TKR luvcats recovery box

I'm a lurker too @winemama and always so happy to see our old friends @RAD @luvcats @Rockgirl4 . We're leaving for Europe next week. Notice if I carry anything heavy I pay for it the following day, I need to be constantly mindful but it's hard to be when knee feels normal. I say I'm pretty much 95% in good shape but have the odd twinge - not bad enough to label it a setback.
Wedding stilletos could be a whole new post :martini:
 
Hi Everyone! @Benay I hope your trip is wonderful, please keep in touch and let us know how you're doing! I'm sure it will be great. I officially graduated from PT and I'm going back to the gym Saturday to start working with my personal trainer. I can't believe it's been 4 and half months since surgery. I'm just really grateful for the support I had here, from my surgeon and his team, from PT and of course from my family and friends.
 
My Beloved’s (only child—no sisters) braiding expertise is due to years of braiding rodes (ropes) on our boats. Even then, his were neater than mine.

Ah, yes, overdoing. I just did that, too. Will describe in my post.

Two steps forward, one step back. Three steps forward....
 
Lovely to see you @RAD!

@marieltha I can see how boats would give him braid skills, strong hands, and patience. All wonderful things in a Beloved!

Yesterday I did mostly nothing, so I feel a lot better today.
Mike did go into the office and did fine. I did fine home by myself.
I took more pain meds than I've been taking after doing too much Tuesday, but I should be back to healing equilibrium today and not need it.

Yesterday was about knitting. And un-knitting, which is called frogging. Because you rippit. lol. Many people don't realize that understanding how to properly un-knit is every bit as important as knitting. You have to understand how you've created what you have, to properly pick it back out. I can now reliably pick out everything but seed stitch, which alternates each stitch and makes it very hard to keep track of what is where. But I will prevail. Eventually. I'm very glad I learned to do this. It helps keep my mind occupied now that I'm too smart for just TV, but not yet ready to read or have my real life.
 
I'm a knitter, too! I couldn't touch my knitting until last week though! My brain just wasn't there, for this complicated Celtic design sweater! Luckily, I've been able to read quite well (but afterwards don't ask me to remember the title!):loll:I haven't learned frogging!? I just pull out the rows needed and rewind the ball! Are you talking about fixing a piece that you pull out stitches and the re-knit them as you process each stitch?
 
I'm also a knitter. There's a technique called "lifeline" that has saved many a project for me. You use an embroidery needle to thread a thin piece of yarn or even dental floss through an entire row of knitting. That way if you have to frog, you can take the knitting off the needles and pull it out up to the lifeline. It's meant to be used for every repeat of the pattern on lace projects but I do it for many things. The LKS (local knitting store) owner in my area is a Frog Master - she just frogs without a care in the world. By the way, when you un-knit with the yarn on the needles, it's called 'tink-ing' - it's 'knit' backwards, LOL!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@Benay you and I had our surgeries close together and I'm always so glad you're doing so well. You're my unofficial role model. I live in NJ so we're almost neighbors.
 
I'm a knitter, too!
Really? With a forum name like 'Macknit" you're a knitter? :heehee:
I just pull out the rows needed and rewind the ball!
I was taught that 'frogging' is any time you have to pull out the needle and rip out a lot of rows. And that a good way to do this is to thread a smaller needle into a set of stitches that you want to pull back to. I'm sure you know your method for that if you're already an experienced knitter. I've tried just pulling it all out and then threading back on the needles, but I drop stitches that way. Maybe it gets better with practice? Or a higher quality yarn? I'm using an inexpensive acrylic with a nice hand, very suitable for a first project for someone who isn't certain they'll enjoy it.

Frog Master - she just frogs without a care in the world.
I can only aspire to such a title. lol When I get good enough that I'm doing real project with repeats I'll almost certainly use the lifeline technique. For now, I never know where I'll make a mistake I can't live with. It's still my first scarf.

At the moment, knitting is doing it's job being a low stress activity I can do endlessly from my recliner with my foot elevated, so that's all according to my healing plan.

Next phase of healing, when I can go out and about a little, I'm going to be joining a group or two to make friends who aren't online in my healing quest to Get My Life Back as a newly non-disabled person. I have been so completely isolated for so long. I really needed a simple, inclusive activity to get me out where people are. I've done a lot of crafts, and crafty people, as we have shown here in miniature, are ALWAYS interesting in discussing their craft. You don't even have to be good. Just interested and trying.
 
