TKR New Year, New Knee - Jan. 3, 2017<

update for my left knee history.. So, I cancelled my GP visit - I had emailed my OS to give him a 7 week Gabapentin update and I mentioned the allergy testing. He thought it would be good if he saw me before any testing. He was booking a month out, but his staff got me in a week later... I went today:

I "stood" in his office waiting for him instead of sitting so that he could really get a look at my knees after standing - swelling. Showed him how they didn't look all that bad on the front, because all the swelling sits in the back... He manipulated the leg, knee, etc... nothing hurt.
He doesn't think too much of the allergy skin patch testing, but said it could be done - I asked about the blood testing and he said I would need to ask the allergist that. He thinks it's highly unlikely that I'm having a reaction (I'll table those thoughts for now).
He talked about using the Graston technique at PT (He didn't use the name, but I had read on it)...said I would get worse before I get better, but that it is a good technique for soft tissues.
He talked about taking a low dose cortisone to reduce the inflammation. He does not want to inject into a TKR because he just doesn't want to take that chance of infection on a perfectly good knee. :)
So...
I will be taking 5 mg of Prednisone and will see him in a month (along with the Gabapentin). If I still am having issues, I will go to PT and get the Graston technique performed.

The spot that occasionally pops/snaps (I had it happen this morning while I was pressing on the sore spot straightening and bending my knee - it was loud! Usually it only happens in the pool under water lol) is my medial "hamstring". I would never have thought that, but it's after it has split and comes up to your knee.
The spot on the lower lateral side, that has been sore all along - he said often times there is a little scar tissue that develops there and the tendons rub over it. He's not into surgically removing it as it often comes back. He feels it will settle down with time.

While I was waiting a lady came out of the office with a 1 yr. young TKR having issues - I asked who she just saw? My OS! So she was coming to my OS for her 2nd opinion - That made me feel good.
 
The spot on the lower lateral side, that has been sore all along - he said often times there is a little scar tissue that develops there and the tendons rub over it. He's not into surgically removing it as it often comes back. He feels it will settle down with time.
That’s our spot! So if my surgeon says the same thing, that will be good, I guess. But then it seems almost all surgeon’s and PTs blame everything on scar tissue.

I have no interest in that Graston technique. For me, I feel bad enough, I would be afraid it would make mine worse and keep it that way. If it’s a soft tissue issue won’t time heal it?
 
@Jockette When is your appointment? I saw one of the PT's doing this technique to the bottom of someone's foot when I was at PT last year - all I kept thinking was... I'm so ticklish, there is no way I could handle it. I think it would feel good on my hamstring though. Like, pain in a good way... lol. I also think my soft tissue will heal on its own.. It's interesting that the lower lateral pained area is exactly the same spot where I am still numb on the surface. My OS mentioned yesterday that we're trying to move mother nature a little along the way - well yes! - She's had 14 months now lol!!
 
I still have mild zingers in the same numb area and it's tender to push on it. I guess we all three have the problem area, though I consider mine just a little distraction. Do you experience zingers in that area?
 
I do not experience zingers in that spot, just that hunk of wood jabbing into me feeling. :tantrum:
 
I think I was feeling zingers in that spot @sistersinhim until I started taking the Gabapentin. I say bring on all the zingers in that spot because on the surface, it's still my only numb area and zingers to me could be nerves attaching. I remember Josephine saying she had some attach 5 years later. My spot is tender to press on and my knee-twin, locally, has the same spot.
 
@Jockette I really hate that you have the hunk of wood feeling as I would much more like to hear you say it's a soft sponge like feeling. :console2:
 
It looks like a swollen spot, it always has, since day 1, but my other knee has a similar looking spot that doesn’t bother me because on that knee it’s normal. That other knee has never had surgery and I don’t expect to ever agree to having surgery on it. It’s been a happy camper since this surgery a year ago, thankfully.
 
@jaschembra , @phrog and whoever else is contemplating metal allergy testing. The test that Jamie mentioned is the one I had done prior to my replacement. My insurance didn’t cover it, but they sent me an itemized bill and I was able to obtain a claim form from my insurance company and filed a claim and my payment went towards my deductible.
 
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Thank you, jboles. I have already bought it and I'm just waiting for my PCP to draw the blood for me next week. I think I read that if I get a prescription from him, that Medicare will cover it.
 
As far as numb, I just felt That Spot, and it is not numb and if I press on it I don’t feel anything as a result of pressing on it. I just touched my whole knee :gaah: and I don’t notice any numb feeling. The only time I feel numb-ish is when I shave.

