Become an Insider

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

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@DogLoverx3 my lovely friend, When I said upset I meant you'd be grounding me lol x xx ha ha x x x

Mentally I'm really good. I think the vacuuming was probably a bit silly but you know what. The downstairs of the house now looks lovely and clean. The difference between me and my husband cleaning is that I am very thorough. His is more surface cleaning but I am not knocking that. I am grateful for what he has been doing.

I moved my car up and down the drive round the back of our house and did an emergency stop with NO pain. Hallelujah at last some kind of progress, hooray! It's only the level of meds now that stops me from driving.

I cooked a full English breakfast for my husbands lunch and right now I'm his best friend again lol x x x the apple crumble last night was absolutely spot on. I didn't have much though.

I've now finished my antibiotics and steroids at last yesterday so I'm hoping tonight to sleep xxxx

I think that you have definitely found the right meds combo that suits you and helps you. I hope that you have a wonderful day my friend and enjoy it. I assume the weather is fine and your lovely doggies are well?
I'm having my second rest of the day on the bed with my leg elevated.

Catch you later look forward to your posts xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo. :puppysmooze:
 
mcirish said:
@DogLoverx3 How much pain and swelling are you having? I am 11 weeks out and still have pain and swelling and I am sitting at a desk most of the day, so the swelling and pain, in and of itself, is not a concern. I do push it a little with my workouts, but nothing crazy. If you look at the surgery photos (I know, they are pretty disgusting) they are quite different from the computerized images in the brochures which show the implants fitting into these perfect little cut outs in our knees. There was some pretty rough work done in there, not to mention these large foreign objects that were hammered and wedged into your knee joint. Your body is still working on dealing with all of this and will be working overtime for several more months trying to normalize everything. I was concerned about the same things, but my PT and OS reassured me that this is normal (some continued swelling & pain).

That said, can you get a temporary assistant to help take some of the load off you as far as prep work? If anything, all this activity and workload could be prolonging your recovery.
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Hey @mcirish , I moved your post over here so as not to muck up Ice's thread :-) I have no stomach for watching any of the u-tube videos on the procedure and honestly, know very little about the procedure itself. Although I'm fairly smart, medical things just seem to go straight over my head, so I really didn't ask too much and only found out what type of implant my OS used after the fact. :blush:

I do rely more on my servers than I have in the past and pay out much more in wages than ever before (boo), but shopping, prep and cooking are all on me. I don't use recipes, so there's no way for me to have anyone else do what I do and as my reputation is based on my food, I'm the one that needs to do it. Guess that sounds kinda martyr-ish, but it is what it is.

My knee pains like to move around. My kneecap and right below my knee cap (patella?) have been killing me for a week now. The swelling on my knee sits right on top of my knee cap and mostly to the right side. The other day, when I wasn't even doing anything as far as exertion goes, I couldn't even get capris on over that monster, so I inflicted my ugly knee on the world in a skort. :whistle:I take Tylenol 3 times a day and have started taking Tramadol before bed so I am able to sleep. I'm quite certain that I am prolonging my recovery, I just can't quite figure out another way. Especially when I do everything 'right' for a week and it still doesn't make much of a difference...the tightness, swelling and pain seem to be around a 2-3 for most of the day. If I went to the gym, I'm quite certain my knee would explode!

I think I mentioned on your thread before that although I'm sorry that your recovery is taking longer than it should, that it's nice to know that it's not just me. Kind of reassures me - especially when you say your PT and OS say it's normal (ish) ;-) Now if only I could get my attitude to be as positive as yours......
 
DogLoverx3 said:
I will point out that 'only' baking 2 different items and 'only' taking laundry outside to peg all involve repeated and extended standing, bending, squatting and walking. That's kinda not 'nothing much' when put all together. I know this because you've pointed out that all of my 'nothing but cooking' excuses involve a lot of effort and pressure on our new knee.
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my thoughts exactly. :)
 
Oh goodness @Nana moon 27 , I didn't even see your post. I'm so sorry. I'm excited you were able to drive the car and do an emergency stop. I was driving early on and illegally (shhhh) as I was still taking oxy, but it was only short distances to PT or the store and only because I didn't have a choice. you will feel soooooo much better when you're back driving again!

Of course I wouldn't reprimand you or be upset for you trying new things. I just point out things that you may not realize, just as you do for me!

