TKR Panammaniac’s Recovery Thread

[benne68]

I was self-conscious about walking around in public in shorts, but I think by the time shorts season comes back around it may be hardly noticeable.

In addition to my knee scar on righty, I have scars from a hip replacement and from ankle surgery. So my entire right leg is a trail of scars. I wear them with pride as a badge of courage!

Those scars show that we are survivors!

 

[Flashlight]

So glad you are able to sleep! I went to my 2nd postop visit and that was my only complaint! I am still not sleeping well but my doctor feels I am turning the corner and that will change. It seems like this is the one side effect the OS doesn't deal with and so many have this issue.

 

[panammaniac]

So here’s something I’m pondering, even though I have more than enough time to think about it. I’m a plan way ahead kind of guy.

My daughter has made the Tournament of Roses Honor Band for the second straight year. On December 28 they are performing at Disneyland. They make a big show out of it, bringing them out with the two football teams that are playing in the Rose Bowl. My wife and I didn’t go last year because all of the Covid restrictions in place made it very difficult, but this year we have decided to go. I’ll be about 12 weeks post-op by then. I figure I’ll be walking just fine, but obviously not fully recovered yet. That’s a full day of being on my feet and a lot of walking, which I probably won’t be quite ready for.

My wife thinks we should rent a wheelchair so when I need a break I can sit and she can push me. I’m not enthusiastic about spending a day at Disneyland in a wheelchair but it might be a necessity in this case. Or at least have a wheelchair that I can push and sit in when I need to? Another thought I had was renting an upright walker with a seat, so I’m not necessarily being pushed around but have a place to sit while I’m waiting in lines for attractions. Finding places to sit and rest at Disneyland isn’t always the easiest thing, and finding places to sit during their parades (other than lining up more than an hour early and sitting on the curb, which will be an obvious no go) is a near impossibility.

Any thoughts on what might be the best option?

 

[benne68]

Another thought I had was renting an upright walker with a seat, so I’m not necessarily being pushed around but have a place to sit while I’m waiting in lines for attractions

I think you are smart to plan ahead for this. At 12 weeks, you will still tire easily and your knee may or may not be up to a lot of walking.

In my opinion, the walker with a seat is a smart way to go. You'll be able to use it for support when you are on your feet and can sit when you need to. And, it's a clear signal to the crowds around you to give you a wide berth!

 

[sistersinhim]

I had a walker with a seat and I was glad I did. It came in handy quite a few times.

 

[panammaniac]

Last night I was out at a band competition watching my daughter perform, and it ended up getting unexpectedly chilly. I was wearing shorts, not expecting the cold, damp weather to move in like it did. I have now learned that having metal parts inside my body can make it rather cold. It took me a long time to warm back up once we got home.

My daughter is also a competitive figure skater, which means we spend a lot of time sitting around ice rinks. I guess I’m going to have to plan on bringing an extra blanket with me to keep that knee warm. We keep sweatshirts and blankets in the car year round for that reason. Some rinks aren’t too bad but some can be really cold even in the middle of summer.

 

[Neysa423]

I highly recommend one of the electric mobility scooters for someplace like Disneyland. No one will have to push you, you always have a seat, and if you feel like walking for a bit, or to stand in line, you can park it and come back to it when you're ready. Well worth the $50+ for the day.

 

[Flashlight]

Hi, my sister-in-law wears a (3mm) Compression Knee Sleeve to keep her knees warm. Maybe ask PT what they think? I used to wear a sleeve before my surgery when I worked outside in my gardens. Sometimes I couldn't stand it and other times I didn't know I had it on. They have some real lightweight ones that will fit underneath pants/jeans. You must be so proud of your daughter!

