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TKR Oh Baby feel the (k)need in me - the sequel ..

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@Smudge - checked this morning and the Morden Hydro is significantly cheaper than Parkside. Parkside charge £78.00 p session.
Enjoy the water when you go - it is so lovely, but you are so tired afterwards!
 
@dogwheels
Hi Chris, your comments about our daughters made me think about how lucky we are, to have someone on our side at all times. How is your daughter now after her recent loss? Obviously being strong enough to support you luckily. Take care, x Lyn
 
A therapy pet sounds wonderful, I wonder if my daughter will lend me a rabbit?
Sleep well, chat soon xxx
 
Oh yes, I would definitely work on borrowing a rabbit! Here's my little limpy chum ..... X


[Bonesmart.org] Oh Baby feel the (k)need in me - the sequel ..
 
Hi dogwheels! I've subscribed to your thread but somehow I'm not getting any notices when there is a posting so I haven't had a chance to catch up with you. It sounds like your tummy is getting better (so is mine, slowly) and you are getting around pretty good. Not bad for 3 weeks! I can't get into water for therapy for another week to 10 days, once the scabs from the staples are gone. After reading how much you enjoy it, I'm looking forward to it. I hope you are noticing an improvement every day, even if it is just a little. Keep up the good (and difficult) work. Take care ~Joy
 
Hi Joy - thanks for the message. You will so enjoy the water therapy when you are allowed in the pool. I'm lucky as I only had steri strips on the incision and a waterproof dressing so was able to get in the water on Day 2 post surgery. Particularly in the early days, the feeling of being independent in the water was fantastic. Now it is just really useful and confidence building as you can work so much more efficiently with that little bit of buoyancy and weightlessness. An added bonus is being in tropical warmth water while the wind is howling and the rain pouring down outside!
Glad your tummy is improving - mine is heaps better but still a little on the fragile side (as I discovered after a Thai curry the other evening - whoops!)
Your scar is looking amazing - I can understand why they wondered if you had had a TKR! I am so glad everything is going well for you. My friend visited me today - she's a GP. It was quite heartening for me, as she was genuinely amazed at how well I looked, how mobile I was and that my knee was not too far from normal size. She confessed that she had anticipated that I would be nowhere near as 'normal' as I am. Hurrah!
Anyway - must go as Friday is Hydro day and I am off to the pool.
Enjoy your weekend and give Cutter a pat from me.
ChrisX
 
I have had my new knee for exactly 4 weeks as I type - so although I have been busy posting on other people's threads in the meantime, I thought a personal update was due.
I am so pleased that I had the TKR when I did. Patience is not one of my virtues and I always want everything yesterday ... but I have done as I've been told (for the first time in my life) - have not let the small stuff grind me down, and I am very satisfied with the way things are progressing.
My knee is already bending far more than it has for more years than I can remember, the current swelling is hardly more than I had pre-surgery, and I have only taken the minimum of pain-relief throughout, which my tummy has thanked me for. There have been no tears .... yet.
The dreaded ROM is up where it should be ...... nothing amazing .. but perfectly respectable and improving weekly. I have come to the opinion that ROM is totally subjective, as my 2 physios take the 'bending' readings at a variety of different positions - and do not apply any sort of average - so which one is the right one? Of course I always prefer the ROM that is well into 3 figures!
The scar is shaping up fine, but has been a bit itchy and tight the last couple of days which I am told is part of the healing process. I am counting down the next 14 days until I can shed my TED's which I loathe. Although have to admit that exercising on some days, they have had a 'comfort blanket' effect - separating the wounded knee from reality.
I am not a heavy sleeper at the best of times, and sleep is still a game of 2 parts, or 3 or 4 ....... That said a nice afternoon nap goes a long way to making me a nicer person.
I am now working on strengthening exercises along with continuous work on the bend. Walking is good.
Now the thing I am finding most difficult is breaking the habit of many, many years of always taking weight and strain on the other leg all the time. I need to learn to trust my new knee ....... it is happening, but slowly.
Two weeks until I see my OS ...... fingers, eyes and everything else X'd that all will be OK.

One of the best things of the whole experience to date has been making so many friends here - you know who you all are. You are absolute stars and thank you so much for your continuing support and friendship.
ChrisX
 
I am so happy you are doing so well. You have a great attitude and determination. I'm sure your OS is going to be pleased when he sees you. What great accomplishments you are making at only 4 weeks postop. You sound like a model patient. Keep up the good and difficult work! ~Joy
 
Hi @Foxmyster1967 - how are you doing?
No - his name is not Roland - but yes, he is the one surviving ratty from the '2011 batch'.
His name is Gilbert - his brother (RIP - put down a fortnight ago) was Sullivan.
The other 3 were Napoleon; Illya and Mr Waverley. (Daughter likes Man from U.N.C.L.E)
Hope you are doing OK and all goes well with your physio next week.
Have you gone stir crazy yet - or been able to get out and about a bit?
Whatever - hope all is going well for you.
 