I hope you were able to sleep well and I hope you awaken feeling great! xoxoxoxo
 
Hello @DogLoverx3 no need to to apologise about the post. Yes I was on a high! No, today doing what I did was a big mistake although no pain as such, I've just got up to go the bathroom and stiffness, swollen describes the wretched knee. It even felt horrid when I stood up and took my first step.

I think it was the vacuuming that did caused the problem. It is a very solid and heavy one and you do have to push it hard.

Today will be a rest day. I have a colleague/work mate coming to see me lunchtime. At least the house will look nice when she comes and I won't be doing the looking round and cringing thing. It's 4.40am here. I really want a nice cup of tea but the stairs are a no no, so it's water again. I don't think it's fair to wake my husband up.

I have had a few hours nap, which is nice. I'm going to try and go back off now. I just thought I pop by and make sure you're ok.

What have you been up to today? Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :puppysmooze:
 
Hiya sweet pea! I'm sorry about your knee. As u know from me, the swelling and stiffness is a pretty constant thing, so at least you tried! I've been working much of the day. I have a large breakfast to cater in the morning. I'm in bed now resting. I used to do this breakfast all on my own, but am still having to bring in a server to help. Kinda wonder if I'll ever get back to being able to do my larger events on my own.

now, not to totally horrify you as I know how you folks over the pond love your tea and there are 'proper' ways to make it, but what about an electric tea kettle that you could plug in upstairs along with your teas and sugars and maybe a bit of milk on ice? Or an electric emerser (sp?) To heat a single mug of water? That way you can still enjoy your tea without having to do the dreaded stairs :) Do you think I'm a total heathen for even suggesting such a thing?

I hope you were able to doze back off and your knee feels better the next time you wake up!! Xoxox
 
Hi @DogLoverx3 It's a good idea! It would be a thing worth doing. I'm getting up to go get ice, cup tea and the famous blueberry biscuits I'm ravenous again. My appetite suddenly is returning. I need to ice and elevate this x x x

Good luck with the breakfast in the morning I hope you get a really good sleep my friend x x x x

Love Nana moon 27 x x xoxoxox x x :puppysmooze:
 
Hi @DogLoverx3

How is your knee? I missed your posts yesterday but I know you were quite busy with the breakfast and your day and all that entails.

Bizarrely, today, although very stiff and swollen, the pain in my knee today is half it's normal rate. I'm a bit surprised and pleased.

I'm going to take it easy again. Can't do much else really. I had baked beans and egg on toast for my breakfast today. Haven't had that in ages. It was delicious. X x x x

I hope that you have managed to sleep ok and all is well with you.

Hopefully catch you later love Nana moon 27 x x x x
 
@DogLoverx3 I've become a tea-making heathen and do it in the microwave unless there is more than the two of us. Even switched over to a Keurig for coffee making after using a French Press forever. Hope your knee behaved the best that it can for your breakfast.:SUNsmile:
 
Hi @Nana moon 27 & @Chihuahuan . Thanks for checking in. My knee did okay yesterday. I tried wearing my horrid TED stocking thing that I haven't worn since week 2 that goes over my knee that I heard helps with swelling, but after 4 hours, I was ready to rip that thing off and throw it away. It may have helped a little with swelling but it was just SO uncomfortable! My breakfast went well - I made my server do most of the work. :whistle:I'm the boss, I'm allowed, right?

After 2 nights of fairly decent sleep, I was only able to sleep for 1 hour on Thursday night and a scant 3 hours last night. I'd love for that piece of the puzzle to fall into place. I've been having some sharp pains under my knee this week - found out yesterday that on top of everything else, I have patellar tendenitis (sp?) - awesome - not. Had my PT try STIM on my knee but no clue if it helped or not.....

