Revision TKR Never give up, keep trying, don't settle - that's me, Bonnie

[RunA42K]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Most of the comments that I have gotten at the store are...Wow are sure are getting around good for 7 weeks, then the next week same thing, Wow you sure are moving around well for only 8 weeks! Some say...I have been putting off having this done, or my wife, husband, mother in law, etc., need this done but are afraid...wait till I tell them how you are doing! This week I also visited the high school kids I have driven for several years on my school bus and today it was the elementary school children. It was so emotionally uplifting for me to have soooo many hugs from the kids old and young telling me how they have missed me and wanting me to come back! Only 3 more school days left here in Houston. I just told them I had to wait till my knee was all better! Didn't want to say that I dislike my administrative supervisors so much that I don't want to go back. Like I had said before, I love the kids but some adults ruin it. Still, 8 weeks and 3 days post op now, never have they called to ask how I am doing, no card, no nothing! I guess it was kind of a closure day for me the last two days. My main job now is PT till I get that ROM to at least 130 and riding my bike to the running store to work part time 2-3 mornings a week! Guess I am rambling on too much, just can't believe I worked somewhere for 26 years and they don't care about me. What is really important is my health, my family and my two sweet rescues Lucy and Gracie!

Bonnie
RTKR 3/28/11

 

[Josephine]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Bonnie, your posts are so uplifting! Thank you!

 

[jerseychick]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Well Bonnie, your friends at BoneSmart care about you...forget about your old job. It's terrible that they didn't even call to find out how you are. Things happen for a reason and now you are working and doing something that you love at the store. It's a whole new chapter in your life and I think it is wonderful!:yes 4:

 

[old goat]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Bonnie, I kinda expect this too. I think so many get too busy and in their own ruts so to speak. What matters is my close family, pets, and that I keep my attitude in the right place. I admire you. Kids are so honest and fresh with their feelings. (even teenagers!) They care, and that matters the most!

 

[Jamie]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

What sparkling posts, Bonnie. You are doing so well and I can just feel the smiles in your words.

 

[RunA42K]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Jamie, you always come across the same way too, sparkling, kind and uplifting!
Today first thing out of bed I could come down the stairs every other one at a 45 degree angle, then hopped on my bike (set up in the house) and was able to pedal! That is progress for me!

Bonnie
RTKR 3/28/11

 

[old goat]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Bonnie I think you are doing great! Thanks for your great example! :wubroses::wow2::wow2:

 

[Jamie]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Thanks, Bonnie! You are a sweetie......it's sure fun to share in your happiness.

 

[RunA42K]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Ok...nit doing as great as it sounds, the past several days...really ever since I have been peddling the bike I have something that hurts, like I tendon or ligament. I had my right knee done so this is the left side of my right knee down lower than my knee cap. My PT says that this is where 3 different tendons/ligaments meet. To me it feels like a rubber and catching on something and pinching me. It is also in an area where not to much sift tissue work has been done as I still have one scab that just does not want to go away yet. I have found that if I make an exaggerated walking step bending the knee almost looking like marching it does not pinch me as it does if I walk normal. It is tender to the touch in the pinch area, almost like it is bruised inside. I know i have been on my feet a lot mire the last couple of weeks...over use? Last night I slept with my knee area wrapped in an ACE to help keep swelling down. Any ideas anyone? Scar tissue? Irritated soft tissues? Anyone else have something like this?

Bonnie
RTKR 3/28/11

 

[RunA42K]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Can't find the edit in this new format...I have lots of typos above, I hope you can figure out what I am talking about. I do not type as well with one finger on this iPad!

Bonnie
RTKR 3/28/11

 

[Josephine]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Editing privileges expire after 48hrs, Bonnie.

And what you have is a per anserinus issue - as usual we have an article pes anserinus spasm and exercises :wink1:

 

[RunA42K]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Oh thank you so much Jo, now I know just what it is...I have been worrying if there was something wrong with my new knee. I sent an e-mail off to my PT, letting him know how this was still bothering me so he could be thinking about what to do with me when I see him on Tuesday. Do you think I should call my OS as well? It feels achey and throbbing just sitting here with my feet up in the recliner.

