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TKR Now two years post op and still recovering from nerve damage

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Those milestones are great victories in your winning the recovery battles here and there! Thanks for posting and sharing it will all of us! Your life is slowly, but surely---returning to normal! Isn't it great!
 
Wow! Best of luck with your meeting - that's such a great step back towards normality!

Don't let them lure you back into working full-time yet though - well, not unless there's a hefty pay rise involved ..............
 
Thanks for all the good wishes. I can't go back to work full time - hehehe coz I don't work fulltime. I can do a fair amount of their work from home as I have online access to their computer systems. So all good. I plan to go in a couple of hours, twice a week for the next 3 weeks, that is until after I've seen my surgeon on 16 Feb.
 
Good luck Margaret and a sign that life is getting back to normal for you!
 
Well, work went great yesterday. Managed two and a half hours with no tired feeling afterwards. In fact, having missed a set of exercises in the afternoon my knee felt better and not so stiff.

So, today I told the physio this and we've dropped the exercises down fom 4 times a day to twice a day, plus walking 1km a day and exercycle 15 mins once or twice a day.

She said there's a fine balance between too little and too much exercise and with me now getting around and doing more and now able to walk 1 km that I don't need to stretch everything so often as its happening naturally with daily living. She said I was probably now over exercising.

My ROM had dropped back to 100 from 105 but my extension has improved. Quad lag still an issue.
 
Margaret, you are doing really well for 7 weeks :thumb:. I too had quads that did not "lag", they just did not work for 3 months. :hissyfit: Mine was due to an infection and very bad swelling. I also experienced the "giving way". When my quads finally decided to join in, that stopped.

You are in the very early stages of recovery. All of the things you are noticing will work out in time. Patience is the game you have to play in this recovery, because it takes quite a lot of time to be healed. I am almost at 10 months and the band is gone, some stiffness and I walk great with quads firing away.:dancy:
 
Hi Margaret

That sounds like a good plan on the exercise front, you sound as if you have a good physio. How great for you that you are living your life in a more natural way. The advice from Mimi sounds spot on.
 
Five degrees is nothing. Don't worry about it.
It can be caused by minor differences in measuring technique.
 
Hi Margaret. Looks like you and I had our RTKR just one day apart. Not easy is it? But I'm starting to feel more like me. My Physio also told me that walking should begin to replace one set of exercise each day. It makes sense and helps my head clear , too.

Continued success!
 
Thanks everybody. I think by now you will have worked out that I'm a perfectionist and I hate things that I can't control so this recovery is hard for me to accept.

Randi, isn't it great to hear the same message from our physios re the walking. And you're absolutely right, it does clear the head. I walk looking up at the mountains and gaze at the beauty, so double therapy!

Didn't have a great nights sleep last night. Tossed and turned and had all sorts of thoughts going through my head as I'd read a few posts about infection causing swelling and stiffness and of course THOUGHT I had that....... Isn't it silly what goes through you're head during the night!!!!
 
Hi Margaret-in-Queenstown!

My physio discharged me yesterday - just 8 weeks post-op. I have been incorporating my exercises into my daily living, rather than having an exercise session, as such, and she told me to continue doing just that.

So, while waiting for the jug to boil, I practice rising up onto my toes, or trying to balance on my operated leg. I do gentle stretches against the bench (and my extension had improved). While sitting at the computer, I practice flexing my leg, tucking it under the chair. It's worked for me!

On Thursday, I'm off to the beach for 10 days, planning on doing some walking, paddling and wading - I just hope our so-called summer sends some better weather! I plan to hire an exercycle for about 3 months, when the beach holiday is over. That will continue to keep those joints mobile.

While I still get that "rubber-band" feeling, it is not as bad as before, and it seems to loosen up as the day progresses.

Best wishes,

Celle-in-New Plymouth
 
Thanks Celle-in-New Plymouth. Ahhh the beach! I remember them well. I lived in Auckland until 8 years ago. And that's where I went back to for my surgery. Just had such faith and trust in my surgeon who'd repaired my husband 3 times - one knee and two shoulders.
 
Hi Margaret

Our mind does tend to go a little wild at night!! I tend not to read anything that looks a bit scary - I'm a chicken and don't want to know as I am a born worrier. Have a good day.
 
After several weeks without the tight rubber bands, they were back again a couple of days ago. Gone now, but I wouldn't be surprised if they visited again.
 
Thanks Steve, and you're 5 weeks ahead of me so I guess they come and go for quite a while.
 
Always wonderful to hear from others that ROM is not linear. even though I reached my goal for ROM on knee #1, knee #2 is different. I was at -1 when I left the hospital and was shocked to learn I was at -4 last week! I blame myself for focusing too much on flexion and not enough on stretching for extension. I worked hard to correct (only as hard as one can) and am back to -2. I focus on the data (probably WRONG!) but feel good to hear when I make progress. At almost 7 weeks, am 109 and -2 -- there is no normal. right? I asked the PA if I can use heat (thinking it would help relieve pain and loosen my leg before stretching) - she said yes --- but I still have swelling --- all I hear on this forum is elevate with ice as much as possible - any of you have success with heat at this stage?
 
NHKneeLady said:
Always wonderful to hear from others that ROM is not linear. even though I reached my goal for ROM on knee #1, knee #2 is different. I was at -1 when I left the hospital and was shocked to learn I was at -4 last week! I blame myself for focusing too much on flexion and not enough on stretching for extension. I worked hard to correct (only as hard as one can) and am back to -2. I focus on the data (probably WRONG!) but feel good to hear when I make progress. At almost 7 weeks, am 109 and -2 -- there is no normal. right? I asked the PA if I can use heat (thinking it would help relieve pain and loosen my leg before stretching) - she said yes --- but I still have swelling --- all I hear on this forum is elevate with ice as much as possible - any of you have success with heat at this stage?
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Don't focus on the data---the numbers---in fact just keep dong what you are doing---gently exercising and stretching, etc. The PT's are "quantitative type" people and focus on the numbers---let them do that, you just work on moving forward. Ice the knee compartment and use heat on the muscles.

I used heating pad on my quads and hamstrings before I stretched and exercised to warm the muscles up. Afterwards, I used ice on the new knees to cool them off and elevated them.

Think of it this way---one "warms up" before doing any exercises, and one "cools off" afterwards, too. Thus, the heating pad and the ice. Just make sure that you use the heating pad on the muscles only.

It does sound like you are dong fine! At seven weeks, you are still relatively early in the recovery process, so don't worry about it; just keep on keepin' on. This is a trip with a destination, but the time it take to travel it is very slow. Hang in there.
 
Thanks guys. I've been using my wheatpack on my muscles - great feeling. Tend to do it while I'm sitting on the couch eating my breakfast. I also find that if I put the heated wheatpack behind my back when I go to bed it relaxes me and I usually (but not always) get to sleep easier.

Now I have another issue to bounce around. On Friday I had my physio and had a heavier than usual massage (maybe deep tissue?) up the back of my thigh by a different, more junior physio. I certainly felt good, if a little painful, while it was being done.

This has resulted in bruising, not bad but defnitely bruised and tender to touch. Tender to the point that it hurts when I sit down on the area (about 4 inches above the knee). I've been rubbing Antiflamme cream into it (Arnica based cream). I wonder if I've bruised because of the severity of massage or because I had been taking blood thinners for 5 weeks post surgery?

Any advice will be appreciated. Can these deep tissue massages do any damage to the muscels/ligaments and the new knee?
 
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