TKR Pheebs52 Recovery Discovery Journey May 22

[Thesoutherncook]

Pheebs,
You asked about mountain living and joints....well, bottom line is the two are not generally made for each other! However, when I recover from #2 TKR I will be a much better judge. We've lived here for 13 years on 5 acres of land with about 1/3 acre " flat" and the remainder of our land rolls downhill. For years, I gardened on the side of the mountain and attribute my 2 TKR to those years! We have a 3 level house with master, living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry and garage on main. Thirteen steps up to guest bedrooms and 13 steps down to guest bedroom and my art studio in a walkout basement. All that to say, I can live on the main level without doing stairs each day. If we ever move from here, I swear I will not have another stair!!!

If you are a hiker, then you will be going up and down mountains. If you are even a walker, our driveway is a 20% grade, so walking or biking " around the neighborhood" isn't happening! We do have a gym with a flat walking track ( boring! ). My husband fly fishes for trout and he hikes 2-4 miles up the mountain then fishes downstream. I would be terrified of falling on these new knees!

My caution would be think carefully about your lifestyle and choose typography that will allow you to continue to do the things you enjoy! Before deciding on a move, go spend several weeks there and be sure it is a good fit!

All that being said, I am sitting in my recliner looking out giant windows at a killer mountain view of a range about 40 miles from here! I cannot see another building until winter and have neighbors far enough away that we drive to visit! After living in metro ATL, I would not trade it! But, I have to admit to not being as physically active as I should be! I garden in pots on the deck, paint in my studio and will go back to the gym when this recovery is complete.
Hope this helps! ( We are in faaaaar Western NC, 2 hrs west of Asheville, 2 hrs north of ATL in the Appalachain Mountains)

 

[Celle]

I certainly feel "A bend, is a bend, is a bend," yet, the PT continues to record the blasted, prone heel-slide measurement as the *real* deal. Protocol, he says.

They have to be consistent with the way they measure. That's why he continues to do it the same way. Otherwise, it would be like comparing apples with pears.

The two factors that lead to some frustration and negative, number awareness are cycling (can't do it yet) and going down the stairs foot-over-foot.

I can walk down *normal-style* on very shallow stairs if it's a short flight, but in general, no can do...yet. I've even tried to practice on just 2-3 steps indoors, but...nope. OS told me the other day to just stop trying, so I am honoring that for now. He says it'll just come naturally "One Fine Day," and I'm sure he's right

Your surgeon is correct. Both things will happen on their own. It takes many people at least 4 months before they can walk down stairs one foot at a time. doing so is really pretty hard on a new knee, because it's like doing a mini-squat on one leg, while keeping your balance at the same time.

The OS who is interested in what you can accomplish is one who values quality of life, not just the numbers which are subjective anyway.

YES!!

 

[Canada35]

What tries my patience? Definitely still the stairs! I can go up just fine foot over foot but still have not consistently been able to come down that way. I might get down two or three shallow steps but certainly not the steps down from our bedroom level or down to our basement level. I still go down with my op leg followed by my good one! I have given up the cane completely indoors including the stairs and just use the hand rail now though!

 

[sistersinhim]

I was unable to go down the steps normally for over 20 years, so I never stressed about it with my new knee. After about 6 months or so, I just decided to try it, and I could do it! I was thrilled! What a wonderful surprise!

 

[Pheebs52]

Thanks to all for your patience and progress comments with special thanks to @Thesoutherncook, Helen, for thoughtful insights into mountain living. I have much to ponder at my leisure.

I had a late day PT appointment and while I requested *no numbers* I was given a "Thumbs Up!"

 

[sistersinhim]

Thumbs up is good!

 

[Pheebs52]

Yeah, it is, eh?

 

[VW54]

Say...are you also avoiding going up and down inclines? I found myself looking for steps as an alternative. That is so unlike me.

 

[Pheebs52]

VW54, I was avoiding inclines and choosing steps instead just a few weeks ago, because steps were actually easier for me then. Now, I have choices and can do either! In fact, when I was walking up my steep driveway yesterday after PT, I almost felt like skipping;hah!

 

[Pheebs52]

Transformation Nation: Good morning Smarties, and it IS a very good for me! When I awoke this morning, something was distinctly missing.....the awful, tight band STIFFNESS!!! Yep, you read it right! I don't know exactly what to attribute it to, but I made note of an interesting phenomenon that occurred at PT yesterday.

While we were stretching my leg, the area just above the knee, where the tight band has lived and that has continued to feel somewhat *cementy* on and off, (it varies) felt very different. It felt more like soft putty or modeling clay than cement and the stretching movement felt really good instead of a bit uncomfortable. Hmmm....has some major healing taken place this week? Perhaps so, right?

