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Revision TKR Lovetocookandsew’s long road to recovery

I saw my OS this morning for my two month check-up. First, the sharp, stabbing, excruciating pain I've been having in one specific area in my upper thigh is from the post tip and will eventually settle down. He used my x-ray to show me and explain why it happens; basically there's nothing to do to fix it, but just get through it. It comes and goes, and will hit from one step to another without warning, and then lasts anywhere from an hour to the entire day. If I could take pain meds it'd help, but I can't, so I just have to get off it and use the ice machine when it hits.

It's not an unusual complication, and not everyone has it, but I obviously do. I had a really hard time getting ready for my app't this morning due to the pain, and barely managed it. Luckily, hubby called from work and asked if I wanted him to drive me, and since I had been barely able to walk all morning, I told him I'd be thrilled not to have to deal with driving and walking from the parking lot. When this pain isn't present, my walking is getting easier and better, even though there's still a lot of stiffness due to the swelling.

My OS said I may or may not have expected a slow recovery, but he did, and that I'm doing better than he expected considering everything my knee's been through, and all he had to do and fix in there. My entire leg has gotten more swollen lately and he said that's to be expected and will just take time to go down. He said I'm probably up and around more than I realize and should continue icing and elevating. He also said it'd be helpful to do some pool walking to get my heart pumping to help drain all the fluid, without the gravity of regular walking. Oh, and he says my scar is really looking great.

He thinks I will still need more time than most to recover, partly because it's me and my crazy body, and partly due to all the past surgeries and all he had to do this time. He said my extension is "almost there" and my flex looked to be well over 90 when I showed him where I can easily bend it to, which is really good, especially since I bent it to with basically no effort; and considering all the swelling I still have.

All in all, I'm doing well, but would love the swelling to go down and this sharp pain to stop, then I'll be better than I have been for the last four years or so. I just need to do a better job of balancing my activity and my icing than I have been the last couple of weeks. Instead of being up and active for a couple of hours, then icing for an hour, I need to go back to icing for around twice as long as I was active, and I think that'll work better.
 

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  • [Bonesmart.org] Lovetocookandsew’s long road to recovery
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Hi @lovetocookandsew your leg certainly still looks very swollen. I thought mine was that swollen due to my lymphodema so didn't expect to see yours as swollen. Hope it goes down soon for you. Hope the pain goes away too. Take care of yourself.
 
The stem pain goes away, I had it for quite a few months, came and went. I have an electric bed and slept with my leg slightly elevated all the time. Just enough for elevation, but not enough to keep me from rolling over on my side.
I agree, some pool walking is a good way to get some gentle exercise.
Slow but sure will get you there.
 
@Mollymax It wasn't this swollen a month ago-it just recently got that way. I think it's due to the extra activity, so plan to do less for a while.

@Pumpkln Thanks! I sleep better when on my side, so I don't elevate while sleeping. It's probably a good idea for a while, so I think I'll try using a thick pillow and see if I can still sleep and if it helps. I've been sleeping on my side since I came home at one week, and I've slept well every night, other than the few I didn't have my ice machine, so don't want elevating to cause any sleep problems.

Oh-I've had to sleep with a pillow between my knees since my first TKR, but last night forgot to use one; to my utter surprise it didn't hurt nor cause a problem, so I may be able to finally sleep without the pillow-time will tell.
 
I had lots of pain on the bottom stem and it's still tender. I guess it's just one more thing we have to deal with.
 
Our knees could be twins! My left knee looked like yours until about 8/9 months after surgery and the right one looks like it now although I haven't been doing as much as you. So glad I bought a couple of wide legged pants for the fall.

Hope the sharp pain subsides and you have a good weekend.
 
A positive visit with your OS! :) Sorry you're having the stem pain, but also glad to know you have a rational explanation for it (and others to tell you it will go away). It's so true that knees that have had a lot of work done on them take longer to recover; my right knee needed very little work and my left knee needed quite a lot... and the right knee healed twice as fast as the left. They both got there, though!
 
Thanks everyone! I am taking things a little more slowly again, but have to say I've not really been doing all that much. Or at least it seems like I've not been doing much. I did scrub both bathrooms while hubby was on a business trip at the beginning of the week. It took two days to get them both done as I had to take a lot of knee and lack of stamina breaks. I did leave the floors for hubby to mop though. :) My bathroom was a breeze as I generally clean up after myself every time, but hubby's was a bear. I have a long handled tub scrubber as I can't kneel, so the tub scrub was fairly easy.

I do have something to do for a couple of days right now that'll help stave off the boredom of doing less again. I had to go get a new laptop as mine is being a pill and driving me nuts. I spent a ton of time going through each file and saved item, and getting rid of a lot of accumulated junk. It's about six or seven years old, so it had a lot to get rid of. It's funny how I've never had a junk drawer in my home and keep everything in order, yet have let my computer get "messy".....lol.