Hi @luvcats! I've been catching up on some threads and it sounds like you're doing really well! I'm thrilled to hear the 2nd surgery recovery is going well! I'm still amazing you've had both knees done so close together and hope everything continues to go well as you get ready for Disney! :yay:
 
@luvcats...I know :loll: I made my forum name right in the middle of this crazy project and I thought I was being so original!!! Well, I was, only because I've never used it before!

I began knitting in 1983, I remember the date because it was during my 2nd pregnancy and my oldest child was a very easy toddler, so I really had time on my hands. I have 3-4 projects going at a time, but...they take longer than normal to complete. I also have a yarn stash in about 20 bins from our most recent move (2016) and because I'm still working I haven't organized it yet! The upside though is I have my own mini yarn store at my disposal:yahoo:! It's funny in all my time I never thought about putting a thread or a smaller needle as a Lifeline...I will definitely add this to my knitting repertoire.

I like your next goals for healing and your reference to being a newly non-disabled person, that is a healthy way of moving forward! With your writing, knitting, and reading abilities I'm sure you'll find a new activity group to join!

I'm doing better in my recovery department too. I just iced, elevated, and napped a lot!
 
I also have a yarn stash in about 20 bins from our most recent move (2016) and because I'm still working I haven't organized it yet! The upside though is I have my own mini yarn store at my disposal:yahoo:!
I’m that way with fabric and I often shop in n my closet!
 
I don't yet have a yarn stash, but I do have quite the fabric hoard, plus a bin full of embroidery supplies (which is an awful lot, they don't take up much space!) and a set of bins full of beading supplies. I'm just crafty like that, although for the past few years I've been so exhausted with chronic pain that I haven't touched any of it.

What sort of sewing do you do @Jockette? I learned to sew to make reenactment costumes, but eventually learned to make a lot of my own clothes. When I get some energy back, I have aspirations to make smocked little girl dresses and pinafores. I have a cousin and 2 nieces who are just the right age to enjoy something pretty like that. I've learned if you make a pinafore, then they can wear it over a party dress, so when they inevitably spill or otherwise get dirty, it can just come off and they're still dress for the festivities.

My pain levels are fine. I'm not quite off meds, but getting closer. I can still feel a significant ache in July now. She's only at 13 weeks, so that seems to still be expected.

Today will be PT. I've been doing one of the gait exercises he gave me very faithfully and I'm starting to see some improvement. There's a stretch that I'm eager to work on that I can't do at my home for lack of the right kind of space. I'm really looking forward to that.

Mostly what I am right now is exhausted. Really, really exhausted. I'm sleeping ok, but not great. And Lady Business decided to pop in, which can be fatiguing under the best circumstances, which this isn't.
Yawn.
 
What sort of sewing do you do @Jockette?
I’ve done a lot over the years. Clothes for my kids. I made pinafore jumpers for my 2 daughters when they were preschool age, those were fun to make and so cute. I also did some smocked dresses for them. I did the smocking by hand. I made most of my own clothes and still make my PJs, as I like them way looser than I can buy in the store.

I had a little curtain business for several years. I made those ruffled country curtains that were so popular in the 90’s, and they are still a favorite of mine.

I still make all my own purses.

Then I got into quilting. I posted a few pictures in the quilting thread in the Social Room thread, my quilts are at the bottom of the page.
 
Great update @luvcats except for joining the ODIC .... it happens to us all.... we get a bit gung ho & then it bites us on the bum!!!!

Take a day to rest & ice ... all will be well.

Can understand about the mental stress of having two knees done in quick succession.... and the 2nd surgery was easier to deal with & relax knowing that’s was it!

Hoping your weekend is great! love Chrissie xx
 
Then I got into quilting.
I know quilting it quite the black hole of time and will double your fabric stash very quickly if you don't pay attention. lol. I have had some basic quilting lessons and decided to set that aside as my retirement hobby. I seem to be more interested in hand quilting than the piecing, but that might change.

In my last update I claimed not to have a yarn stash. Well, I didn't have a stash. Then I finished off my first scarf project and realized that it was too short. Which means I'll need more skeins of the second yarn I bought to do the project they are intended for. And some of the colors of the already inexpensive, yet pleasant, yarn were on sale even cheaper. So I got a few more colors to make more scarves as my early winter projects.
 
Last edited:
It is currently 3am. I remember having nights when I couldn't sleep last time but I thought they were earlier in the process. I'm at nearly 5 weeks now. I went through my journal back to this point in the first round, but didn't see any mentions of it. I mostly remember them being around an aching leg. Tonight I feel more or less fine but I am not sleeping.