 

[panammaniac]

@Flashlight a neoprene sleeve is exactly what I was thinking. I refereed high school and a little bit of college basketball for 30 years (probably a big contributor to me now having a metal and plastic knee). A lot of that time was in gyms that weren't very warm, so a lot of running in short bursts, standing around in cold gyms, then taking off full speed again. I always wore full length compression tights under my uniform to keep everything warm, but of course that's not practical for day to day wear. Some people I know with knee replacements have told me I'll get used to the cold after a little while. Maybe so, but even walking through the frozen food aisle at Trader Joe's in the middle of the afternoon yesterday, when it was 75 degrees outside...brrrrr. Coming home from the band competition on Saturday night - it wasn't even that cold outside. Maybe upper 50s, but damp and windy, and it took me an hour and a hot beverage to stop shivering when I got home.

 

[hawk2go]

I've never noticed the knees getting cold faster than the rest of my body. I'll have to pay closer attention. Here in the northeast, there are plenty opportunities to experience cold.

I’m not enthusiastic about spending a day at Disneyland in a wheelchair but it might be a necessity in this case. Or at least have a wheelchair that I can push and sit in when I need to? Another thought I had was renting an upright walker with a seat, so I’m not necessarily being pushed around but have a place to sit while I’m waiting in lines for attractions.

I've used both and it really depends on where you are in the pain and recovery realm. The walker with seat is more versatile than the wheelchair but sitting on that walker seat for any length of time is tougher than sitting in a wheelchair (I highly recommend some sort of seat cushion). The wheelchair allows you to elevate your leg. Although I got pushed while in the wheelchair, I also got a pair of weight gloves with cushioned palms and was able to roll myself quite a bit. I have pushed my Mom in her seated walker in a pinch so it can be done. I've only ever used a scooter in the market but they are pretty sweet and solve so many challenges.

Whatever you get, you control your itinerary and can take a break when the rest are doing some activity that you can skip.

 

[Flashlight]

I was thinking about my husband and his blood loss during surgery. He had to have his blood count checked so many weeks after surgery. His platelet count was on the low side for a bit. Possibly this might add to you being cold too. We are having wet, humid, rainy weather this week and my knee doesn't like it!

 

[panammaniac]

@Flashlight That seems very plausible. I did lose “more blood than normal” during my surgery. I haven’t been asked to have my platelet count checked though.

My dad had TKR back in the mid-80s when it was still a fairly new thing. Back then they required you to have two pints of blood on hand. He had one pint of his own drawn a few weeks before surgery and I contributed a pint of mine.

 

[kneeper]

I didn't notice the leg getting colder after tkr, but I did seem to get cold more easily than usual in the first couple of months of my recovery.

 

[panammaniac]

@kneeper That’s pretty much what I’m noticing. I do feel it in the knee, but overall I’m finding I get chilled pretty easily right now. I’m in Southern California where it never really gets that cold, but just being outside for a couple hours in upper 50s / low 60s and slightly breezy and there was nothing I could do to stay warm enough. Very odd.

 

[JusticeRider]

Yes! Our weather has been cool and a bit rainy the last several days and I’m freezing! I usually run warm, but I’m pulling out my fleece pants and shivering under throw blankets. It’s crazy. It has to be from the surgery.

 

[panammaniac]

Session #2 of outpatient PT today. I’m going to PT once a week. ROM up to 115. She says I’m way ahead of plan and doing very well. She has noticed I do better on machines than with her trying to manually stretch me. I tend to guard, and she says I have massively strong legs so it’s pretty clear that I’m just not going to let her bend me. I did a little work on the stationary bike (no resistance), a leg press doing long arc quads with just the weight of the bar, and the incline shuttle where I’m stretching using my own body weight. I’m pushing to a little bit of discomfort but not to pain and we’re both happy.

The big issue for me now is gait correction. The ROM is going to come naturally, but I’ve been compensating for so long that I have to slow down and physically think about my gait and walking with proper mechanics.

