Revision TKR Lovetocookandsew’s long road to recovery

It takes a good amount of intestinal fortitude to have such a great attitude after all you’ve been through. That may not be your definition of hero but it sure is mine! Continued healing blessings. ❤️
 
Peanut butter M & M s are the best! Regular M & M s will never be the same again!
This is the first time I've ever had them. My husband likes peanut M & Ms, but I don't like the peanut in them. Plain ones don't do it for me either, but I saw the peanut butter ones online when ordering some things at Sam's, so stuck those in my cart also. I do really like them, but won't buy them often as I don't need the calories. But, as a treat after surgery, they hit the spot.
 
Oh my goodness! I am in awe of you, @lovetocookandsew ! I am praying for your pain to subside as you heal and for all of this to one day be behind you.... :praying: :prayer:

And, yes, Peanut Butter M&Ms are the bomb! I can't buy them anymore or I will gain back all the weight I lost a few years ago. I found them during my TKR recovery and I would hide them and eat the whole package (the big bags) over the course of several days.
 
But, as a treat after surgery, they hit the spot.
That brings back memories…
Hubby bought a variety of those Lindor Truffles after I had my THR. He’d throw one into my lap once I settled back in my recliner after a trip to the bathroom, or a shower, or my pathetic little 5 minute walk around the house in those very early days. I felt like an old dog being rewarded with a treat after a trick. As I improved, he got cheaper and he’d only toss a couple of Haribo Gummy Bears my way. :heehee: Enjoy the M&M’s!
 
Today marks 11 days out. I decided to switch from the walker to my cane as my quads finally fully woke up in the last couple of days, and I can once again lift my leg. It's still pretty painful unfortunately, and my lower leg has also started to ache a bunch since yesterday, whereas it hadn't been hurting since the surgery, other than a couple of random aches here and there. It is harder to walk with a cane than a walker, so if I need to I'll use the walker occasionally. My doctor told me as soon as I feel safe and steady, I don't need to use walking aids, so hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Mostly my issue now is still the pain, but thankfully it's lowered a little since the surgery, just not enough yet for me to be comfortable. My entire leg is also pretty swollen, which makes it difficult to wear pants, even the stretchy ones. I tried wearing some sweats I have as they're looser in the leg, but they all have elastic bottoms, which dig in too much at the ankle, as my entire leg is still swollen. Most of my dresses are summer ones, so I'm just wearing thin knit leggings, which aren't too bad. I was wearing nightgowns, but I got tired of being in pj's all day.

Overall, I'm feeling a little better, but still have some issues. My surgeon said recovery will take around six weeks, but hopefully the more noticeable part, meaning the pain and swelling, is over with a lot sooner. The dressings come off Tuesday, but they're not really bothering me as they're waterproof and don't cause any pain.
 
If you have a oldish pair of sweats that you don't mind not using later, simply cut off the elastic bottoms, at least your legs will be warm & comfortable. I've done similar with a pair of sweats, in the past, then in the summer kept them for gardening
Hope your pain eases off a bit more today xx
 
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@Sara61 I would if I hadn't just bought the sweats. But it's a good idea. I did think about opening the bottom casing temporarily and removing the elastic, but decided sewing right now isn't doable since I can't sit in a chair for long yet. I'm just going to wear my leggings-they're snug but not painfully so, just a bit uncomfortable. When I changed to my nightgown tonight it reminded me of coming home after a formal event and taking off all the dressy stuff, especially the pantyhose and heels. I haven't worn them in years, yet still remember the relief of taking them off at the end of the day.

OMG, I'd forgotten how bad those zingers are. I've been getting hit with them tonight, and am jumping out of my skin every time! I don't remember getting them last year, but maybe I did, who knows. But they're certainly not nice.

I can tell I won't be using the cane for long-tonight I forgot it twice; once when I walked to the bathroom and once I left it leaning against a cabinet in the kitchen as I made some tea. I feel pretty steady, I'm just hurting all the time, so will likely lose the cane soon.
 
That's good news about the cane, not so about the zingers :flabber: we tend to forget about those quite quickly and only when they zap you out of nowhere do we recall. Mine started last week and are quite frequent.
I went into my wardrobe the other day looking for something comfortable to wear, and one of my many shoe boxes fell out displaying the most beautiful pair of high strappy heels, no idea why I am sentimentally hanging on to them as I doubt I will ever wear them ever again, as like you said we couldn't wait to get out of them at the end of the evening/event :heehee:
 
Glad to hear things are a tiny bit better. Good news about the cane and eventually not needing it. It was a long time before I could even think about wearing jeans and now I can't really fit into my favorite jeans anymore. I mostly wear loose, knit pants around the house and even out. Being 5'10", heels are something I've never really worn, thankfully. These days the thought of squeezing into panty hose sounds like torture!
 
I gave up on the cane today and am just walking. I kept leaving it everywhere, which is a strong sign I don't need it. I still hurt a lot, and am still weak and don't have much stamina yet, otherwise I wouldn't even know I just had surgery.

Sure is better than the last surgery I had, where that pain was a 22 for what seemed like forever. I'm not sleeping well, only due to the pain that hits and wakes me when I move, otherwise I'd be sleeping like a baby.
 
Hi Kim, I am catching up on your healing journey and just Wow!! So good to read about some small improvements beginning to happen, the zingers.... what a bummer though!

Keep on being like that cute little kitty picture you posted on here,, hang in there!
 
Two weeks today. Home health/PT came out today to remove my dressings. As usual, I have a zillion steri-strips that'll take forever to fall off. But all three sites look good. She wanted me to do some exercises today; we all know how that worked out for her...lol. She also wanted to measure my ROM; ditto on how that worked out for her....... :heehee: She was here for a visit last year, and said she remembered me, but when I answered the door, she thought I had to be my sister as I'm walking really well. She expected me to still be using a walking aid, and limping, etc, this early. Instead, I was fully dressed, walking fairly well on my own and overall don't seem like it's been only two weeks. Lots of pain still, yes, especially at night, but otherwise I am doing much better. I'm still pretty swollen, but that's normal, especially for my permanently swollen leg.

It's our daughter's birthday, so hubby was going to go drop off her gift, and I decided to go also. It's a 30 minute drive each way, plus visiting time. She went upstairs to see how the metal wall sculpture we bought her would look in her office, and wanted me to go look, if possible. I decided to go ahead and try the stairs-she has a curved staircase with two flights of stairs and a landing between them, so it's quite a hike. I managed; it wasn't easy nor pretty, but I did it. Sadly, I still have to walk stairs like a toddler.......:sigh: Hopefully, one day I'll be able to climb and descend stairs like an adult-it's been a long time since I could do that.

We also stopped by our favorite Chinese restaurant for take-out tomato-beef with pan-fried noodles, which we both love. There's a designer cupcake bakery next to the restaurant, which we've never tried, and I decided I needed a cupcake after all this, so went in and got some kind of double fudge variety. I'm too stuffed from dinner, but will enjoy my treat later. We all know that chocolate has healing properties, so I'm looking forward to enjoying it.

Yes, tonight I'm paying the price for the adventure, but I knew going in it would likely have some after-effects, but it was worth it. I may still be paying for it tomorrow; again, it was worth it.
 

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