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

Pumpkln said:
Bonnie,
Slow and steady wins the prize, keep up the good resting, and great results!:yay:
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Lazy rainy morning here in the Houston area, thank goodness it finally warmed up to 57 degrees. We had a low of 19 two nights this week, very unusual for this area, I'm hoping all my landscaping plants didn't die. Time will tell.

So it is the perfect morning to be lazy. Still in PJ's, back under the covers, leg propped up on a pillow and icing first front of knee then back of knee while I have my coffee. I went back in time for a bit and re read some of my thread from February 2012 when my husband was so sick. I got so many wonderful comments, thoughts and prayers from so many on Bonesmart and some of you are still here now. It reminded me of what a wonderful caring family I have here on Bonesmart. You people are the BEST!!!
 
I was able to do step ups yesterday with one riser. That is progress! I had wanted to go to the gym today to work on upper body and core, but I decided I'd take a full rest day. On my bed ALL DAY LONG :thud: With wedge pillow, knee above the heart, iced on and off all day. Put on a compression sleeve while I am not icing. I am going crazy, I am so bored. There was not much I could do because I was trying to keep my upper body low. I have a few projects that I could have done sitting, but I did nothing! Na da! Probably my husband will insist I do the same tomorrow. But I was wondering @Josephine if I could take a little walk around the block? We are going to have a nice weekend with 70's and sun!
 
How long is your block?
Texas is big and I imagine, the blocks are big there.
 
Ummm @Pumpkln I live at the corner of a very long cul de sac, so I can't really walk around my block, I'd have to walk around someone else's block...but living on the corner I'm pretty close to someone else's block...
 
Bonnie, I think you should be walking, maybe not all around the block the first time, maybe half a block & back,and gradualy work up to going further. Lying around all day is not the best, I would take a small walk every couple hours or so, first around the house or around the yard, down the driveway or so.
I'm not Josephine, but that is what I did, my PT told me the frequency was more important than the distance, just to keep the knee moving but not overdueing.
 
Thanks @Oldie that's just what I wanted to hear. After my scar tissue surgery, after several weeks my Physical Therapist told me to get out and walk and use my knee. I know it's not anywhere near the same surgery...but as we know it didn't do me any good anyway.
 
My 2 cents. walking is a good idea. While I was in skilled nursing for 12 days, PT walked with me a little every day. Not much at all distance whys but regular walking. Later, after I was able to get a rotation on the bike I did biking some days and a little walking on others. What surprised me was that the walking made my knee sore and the biking didn't. So I just wanted to let you know that based on my limited experience you may have some mild soreness and swelling after walking but I think this is normal and overtime I was able to walk further and the swelling reaction slowly diminished.
 
Bonnie,
We have a short block that is 10 minutes, the long block is a over a half hour walk, up and down hills. Just wanted to be sure your block was not like my long walk.
Easy does it with your activity,
 
Well @Pumpkln I can tell you that we have no hills. Texas is flat! I don't think it would take me 30 minutes, but my block would probably be 5 to 7 minutes. The other block for probably 20 minutes...but flat.
 
I know you're antsy, Bonnie....but do go slow. Maybe just 10-15 minutes the first time and see how you do. Then get yourself a chair and plop down outside to enjoy the weather.
 
Bonnie, yes it's a beautiful day and I highly recommend the walk, just don't go too far because you have to get back. I set myself back a little the other day. I hadn't been on a recumbent bike since I had the quad muscle pull and it set me back every time. Well, the other day, I went to the gym and walked for 15 minutes on the treadmill, which was fine, and then I got on the bike and rode at level 2 for 15 minutes. Now my knee and surrounding soft tissue is hurting. I thought maybe I had strengthened enough to help support the loose PCL, Hopefully, this is just temporary and when I go to the dr. it will be all good, and no revision will be required. Just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, we're going on a cruise in two weeks, so I'm sure I will be putting my leg to the test.

Have you put in your pool yet? It would be a lovely day just to sit outside and enjoy the weather.