I don’t like touching my knee, it feels like something inside (patella?) is wiggly. This is why I rarely put lotion on it.

My appointment is on the 13 th, one week from today.
 
My spot is tender to press on and my knee-twin, locally, has the same spot.

I have the exact same painful, tender and totally numb spot! Very annoying. I also still have the crunchy soreness at the very front of my kneecap as well. Coming up on a year in 2 weeks :-(
 
So, not as rare as I thought!
 
@flyaway79 I still have that too... I think these are all little tiny things about a TKR that those of us who pay attention to all the little things find, realize, and then just need to not focus on. That's the best way I have to deal with them. Of course, with the hopes that those feelings will eventually fade away with time. For example - yesterday at the pool, I laid my knee-twins hand on my knee and said "feel this" as I bent and straightened. She said, mine doesn't do that. I said, it's normal, I know - but it's just weird - it's the mechanics of the prosthetic. So she proceeds to lay her hand on her knee and bends/straightens and voila! She feels the same thing - and was shocked at how strange it felt. So, here was someone who never knew until I pointed it out - and then I felt kinda bad that I opened her eyes to something weird about her knee. :)

@jboles when my annual blood work is due in April, if I'm still having issues, I plan on asking my GP for the script to get the blood work and I will be using the company in Chicago just like you and @sistersinhim have/are doing and several others, I'm sure.

@Jockette I don't think rare at all. If you have an overall sensitive body, you will have a high level of relief at your OS 1 year appointment when he takes those x-rays and sees that everything is okay with the hardware. At least, that's what I'm hoping for you.
 
I also have the weird feeling on the lateral side (I just put my hands there and bent and straightened a few times jaschembra), along with the still quite large numb patch, and of course the ever-present clicking, but no pain aside from some medial tendonitis. I'm sorry to hear that some of you still have quite a bit of discomfort. I never had much of an issue with zingers but occasionally get one now which I hope means that those nerves are trying to do something in there. I think that if you decide to get the testing done it will ease your mind some.
 
Using the styrofoam roller on my hamstring, medial hamstring and lateral hamstring has made the popping/movement of that muscle on the medial side - stop. :) (Knock on wood) I've been rolling it for 2 1/2 weeks and it hasn't happened once. I will continue. I've been rolling the IT band for quite awhile and it's much easier now. Now if I could only get the lower lateral area to stop being a pain...and the muscles to stop getting tight and gripping of the back of my knee when I've been up and around for more than an hour.... sometimes that grip still goes into the top of my calf.

I've been working on making the TKR my dominant leg - up with the "good" (TKR), down with the "bad" (natural knee) and it's coming along. I just tell myself that it's the strongest joint and it will do it. Plus, my other knee does truly need to be the slacker. Coming down stairs, it's really being a pain. My TKR feels good coming down stairs.
 
Can I knock on wood too to lend a hand? The styrofoam roller seems to be doing good work! The trick to getting those back of the knee muscles to loosen might well be walking and doing the stairs to get them back to full strength and flexibility. Making your left knee the “good” knee is brilliant. It needs to be done. Maybe the promotion will inspire it to better performance. :)
 
I've been working on making the TKR my dominant leg - up with the "good" (TKR), down with the "bad" (natural knee) and it's coming along.
I've been trying to do that myself. It's so easy to forget that my new knee is nice and strong now. And that the pain is much less than it was before my tkr to walk on. It's strange though, I found it easier to go down with my new knee bending than going back up with it leading. That must mean I need more strength in it!
 
@SusieShoes I do think that strength has something to do with the muscle/tendons in the back (and coming along the sides). Every time I have been in PT, they have measured my strength and each time, my hamstring had none. Why they didn't work on that, I'm not sure. However, I'm slowly working on it now. I put zero weight on the machine at the gym and a couple times a week, I do a few reps - it feels so funky all across the front/lower of my knee yet I'm working the hamstring. My OS also told me the elliptical would help. I can now do 10 min. 5 min. used to be hard. I did 15 min. last week but felt my thigh/quad for 2 days. This week with 10 min. nothing hurt. (That day I did 10 min. on the elliptical, I also swam just shy of 1/2 mile! - I was very proud).
Loved your comment about the TKR getting a promotion. I LOL :heehee:
 
@sistersinhim I was just the opposite of you with the TKR. Just in the last month or two going down with the bend has felt better. I was going up comfortably with it for a few months.

Need to go get the remainder of my stationary bike ride in... 10 min this morning. Need 20 more for my day. It's cool and wet and the knees aren't really liking the day. :(
 

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