Bilateral TKR Nothing is Going to Stop Me Now!

[Yorkimom]

@Threads , I am so happy to hear about your accomplishments. I'm so glad that my description helped you get down and up off the floor. It's a wonderful feeling!!!!!! You are on your way!!!!! Take. Anne

 

[Threads]

@ljrfrm - today is a down day. I didn't sleep well - not because of my legs - but because of the cough that came with "Doug Cold Lite". However, it's given me a reason to have my nose in a book. I want to swing by the rehab hospital on our way out to dinner to say goodbye to my final roommate who gets to go home to northern BC tomorrow. She'll be discharged by the time I go to my PT appointment. Hope today went well and your legs aren't screaming at you after a full day at work. One more day until the weekend!

 

[Threads]

@SuperSnapper - I should have asked you to bottle up some of your energy when you had all your marmalade apparatus out. I don't know how you do it! I'll bet they were happy to see you at your meeting!

 

[ljrfrm]

@Threads Sorry about the cough - that's no fun! Hope you had a good book!!

Busy but good day at work. The knees are fine until I try to stand up or go down stairs. They're achey now though - time to ice! Brrrrrr. Tomorrow is a full day of training - it will be hard to sit so long - hopefully I can find an aisle and head to the "bathroom" every now and then to stretch and move. Then it's weekend! And snow is coming again! Maybe a three day weekend??? One can hope!

 

[Threads]

@ljrfrm - go for the "weak bladder syndrome" so you get up and move as often as possible. Aisle seat, near the back - if possible.

We're just home from visiting my old roomie and saying good-by. We went straight from there to meet our youngest family for sushi. The twins are feeling superior because they turned 11 today ;-) - but I don't know where the time has gone. We sat in the restaurant for about 1 1/2 and my knees weren't happy with that.

I'm hoping for a long weekend for you - having my fingers crossed didn't help you last weekend, but they are warmed up to work for this weekend. Time for me to ice.

 

[SuperSnapper]

@Threads I think my energy levels are back to normal almost.

Hope the cough isn't too bad. That can make you very tired.

I made it to my camera club, got a lovely welcome back and was elected onto the Committee so I have a busy year ahead. Being naturally indolent, I really need motivating to get out and about so it will do me good. I can't stay here reading all the time.

Hope your day is better. We've got granddaughters coming for tea tonight( we say tea in Yorkshire but it's really dinner) . So it will be lively.

 

[ljrfrm]

@Threads Made it through the training. It was rough. I did get up and walk every now and then and take long "bathroom" trips. It was hard to because I had major insomnia last night (I know it was due to eating tons of candy before bed - not one of my finer moments). So, I finally fell asleep around 5 am to have the alarm go off at 6:15. So it was a long day - BUT, it was easier on my knees than I was afraid it would be.

Glad you got to see your roommate and say goodbye - great that they are finally going home! Also, Happy Birthday to the twins

 

[Threads]

@SuperSnapper - how great that you feel like you're energy levels are almost back to normal. Don't get overconfident and push yourself too hard. The reserves, I'd bet, are still low. We know what "tea" is and I hope you had fun with the girls over dinner. Isn't it a British expression and not just Yorkshire? I'm trying to remember back many, many years ago when I lived in Sheffield and London.

We take our 11 yr. old granddaughter shopping in a mega-mall tomorrow so she can spend her birthday money. We can't go until mid afternoon because her ballet doesn't finish until 1:30. So - the biggest mall, on a Saturday afternoon out shopping with the crowds! She is a very focused child - unlike her twin brother - so I suggested a list and I know (hope) she will be organized.

 

[Threads]

What a way to go into a day like that - 1 hour and 15 minutes proper sleep! I'm impressed you weren't sound asleep during part of it and glad your knees behaved. The anti-inflammatories seem to be helping, am I right? You are now into the weekend and - fingers crossed - it will be a long one for the pair of you (you and your recliner).

Today was a bit of a rough one for me. "Doug Cold Lite" is going in circles. It's back in my head so went to bed with a very drippy nose again, and had trouble sleeping. I did better than you did, by a long shot. I took an antihistamine today, so I wouldn't sneeze in everyone's face that I saw. It didn't help much. I'm now free of my regular trips to see my GP - no need now that I'm off oxy (except for an over the top time). We managed to have time to do a grocery run between doctor and physio, which is good. The bad thing is that marmalade called my name - two good British varieties @SuperSnapper!

I saw the PT next and have perfect extension in my left leg but still work to do on my right. She has given some excercises to do on the floor- I shouldn't have told I'd done that ;-) plus some for the pool. Most are to build strength. It was a good session, but I'm exhausted! I saw both my old OT and PT as I was leaving the building. They were happy to see me and how well I was doing. I was very happy to see them!