As for the editing...I had just written the post, I am thinking now that the version I get on iPad won't let me edit because it will not let me do smilies either!

Thank you again...
Bonnie
RTKR 3/28/11

 

[Josephine]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

It's quite a common condition and since your PT has it in hand, I doubt you need to bother your OS just yet.

 

[zjrog]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Bonnie, if thats the same thing I was feeling, that whole area was rather "agitated" during the surgery. In my case, I was told by my PT and my OS's PA that it would be some time for that area to heal and re-stretch. Since my old knee had gone bone on bone, the muscle and tendon were stretched a bit with the new knee. Was worst about weeks 8-12. Don't notice it now. Hope that helps!

 

[RunA42K]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Zjrog,
I guess I really started being bothered by this at about 8 weeks. Tomorrow 5/30 I will be 9 weeks. After Josephine put a name to it for me I was able to read up on it today. I e-mailed my PT and got a reply late this afternoon and he basically told me what Josephine said and that we will get to work on it. He also mentioned a treatment that I read about called iontophoresis, where the electrically charge the meds through your skin to the affected area. I spent most of the day outside by or in my pool (the water is 88 degrees now, heated by the Texas sun) I did some water jogging today but when dry and not in the pool I kept it wrapped in an ACE, it helps a little. Icing now, it hurts to walk, unless I walk with a straight leg...and here I should be bending my knee...I guess this is my first set back!

Bonnie
RTKR 3/28/11

 

[kneeworn]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Bonnie I'm glad you are making progress with your knee. Hopefully the tendons thing resolves soon. I think our whole leg must go crazy trying to figure out how to function with this new hardware. Seems like everyday I find a new sore spot but I try not to worry if my PT isn't worried.

I know it hurts about your coworkers. Luckily I have had a few reach out to me but I work in a large area with lots of folks. I think people sometimes feel they may be bothering you or calling at a bad time so they don't call. But having been on this side of the getting well I know it means a lot. I will try to remember that when others are there. Anyway your buddies here care about you and I'm glad to see your great progress!

Donna
LTKR 12/06/2010
Left knee manipulated 05/13/2011

 

[RunA42K]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Hi Donna!

I have my group of friends from work that I still see and talk to. They visited in the hospital, came by at home, sent me cards and flowers, took me out to lunch. They are really the only ones that matter. It is the supervisors/directors at work who I have not heard from. It really is not just me, they just are an insensitive few and most likey treat everyone this way. Nonetheless, I don't want to work for them anymore. And...if the truth be known, I am tired of getting up at 4:15 am for 26 years. Working just part time now at something I have a great interest in and being fortunate enough to ride my bike to work is pretty darn good I would say. (except i have not been able to ride to work yet, have to get to riding better before i get out on the road) My friends will always be my friends!

Now tell me about your MUA, how long post op did you have it? What was your ROM prior to the MUA? What is your ROM now? Did it hurt? I am sure you have posted about it before, and I do try to read through many of the postings, but some days if I have too many appts, work, PT, I don't get to read it all.

Bonnie
RTKR 3/28/11

 

[kneeworn]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Bonnie I say amen to not getting up at 4:15 every morning. That's when I get up too except this week it will be more like 3:45 in order to get my morning mini PT in to protect the ROM I got with the MUA.

As for the MUA I had my total 12/06/2010. I had reached a plateau of 125 which I stayed at for two months. However realistically I only had about 90 since I only saw the 125 in PT after working 1 1/2 hours and with the assistance of the therapists pushing on the knee. Now I am in the third week of 4 sessions a day to keep things from sticking back down. I'm so glad I did it as the adhesions were from the inner aspect of the knee joint to my mid thigh. I could tell by the soreness there when I woke up. I don't think I could have broken through on my own. I have been posting my progress in my thread (How long can you wait for an MUA.)

