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Bilateral TKR Nensi_New_Nees

You'll know the burning pains if/when they come. I did t have them my first time through, but they were pretty bad this second surgery. So they're definiteky not a given.
 
@Happydale, these sound like good suggestions. And hot water bottles are OK? I hear a lot about ice, but not so much about heat. I do dread the night and having to wake up my husband for this and that. The poor guy is a saint!
 
You are doing well. Burning pain is not inevitable. I had it on one of my legs but not the other. Your schedule sounds great.

@rubyyarn You can put some heat on muscles but don't put it near or on your knee. Use only ice there.
 
Nancy, you are doing great! Love your festive nest and your cutie nurse! I am so happy everything is going so well. I feel like everyday is a bit of a surprise party as this hurts here today, and this hurts there, and those muscles waking up! Keep up the good work! Ice is still me best friend!
 
@Happydale thanks for the ideas ! Always good to have options. At this point it is really a groundless fear, but even groundless fears need to be addressed. I go to bed around midnight, together with a Tramadol, sleep to 3am, get up to pee and change out ice then sleep to 7, and then a short nap to 8.30. I can usually fall right back to sleep and pain is under control.
Feeling pretty good at first day of week 2. Napping, elevating and icing are my major activities ☺️
Each day I think - maybe I'll start knitting today - and then a cat and a nap comes along....
 
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I appreciate you sharing all the photos, Nancy. It makes it easier to feel a connection with this anonymous person across the Atlantic Ocean! I also commend you for how presentable you are only a week post surgery. Make-up, jewelry, the whole thing. I tend to not bother when I'm going to be at home all day, and yet I really think it helps a person to feel better. So now that's on my post-surgery idea list - to put a bit of attention on appearances.
 
@Happydale, yeah pictures really help to connect, I always look at the profile pics...since I lived the first 30 odd years of my life in the US in varioius places where you guys live also bring images. About the jewelry and makeup - how astute you are ! A friend at work who had surgery gave me that advice and it was GREAT advice! It becomes part of the daily routine - choosing, putting on, removing.... And I think the removing also adds to the going-to-bed ritual which programs me for sleep and relieves the apprehension for a bad night. I sleep in those sleeveless cotton sundresses, changing every day after morning shower or sponge bath, so night times its just taking off my bra. Great advice from my friend - even though I didn't feel like it early days it did help give me (and my family) a pickmeup.


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Down time is giving me pause to reflect on life.
Coming of age comes late to some of us.
My parents have passed on for many years already, my mom 22 years ago and my dad 15; I have lived far away from my extended Italian family in the US for more than 25 years.
Many times the last few years I have been confronted with bad news from friends, colleagues and acquaintenances - health issues, deaths, accidents, mental health issues, relationship challenges.
In other words, I have been confronted very often with reason after reason to take pause in all the things which are good and right in my world. To stand still in a bubble of pleasure, feel good moment and bask in that feeling. And to tell others about their part in it.
Very heavy lecturing
In any case, my bilat journey is bringing me many more of these moments and I am really getting inspired by it, also opening up more to others. Going through this experience with our three young adults as caregivers is a unique and enriching experience for all of us. Good to see them dividing tasks and giving feedback and achieving a balance.
I am surprised and grateful to find myself in such an idyllic state on Day 9.
 
And now a knee update, my PT is on vacation until July 21 and left her CPM at my house with instructions how I should use it. PT in the hospital used th CPM machine only on Day 1 and I stopped her at very low ROM numbers - 55 left/45 right. Started using the machine very conservatively the last three days starting at L65R60 15 min and moving in small steps to L73/R68 15 min. I feel only a very, very slight pressure at the max ROM and have not had any adverse reaction. Using the machine is quite relaxing. I am certainly not going to obsess about numbers, things are going so well. So my idea is that whatever the ROM numbers I am doing on the CPM, the movement is good for my circulation which will help to clean up all the bruising of the soft tissues.
@Celle @Josephine, your valued opinion ?
 
If you like the CPM machine, use it, but don't rush to increase the numbers. Above all, don't let it hurt your knees. Some people say that it helps their knees not to feel so stiff.

However, studies have shown that whether you use a CPM or not makes no difference to your eventual ROM.

It's so early in your recovery that really all the exercise your knees need is just walking to and from the bathroom and around the house a bit.

Your knees need to heal and lose some of their external and internal swelling before you will see a big increase in ROM numbers.
It's not exercising that gets you your ROM - it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your ROM is there right from the start, just waiting for all that to happen, so it can show itself. The best way you can help your knees is by giving them plenty of rest, ice and elevation.

Don't worry about your PT being on vacation. My surgeon doesn't allow any formal PT for the first month after a knee replacement. He says that month is the start of healing time. His patients all do well and he hasn't had to do a manipulation to help with ROM for the last 4 years.
 
I can so relate to your philosophic waning. My TKR last summer was my first surgery, first time in the hospital, first time having something serious to recover from. And oddly and very unexpectedly, it was life-transforming. I was touched so deeply by the love and support I received, both from the people I know best in the world, and the people (like nurses, PTs, etc) whom I only just met briefly. It was so affirming, and reinforces the notion that while we are indeed alone in some respects, we are not alone in the world in so many ways.

As I'm dreading my quickly-approaching surgery date, your post reminded me about the aspects of the TKR that were absolutely wonderful.
 
Saber applying some healing purrs

nensi.jpg
 
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I am so stubborn! I have read Celle's words over and over again concerning pain meds and there I was, yesterday, stretching the hours between paracetamol ! And yeah I paid for it, luckily it was small change: just achy and took longer to fall back asleep. Been there, done that (now), don't need to do that again !


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