From what I’ve learned since surgery, I believe I may have been walking around on a torn ACL since 2018, and all of those years of walking around like that caused additional problems. I remember the day when I first felt the pain. I was refereeing a girls high school basketball game when I felt the pull right before halftime. I finished the game in pain. Went to the doctor the next day who gave me a cortisone shot and scheduled me for an MRI. The cortisone shot helped a little, but I think it was more the anesthetic than the cortisone. The MRI showed some “thickening” of the ACL, which he said indicated maybe it had been partially torn and healed. I was never quite the same after that. I had a few games left in my season so I toughed them out by loading up on ibuprofen on game days. Figured I’d rest it in the off-season, but by the time next season came along I still hurt too much to run, so I retired from officiating, and the knee only continued to get worse. So I wasn’t surprised when the surgeon informed me after my TKR that my ACL was torn. It had been that way for nearly 5 years and I couldn’t convince my doctor that something was wrong besides the arthritis. It just goes to show that even advanced imaging isn’t foolproof.

 

[JusticeRider]

It just goes to show that even advanced imaging isn’t foolproof

Tell me about it…I had an MRI in 2020 after I injured my knee. It came back looking unremarkable and they couldn’t explain to me why I was in so much pain I could barely walk. It took 2 yrs of trying everything else before I finally convinced a surgeon to do an arthroscopic surgery to look inside my knee. She found grade 4 out of 4 lesions under my patella and on my trochlea and severe bone edema. I was in pain for two years and everyone was telling me my knee looked fine because of that MRI. 3 different doctors were basing their opinions off of it. My surgeon said they even pulled it up while they were looking at my knee on the operating table to try to see how such significant damage could have been missed. I felt vindicated but also angry. I had been in so much pain and had started to believe it was all in my head and I was crazy! They couldn’t explain how the imaging could have been so wrong.

 

[panammaniac]

@JusticeRider I admit I’m slightly annoyed, but just slightly. If they had properly diagnosed the ACL tear in the first place, I would have had ACL surgery which is another big one with a long rehab. It may or may not have slowed down the arthritis. Possibly I would have walked better and that may have minimized the damage, but most likely it would have only delayed the inevitable. I wasn’t mentally prepared to hear the words TKR come out of my orthopedist’s mouth earlier this year, but after it’s all said and done I’m glad I had it done now while I’m still relatively young and able to recover fairly easily. And it’s all taken care of with one major surgery instead of two. But on the flip side I had to suffer through pain for a few years longer than necessary because they misdiagnosed the imaging and didn’t listen to the patient. For a while they were even sending me to PT for my hip (which has nothing wrong with it other than mild OA) and at one point were treating me for sciatica which I had never had. I tried telling them I don’t have sciatica. “Oh yes you do.” Referred pain is a real thing. I was carrying a lot of my knee pain in my hip.

 

[JusticeRider]

I’m glad you have a good attitude about it! And in the end, you got a new knee and you only had to have one surgery instead of two!

And I know that even if they had seen my cartilage damage in 2020, they still probably would have made me go through the 2 yrs of pt and injections and taping and nsaids, etc, before they ever agreed to do a PKR on someone my age. But still!

I guess it’s always good to remember that technology isn’t perfect and neither are doctors. Ultimately we know our own bodies best (you knew you didn’t have sciatica!) and we have to advocate for ourselves. Strongly if needed!

I once had a stress fracture in my foot and my podiatrist insisted it was plantar fasciitis. I knew it was fractured, I could feel it! But it took 3 months of limping around and calling and making appointments and insisting something was broken before they finally gave me an MRI and ‘found’ the fracture.

Doctors are smart, but sometimes they aren’t the best listeners…

 

[panammaniac]

Today was my most ambitious day since surgery. Went out for coffee with the family for breakfast. Went grocery shopping right after that. We shop at two different stores, about 15 minutes of walking in each. Came home for a little bit to ice down and take meds. Then my daughter had a skating competition that was an hour away. I drove the family up, no problem at all. Sat in the bleachers at the rink for a couple hours. Rode the hour back home as a passenger. Now it’s 5 PM so there’s still a few small things left to do today. I’m maybe slightly more stiff after all that activity, but after a good long icing session I’m not feeling any different than I was yesterday. It’s almost like I’m back to semi-normal, except I’m moving quite a bit slower than normal. I’ve walked about 6000 steps today according to my Fitbit. Feeling good about the way things are going!