Now I'm working on loading this new one with my bookmarked sites and all my other programs and files. Unfortunately, it has decided not to be compatible with my old print program so now I have to find one that I like that doesn't take a master's degree in programming to use. I had bought a new print program a while back as my old one hasn't been supported for years and I can't get any new updates, but the steps to make a simple calendar were so ridiculous I uninstalled the darn thing and just kept using my old one. I'm really computer savvy; my husband designs computer programs to be used statewide in his department as part of his job, plus he used to build computers for the fun of it, and even he was frustrated by that program.

I went from a slower older computer with only 4 GB RAM and 500 GB memory to a larger and faster one with tons of RAM and memory. It's noticeably faster, and has a larger screen; the picture and sound are much better also. It always amazes me how fast technology changes. This computer is probably obsolete already-I have had it for two days now.....:wink:

I think I'll get back into actual sewing after finishing with the computer as my knee shouldn't have too much of a problem as long as I give it plenty of TLC. I'm so stuck at home that it's driving me nutty. I can't walk far at a time yet, and so can't do much more than go to the grocery stores and use their electric carts. I really want to take a vacation; maybe a cruise, or maybe just go to Oregon and hang out at the Rogue River, but can't walk enough to do any of that and also can't comfortably sit in a car long enough to get to a cruise port or the river, or even fly somewhere. Heck, I'd be happy if I could walk enough to go have dinner at a local casino and play a little afterwards. But it requires too much walking and sitting for now. :blackcloud:

It's really a pain to have felt so good since the first days after this surgery, yet still have to baby the knee. Having your mind and body ready to go while having your knee keeping you down is really hard. I've never had this problem before; it usually takes so long to get my body and mind recovered after a surgery that my knee is about ready for any adventure I want to take on. I think also the years and years of limits on activity are getting to me and I'm raring to just go again at will.

I've been cooking simple meals every night for a while, and my knee has been just barely okay with that. (There is a good side to that though-hubby does all the dishes! :)) I want to make real meals again, but know my knee will protest at the standing time required to do so. Hubby has been wonderful-he spent a few days recently getting all our beets and a ton of ripe tomatoes in from the garden, and he also did all the work required to get them ready to be frozen. (I think he was surprised at the amount of time it took as he's never done it before and didn't realize how labor intensive prepping everything is, plus cleaning up his mess after. :rotfl:) I did the vacuum sealing part though as he doesn't have the clearance required to use my new chamber vacuum sealer. :heehee: I think tomorrow I'll ask him to get the peppers in to freeze, and then have him plant the new crop of beets and veggies for fall and winter. I may plant the beets though as they'll be going in to the new elevated beds, so it should be fairly easy after he gets the beds rejuvenated from their summer crops.

I'm hoping this third month will see a lot of changes in my knee for the better, and I'll be able to do more stuff at home and around town again.
 
It takes lots of patience to get a new computer changed over. I got a new laptop about 6 weeks ago and still am having to add things periodically. But, boy is this thing a lot faster. It doesn't have a harddrive, it's a chip. It takes about 30 seconds to start up!

Your hubby is learning how much you really do since he has taken over! I'm sure he has a whole new appreciation for your work. Then, you have a whole new appreciation of how good your hubby is! You are so blessed!

Before you know it you'll be doing all those things you are longing to do! You are a smart healer and know how to take care of that knee!
 
@sistersinhim You are so right-I am blessed! :thankyou:

I looked at computers without a physical hard drive, and decided to just go with the hard drive option again this time around. I suspect by the time I need a new one again they will all use the new solid state technology and we will have to go to it. Not a big deal either way as having a couple of TBs on my hard drive, plus cloud storage, is more storage than I'll ever need. I still have a lot to load and transfer onto this laptop. I'd pretty much forgotten what a pain this is......lol.
 
@katchmo With a revision, the OS inserts longer posts above and below the knee implant. I attached one of my x-rays so you can see what I mean. The pain I'm getting is at the tip of the upper long post-and is called stem pain or tip of the stem pain. Apparently, since the post is metal and doesn't bend, but bone is softer and does flex some, it causes pain sometimes but will eventually settle down as the bone fills in or whatever it does. My OS explained it better than I am, but hopefully you get the point.
 

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  • [Bonesmart.org] Lovetocookandsew’s long road to recovery
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@lovetocookandsew, I am not looking forward to my revision after seeing your x-ray. I don't see how people like me with severe osteopenia can keep that long stem secure??? Scared. I see your imprint of the Donjoy ice machine!
 
Ugh-my husband is going to be gone most of next week on a business trip. I will be bored out of my gourd even more than is usual lately. Everyone I know works every day, and since I'm on a slight activity restriction due to the amount of swelling and my need therefore to be attached to my ice machine a lot, I'm going to go nutty with the boredom. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.........................:bored::bored::bored::bored:
 
lovetocookandsew said:
I will be bored out of my gourd even more than is usual lately.
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@lovetocookandsew Have you considered audio books? So much fun to be read to. You can listen while doing other rote activities, or just listen and ice and elevate. Saved my sanity more times than I can tell you. Even now, like last night when I woke up at 2:30 and couldn't get back to sleep, I listened and after about 30 mins was in lala land. My app has a timer so it shuts off automatically. I listen with ear buds attached to my iPhone.
 
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