Hi Chris,
I'm sorry I didn't get back here for a while. Gilbert looks absolutely gorgeous, I hope he's not too lonely without Sullivan. Will your daughter get another do you think? My daughter always keeps two rabbits, going to a sort of rescue rabbit 'dating agency' to match one up if one dies, so they always have a friend. They have the run of her flat but she doesn't like taking them out, rabbits are terrified of everything and are likely to suddenly die if frightened too much and a car journey can be frightening (I also value my electric cables and leads).
Your post above sounds so positive, well done! Just don't do too much, I did over the weekend, I felt wonderful and thought I could walk for miles, but I think I've gone back to where I was nearly two weeks ago in levels of pain and swelling. Luckily I don't have much on in the next few days so I can just rest and elevate.
Take care, xx Lyn
 
Hi @Ellejay - just replied to you about arthroscopy.
Gilbert is a cutie, just a little old man now and going grey - aww ... He misses his brother - but is getting lots of 1:1 attention. Normally rats are kept in groups as they are sociable, but at his age and with his health problems a new rat would probably pick on him. My daughter is going to enjoy the time left with Gilly and then have a break for a while. She has a demanding job, wants to do a few more things to her new house and has an exciting holiday to the Far East booked in the Autumn, visiting friends plus some new places. She is talking about leaving it until the end of the year, and then getting a new batch of ratties - 3 or 4 probably. She enjoys arriving home and finding them eager and waiting for her - just like your daughter does with her rabbits, I expect.
 
Hi all - really did not appreciate the early start for 9am physio this morning. Glad we allowed much longer for the journey as 2 accidents caused horrific traffic. 45 mins in the car and the first thing she says is 'Let's see that bend'. Grrrrr....
However - ta da - it was fine, another 5 degrees plus - and a glowing report from her - she is delighted how straight and strong my leg is. At hydro the other day the pool physio told me that I could go upstairs normally providing I could do it easily and without hanging on for grim death or twisting. I showed off my new skill this morning, physio was delighted and promptly made me walk down normally. Which I did. So now I have to take the stairs normally; not use my crutch(!) at all - she said I was flapping it round like a handbag and not using it anyway - and start practising outside walkies support free. I balanced on my leg with no probs, did 5 mins on the bike with the seat so far forward my chin was practically on the handlebars and finally, she told me that I had persevered and done really well. Result!
I see my OS on Monday - needn't have further hydro as they believe the benefit is in the first 6 weeks to loosen up and capitalise on the warmth and buoyancy, although obviously I can go if I wish. I may book one final appointment after I see my OS and get a list of exercises for the future.
From what she said I guess my ROM is about 105+ - she's always very cagey about giving out the figure, and with me, has never been concerned or even bothered taking the other measurement. She said that the OS would be pleased and I was well on track. I will continue with weekly physio as her intention is to get me to at least 120 degrees. Not sure this will be achievable - she admitted that my problem is going to be stretching the muscles and tissue that have been dormant and contracted for so many years. Interestingly she said that although they have to use the ROM measurement to gauge progress, we actually achieve far more than our 'Measurement' when we are going about our daily lives. We anxiously force our knees to a tight bend when the gauge comes out and a reading is taken, but an activity (like me walking downstairs for example) proves that there is a far greater degree of bend than the clinical measurement.

Home now (via the Lebanese patisserie - yum) - a bit of manhandling this morning so ice on and leg in the air.

From the outset I guessed that I would never achieve amazing results - but I am so pleased and never dreamt that I would be able to do all this at 5.5 weeks. I have more bend in my knee and more confidence in it than I have had in nearly 20 years.

Still a way to go yet - but I am one happy bunny!
X
 
@dogwheels So glad to hear you are doing so well. - "she said I was flapping it round like a handbag and not using it anyway" had me laughing so hard as I have this picture in my mind. It doesn't seem possible that it has been only 5 1/2 weeks since our surgeries. I've started my pool work. I guess we do things backwards here in the States because their concern was the incision being immersed. I could shower, just not tub, pool, etc. Sounds like you are being liberated so I guess London had better be ready! Take care and keep up the good work. ~Joy
 
@dogwheels, that all sounds wonderfully positive, aren't we all changing our tunes now we're a few weeks post operative? Life is certainly moving on now. Life without sticks and crutches - freedom! And doing stairs up and down is impressive at five and a half weeks, I have been going up normally for a while now, but still come down stair by stair. I'm so pleased that everything is going well for you.
I'm just off for a first appointment/assessment with a new 'physio terrorist', who hopefully will be giving me some hydro therapy next week. Now I'm driving again, and back at the gym, I feel I'm getting my life back, and the last couple of months now seems like a blip. Hopefully the left knee will go as well as and when I make the decision to have it done.
Speak soon xx Lyn
 
Hi Joy - thanks for the reply. It really is amazing isn't it? I just don't know where those 5 weeks have gone ... and all of a sudden we are slowly but surely getting back to normal. I know how well you are doing, and that scar of yours is totally amazing. Surprise, surprise I still have some bruising around the incision although it is healing well and looks a whole lot better now. This matches the bruising I still have on my calf and behind my knee. I bruise SO easily.
I was able to go in the pool right from the start as I only had steristrips and a waterproof dressing. Interesting though that today my physio says that although the hydro pool is ok - public pools should never be used until the wound is completely healed. Do you think they add something to the hydro pool water? Perhaps that is partly why you start water therapy later in US. Also, it may be that US use it for strengthening and development, while at my clinic they think it more beneficial in the early stages. Different strokes for different folks, eh?

Not yet brave enough to even try a shoe with a small heel, but got my 'flatforms' out yesterday, as they will be the ones I try first whenever I pluck up the courage. I will think of you when I do!

Think we have lots to be grateful for - do keep in touch my 'Knee Twin' , and hope the pool work goes well.
Chris X
 
Hi Lyn - you're right. The sun is shining, the Spring is coming and we are getting some normality back in our lives. I think when I shed those TEDs on Monday I will truly feel as if the worst is over!
Hope you get on OK with your new physio today and that your other knee is continuing to behave itself ....
Talk soon
ChrisX
 
Great news @dogwheels you are doing so well I can go upstairs but not down yet.You will be so happy to shed the teds they really are the pits,have a good rest and well done Terri
 
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