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TKR LTKR on June 23

Glad to hear your surgery went well. I remember that first day after the nerve block wore off. I was glad I live alone and in the country because I could yell as loud and as often as I wanted. It did drive my poor dog into the spare bedroom but she eventually got used to it and would sit beside me looking sympathetic. It did get better, or I learned to be more accepting of it, after a couple of days.
 
I am going to keep the ice machine running today. It's not as cold as the ice packs but it does soothe the leg.
 
Hang in there, JoWo! You know this will get better. You are heading into battle mode. Let your new knee be the commanding general!
 
my first visiting nurse appointment is soon. I will go over my med schedule with her to see if I can better stagger the tylenol, celebrex and aspirin for better coverage.
I will fire up my recovery music playlist.

Rest and heal, letting go of all else. It's a unique interlude in my life.
 
Here's a hint on making your ice machine water colder. Each morning we emptied my ice machine and rinsed it out. Then we added the 4 frozen water bottles and some water. We also added some ice to the machine, bringing the water level to the fill line. It didn't take much ice, so my ice maker could easily keep up, and it made the water colder from the start. It also helped to keep the water colder all day. The ice bottles alone don't get the water as cold as adding some ice once each morning, and the colder water also helped to keep the ice in the bottles frozen longer. We didn't add any more ice during the day, we just replaced the ice bottles when needed. I used 3 sets of the frozen water bottles in each 24 hour period, whereas before we started adding a little ice to the water in the morning we had to replace the frozen bottles more often. The water was colder all day than before we started adding the ice also.
 
Second pt went well. 95/0. my biggest problem is fatigue from the blood loss. I told her I need to rest a bit between exercises and she was fine with that. great tip on the frozen water bottles @lovetocookandsew thanks. how long before you could comfortably sit at a sewing machine?
 
Jo Wo said:
how long before you could comfortably sit at a sewing machine?
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It takes a while to be able to sit for very long anywhere as your knee will continue to swell when sitting for a while. When you find you can sit at your dinner table, or similar chair, for longer periods of time, you'll be able to also sit at your sewing table. The difference though, is just sitting vs. sitting and using your foot pedal. Everyone is different, so it's hard to say exactly. I really don't remember the exact timeframe, although it may be in my thread if you want to go back through it.

Most people feel much better by three months post-op and find they can do many of their usual things again, although there will be healing going on for around a year, so you may find you have limits still. You may find you can sit and sew around three months, or even sooner, but you may also find your knee still fusses at you if you sit and sew for too long. I suggest just short stints when you first start, and add a little time each time as tolerated. If you don't have any pain or swelling the same day, or the next day, then your knee is telling you it's ready for the activity again. But, pain and swelling is your knee telling you to stop and try that again at a later date.
 
lovetocookandsew said:
It takes a while to be able to sit for very long anywhere as your knee will continue to swell when sitting for a while. When you find you can sit at your dinner table, or similar chair, for longer periods of time, you'll be able to also sit at your sewing table. The difference though, is just sitting vs. sitting and using your foot pedal. Everyone is different, so it's hard to say exactly. I really don't remember the exact timeframe, although it may be in my thread if you want to go back through it.
Click to expand...
thanks for the detailed response. makes sense. I was able to sit up and cast on another charity hat today. maybe I should be content with knitting and crochet for a while. easy to do with feet propped up.
 
I did a very quick sewing job at my machine within 2 weeks of my surgery, my water bottle wouldn’t stay upright in the bag I made for my walker, so I wanted to fix that. Amazing, where there’s a will, there’s a way!

After that, for me, it was months before I was really comfortable doing things in my sewing room. Between the sit to stands at the machine, the standing at my table or ironing board preparing to sew, and swiveling the chair to sit at the machine and clearing the table leg, it all took quite a while for me.
 
made my own walker bag too, @Jockette. I have hoarded worn out denim for years. my sons have a 36" inseam so that's a lot of yardage. in addition to several quilts, I have made various totes and organizers that recycle the pockets.
 
I’ve been sewing for years and I hoarded denim, too, but had to slim it down when I moved 6 years ago and my new sewing room was going to be half the size of the one I was moving out of.

I used to make most of my clothes, my daughters’ dresses, all kinds of other things, and for several years I had a custom curtain business, I made those long country ruffled curtains, then I got into quilting.

My kids live out of state but were visiting this past weekend, and my almost 12 year old granddaughter made her first quilt, a rag quilt, and she was so excited!
 
DAY6: without the nerve block, last night was a tad difficult even with ice and oxy. I think too many firsts were on my day5 schedule. first shower, pt, first trip downstairs and a bit of very minimal dinner reheating. so it's been a morning of ice, elevation and dozing on and off and walking a bit every hour or so. I am at peace with it, just let go and let time heal.

I visualize an army of old women knitting me back together, and the keebler elvescarecin my bone marrow cranking out red blood cells. yes I am one crazy old lady!
 
DAY7. the swelling is a teeny bit better and some of the bruising has started to fade noticeably. I am getting occasional electric shock like jolts, I guess these are zingers? Also intermittent deep bone aches. Yesterday I took a deep rest day, and spaced out the pt exercises, so I avoided that terrible fatigue from the anemia. I am grateful for these small signs of progress and expect that the next two weeks will also be difficult. I stretched out my last tylenol dose from 8 hrs to 10 hrs. I have one week left on the celebrex and lots of oxycodone since I have taken 1 a day while the nerve block was in, and two a day on pt days. My postop is 7/7.

yesterday I managed to crochet a bit. enjoyed watching hidden villages of England on netflix, no plot to follow, just lovely village scenes.
 
Yes, Zingers! You’ll likely have them for quite some time.
Have a restful day!
 
It amazes and frustrates me how tiring even the simplest task is even two months post op. Something like folding laundry and putting it away can have me resting from exhaustion. I sure hope my energy eventually returns.
 
Third pt session went fine, holding at 95/0. I decided not to do the stairs because I feel a little worn, but she said I am ok to do them with husband at any time I want. also, on pt days, I think an evening shower makes more sense than a full shower in the morning before pt.
 
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