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Bilateral PKR One Year Update

3 months ago today I had my BTKR. Roller coaster, roller coaster, roller coaster. Is it better then before surgery? YES! But still so many challenges.

I can now walk up to 2 miles at a time with no hardship. I've been increasing the distance a bit everyday. My knees protest if I don't get out and walk or ride exercise bike (still no resistance). I work remotely from home and up until a couple of days ago I worked from my recliner, legs elevated and iced with my laptop and monitor on a hospital type side table. But I'm now back at my real desk and am surprised that the only issue I'm having is having to walk around a bit every once in awhile. No pain from sitting down. I elevate and ice before going to bed.

But sometimes (like last night) my right knee tries to show me who is boss. So uncomfortable and a really bad nights sleep. I stubbed my right toe the other day, it jarred my knee a bit and WOW, that was not nice.

I have been able to go up stairs foot over foot for quite awhile but coming down stairs the same way, I have to go slow and actually think about how to do it.

I need to go to Washington State (I'm in Rhode Island). I'm a white knuckle flier and the thought of being in a plane right now is just too much for me. I'm not comfortable walking in planes, plus it's usually difficult to get around in them. I'm worried I'll be so stiff it will take shuffling around painfully for quite awhile to get walking normal again. But I have to make trip before July 1st so only a month or so to see more improvement.

I have tickets to see Bette Midler in Hello Dolly July 21st. It will be a 3.5 hour train ride down there and back but at least it is easier to walk around in a train. Plus it is only a 15 minute walk from Penn Station to theatre. The play (including interval is about 2 hrs 40 min so I'll only be sitting for a little over an hour before and after interval. So I should be ok. Plus it's almost 3 months away so who knows how improved I'll be by then.

So I am happy with what I can do but did not expect still having such issues with my right knee. My last appointment with my PA and she told me that she expected that by six months I won't be thinking about my knees at all. An we all know they don't exaggerate the healing timeline, right? :rotfl:

Now that the weather if finally getting nicer here I've been doing some more gardening and it does make the walking easier.

Happy healing everyone!
 
An excellent report.....so many positives! I totally understand about the flying though.

Do you take anything to ease the tension of those white knuckles? I always have a little Xanax.
Can you see if there’s a seat with more room available? Also, would you consider some wheelchair assistance at the gate when you arrive? That will give you time to recover. I also wear compression knee length socks when I fly....helps a lot. I’ll be flying in December, I think.

I have seen lots of suggestions for icing on the plane.

How wonderful that you’ll see Hello Dolly! You will probably be fine on the train. I’ve done 90 Minute trips at less than 8 weeks and I have a 3 hour trip on Thursday.

Lots to look forward to! Great progress!
 
@Eeek - I usually am able to do with Benadryl. It pretty much knocks me out. I think I'm going to have to do without it this time as I'm going to have to get rental car and drive for about 45 minutes after flight. I finally found compression socks that I can tolerate so I'll use those and try the icing hints here.

Usually a wheel chair at arrival would work but my I'm going to need to get knees working as soon as possible.
I'm going to do a test run on the bus to NY on Sunday. Takes about the same amount of time as train at about 1/3 of cost. Hopefully I'll be able to stand up or at least extend my legs
 
Yesterday was a test run for my new knees. My granddaughter and I took the bus (about 3.5 hours) to NYC and went to SpongeBob SquarePants on Broadway. The bus ride was okay as I was able to stretch my legs into the aisle and move them around a bit. I probably would have been able to move more on train but the schedules didn't fit like the bus schedule. Walking was great. 4.2 miles walking around the Times Square/Broadway area. There were a few times where I had to stand in one place and I did my usual walking in place to keep knees from hurting.

The theatre was another story. We were front row center mezzanine. Great view but NO room to move legs. I was loving show but kept looking to see how long till interval. Knees were agony. I took a couple of giant Tylenol and as soon as I could at interval I jumped up, walked around as much as possible and took glass of wine back to our seats. It really showed me that I am not ready to be stuck in airplane seat for several hours. It is a tribute to the show that I was able to enjoy it as much as I did. Such a crazy, fun production

Trip back in bus was fine as I was, again, able to stretch legs out. Got home around 10pm (we left home at 5:45am) and was so tired I was able to fall right asleep with no Tylenol at all.

I keep thinking that at 3 months that I should be able to sit still but I just can't. Even at my desk I can extend my legs, jigging them and get up and walk or hop on stationary bike to loosen them up.
 
Before surgery, three months sounds like a long time, doesn't it? We think "I'll be able to do THIS!" and "I'll be able to do THAT!" Only, when we get to three months, we realize we maybe CAN do this or that, but we probably shouldn't. :umm:

At three months, walking is better than sitting. It sound counter-intuitive, but there you have it. Our new knees move better than they sit bent for very long. That came later for me, too. Mr. Shoes and I have season tickets to a local theater, and the first show I sat at was at five months. That was pretty good, but my knees sure got stiff and like you I wanted to get up and stretch them out, but couldn't do it during the show.

