? thanks for any tips.

 

[flyaway79]

Every morning before I even get out of bed I do some gentle stretching of my leg and knee. I pull up from behind my knee as as I can towards my body just stretch as much as I can Then I do a massage to get the blood flowing from lying all night. It really seems to help. Then I go and ride my stationary bike for 5-10 minutes.

 

[liam2015]

thank you flyaway79. i will try the stretching and massage. i have my street bike set up on stands but i can't do a rotation, just back and forth. wish there was a magic potion to decrease the swelling...sigh!

 

[flyaway79]

That swelling is awful. It's definitely been my nemisis. I'm still battling it at 12 weeks. I do notice each day it takes longer into the day for it to become more swollen and I'm definitely doing more these days so I think that's a good sign!

It's getting to be more of the tight band feeling rather than the squishy fluid feeling which was the worst! I still ice and elevate several times during the day and always in the evenings before bed.

I tried my bike the first time about 9 weeks after surgery. I could only rock back and forth. That went on for about a week and then I could go full turn backwards. That lasted about another week and then all of a sudden I could do a full forward rotation! Now it's easy every morning. I'm going to lower the seat and see how that works.

 

[liam2015]

thanks flyaway79...that gives me encouragement it will happen with me. btw my niece is a flight attendant and her sister also was until she met a guy in vegas, moved to the u.s., married him, had a baby, then he kicked her out and she's back home and got a good job with my son-in-law and renting a condo. for many reasons, we're all happy she's back where she belongs.