Today was my first day off all meds, except my tramadol, which will require a step down process. I think that might be my problem. I don't really need them, but I can tell my body chemistry is out of whack. Some of that is certainly recovery, but the meds is what is different between tonight and all the rest of this week.

Tonight I feel twitchy, like I want to go out and get some exercise. Which I should not to at 3am. I did some laps in my office. I didn't get enough exercise yesterday I believe.

Now that I can move without pain, mostly, I need to figure out how to have a normally active lifestyle, instead of a life that revolves around my recliner. I've learned to be very sedentary out of necessity, but it's been so long, I've forgotten how to be any other way.

It's finally nice enough to walk outside, but I genuinely can't imagine anything more boring then laps around the culdesac now that I can walk more or less normally. I live at the top of a hill, so there isn't really a flat part of the neighborhood to walk in.

I know I'm just stir crazy from still being trapped in the house. At this point before I could drive and getting out just felt so much better. But Newbie really isn't ready to drive safely. I'm pretty sure one more week will do it. I just have to pretend to wait patiently until then.
 
I know I'm just stir crazy from still being trapped in the house. At this point before I could drive and getting out just felt so much better. But Newbie really isn't ready to drive safely. I'm pretty sure one more week will do it. I just have to pretend to wait patiently until then.
You've been in recovery for a long time, becasue of having your knees done consecutively. I'm not surprised you feel stir-crazy. It won;t be much longer now before you can drive again and regain your freedom.
I have had some basic quilting lessons and decided to set that aside as my retirement hobby.
That's what I thought, too. I've been retired for a while and I seem to be busier now than when I was working. I still haven't got back to quilting and I have two big boxes full of fabric pieces.
 
You've been in recovery for a long time, becasue of having your knees done consecutively. I'm not surprised you feel stir-crazy. It won;t be much longer now before you can drive again and regain your freedom.
Yup. Pretty much a whole season. Now it's fall, finally, and even when I felt terrible fall always makes me want to go out and do things.

I never did truly get back to sleep. sigh. I'll try again when the husband is up and goes to work (in the home office). The bedroom will stay lovely and dark. It's a grey rainy day, which is also the best for napping.

Elsewhere @Macknit mentioned she saw sleep gets better about week 7? That's something to look forward to. I'm right about week 5 now on Newbie.

I did get to have a lovely visit with our friends in the Foreign Service. They are headed to Saudi this time. That should be exciting, since she is the primary employee and he follows along. It was great to have fresh conversations with people who aren't all caught. Although they were a bit disappointed that I have not yet lifted my personal ban on talking politics. I court emotional breakdown every time I close the wrong app on my phone for goodness sake. I am certainly not going to listen to discussions that would be distressing if I were perfectly healthy! (Although, to be fair, I'll probably just milk that as long as I can get away with it. lol)

Today I will make a point of doing more exercise in case that contributed to not sleeping. Nothing aggressive, just the usual leg lifts and my gait training, which I actually forgot to do yesterday.
 
Tonight I feel twitchy, like I want to go out and get some exercise.
I have been doing this for all 5 weeks. I was/am a very active person and pre-op would take a tramadol when my husband and I would do our 5 mile walks twice a week, so I could manage with the knee pain I had then. While working I would then do 20-40 minute walks....However, when I hit my brick wall of RTKR surgery I saw a huge upswing in my restless leg syndrome....which was diagnosed pre-surgery. All of me became twitchy and really aggravated the knee pain in those first few weeks.

Also, how funny, I really try to have the same ban on political conversations....It is just a sad time right now for all of America and even if I didn't have the emotional upswing, it is just disheartening to see so many people (on both sides) not even attempting to have decency. I just started watching The Crown on Netflix and then I can distance myself from all the real issues, and recognize that this kind of behavior was even happening around the time I was born!

Better luck with your exercises and sleep....mine tends to be around 6 hours now, then I'm wide awake for an hour or 2 with a nice 2 hour nap in the early hours....
 
The ban on politics sounds very healthy to me.

My family had one on Thanksgiving and Christmas when I was a child.

Some fitness centers now ban news channels on overhead tvs, which has been welcomed by the majority of patrons, I read.
 

BoneSmart #1 Best Blog

Staff online

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
65,180
Messages
1,597,057
BoneSmarties
39,364
Latest member
All2Gd88
Recent bookmarks
0
Back
Top Bottom