TKR People are making me feel like a wimp after RTKR

[cycling67]

What a great report and a wonderful thread to read! It helps so much reading that there is certainly light at the end of the tunnel. Many thanks!!!

I'm glad to hear that this lump of concrete eventually feels like a knee again

Well said Speedy2, it really does feel like a lump of concrete. It is this feeling that gets me down each day until I start to move it.

Kneewords: don't you worry about a thing. you are right 3 months is not a long time for this surgery and we are all just doing our best. Motivation comes and goes for me likely following the path of up and down depression.

Hang in there everyone and soon enough we will have our own 1 year success stories to tell.

 

[Bionic woman2]

One example I've been given is of an 85 year old woman who had bilateral knee replacement who was out and about 4 weeks after her surgery.

I wonder what she did at 5 weeks. Go somewhere and sit down! TRULY, I'd love to hear these magnificent stories in person from the horse's mouth. I'm sure the tale would be slightly different.

I once had this guy ask me in wonder why didn't I have both my knees done at once? As if he knew anything about my home situation and who would care for me while I recuperated. He then went on tell me that his 70 yr old grandmother who had Bilaterals and was doing her thing at 2 weeks. WHAT WAS HER THING? Because MY THING involves going to work in kindergarten, staying after school and teaching African and Latin to elementary school kids; coming home and preparing a meal for my own kids and baking for my bakery business. I'm not even gonna go into what I do for fun! So MAYBE we have different "THINGS" and my knees are not ready for me to " Get up and do MY THANG" like James Brown yet. lol Besides, at two weeks most people are still on narcotics, so... Do your thing granny! lol I'm sure his story was distorted since his grandmother had passed, and it was a while ago. Shoot, I was gonna call her for pointers. People just want to put their two cents in and they have NO CLUE!

I was so happy to be out running errands at 8 weeks or so, I really didn't need to hear his ignorant, insensitive comments. Never-mind the surgery! They also have no clue what it feels like to have your life slip away from you, as your body gives out and you can no longer do what you enjoy. Knee Replacement Surgery is NOT for Sissies!

I know when I return to work I'm gonna hear lots of comments. I already have my stares prepared :rolleyes: and I'm working on my responses. I'm thinking about carrying around a flash drive with the surgery video on it. I'll just hand it to them and say, insert, click and push play. Basically, my main line so far is gonna be.. "Really, I'd love to speak with that person." Or, "until it's you going through, you don't really have a clue, everybody's different." Not too much worried about burning bridges since I didn't see many people crossing them during my recovery.

Sunnie-

We're all different and as my OS likes to remind me a bilateral recovery is brutal. I did well, then I went downhill, then I started back up, then I got stuck in my PT. I was all over the place! Ya know how everyone can pedal a bike? I was able to make a revolution twice in one week and then haven't been able to make a revolution with my left leg until this past week and I'm over a year out in my recovery! I had friends who said the same thing to me at 4 months. Everyone knows somebody or heard of somebody who was running a marathon by the second month. Yea for them! It took many visits to this site for me to recognize that I would get there in my own time. My knee guided my brain, which sometimes tried to take over from the knee, and then things really got hairy! I cannot imagine having to go back to work even at 6 months. I was a true slow poke in every sense of the word. It was 5 months before I was able to hold down my brake without pain. Today, I pruned 5 cypress trees by myself. I sleep in any position I like at night. I'm no longer limited by what my knees will allow me to do. You will be too, but in your bodies time. Ignore the naysayers. As I used to remind the 12 physical therapist at rehab that I dealt with during my recovery, until you actually have a joint replacement, you only know what you've read in a book. Look forward, go slow, it'll all happen, in time...

Ditzziechick, thank you for sharing your success story. I'm gonna tag a couple of members who are struggling right now, so they can see that it does get better. Rlucillem, seeeeeeeeeee no overnight success story here! @patient99 Maybe your doctor is right about the year after all.

 

[SFBaySailor]

The question I get asked most often is "Are you better than before?".

Fortunately, the answer to that is "yes", at 5 months.
I may have answered no in the early days, though.

Roger

 

[ema8447]

Bionic woman2: I LOVE your line that "Knee Replacement Surgery is NOT for Sissies!" So very, very true! I'm now just over 8 months post-LTKR and the journey hasn't been (as I've been telling people) the "rip-roaring success I had envisioned when I made the decision to do this." Still, all-in-all, I'm better off than before. Unfortunately, I have to do this again - my right knee needs to be replaced too.

When my doctor told me (repeatedly) that I should plan on a year to feel like I'd recovered, I blithely told him that the year would apply people on either side of me, but not me! How wrong I was!!

This forum is an amazing place to come to for information, support, ideas, and even a few laughs. I'm so glad I found it. I'm still dealing with (not as many) long, sleepless nights, and some really good days and then other days that are truly lousy. That's when I lose my motivation and question my decision. Checking in here has allowed me to re-group and find my way out of the darkness.

My heartfelt thanks to all!

 

[denpucc]

Nyland and alexthecat - my mother is the same. She had arthroscopic surgery on her knee 20 years ago and now at 87 is experiencing some knee pain. I've had 9 knee surgeries, 2 major ones 6 months apart when I was 12 and she keeps telling me that she doesn't remember my knee surgeries (she is not losing her mind trust me) and keeps complaining about joint aches while I'm having a TRKR in December!

Don't let these people bother you. Just concentrate on getting well and healing at your own rate!

Hugs
Denise

 

[referee54]

I LOVE your line that "Knee Replacement Surgery is NOT for Sissies!"

I whole-heartedly agree! HAving a BTKR was, without a doubt, the most difficult and challenging thing that I have ever done in my life---the recovery took much longer than I expected (isn't that true for almost all of us!)

That being said, when I was all done and fully recovered, I could not believe (and I still cannot believe) how great I feel!

 

[referee54]

I'm still dealing with (not as many) long, sleepless nights, and some really good days and then other days that are truly lousy.

I completely understand how yo are feeling. I had the same issues with sleeplessness as well as the roller coaster ride called recovery.

I can tell you that slowly those bumps, dips and valleys begin to get less noticeable---eventually, there will be none!