I'm not yet banking on a new trend of no morning stiffness, but this is a most welcome development!

 

[SusieShoes]

When you start skipping, let us know how that works out for you, okay?

Good news about the tight band stiffness! Is this the same as "around the knee joint" stiffness? Because I still have that. I never had anything that felt like cement. Whatever it is, glad you have had a morning free of it!

 

[VW54]

Oh wow that's superb news!
( I want what she had á la "when Harry met Sally")

 

[Pheebs52]

Hahaha, well Susie, this is the much discussed "Tight Band Tourniquet," sensation that's basically an arc, immediately above the knee. The knee itself and the incision area have some, low-grade stiffness, but next to that Cement-Like, Tight Band Tourniquet nonsense, it's really a big, fat nothing. In other words, it's easily ignored.

VW54, put your order in for some today, lol! Love that movie.

 

[SusieShoes]

Ah, okay. I was wondering, because people keep talking about the Tight Band and I kept wondering if I wasn't connecting the dots. I just never had it, and from the sound of it, that's a blessing. The other stiffness, low-grade as you call it, is what I have. Still. Kind of waiting for that to go away.

Hope your Tight Band stays gone!

 

[kmak81230]

Yeah! What a great development. I have had some of that but clearly not as bad as you and others have described. Hope it continues as putty and does not revert to cement. As for the inclines, when I was in SF I found walking up the inclines relatively easy but am very tentative on the descents - would've preferred stairs. I love to hike in the mountains and prior to surgery the descents were always the killer on my knees and I always used trekking poles with very sore knees afterward. I am hoping that the descents will be pain-free (at least on lefty) and that I become less fearful of the downhill walks. I expect my quad is not strong enough yet to take on that load.

 

[Pheebs52]

<---*Mentally Skipping!*

Did I tell you guyz about my landscaper yesterday? I don't think I did and you'll all love this story.

Clifton (not his real name) has been mowing my yard for several years now. He's a big, strapping guy in his mid-50's and has had a painful knee for quite some time. He decided to have it replaced last November. I haven't seen him since then, but ran into him yesterday as I was leaving the house. He'd spoken to Mistah, and knew I had had my knee done as well and he was eager to exchange notes and experiences.

When I walked out the door into the driveway, he rushed over and said "Just look at you, you are walking without a cane!" Then he said, "Look at me, I can JOG now," and he proceeded to jog up and down my steep driveway! His enthusiasm really was infectious. Next, we compared scars; his looks better, of course, lol. Just then, another of his crew came into the driveway, and Clifton didn't want him to hear his next question. With a very serious expression on his face, he leaned in and almost whispered, "Now tell me Mon, (that's what he calls me, he's Jamaican) did you cry when you came home?" I laughed and said no, but only because I was drugged to the gills and I just don't cry easily. He said, "Well, I did. Yes, I did, like a baby! It was the worst thing I EVER felt in my life! It was hell, Mon! But, you look and move so well already! How come? Rehab? Oh, that rehab was just a nightmare, a nightmare I tell you, Mon. I cried all the time, every day. You too?"

I said, "Well, no Clifton, PT hasn't been a nightmare, thanks to Bonesmart and some serious luck of the draw!"

 

[dvannie]

So glad to hear about that cementy feeling leaving! That's pretty exciting! I can't wait for that moment myself :smile2:

 

[Pheebs52]

It seems not everyone develops that cement-like, Tight Band Tourniquet sensation just above the knee, but many of us certainly do. To those who didn't, you were really lucky, 'cuz it's a bear! It really is awful. I don't know the source of the sensation, but imagine it's due to swelling? That seems like a reasonable explanation to me because I did have a lot of visible swelling the first 3 weeks and I'm sure there was plenty more unseen in that small joint space. It might be an inflammatory response as well and hopefully one of our Forum Advisors can explain it.

Kmak81230, there's no question that walking down inclines is tougher on the quads. I've been forced to deal with that since Week Two because of my driveway and going to Outpatient PT early. I can't say I am eager to walk down inclines, but I can say my driveway and short hilly, trails in the woods no longer seem to bother it; phew! So, probably like everything else, time and lots of practice on small hills will eventually get you back to mountain hiking, eh?

 

[Pheebs52]

Well dvannie, I'll just have to wait and see if stays gone, lol! Regardless, it was fabulous to wake up today without it.

 

[Thesoutherncook]

Good for you! That's a major milestone....getting rid of that cement feeling!

Descents are the hardest on knees - whether driveways, stairs or hiking trails! My former OS gave me a ratio of pressure per pound of weight ( which I promptly forgot) from descents.... enough to make a believer out of me.