Okay, so tomorrow is my 3 month mark and here are my truths regarding that 'milestone':
1) Am I happy I had this surgery - no, not yet, but I hope that day is coming
2) Am I where I want to be/think I should be - no, but I am hopeful that one day soon things will start to fall into place
3) My knee still hurts and is swollen - a lot - and most of the time
4) I still do not trust my knee to do what it should and I'm sure that hampers some of my progress
5) I can walk down stairs 'normally' while lightly holding onto 1 rail (to prevent any potential face planting), but still 2 step going up
6) I cannot take my doggies for a walk, but will keep trying
7) My knee still clicks and pops and feels like it 'catches' on the outside rear compartment (ouch)
8) My OS apparently doesn't do 12 week check ups, but I made my own appointment for one
9) I am taking only mostly Tylenol with the occasional Tramadol, mainly at night before bed
10) I am still unable to walk or stand for any length of time without my knee blowing up and getting very very tight
11) I can still only lay on my operated side in bed - if I try to flop over onto the other side, I have to hike my TKR leg way up and sort of perpendicular to my body (the pillow between the legs things never worked for me)
12) I have been driving since early on, so that's just getting easier
13) There are a million things I can do now that I couldn't do 4 weeks ago however all of these things are still less than I was able to do pre TKR - boo
14) I will keep working and try to remain optimistic (funny after reading this post, right?) - I need to have more faith in my knee to take care of me

I am going to spend the day at home, with the dogs, and work on packing up and paring down. It's supposed to be 86 and sunny here today. Would be a lovely day to take the dogs to the dog park, but I can't handle all of them and am still a bit unsteady on my feet. I hope everyone has a lovely day! xoxoxxo
 
Hi @DogLoverx3

It's lovely to hear from you, I'm glad the breakfast went well and your server earned her money! That's what being the boss lady is all about. I'm under no illusion you will have done loads yourself anyway.

Today has been good. I had my daughters here, my 86 yr old father in law, (who still drives and lives independently), 3 of my grandchildren and my grandsons girlfriend and their dog Tilly!!! I cooked a turkey crown today that I'd bought just after Christmas and frozen. I remembered about it yesterday and realised that if I didn't use it very soon it would have to go in the bin. Ooh it was lovely. I did fresh bread rolls, salad and chips (fries) and fed 9 of us. There was still loads left, so I sliced some up for my father in law to take home and the rest if the joint I cut in half and gave the girls half each for their Sunday dinners tomorrow !

The dog, needless to say has been my very best friend all afternoon because I fed her turkey. She kept snuggling up to me and putting her head in my chest or snuggling up to the side of my leg and looking sidelong at me adoringly...lovely. She is a small Staffordshire bull terrier. The strange thing was, she came running into the kitchen like a lunatic when they arrived, to where I was standing but as she got right by me she stopped and walked calmly over to me. We all looked at her in disbelief, it was as though she knew about my knee. Even when she snuggled, she did that on my left which is also unusual. Good dog! X

I have decided to contact a private PT who treated me for whiplash eighteen months ago. I found his card today. I will phone him on Monday. Best still, he uses a room in a doctors surgery, diagonal from my house, so I literally would only have to cross the road x x x I wish I'd thought of this sooner,@dogwheels put the idea in my head the other day x x x

I'm a bit worried about you right now I hope you're ok

Catch you later

Nana moon 27 x
 
No need to worry about me @Nana moon 27 , I'm a-okay and honestly didn't intend for my post to read as sappy and negative as it came off.

I think your idea to see a private PT is a good one!! And added bonus that he's right across from your house! Your day sounds lovely my friend, I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself and were surrounded by loved ones and a sweet little pittie who guarded your knee for you! :puppysmooze:
 
Hi @DogLoverx3 - you are doing amazingly well. I get dizzy thinking of your normal week. I work but as an office manager am able to sit most of my day. You are also moving! That is two major life events in less than four months! You are making me feel like a slacker! I wish you continued improvement and believe you will get to where you want to soon.
 
I agree Nana Moon she does rock. Sometimes you don't see that in yourself. You sounded like you had a lovely day too with great food and loving grandchildren! Good for you.
 
Thanks @Jozilla it was what I needed to do. Cook and do lunch for them and the dog lol x they washed up good result all round x x x
 
Thank you @Nana moon 27 & @Jozilla . :blush: I appreciate your kind words. You are not a slacker at all Jozilla! My goodness, you're a pretty big rock star yourself! As are you Nana. xoxoxo

Forgot to say that I apparently got my patellar tendinitis (i guess I should learn how to spell that), simply by walking :sad: As my extension is not yet zero, I guess I put undo stress on that spot and made it mad. Boo.
 
Hi @DogLoverx3 I wonder if that is what is wrong with my knee. My flexion is +4 degrees. My pain is in and above the kneecap. Oh well if I get this PT appointment I'll find out X x x what is your flexion? X
 
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