Bilateral TKR New life with new knees at 85!

[Josephine]

Good for him! All looking good with the one exception of that hospital recliner - a perfect example of how NOT to rest a leg with the feet hanging off the end of the leg flap which means that the calves are compressed - a perfect hazard for blood clots. Just saying ..... Amazing how a hospital can get things so wrong!

But @Lmalm53 I had to resize your images. They are always better to view when smaller and can be seen at a glance. They were around 1200pixels in width and I resized them to 400! Also your videos aren't showing up, I suspect because you copied them from Facebook and this system is only compatible with YouTube vids.

 

[Lmalm53]

Thanks Josephine for the tip about the image sizes. I will make sure to resize them next time. Sorry the videos don't show up. I used the URL link from Facebook because it indicated anyone could see the link even if they don't have a Facebook account. I know the video won't work without Flash on the browser especially on Apple devices like iPhones and iPads but hoped regular PCs could play it. Guess I will just stick to photos.

 

[bottomshollow]

Hope you and yours have had a wonderful Christmas holiday with lots of family fellowship and sharing of gifts and lots of good food to eat.


I’ll be looking for you at the BoneSmart annual New Year’s Party. It’s been a very eventful year for most of us---and will be a very eventful year coming up for others of us looking forward to surgery in the new year.


Remember to bring food and drink to share---and pictures are always appreciated and loads of fun to share.


SEE YOU AT THE PARTY!!!!!

bottomshollow

 

[Lmalm53]

Yesterday was my dad's 6 week post-op checkup with the surgeon. Dad walked in from the parking lot and down several long hallways using only his cane. The doctor was very happy with dad's progress and range of flexion...118 degrees in the right knee and 113 in the left. He gave dad permission to start driving if he likes. His incisions have healed up very well and the X-rays of his new knees show all is well with the prostheses.

While we are of course very happy with dad's progress, we don't want to mislead others into thinking his journey has been without any pain or frustration. We have actually had a fair share of that! My dad started out being very aggressive with his therapy and by around week 3 he had a total crash and burn. He pushed himself so hard that the degree of pain, inflammation and swelling set him back a good week or more. It took quite some time for dad to understand that he made more progress when he listened to his knees and backed off the endless exercise. Slowly we were able to get dad into a better pain management schedule and more frequent periods of rest, elevation and icing.

Dad also had to readjust his expectations for when he would be able to get back to his farm duties. He quickly realized that the recovery process would take much longer than he first thought. Even though he is further along in terms of range of motion, he continues to experience significant stiffness and soreness. It is frustrating for him to be totally pain free immediately after resting with legs elevated and iced, only to have the stiffness and soreness return after sitting or standing just 15-20 min. The stationary bike helps to loosen things up again but still not for long enough.

Dad completed a 4 week/12 visit Home Health physical therapy session and now has just started a 6 week Outpatient physical therapy program. He will have another follow up appt with the surgeon the first week of March, which is also the week of his 86th birthday. I expect dad will be heading back to his farm soon after that, but hopefully by then he will be able to manage on his own and slowly return to his farm duties.

I am attaching a photo of dad's new knees...! We found out that his left kneecap was in such terrible shape it had to be replaced but the surgeon was able to leave his original right kneecap in place. Prior to surgery his right knee was the "good" knee and the left was in the worst shape. Now the right knee gives him the most discomfort and stiffness even though it has the better flexion! Go figure!

In spite of dad's frustrations with the slow process of healing, the surgeon has assured him he is doing just fine and he has every reason to believe that dad will achieve his goal of returning to independent life working his farm!

P.S. I just had to add a photo of my dad charging his dead car battery after a brutal cold spell we had with his car sitting in our driveway. Cold weather, Sore knees, walker and all could not prevent him from "taking care of business" !


I think I figured out how to upload video to YouTube so let's see if I can link a couple videos of dad here also.

 

[1ELISEA]

Yesterday was my dad's 6 week post-op checkup with the surgeon.

W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L!
His gait and ease of walking are truly amazing for such young knees. And that video of him on the bike at 5 weeks leaves me speechless!

Whether 35, 55, 75 or 85 years old, patience is not a strong suit for those recovering from this surgery. The account of trying to do too much too soon is very common (cough cough yes, me too).

Tell him great job, and his new knees will still need lots of ice, elevation and patience if he can fit it into his busy schedule on the farm!

Thank you for sharing his progress, especially in the photos and videos, please keep sharing.

And please let him know he has online fans following his recovery.

 

[Lmalm53]

Dad continues to make progress and in fact is commenting more often about how much better his knees feel at times. He routinely walks out to our mailbox on the street every day and often reports he is able to do so without pain! Dad took his car for a spin in our subdivision and did pretty well, although he has a little trouble adjusting the gas with his foot on the pedal. We are going to do more practice driving when warmer weather stays around long enough.

Dad continues to exercise every day in between rest periods and is still working on going up and down stairs. We go to outpatient therapy on Mondays and Fridays. At today's therapy visit the therapist put dad through his paces to get him stretched out and limbered up as much as possible. Then she measured the extension and flexion range of both his knees. She was very happy with dad's progress in the 2 weeks she has been working with him.

Dad's measurements today showed that he had 114 degrees ACTIVE ROM on the Right knee and 116 degrees on the Left. With the therapist pushing his legs, he had 127 degrees PASSIVE ROM on the Right and 125 degrees on the Left. The therapist has every expectation that dad will get his ACTIVE ROM up to 120 degrees or greater as his healing progresses.

Dad's extension is already down to zero(0) on his Left leg and he is only 2 degrees from zero (0) on the right leg. So he is getting both legs pretty straight on his own power. We are both so grateful that Dad's post-op course has been as positive as it has been to this point. We know there is still more healing and work ahead but feel dad has gained a significant amount of functionality already.

As they say, a picture is worth a 1000 words! Here is a photo of dad holding his feet back as far as he can while sitting in a chair. That knee flexion looks pretty good for not quite 8 weeks out from surgery! ( He said "take the picture fast...this is hard work!").

 

[kneeper]

Your dad's doing great!