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TKR My Journey as of 12/16/13 - Over 1 Year and Still Trying

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Thanks @RestAssured . I'll have her drive back from the airport. I do always take ice packs with me when I leave the house for any amount of time and I've often iced while driving if need be (funny what a ziplock filled with ice and a hair clip can do to secure one to a pant leg) ;-)
 
So I figured I would break up my whiny woe is me posts with my small, and embarrassing, accomplishment for the week. Ready? I took the toilet seat extender thingie off!! :tada: Pretty sure my toilet shrunk lower to the ground while I was away, but whatever. I can do it. I have to push myself off on the counter to stand up, but at least it's one thing I've been able get back of my old ways. I'm still going strong with the shower chair though, so I don't see that sucker getting taken out any time soon. I'm allowed to be lazy in the shower, right? :heehee:
 
Hey Ellen ... No-one can give any better advice than the ones who have already pointed out that your idea of doing nothing would lay most of us flat. I could not even comprehend doing all that at your stage post-op. I don't think I could do it now, so yea, I guess you are going to have some repercussions with your knee.

Can I tell you a story? Year and years (well decades ago) when I was pregnant with my first baby, I developed pre-eclampsia, with an extremely high blood pressure. I was told to go home and completely rest for a week. When I got back to the doctor the next week, my blood pressure had not gone down and he asked me if I was certain I had done nothing all week. When I reassured him that I had, he asked me to describe my day. I told him I got up early had breakfast, a cup of tea and did all the housework and had it done by 8.30 and spent the rest of the day lying down doing nothing. :rotfl: And I honestly thought I was dong what I was told. Needless to say, I was promptly put in hospital on bed rest. Would that be something you would do?

Good luck with the OS follow up and when you have a day when you do nothing, DO NOTHING. :snork:

Caring hugs ... Ellen
 
Just read your last post. Yay for taking the toilet extender off. Here at the 13 week mark, I still have to lower myself onto the toilet seat by leaning on the cistern at the back - same with getting back up - hand on the cistern and PUSH UP. And yes, you are allowed to be lazy in the shower. I don't have my shower chair any more, but I sure wish I did. Though I must admit it did make it too easy to spend too long in the shower. :whistle:
 
:heehee: Hahaha, great story @NetballKnees :heehee: I do realize that when I'm 'working' that I'm doing too much, but I guess you're right that I don't quite 'get it' yet as it never occurred to me that just driving to the airport would count as doing something effortfull (i just made up that word, btw). Would it help to know that I have no plans to put on makeup or change out of the clothes I'm wearing all day? Heck, I may not even put a bra on!

I don't think there's such a thing as spending too much time in the shower ;-) I really like the chair as I'm still a bit unsteady and when I close my eyes, as I do when I rinse my hair, my balance seems a bit off. I've tried not using it a couple times and then figured, what the heck, I deserve to be able to sit in the shower. It also makes shaving my legs uber easy! I have a hand held shower head too, so no need to ever stand in the shower again while I'm stuck downstairs. ;-)

I hope your weekend is off to a wonderful start!!!
 
My friend's flight got cancelled so no trip to the airport tonight. Today I've been doing my impression of a bump on a log. Aside from doing 1 load of laundry and dragging a chair into the sun to sit with my dogs, I've done a whole lotta nothin'. :) Including taking not 1, not 2, but 3 naps! Although I am dying to change the sheets on my bed and sweep my house, I didn't. And won't again tomorrow either. :angel: I'm still stiff and swollen, but it's better than it was yesterday. :umm:
 
Thanks @Chihuahuan ! Sadly tonight is 'one of those nights'. Despite doing pretty much nothing all day, my knee is hurting big time tonight. I took and oxy, then another, then a naproxen, and now 2 Tylenol (all within about 2.5 hours and not equaling anything more than is prescribed or healthy) and nothing is working. Boo. I stayed on schedule with my meds today so am annoyed that I'm in pain, but know that these days will get fewer and fewer as time passes.
 
Yes, they will. Sometimes it is still left overs from the over doing and at first it takes longer to get the knee to calm down. It will get better but at times it feels like it will never happen. You are so early in your recovery and having to do so much. Much credit for what you are accomplishing unfortunately the knee does not agree with what has to be done. I hope the pain eases up some today.
 
Bump on a log sounds good.
 
Thank you @leejaa I appreciate the pep talk. Today was a baaad day and I opted to give everyone a break from my whining by not posting. (you're welcome) :heehee: I finally started feeling better about an hour and half ago. My 'black cloud' blew away (hopefully not hovering too close still), my knee finally loosened up and I've been able to bend past 90 degrees again which I haven't all weekend.

I've completed day 2 of my 'do nothing' agenda for the week. I had every intention of going for a short walk (okay, limp) around my cul de sac, but that would have required my getting dressed, so instead just pulled a chair out into the sun in my backyard so I could stay in my jammies. I've taken naps, I've played online, I've watched bad tv and I'm bored!

