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Bilateral PKR One Year Update

Mmm I love colcannon but am watching my carbs so just did cabbage and onions this time. I too used a stool for cooking, and ended up only managing a few bites of the meal because I was still battling an intestinal virus. I made a huge pile of dirty dishes and at the meal I said (to five other adults,) " I do NOT want to do all these dishes after making this big meal. " I went to bed soon after. Woke up the next morning to aaaallll the dirty dishes plus some more. I kept having to remind myself, "Cleaning the kitchen is my PT. Cleaning the kitchen is my PT...."
 
katchmo said:
I made a huge pile of dirty dishes and at the meal I said (to five other adults,) " I do NOT want to do all these dishes after making this big meal. " I went to bed soon after. Woke up the next morning to aaaallll the dirty dishes plus some more. I kept having to remind myself, "Cleaning the kitchen is my PT. Cleaning the kitchen is my PT...."
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Cleaning the dishes should not be your PT. Next time, be even more direct and tell those lazy adults "I cooked. Now, please deal with the dishes. I need to rest."

Check this again, to see what you should be doing:
Activity progression for TKRs

Those people need to pull up their socks and help you more. Don't feel you have to wait on them.
Nurturing mother: how to let go and accept help
 
Good day today. Before work I took a walk and I think that anybody who saw me walking would not be able to tell that I had BTKR 6 weeks ago. I actually had a bit of spring in my walk. But as I was walking I could tell. Stiffness and swelling in knees are very obvious to me.

Took a lunch break and did my time (a whole 4 minutes :) ) on the bike and now back to working with legs elevated and iced.
 
I am exhausted. Is anyone else finding this recovery just so exhausting? I need to re up my protein and I've slipped back into some bad eating habits that I have got to stop. By early evening I'm ready to hit the bed, elevate the knees, do some reading and then sleep.
 
Yes, I’m finding this an exhausting ordeal. In my case, I know that I’m doing too much. Unfortunately, I don’t really have a choice. You’ve gone back to work also, haven’t you? I think working takes so much out of us, physically and also mentally. I feel like the mental fatigue is almost as bad as physical fatigue. I had back surgery a year before my first knee replacement, so I’ve been doing this recovery thing for almost 2 years. It’s getting old :tiredwheel:
 
I‘m ready for bed at 8-8:30 each night. I wilt. I do sleep pretty well though, although I just awoke at 4am and my non operated leg needed to be straightened out. It was unhappy.

@jboles - love your hamster on the wheel. I often feel I am on the wheel of Unproductivity.
 
SherrieT said:
By early evening I'm reading to hit the bed, elevate the knees, do some reading and then sleep.
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Nothing wrong with that @SherrieT. (reading and early bed) One thing that is really important is to be sure to eat good solid protein every day. Scrambled eggs for breakfast, roast beef sandwich, chicken, 90% lean ground beef. I had very little appetite for the first two to three months, and eating was exhausting, but I made sure to get that protein in. With two knees healing, you must provide your body with the nourishment it needs. I found that the eating exhausted me, like I had hit a wall. But I got that protein into me and it really helped.

Are you having groceries delivered? Whatever food you get, make it easy on yourself - I kept purchasing deli roast beef and turkey (not the packaged kind but from the deli), made those da** eggs every morning, ate a lot of salads, got bird's eye frozen steam fresh veggies that you can nuke in the microwave (one pkg can last two meals). Spinach, green beans, brussel sprouts, like that. If you eat that kind of good stuff, it won't matter so much if you have some naughty stuff too. I confess to falling back into my old potato chip habit, but I limit myself to the reduced guilt brand at Trader Joe's. Still, think of the cholesterol. My bad.

Now I can say that my old bottomless pit appetite is back in full force.

Hang in there SherrieT. We're gonna make it. I have so many new aches and twinges these days, but I have to believe it is due to the move and the altitude adjustment. Time will tell. I am off work right now, but hope to get some students assigned next month. I am very financially challenged right now - lol.

Sending a hug.
 
The brain fog got me big time. It took at least 6 weeks before my mind would half way work. I couldn't even read and I love to read!
 
SherrieT said:
I am exhausted. Is anyone else finding this recovery just so exhausting? I need to re up my protein and I've slipped back into some bad eating habits that I have got to stop. By early evening I'm ready to hit the bed, elevate the knees, do some reading and then sleep.
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That's all normal. You're still less than 2 months from a major, traumatic surgery.
Most of your body's energy is still being directed towards healing your knee and there isn't much left for anything else.
Energy drain for TKRs

Recovering from a PKR takes just as long as recovery from a TKR, and you've have had a double whammy of energy drain, because you had both knees done.
 
Thursday it will be 9 weeks post-op and 7 weeks post-fall. It's really weird. The past several days I have seen such improvement in my knees. Swelling has gone down considerably. I can look down at my chunky legs and see my knees. And I can run my hands down and feel my knees. Walking has become so much more comfortable. It's like a switch got turned on.

I haven't used my cane/s for quite a while. I ride the stationary bike for a couple of minutes several times a day. I would do more but it is so boring, even with TV or listening to podcast. I can pedal much faster now also but don't overdo it. It's so great for loosening up knees after getting out of bed. I'm still working remotely from my recliner, inclined with leg cushions and icing. Laptop and monitor on hospital type bedside table with keyboard on lapboard on my lap. My ice packs are on my knees almost the entire work day. I usually get up several times and get on the bike for a few minutes. I tried to work from my desk one day and that got a big NO from the knees.

I've started walking Bashie by myself and do about 3/4 mile. I'm going to start expanding it a bit everyday. My son-on-law walks her in the mornings so he can get some exercise before going to work and I'm doing the evening walk. I think I'll start walking in the morning also but at my own pace (I've always been a slow walker). Bashie sure is loving getting out so much.

Standing or sitting in a chair with feet on floor for any length of time is still a challenge. Right need is still the needy baby with left knee being the "good" child.

So I am hoping that the improvements will continue at this pace but know that it will probably slow down and go back to the fits and starts as before.

I've been keeping my spirits up by planning my vacation itinerary, walking when weather allows and just trying to start living normally.
 
Yay! You’re getting to the “normal-ish zone.” All things knees are not quite normal, not just yet, but they’re feeling very... normal-ish. You can walk normally, just not yet as far or fast as you wish, and maybe with a little lingering stiffness or pain, but not much. You can do more things, like walk Bashie more than once a day, or cook a regular meal by standing for longer periods, or maybe go up and down the stairs more often. It’s all starting to fall into place.

I think Bashie is going to want you to walk him every chance he gets, which is really good because your knees will like the exercise. :dogwalk:
 
@SusieShoes - I feel like I'm in the hope that there is "normal" ahead of me. And of course it rained so I couldn't take Basie on an afternoon walk :nah:
 
Wow! That is just awesome progress! Good for you! I was amazed and dismayed at how uncomfortable I was sitting in the train last week. And I‘m a month behind. You are doing so well!
 
There’s normal ahead... it just takes so long to get there it starts to seem like you’ll never arrive. It also arrives gradually, like a change of seasons. Winter... winter... snow... winter... oh, rain! Winter. Clouds. More snow. Oh, look, a daffodil. Drizzle. Forsythia up the block. More rain. Sun. Spring!

It gets easier as you pull out of winter. :SUNsmile: More days with good things. More hopeful signs. We’re human, so we try to get there faster, but we’re also inescapably bound to our bodies, and the healing process can’t be pushed. So we feel like captives for a while, but eventually we get our bodies to obeying us again.
 
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