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Bilateral PKR One Year Update

6 months post op today !
@SusieShoes - I think I've just been looking for excuses as to why I'm still having issues with both knees, right is worse than left. This hot, humid weather is really bad for the soul. It just drags you down. I've mostly been able to keep up with my walking Bashi 3 times a day and getting my 10 K steps in but now even Bashi doesn't want to go outside that often. I may have to just leave her home for the mid-day walk as she does everything she needs to on morning and evening walk and she just looks at me like "not again?" when I take her for mid-day walk. I can walk quicker without her also.

My quads were firing from day one but I think I'm at a point where I have to work to stretch them more. It seems like that is where my issues are. They are still too tight. Those enthesophytes more than likely have nothing to do with it. Just me trying to blame it on something other than my innate laziness. The walking doesn't seem to be working to help them, even when I elongate my stride. Now just to work up the enthusiasm to do the work. Ugh...
 
It's irritating when small annoyances just refuse to go away. There are lots of reasons we can have issues but it mostly boils down to "not healed yet." You do more steps than I did at six months, though my knees handled 10K steps all right the couple of times I did it. Mostly I did 5K steps or so a day and that's still where I'm at most of the time. You're a more active gal!

What'll happen now is your knees will just gradually continue to improve. Bashie, of course, is what she is. :heehee: If you want to work on your tight quads, though, you can do so at this point as long as your knees are pain-free and don't swell after some exercise. Elongating your stride while walking is great for extension (hamstrings) but doesn't work the same magic for quads. Stairs and other motions requiring some bend are better.

Very gently (always gently and paying attention to what your knees have to say about what you're doing) increase the bend in your knee. Heel slides. Rocking chair. Foot on a skateboard and pull back as far as you can as the skateboard goes under your chair. Any quad exercise that's just you and your knee a few times a day and never for long, just fifteen seconds or so each stretch. The idea is to gently coax a better bend and thereby stretch the quads. You could work with a therapist also if you have one you can trust not to think gentle stretching means heavy-duty machine exercises.
 
6.5 months post op.
Guess it's true that you can be your own worst enemy. My right knee has always been my problem child. But lately my left knee has been a pain in the ....knee. I finally figured it out and - face hand slap!!
I have been automatically crossing my knees. Right over left. No problem. Did it without thinking. But I started noticing that my left knee was sore. Almost like it had a big bruise. Duh. It didn't hurt when the pressure of my right knee was crossed over my left. But later my left knee reacted to it with irritation. Now to try to quit doing something that now seems so natural.....
 
@SherrieT Hello gf. I cross my knees too, never thought that might be an issue. I am still having issues with righty girl, but I refuse to make her a drama queen, and just ice her and elevate whenever I can. I am on a break from tutoring, so I have a lot of lazy summer afternoons to lie on my daybed with my Lounge Dr. and read and ice and elevate. Reminds me of when I was a kid, all the other kids would be outside and I'd be in my room with the windows wide open, reading. Story of my life. . .

How are you doing otherwise? Seeing much of your grand children? Mine have been out of town or at camp a lot, but they are back now and will start school on Monday. Bea is entering first grade, and Rosie is going into third. We just went out to breakfast and came back to my place to play a couple of hot games of go fish and old maid while mom went to the grocery store. So fun. Do they still call it old maid, and isn't that anti - PC? Ok, let's not even go there. Post and tell us how its going for you. Hugs.
 
mlwreader said:
@SherrieT
How are you doing otherwise? Seeing much of your grand children?
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Six and a half months post op and I'm doing pretty good most of the time. I enjoy the stationary bike and still doing 2 or 3 walks a day. Most days still making 10K steps but I'm not so paranoid any more if I miss the goal. I'm still aware of my knees a lot but try not to pay too much attention to them.

Family has been in Tunisia for a month and a half. Son-in-law was born there and still has large family there. Plus they are in process of building house to spend summers in. Have missed grand kiddies so much. I pick them up from airport tomorrow and am so excited to see them again. Facetime just isn't the same.

My job (work remotely from home) has kept me busy and I've been able to get a few projects done around the house that are just too hard to do with little ones around.

Yesterday was crazy. It's been so hot and humid and then huge thunder/lightening storm moved in. Skies just opened up and it looked like an Arizona monsoon. Even lost power for a couple of hours. And now today is overcast with a bit of wind (nice to keep mosquitos away) and so much cooler. The wind makes it so much nicer to be outside without getting bitten to death. I've been taking antihistamines, not because of plants bothering me, but to keep my allergic reaction to the mosquitos down. It helps with the itching so much. Anyway, I'm going to take a nice little mid-morning nap and then go outside and do all the mowing and trimming.

Getting back into a normal life is nice. Still trying to remember to try to do things that I haven't been able to for years. Like squatting down to pick something up from floor. I've been practicing sitting on floor so I can play with kids more but still need pillow to kneel on (wood floors) to get up. Going down stairs foot over foot is getting better. I'm best at it right after using bike. And now I have to have been sitting at my desk for a couple of hours for knees to be stiff when I get up. That's big progress!!
 