Since I've been in bed most of the day, I've had my knee saran wrapped as the sheets are very irritating to it. I wonder if that's bad to do? With my knee being so hot, the saran wrap gets nice and steamy so I change it a couple times a day. I've got the infamous 'double pop' going on when I walk, so that's something new and annoying that I need to get used to. I need to start sucking it up and practicing stairs more so I can move back upstairs to my bedroom. I'm afraid with all my overdoing as it is, that adding stairs to the mix would not be a good thing though. Any thoughts?
 
Well my thought is no walking except to bathroom and necessities! No Cul de sac right now, turn on the old comedies, or look at funny YouTube videos! Anything except for putting your knee through more trauma!

Remember the song Ice, ice baby...... That and elevating will help w the pain! Soon enough, you will be able to "leap tall buildings and other normal stuff!":happydance:
 
I can't imagine having Saran wrap on my knee all day. Doesn't your knee get sweaty? The incision on my first TKR was ultra sensitive so I feel your pain…. this one is not too bad so soft cotton or poly/rayon pjs are doing the trick.
Re the stairs --maybe work on that at PT so you can build up to the ones at home. It's one of the things I need to work on even though we have no stairs.
 
DogLoverx3 said:
I'm afraid with all my overdoing as it is, that adding stairs to the mix would not be a good thing though.
Click to expand...
I think you are right to wait a little bit before adding the stairs.
When you do move up stairs, plan your days so you are not running up and down multiple times.
Glad to hear you are doing better, no worries about a pity party, we like to party here on Bonesmart!:cheers:
 
Thanks @RestAssured - I don't know how everyone in cold climates does it; I live in AZ and just get COLD icing all the time (but I do it anyway).

@Chihuahuan , the saran wrap thing is not ideal to be sure, but my knee doesn't get sweaty, just kinda steamy :) and the skin on my entire knee is uber shiny! I didn't know that you had hypersensitivity with your 1st TKR. Did it go away? (please say yes) If it did and you remember, about how long did it take? I have to saran wrap my knee any time fabric is going to be touching it. It's the oddest sensation - I know there's no way fabric can actually hurt my knee just by touching it, but that's what it feels like.

:heehee:@Pumpkln , thank you for enabling my pity parties. You're very funny :)

I guess an entire day of being a bump on a log kinda hampers one's ability to sleep at night ..... thank goodness I can always come on here and see what everyone is up to! x0x0x0
 
@doglover3 just been reading your post. I too find the heat and sensitivity on my knee really irritating. I can't stand anything at all touching it so I am walking - ok shuffling - with my trouser leg rolled up. Not a good look especially when you are watching a really rotten tv programme about supermodels! I have a blanket cradle to stop the covers getting near the offending knee.

3 weeks on and I am having trouble getting any bend due to the swelling. Got a really ugly knee, although to be fair it's been ugly for some years. Hoping to get hydrotherapy soon.

Strange sensations in the knee and stabbing pains from time to time. One minute knee feels strong and then not!!!!

Told my husband I would start making his dinners again but I might be lying......he hates cooking.

Seems like this journey is going to take forever. Will I ever get my life back ? Thought I might be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel but can only see the tunnel at the moment!!!

Heyho back to watching tv.......
 
@Bentley's Slave , HI! I've missed you! I hope you had a wonderful time with your sister! OMG; I roll up my pant leg too! . I can't wear my saran wrap to PT, so I that instead and therapist is forever trying to roll it back down. :loll:Heck, I don't bother with makeup or 'real' clothes yet anyway, so no biggie on looking like a big weirdo.

You're right around 3 Weeks and, sorry to say, weeks 3-4 were probably my worst. :sad: My ROM decreased and got 'stuck' and the swelling and lack of sleep were really getting to me. Know that it's temporary though.

those random stabbing pains (I call them zingers) are your nerves coming back to life. Too bad they don't do so a bit more nicely.

you may want to hold off on the cooking for a bit longer. You don't realize how much back and forth there is until you have a TKR.

I promise that it gets better!! You're so early on. You're making tiny improvements every day; it's just hard to see them as they happen. Try to remain positive and know that yes, one of these days, we will get our lives back and leave that pesky tunnel far behind. :console2:
 
@doglover3 it's good to know I am not the only person who is not wearing proper clothes. I even went to physio in my slippers!!!

Had a wonderful week with @HoppyNanny and missing her company. They were wonderful.

Good to hear your experience in weeks 3/4. I don't feel so bad now. Was worried about lack of movement . Am controlling the pain ok with just paracetamol four times a day. I got spooked by taking co- codamol regularly. Frightened to say it out loud but nights are not too bad. Sleep reasonably well without painkillers, although have to keep going to the loo every couple of hours. So I am really lucky. Love the ice machine.

I can't sit anywhere comfortably. Is that your experience too. After ten minutes I have to move to somewhere else equally uncomfortable. Any suggestions would be welcome. I'd love to be suspended in the air but would probably mean the house would collapse under my weight!!!!! Of you heat of a house collapsing in the uk then you will know I have tried it.........
 
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