The bus ride worked for you, though, so an airplane flight should be all right. You can get up and walk the aisle on a plane. Just put off the international flights where you need to sleep in your seat. :dubious:

It's great you could enjoy such a nice outing with your granddaughter! :roseshwr:
 
YOU really did very well. What a great day out with your granddaughter! I'm sure she'll always have fond memories of it.

SherrieT said:
Great view but NO room to move legs. I was loving show but kept looking to see how long till interval. Knees were agony.
Click to expand...

SherrieT said:
I keep thinking that at 3 months that I should be able to sit still but I just can't.
Click to expand...
I think the problem with your knees is because they had to be bent for so long. This may be the explanation:
Pain: Movie sign in TKR
 
Definitely will get aisle seats from now on. And I have decided that I am going to change the way I have been deciding things up until now.

I am going to make my plans and after that THEN be smarter about planning around my knees. I'm really tired of my knees ruling what I do.
 
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Another healing milestone reached: The knees no longer get top billing. :happydance: They're just... knees. Which is as things should be. It's liberating to know you have a life that's more than knees.
 
@SusieShoes - I almost cried with joy when I read this. I hadn't even thought of that. Funny to think that getting totally angry with my knees was a milestone :rotfl:
 
Super stressed with work deadlines and boy! Does it every effect my knees. I'm having to get up and jump on stationary bike more than usual. Everything is tensed up. Didn't have time to take my walk this morning but hopefully will be able to later this evening and get a bit loosened up
 
I, too, found that my knees hurt worse when I was stressed out. I think we tighten up our muscles and don't realize it. That hurts the new knees along with the rest of the body!
 
And, again, I forgot about the weather. It was cold and rainy with the barometer see-sawing up and down. So might not have been all stress related. Will hit my goal of 10K steps again today so that makes me feel better
 
Sherri,
Been reading your posts . I am also from RI an am looking at a surgeon in Boston.
If you dont mind me asking who was your surgeon and did you like him?

Thanks
D
 
Sherri thank you for your quick response. I have been to 4 surgeons so far and because of my
issues with a mech. mitral valve and being on warfarin I just can't seem to pick a surgeon. I did go
to Dr. Brick last August. He was mentioned by my cardiologist who is at Brighams. I have been through
the internet high and low and wanted to go Dr. Brick but saw that site of the surgeons rating I got concerned.
Maybe I should stay off the internet....
 
Today marks my 4 month kneeversary. Between the weather and schedule at home I sometimes have difficulty getting all my walking in. An boy do my knees let me know that they don't like it when I don't work them a bit. Getting as close to 10K steps a day seems to be their sweet spot. It takes a couple of days to get them working again when I can't make that mark. And they still prefer walking distances rather than just walking around the kitchen making dinner and such.

Stiffness when getting up from my desk during the day is still an issue. I've gotten to the point where I forget to do some of the things I'm supposed to. Like getting up and jumping on stationary bike for a few minutes at least once an hour. Getting out of bed in the morning isn't too bad. They limber up pretty quick from that.

Still very sensitive to the weather. And most nights you'll find me kicked back in my recliner with my trusty ice packs. Sleep is great. It's been awhile since knees woke me up.

And, as always, I keep thinking about how I thought I would be so much farther along at this point.
 
Good report @SherrieT. 10K steps is awesome and I am far behind you on that. I agree about work - it is very hard to fit the walks in with my work schedule. Plus it is hot so if the walk doesn't happen early in the day, its not going to happen. I forgot how stressful work can be. I keep trying to remember that in the grand scheme of things, work is only one aspect of my life. Its hard though. So many personalities. Anyway, happy four months to you darling girl. We have come a long way, haven't we? I still have trouble going upstairs with righty, she just hurts when I do, especially at the end of the walk. How are your stairs coming? Big hugs, gf.
 
@mlwreader - We sure have come a long way. My going up stairs is doing great. Since my work/live area is down a flight of stairs I've been doing them from day 1. Going down the stairs is something else again. I keep forgetting to go down one foot after another so I have to really think about it when I do. And use the hand rails. It just doesn't feel natural yet.

Yesterday was a long day and I thought for sure I would pay for it today but when I woke up it was the weirdest thing. My right knee didn't hurt at all. And it's my problem child! I could feel the muscles and such when I bent them a bit too far but the knee part did not hurt at all. So weird???? I've been waiting all day for it to start acting up again but so far nothing. I'm almost afraid to hope that I've hit another milestone.

I'll bet you have more steps than what you think. My phone is always in my pants pocket and my FitBit is always on so I keep pretty close track of them. If there is a difference between them it's usually because I was shopping and pushing the carriage so the FitBit doesn't pick up the steps or I'll use my phone and forget to put it back in my pocket. I always go by whichever one has the highest count. :heehee:.

It's going to be interesting to see what our knees have in store for us next.....
 
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