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TKR Midwest Girl's New Knee Journey - A Year Later.

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After my pool therapy today I decided to go to the store to purchase some things to make a card package for my sister-in-law stationed in Afghanistan. My first excursion with no walker, just a cane. That shopping and going to the post office for a box (prob 1 hr) just really fatigued my knee. Ugh! My PT told me on Wednesday that I could start increasing the lengths of my walks. I think I'm going to have to. I need to build up my endurance for standing. It's amazing his much I must have been really using my walker to carry some of the load.
 
Well you are still pretty early in the big scheme of things. but yes, you probably could start slowly building up your endurance.
 
I'm just thinking about when I have to return to work. My job entails a lot of standing & walking. If I had to go back on Monday I'd be in trouble. My original return to work date was July 7th and I can't even imagine returning then. Fortunately for me because of the additional work of the MCL my date has been moved back. I think I keep my focus in the moment and can't look forward enough to see that it's going to be ok. But I've seen others do it so I know I can too.
 
Struggling lately with motivation. I don't want to do anything outside of going to PT. I come home and sit in my recliner & ice my knee, maybe doze off, or walk out to retrieve my mail & newspaper (which I don't even read) and that's it. I have laundry to do, house cleaning to do etc and I just can't get motivated. I always say I'll do it tomorrow. I live alone so it's not going to get done if I don't do it. And I'm having a bit of a pity party. I think when you're at this stage of recovery people see that you can drive or hear your progress is going well so they think you're back to "normal" and you're just kind of forgotten about. No one checks up on you or offers help. But they don't realize that it's still hard. Yes, I have good days but some days are really hard. And it's hard to be positive and see past the moment. And you just want to crawl into bed and sleep comfortably for hours but your knee doesn't allow it. I think for the most part I've been pretty positive and have had a good attitude. Haven't had tears in a long time. But today it's just tears and a struggle. That's my whine for today. I need to get moving and get dressed and try and get something accomplished today. Thanks for letting me vent.
 
Each phase of the recovery has its own struggles and you're sure in the middle of this phase. I think if you can be sure to get dressed and do something every day even if it's small that helps.
 
midwest girl said:
I'm horrible with doing home exercises. I only did a few today - a very few. I've learned now that too much sitting in my recliner with my leg extended is not a good thing. Pretty stiff & tight for flexion. Lesson learned. I'll probably pay for my laziness in PT tomorrow. :-(

It's been a weird day for me today. Operating on not much sleep at all. And I don't like when I get that way because I then get in that pity party funk. I think it's hard sometimes having to deal with this and living alone. It feels isolating. A lonely journey.
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I know the lonely journey but I have felt such support from reading all of your posts hang in there we can do this together let's stay positive and keep the journey moving forward look forward to hearing more


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Your never alone on this Forum. I'm sure the rest is good for you but it is nice to have a goal for the day.
I love my alone time. Thanks for the info on my vertigo. You were right on & I was able to fix it myself by learning Epley's maneuver. I still learn something new everyday.
 
Today we set my return to work date as July 21st. Day after my birthday. 2 more weeks to enjoy my days off. Dreading going back to work.
 
@Phil75070 yes that will be the end of my 9th week, start of my 10th week. Today was my original return to work date and when I got out of PT today there was a text from my boss asking when I was coming back. My first week back I'll be working only 1/2 days. I have a 20 mile drive to work every morning so I'm moving my start time back to at least 8:00 am. I think my boss will be pretty understanding. I'm just afraid that I will be compared to a co-worker who had a bilateral last October and seemingly had a much faster & easier recovery.
 
midwest girl said:
........afraid that I will be compared to a co-worker who had a bilateral last October and seemingly had a much faster & easier recovery
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That would be unfortunate. You have been on here long enough and seen enough stories to know that we all heal and progress at a different rate. As it is you will be returning before the recommended 12 weeks.
 
Oh I'm totally aware that everyone's journey is different. Sometimes it's hard convincing others of that tho. I was telling my boss today that I still had issues with sleep and he had a hard time even understanding that. Where I work, some have that mentality that if you're back at work you are better and are able to work at your normal work load and pace. And summer is our busiest time for research so I already know that I will have to be firm in my resolve to say what is too much for me. I have a pretty understanding boss so I don't anticipate problems with him. It's the others I have to work with that may be a bit of a challenge.
 
Glad you got a couple extra weeks anyway. Sounds like your boss is fairly understanding.
Two more weeks of healing & rehab will at least get you closer to being ready.
 
I agree that once the rom gets over a certain amount they don't care anymore. My OS just told me to bend and said that's fine. :)
 
Well at least your boss is understanding. Hopefully you can educate your co-workers that tkr recovery is not one size fits all.
 
10 more days until I go back to work. Don't know if I'm ready. At least my first week back will be 1/2 day work days.
 
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