@SherrieT I just caught up on your thread. You seem to be doing well, even though you still have some healing to do. I'm lucky to get in 4K steps a day, if I get in 5K, it's been a really good day, so for you to be doing 10K, well, that's just amazing. :yay: I need to do some quad strengthening too. I'm sure you'll be really happy to see your grandchildren, and no face-time isn't the same as being there, but it really is nice though.
 
Well it's about time!! I will be 8 months post op on Oct 1st but today is the first day I have ridden my big-butt cruiser bike. I've been doing my stationary bike since very early in recovery and I thought it would be good practice for this but NO. My stationary bikes pedals and seats are so different from my real bike. My 5 year old granddaughter, who just learned how to ride bike without training wheels, had told me that she will teach me how to ride again :loveshwr: and wanted to know if I still used training wheels.

So off to the tennis court (good private place to practice) we went and I was able to get the seat adjusted enough so that it's more bend then I'm used to but my feet can still touch road. And it worked !! I was amazed that afterwards my knees felt pretty darn good. I'm going to try to ride as much as possible because it is only a bit under 5 weeks until I go back to London and walk that city into the ground to make up for all I missed last year with bad knees.
 
Glad to hear your knee is doing well, have a wonderful time in London. Don't wear a path in the sidewalks.
 
Great on riding that outside bike again! It's completely different than a stationary bike! Feeling the breeze in your face and seeing the scenery! It's so uplifting!
 
Past Monday was 8 months post op and it just keeps getting better and better. I can do so much more than I do because I keep forgetting that I can do them now!

Riding my bike and also making adjustments on my stationary bike has been most helpful. In order to have my bike seat at a level where I can still reach the ground (short legs) and get a good bend going, I have to use my heels on the pedals.
My stationary bike seat is set to lowest level but to get a better bend I use the ball of my feet for the pedals. And I have resistance set at bout the half-way level. Well, it works for me. I'm using @Roy Gardiner 's advice and only do about 2 min a time, several times a day for stretching those muscles.

Three weeks from tomorrow and I start my 23 night UK/London adventure but this time with good knees!!! Work is crazy so it has been hard to get excited about trip with everything I still have to do but I know it will be better in a week or so and then the excitement starts!

Last weekend I hit a moving sale at SAS shoes and got 4 new pairs of shoes. My feet love those shoes. I have had to replace most of my shoes because of weird wear patterns caused by my lousy knees. My legs were warped out of straight more than I had thought.

Just keep up your spirits and it is true....it just keeps getting better.
 
New shoes are one of TKR's more pleasant outcomes: It's important to get shoes without the old wear patterns. It really does help! Of course, those who truly love their old shoes will be less thrilled.

How wonderful to contemplate that UK/London trip with good knees! I hope you have an amazing visit and get to see EVERYTHING!!!
 
Thursday will be 9 months since new knees.
Last year I took dream vacation to London and didn't know I had knees with "significant arthritis" until I got home, went to doctor and told them how I couldn't hardly walk by the end of my trip. It really effected my enjoyment of trip. Ended up with bi-lateral tkr's on Feb 1st. Since then I have been planning my "revenge on arthritis" trip back to London. So far it is a win-win.

I've been taking it easy on my first 2 days because I was so tired from trip and still have cold. 16.4K steps and 19 floors climbed on Saturday and 16.1K steps, 11 floors climbed today. And I haven't even taken any Tylenol or Ibuprofen. I am slower going down steps but I do them foot after foot and, if there are people around, I use handrail. These were easier walking days as I didn't have a lot planned and just mostly moseyed around. And it doesn't even take the next day to recover. Just get to lodging, take off shoes, shower and relax a bit.

Tomorrow I think I'll go to Greenwich and then later in the evening I have reservations to "Ceremony of the Keys" at Tower of London"

NEW KNEES RULE !!!

Will mods change title to "That Light at the End of the Tunnel is your New Life" ?
 
Hope you remembered to ‘put the clocks back’, if not I’m sure they’ll remind you at Greenwich :)
I can’t wait for my knee to be like yours. Have a great holiday.
 
indieknee said:
Hope you remembered to ‘put the clocks back’, if not I’m sure they’ll remind you at Greenwich :)
I can’t wait for my knee to be like yours. Have a great holiday.
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Hope your knees get there soon. My phone automatically made the adj Sunday morning. One more hour of sleep:) :-) (:
 
Will an admin change title to "One Year Update"? Thank you

One year ago today I got my new knees.
I walk miles and miles, ride my bike and generally do what I want.
I've been knocked over by a bicyclist at Leicester Square in London and fallen on an ice slicked field in Rhode Island and my knees just keep going.

I still find kneeling awkward. I think its because the outside of knees, at incision site is still numb so it just feels weird. I periodically do squats as they really help with my flexibility but I'm basically pretty lazy.

So just living my life and so glad I made the decision to have knees replaced.
 
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I changed your title as you requested. Congratulations on your anniversary!

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