Aquafool
junior member
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2016
- Messages
- 49
- Age
- 75
- Location
- Daytona Beach Fl
- Gender
- Female
- Country
United States
I thought I'd update on my progress. I'm at 192 days and 72 days post TKR. I'm 80 days apart on my TKRs but in retrospect it feels like I had them at the same time. They feel pretty equal in function and bend. I feel I'm doing very well all in all.
I saw my OS the other day. Had a half dozen follow up X-rays on both legs, all perfect. My next appt is not until November 14.
I love my OS and am very grieved that he is moving to Charleston, SC. He has mad skills and is so good at what he does that I'd recommend him to anybody. His name is Malcolm Gottlich MD and if anybody needs a great OS in that area, he is The Man.
Yesterday I went to a restaurant that required a staircase to get down to. I really don't ever come across staircases here, so this was the first one I've encountered since surgery. And down the stairs I went, sequentially with no pain. And back up again after lunch. I notice that my quads are weak and OS said to still not attempt muscle building. That will come with time.
My approved exercises from him are walking, swimming, recumbent bike, NuStep and elliptical. No resistance.
As for pain, as a parting gift he gave me 40 more Norco. I probably won't use them but every nurse knows to have an emergency stash of pain pills because they are so hard to come by nowadays. I haven't used the Norco in probably two weeks. What really helps me is Mobic every day. The knees themselves are fine. It's the soft tissue surrounding them that hurts. Weather changes seem to be the biggest trigger for pain. Applying heat really helps.
I can walk for a long time but I'll pay later with inner knee pain and I still experience energy drain. When I'm done, I'm done.
I'm stiff when I stand up after sitting for awhile but can walk it off after 10 steps or so. I hang out with creaky people so we all stand up at the end of the meal and everybody has to stop for a second and and groan and stretch out LOL.
If anybody is preop reading this, I can say I have zero regrets. I remember the excruciating pain of bone on bone. I suffered. I cried. I got really depressed. It's no way to live!! Go forth and get those knees done so you can enjoy your life. Chances are excellent that you won't have complications. Don't go into it thinking you will. It wastes energy.
The post op phase wasn't that horrible. I didn't have any PT to speak of. So nobody injured my legs. My OS uses the CPM so I used it for the first knee but not enough to hurt. I found Bonesmart a few weeks post op and I bought right into it so the second knee was totally without PT or CPM. For the second one, I kept the PT busy by having him adjust the CPM and then put both of them in the corner LOL.
I had tourniquet pain for about two weeks after the second knee. Now that was no fun!!! But it passed.
Now I'm just looking forward to getting rid of the soft tissue pain/ache/minor stiffness but if it never improves beyond where I am today, I'd be okay with that! I'm leaps and bounds, literally, ahead of where I was last summer.
Cookie
LTKR 8/15/16
RTKR 11/3/16
I saw my OS the other day. Had a half dozen follow up X-rays on both legs, all perfect. My next appt is not until November 14.
I love my OS and am very grieved that he is moving to Charleston, SC. He has mad skills and is so good at what he does that I'd recommend him to anybody. His name is Malcolm Gottlich MD and if anybody needs a great OS in that area, he is The Man.
Yesterday I went to a restaurant that required a staircase to get down to. I really don't ever come across staircases here, so this was the first one I've encountered since surgery. And down the stairs I went, sequentially with no pain. And back up again after lunch. I notice that my quads are weak and OS said to still not attempt muscle building. That will come with time.
My approved exercises from him are walking, swimming, recumbent bike, NuStep and elliptical. No resistance.
As for pain, as a parting gift he gave me 40 more Norco. I probably won't use them but every nurse knows to have an emergency stash of pain pills because they are so hard to come by nowadays. I haven't used the Norco in probably two weeks. What really helps me is Mobic every day. The knees themselves are fine. It's the soft tissue surrounding them that hurts. Weather changes seem to be the biggest trigger for pain. Applying heat really helps.
I can walk for a long time but I'll pay later with inner knee pain and I still experience energy drain. When I'm done, I'm done.
I'm stiff when I stand up after sitting for awhile but can walk it off after 10 steps or so. I hang out with creaky people so we all stand up at the end of the meal and everybody has to stop for a second and and groan and stretch out LOL.
If anybody is preop reading this, I can say I have zero regrets. I remember the excruciating pain of bone on bone. I suffered. I cried. I got really depressed. It's no way to live!! Go forth and get those knees done so you can enjoy your life. Chances are excellent that you won't have complications. Don't go into it thinking you will. It wastes energy.
The post op phase wasn't that horrible. I didn't have any PT to speak of. So nobody injured my legs. My OS uses the CPM so I used it for the first knee but not enough to hurt. I found Bonesmart a few weeks post op and I bought right into it so the second knee was totally without PT or CPM. For the second one, I kept the PT busy by having him adjust the CPM and then put both of them in the corner LOL.
I had tourniquet pain for about two weeks after the second knee. Now that was no fun!!! But it passed.
Now I'm just looking forward to getting rid of the soft tissue pain/ache/minor stiffness but if it never improves beyond where I am today, I'd be okay with that! I'm leaps and bounds, literally, ahead of where I was last summer.
Cookie
LTKR 8/15/16
RTKR 11/3/16
