I have been meaning to check in here for so long.... In some ways I can't believe it's been nine months since I was last on this board, and in other ways it feels like it has been much longer than coming up on 16 months since my TKR. I had to start a new thread cause my old one wouldn't let me post on it. So I'm sorry that this post doesn't contain my "history" for those who don't remember me.
At almost 16 months out (surgery was 9/27/11) I would say I am very used to my new knee. That's probably why it seems longer to me than 16 months. It's hard to remember not having this knee. I am finally (like in the last two weeks or so) not taking any kind of medication in relation to my knee. At the one year point I was still taking 15 mg of Mobic every day. So in the last four months I have weaned myself down from 15 mg to 7.5 mg. From there I switched to two Advil and two 500 mg Tylenol in the morning and at bedtime. From there I dropped the night time dose. After that I dropped the Tylenol and was just taking two Advil every morning. Next I dropped to one Advil in the morning, and then finally to nothing. I would say that my knee still definitely feels better if I am taking some kind of anti-inflammatory, but I am tired of taking pills.
I do everything that I was doing prior to surgery--walk about two miles every morning with my dog. I do the elliptical at the gym for 45 minutes at least three days a week, and I take a weight training class at least twice a week. I do have to modify a few things in the weights class cause I still am not comfortable kneeling on my knee. I still wear my Zensa compression sleeve whenever I workout. I still love that thing!
At my one year follow up appointment with my OS, my femur fracture was not evident on the X-ray at all for the very first time. We actually talked about my hardware for once instead of the fracture! The plan from this point out is to see my OS every two years unless I have a problem.
My range of motion is great--0 to probably about 125 I would guess. Looking back, I think I may have gotten that ROM eventually, but I am still glad that I went the MUA route. I so desperately needed that boost at that point to feel like I was finally making progress. In hindsight, I would still do it again.
So I guess my overall assessment at 16 months out is that my knee is functional. Does it give me problems? Yes. It still hurts when I stand up after sitting for a while. My husband tells me that I limp at times although I'm not aware of doing that. I sometimes have pain going up stairs. I still also feel somewhat off balance, especially on the stairs so going up or down stairs with my hands full still scares me. I like to be holding on to something! So even though my knee is functional, all of these little issues really make me feel like I've aged quite a bit in the last 16 months. Before the surgery I kind of just kept going no matter what my knee felt like, but that's not really possible now. My knee kind of still runs the show!
I hope this post isn't a discouragement for anyone either considering TKR or in the early stages of recovery. We're all different, and no two recoveries are ever the same. I just want to be honest about what this has been like for me and my recovery. I'm used to living with my knee now so it really isn't that big a deal. It just isn't what I expected it to be. Who knows, maybe I will still see improvement over time. Maybe one day I'll actually forget I ever had it done! That's my goal!
Take care y'all. I hope everyone from back in the fall of 2011 is doing well and out living life!
Niki
United States
to hear how well you are doing. Glad the fx is healed, and you continue to recover. Being injured during or after TKR can really slow down the healing process. There are still several members from 2011 posting who are also on the slow train to recovery. Update when you can.