:flwrysmile:
 
RunA42K said:
There was not much I could do because I was trying to keep my upper body low. I have a few projects that I could have done sitting
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:scratch: Why do people think you have to have your upper body low or flat in order to effectively elevate the leg? That's not necessary. You can sit up, completely 'up', and still elevate well. Like this - this lady has her toes above her heart just fine!
[Bonesmart.org] Never give up, keep trying, don't settle - that's me, Bonnie


RunA42K said:
But I was wondering @Josephine if I could take a little walk around the block?
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absolutely! Don't over interpret the mantra to mean you shouldn't do anything at all. That's going to the other extreme. Did you not read this Activity progression for TKRs where it gives a very clear timetable of activity (obviously!) Just follow that and you should be fine.
 
Yes @Josephine, I have read that before and I just re read it again. So it looks like I can walk 20 minutes, so I'll get my hubby out to walk with me tomorrow. How often can I go walking like that?

Yesterday like I said I iced and elevated all day long, toes above my heart, but for some reason I thought it was knees above my heart. That's why I stayed so flat on my back. I would pull on a knee compression sleeve when I was not icing, but still elevating and slept in the compression sleeve. It all helped because when I woke up and started walking in the house my knee felt better. My PT had asked me if I was elevating with my feet above my heart (maybe I thought he said knees)??? Wondering why some of the swelling has not gone down. Knees or toes but nonetheless it helped.

After I took a shower today I just felt like I was bending my knee better. I thought I wonder if I am close to peddling my bike. It's set up on a trainer in the house so once I put my shoes on, I went into my bike/weight room. I remembered Josephine saying that she would rock the peddles backward and forward until finally one day she peddled. No, I didn't pedal today but I came very close to peddling a full rotation backwards. I just bet I can peddle next week.That was the best I'd been able to do in about a year. I did that for a bit and decided that I should not over do it because I wanted to go for a walk (which I never did today). I spent some time in the backyard with my dogs and GrandDog. I got out the pooper scooper and walked all over my backyard cleaning up. I was thrilled about how well I walked on grass.

Once I was back in the house and had my feet up for a bit, my husband came in and asked if I wanted to drive into town to go to our favorite pizza place. So we did that, a 60 mile round trip. For the first time in years sitting in that booth in the restaurant I felt normal, was not even thinking about my knee. After we got home I drove over to see my daughter, she lives less than 3 miles from me. She has stairs in her house (I no longer do since we moved in May) but anyway out of curiosity I wondered how I could do on the stairs. Holding the handrail I walked up the stairs very normal, going down not as easy, had to still hike my hip a bit but that is improving too. So no walking for me today I figured I'd done enough.
 
Bonnie, I used to take a kitchen timer with me on my walks. Set it for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, it's time to turn around and head back home! As my walking improved, I began to find that I could get further in the first 10 minutes.
 
Celle said:
Bonnie, I used to take a kitchen timer with me on my walks. Set it for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, it's time to turn around and head back home! As my walking improved, I began to find that I could get further in the first 10 minutes.
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That is a good idea. I have a lot of sport watches and I could set the watch timer to go off. Thanks for the good idea.:thankyou:
 
@turtle68 I am so sorry Dorothy that you've been hurting. Will you see the doctor before your cruise? If not, when do you see him next? Where is your cruise going to? I've never been on a cruise, instead we just fly to where we want to go which is usually Aruba and plop ourselves down on the beach after the 4.5 hours it takes to get there.

No, no swimming pool yet, we need to get more bids. We had 3 different builders out last summer but were not crazy about any of them. There just has been too much to do with my surgery, Christmas, etc. that we've really not given it a second thought. It is on our to do list though.
 
I'm glad things are going well, if slow, and I hope 2014 is a good one for you. I look
forward to reading about your cycling, walking, and whatever else you wish to do this year.
 
Hi Bonnie, my hospital physio on discharge told me to take short walks multiple times a day, for ten minutes a time with crutches, making sure I walked correctly. I used to walk up and down our hallway (our house is long and narrow) and I'd have a mirror at the end of it so at least one way I could watch how I was walking. I just checked my thread - I walked 1 kilometre, took 20 minutes, at 6 weeks post op. At 5 weeks I was riding the exercycle but first had to go back and forward for about two minutes before I could start riding properly and it was with the seat on its highest setting and tension on lowest.
 
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