 

[ljrfrm]

That silly "Doug Cold Lite" needs to just go away!

I was feeling quite a bit better at the beginning of the week but towards the middle/end I started hurting like I was before the anti-inflammatories. So, because I wasn't feeling well, had only slept an hour, and in honor of my aching knees, I cancelled my appointment at the gym today. I'm taking a full week off - will just do my PT exercises for the tendons, and go to PT once. The rest will be rest, rest, rest. My massage appointment isn't until next weekend - she is at a conference this weekend. I also think he magic touch has worn off. Plus it is brrrr brrrr cold! I will definitely NOT be going to my son's outdoor soccer game tomorrow. Our forecasted big snow is now supposedly a rain storm, so I think I'm destined for a short weekend, and another full day of training on Monday. Hopefully I will at least sleep the night before.

Glad you got some new exercises from PT - I'm sure she loved your trick of getting up and down from the floor!

Now you all have me craving marmalade!

 

[SuperSnapper]

@Threads
Good morning!
Enjoy the marmalade! I've heard it may have cold curing properties too.
Yes, tea is quite commonly used to mean dinners till in lots of places but when I was small "dinner " meant lunch and in the evening we had tea and then we adopted "fancy southern ways " and it all changed.
Gosh, you are still working so hard with your exercises - you are going to be so ready for spring.
We had some new furniture made for us and it was fitted yesyerday so now I have a lovely oak desk to edit and print my photos at. Just need to set everything up on it today.
My grandson 4 said it was awesome, assumed it was for him and his brother to use as, "it's in our bedroom!" The one where they sleep when they stay. It is lovely though.
Hope you enjoy your shopping trip with your grandaughter. Our ten year old one who is very impressionable, went to a mosque yesterday with school and came home and told us she's going to become a Muslim. BTW she's an atheist too! Oh dear.

 

[Threads]

Granddaughter safely back at home. Busy weekend that tested me in several ways. We took her shopping at a mega-mall to spend her Christmas/birthday money. She is a very focused, just turned 11 year old girl and a joy to be with. She knew what she wanted, and even though she had never been in that mall before, knew the stores she wanted to look in. Three hours later (yes I said 3) we left the mall with a very happy girl. Nana wasn't quite as happy because we weren't able to find the right fit for the overalls she was looking for. She's tall and lanky. So, I walked around a mall for 3 hours yesterday and was quite pleased with myself (especially since I hate malls). She stayed overnight and we took her to her soccer game today - 1/2 hour practice plus 1 hour game, and I stood for the full 2 hours that took. I couldn't even come close to either of those before surgery! All we had to stand through was a little drizzle @ljrfrm - not the cold and snow/rain you would have had to put up with!

@SuperSnapper - your desk sounds wonderful and everyone needs their own space to work on their projects. My computer is in the basement but within easy reach of the colour printer I use. I don't normally print full sized photos. I make all our cards, so I'll find one of my photos I think that the person would like and print a copy of it to out on their card. It's fun doing it that way. Your's probably have to be more professional for display at the club, I would think. However, I really need to get out there with my camera - I took very few photos last year and I can't remember what photo I used for different folks. BTW - I love the sound of your granddaughter - so open to thinking about new ideas.

 

[SuperSnapper]

I am impressed with your efforts. Isn't it great to read how people are getting better and doing ordinary things that to us represent such a set of milestones? I am delighted to hear about how your survived not only the shopping trip and the soccer game. It's so lovely to do stuff like that with your grandchildren without always worrying about the knees and i hated the feeling that I had to be made allowances for.

BTW I hate malls too! Such grim places. I like little shops, individually owned and run but they are getting less and less.We have a big movement over here for buying local at the moment which is a great thing especially for food and meat but we try and adopt that for most stuff when we can. It's not always possible.

My desk is lovely but we were so tired after moving loads of books from upstairs to downstairs to put on our new bookcase that we still haven't set it up! I had about 20 trips up and down stairs in about 2 hours on Saturday ( not carrying more than a few books) and my knee was a bit achy but it seems to recover much more quickly and not swell much at all these days. I'm doing so much via ordinary activities that my exercises and done when I remember and that's not often but the gym does for that I guess.

Today I am going to try to do an hour's work in Oxfam, have lunch with a friend and then I have a meeting in the afternoon but I'll see what a feel about that cos I do have to drive home and don't want to push things too far.

My friend makes cards like you do and they are always very well received. It's a lovely idea. , so personal.

Have a good day with maybe space for a rest after your busy weekend

Big hug via the Pole

Mary x

 

[Threads]

@SuperSnapper - you are out and about with your day and I'm up and about with my RLS.