Glad to hear you do have a good group of friends at work. I understand that sometimes management is not always as emotionally supportive as you would like. However if you love the new job you have and the door is open and feasible for your needs then go for it. Life is too short to be trapped in a job you dislike.

Have a super day.

Donna
LTKR 12/06/2010
Left knee manipulated 05/13/2011

 

[zjrog]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

Bonnie I'm glad to hear you and your PT have an action plan and I really hope its something simple and easy to heal. I'm horrible with medical terms, but what I had wasn't the same as what you are going through.

Friends can't be replaced. And the ones that visit in the hospital and bring you things when you don't ask are the best.

 

[RunA42K]

Re: I am on the other side now, friends!

:hate-shocked:Something that I never told you guys about...I was in the hospital March 28, came home on March 31. On April 1th I noticed that there was something wrong with my vision in my right eye. No, this was not an April Fools joke! Anyway, I have a very good friend who is an eye doctor so I sent her a text and told her what as going on with my eye as best as I could describe it. It was like a had a big white streak in my vision to the lower vision of my sight. She came to visit, bring me flowers and a magazine and she examined me as best as she could in my house, but I needed to be in the office for a real exam. She was going out of town the next week but set me up with her boss who is an MD for eyes. My son had the day off work and I was 8 days post op. He drove me into town as uncomfortable as I was leaving the house just 8 days after surgery. Anyway I got to the office using the walker wearing the anti embolism socks and I sat in the waiting room miserable...waiting and waiting and waiting. My friend had typed into my appt notes on the computer that I had just had major surgery and I should not be made to wait. Well, who cares right? Finally my son went up to ask when I would be seen that it was very hard for me to wait. They made him wait to find out an answer. In the meantime, I could not take it any longer...I told my son I had to leave, was in pain, could not take being there anymore and we left. I didn't go back for almost a month, until I could drive myself.

This is what I learned. I was right...there was something wrong with my vision. After 3 doctor checking me and doing tests, they all agreed that I had, had a blood clot or a particle of some sort, most likely related to my surgery. It cut off blood and oxygen to my right eye for however long and made me lose vision in a part of my eye. Thankfully it was not an artery to my central vision or I would have completely lost sight in my right eye.

This is how I explain it to people. If you and I were sitting at the dinner table eating and looking straight across the table talking to each other we can still see our dinner plate on the table without looking at it, when I am looking straight at you I still see my plate but part of it is missing, at an area on a clock that could be 5:00. All doctors thought that it was due to my surgery but they wanted to be sure, so...

I had to first go for ultra sound to check for blot clots in my legs, that came back ok. Then an ultra sound on my arteries in arms, legs, and down to my toes to makes sure my blood was flowing properly throughout my body. That came back ok. I was sent to a neurologist who ordered extensive blood work, they took about 14 vials of blood from me.

On this past Friday I was to see the Retina Specialist again which I did and was supposed to see the Neurologist again to get blood results and and have a ultra sound on my carotid artery. During my Retina Specialist appointment the Neurologist office called to cancel and reschedule. Now I do not see him until June 10 when I will have the carotid artery checked and get results of my blood work. They are trying to make sure that the blood clot was indeed due to my surgery and not something else going on that we do not know about. My OS told me that only once before he had a patient, a male who developed a problem with his Retina during TKR.

So besides PT, resting, icing, and a couple mornings of work, I have been very busy driving across Houston to go to these appointments and still I am not done. I was disappointed on Friday that the Neurologist rescheduled, because I just wanted to be done with all of this. The Retina Specialist said that I did a little better on my vision test on Friday and that I still may get some of that vision back, can't be totally sure but it will take 6 months or so to find out. I go see him again in 6 weeks.

I just thought I would put this info out there for anyone who has surgery and notices anything different in their vision afterwards. I am told that it is very race, but just the same...it did happen to me. I was also told that it would not have made any difference had I seen the doctor at that first appointment 8 days post op, the damage was already done. It is just a wait and see now, on the vision and after June 10, I will get all of my test results to know that it was just a rare fluke in surgery and nothing else.