We shop as local as we can. The stores, the staff, but of course, not always the products - we don't have olive or orange trees. Actually, the 100 Mile Diet was started by a local young couple. We do our best to put by what we can in season. We are very close to the border and I have friends who cross into the U.S. every week to buy their groceries. They don't give a thought to our own dairy farmers, egg producers, farmers, etc. who are surviving and need to continue to do so, making a living that competes with other types of work so we can continue to produce our own food into the future. It's frustrating! However, our dollar is not worth $.80 of the U.S., so maybe some with think twice. I'm afraid it won't change my friends shopping patterns. I shouldn't pick up my iPad when I'm trying to distract myself in the middle of the night! Sorry about the rant!

Sounds like you are having a full, busy day. I should try to sleep a bit more - the alarm will be going off for the pool soon. Trust your knee isn't telling you off after all those flights of stairs.

 

[ljrfrm]

@Threads Amazing what you're able to do - great job!! As I have all boys, I don't think I've ever spent three hours total at the mall with them, LOL. I can't drag them there. I'm so glad you're able to spend time with her and get back to living your life. There's no way that I could stand two hours during soccer - I'm impressed!!

 

[Threads]

@ljrfrm - we have three sons too - I had to wait for grandchildren to get girls! However, I do remember walking through the mall with our youngest and his close friend. I didn't walk with them, but followed dutifully 10 paces behind (until my wallet was needed). I loved watching people's faces as they saw the two teenage boys - our son with a combination shaved head and a tall green Mohawk and his friend with a long, thick main of black hair. They were very "interesting" looking and people did a double take and took a wide berth of them. I just smiled to myself knowing that under that "look" they each needed to wear, were two sweet, kind, funny and intelligent teenage boys. Both have grown up to be responsible adults with families and have always had great creative talent in different forms.

Maybe your mall time will come someday. I had fun with our now 11 year old granddaughter (daughter of the Mohawk) and I'd do it again, but not too often!

 

[SuperSnapper]

@Threads Your bit about son and friend made me smile. I have two lovely sons and an equally lovely daughter. My older son has always been unconventional and now he's grown up and married with two daughters. We went through the weird hair dos, dubious looking but very decent friends stage too. But his unconventional style has morphed into mild eccentricity which I love. He trained as a lawyer, was earning loads but was not happy now he's a teacher, very dedicated to his profession. He writes History courses,textbooks and articles. He's become a wonderful dad. He moans like mad about how untidy his children are which causes much hilarity as his capacity for untidiness was legendary. It's lovely to see your own children become good parents and interesting, thoughtful people. My other two are wonderful too in different ways. It always amazes me how children brought up in the same way can be so totally different.

 

[ljrfrm]

I love watching my boys grow up and change over the years. They are all so different on the inside as well, but each one a pretty cool person!

Hope you're getting a good night sleep and the knees and RLS are cooperating with that plan!

 

[fiberlady]

Wow you have progressed nicely. I hope someday I will be able to stand for two hours. I am lucky if I could stand for 15 minutes and that was before surgery. Glad to see you were able to get in the van, just knowing you can do it is a major achievement.

You are a wonderful grandmother to spend three hours in a mall. I can barely spend 5 minutes before I am ready to leave. I got a good chuckle of the description of your son in the mall. I only had one child a son and he was always changing the way he looked, dyed his hair, let it grow long and he loved to shop. He doesn't now and hates to go into the stores, but I am sure he will be back in the stores now that he has a daughter of his own (which of course he adores and spoils).

I would love to see this video on how to get up off the floor. Can you provide a link to where it was. I was able to get up off the floor a year and a half after the last surgery. I have not tried to get down on the floor at all.

I hope your cold is getting better, nothing worse than adding a cold to our already sore bodies.

 

[Threads]

You wouldn't even know our boys were related, if you saw them walking down the street and they are very different personalities! But, get them in a room together and somehow they speak the same language that others wonder where they are going with their conversations. However, they know! I think the biggest eye opener for me was the birth of our fraternal twin grandchildren. Their parents were very determined not to gender stamp them. However, our granddaughter loved pink and when given a choice to choose something at a thrift store - chose a Barbie doll, much to her parents horror. She might have been about 4 at the time. Our grandson's main interest at that time was anything green, on wheels and made by John Deere. I learned then that you can't mold a personality - it is, what it is!

@ljrfrm and @fiberlady - yes I stood for two hours - but I had a cane. I had a cane in the mall as well. I'm sure I couldn't have done either without it. I didn't use a cane prior to surgery - maybe it would have helped me if I had!

Here's the link to the video. It works for me but I'm much farther out from surgery than you are @fiberlady so please take it easy.