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TKR Pheebs52 Recovery Discovery Journey May 22

@SusieShoes, that was my best laugh of the day!

@jaschembra , thanks for that sunning tip! I was only in the sun for about 10 minutes and most of the incision was covered, but I will definitely ask my surgeon about this. I'm really not a *sun-bunny* but it's been a very cold, wet Spring here and I just couldn't resist a few warm rays today. After all the cold and gloom, it felt almost as good as my first shower.:happydance:

@sooz58, thankfully, I'm not riddled with anxiety when I go to bed or even thinking about much at all other than how to get comfy. I fall asleep right away, but then, about 2.5 hours later, the leg starts to throb and it's all over until the next round. Some nights it takes me about an hour to get back to some zzz's, other nights longer. I usually have 2 of these wake-ups per night so I just read until the eyes get heavy again. I am so grateful to own a Kindle!
 
at least when I need to go now I don't have to call for someone like did in hospital. They were pretty good about showing up when I called but you know how after awhile you just feel like the biggest pain in the butt?!? I also spent my first post op night with a catheter that gave me the awful sensation of having to go constantly but never being done! Maybe my bladder has PTSD!
 
Day Eleven: First, a loud, shout-out of gratitude to each and every Smartie that helped me find a way to get some decent ...er...Beauty Rest last night! I went the recliner route (thank you @keefsmom) and crawled into Mistah's big, old man-chair at about 11 P.M. with my pillow stack, my ice, my Kindle, and a very soft blanket. I didn't need the Kindle. Within 5 minutes of fully reclining that beast of a chair, I was OUT! The best part is, I stayed OUT for the next ...*drumroll* ...4 hours; whoohoo! My nasty knee did not wake me but the PTSD bladder did. That's ok, it's different, a very nice change of pace if you will. :yay:

After the bathroom trip, I had a strong desire to lie flat in bed, so I crawled in there, following SusieShoes advice to stuff a big, fluffy pillow between my knees. Next thing I knew, 4.5 hours had passed! Huzzah! So, 8.5 hours sleep in one night....what more could I ask for? Right now, there almost isn't anything else.

Today, PT came. To say she is not happy with my flexion is a supreme understatement. She feels a call should be made to my surgeon so I can get in sooner to see him than my standing appointment of 6/15. She seems to sincerely believe I will end up with an MUA if he can't do something now. My question to her was, "What can he possibly do?" I did not receive a satisfactory answer. I am going to call his office this afternoon and request a chat since I now feel threatened and bluesy. I know I shouldn't allow her to make me feel the blues, but it's how I feel this afternoon. I cried after she left and I am not one subject to tears, so that alone was rough. I did my stairs for her twice; no problem. I did stair lunges; no problem. I did marching in place; no problem. I cane-walked around my house 3x, a little wobbly and a little ouchy, but still, no problem. I did some modified squats; no problem. My leg extensions are tough, but I did them without tears. She felt they weren't high enough, I thought they were great. Bottom Line? I flunk heel-slides; HUGE PROBLEM, according to her. My leg hangs almost straight down when sitting at the edge of the bed. I don't know how many degrees that is (she's not saying) but it must be close to 90, right? I think I hate her.:yikes:
 
I think you should hate her. It's no way you should have been doing all that on that baby knee. I'd fire her. You can, you know. She's not your boss, you are her boss. She sounds extremely controlling and intimidating. That is not good for you. You should never be doing a lunge or a squat this early. Your ROM won't improve as long as you're doing all these exercises. That infant knee needs nothing but TLC and using it around the house doing normal things. And with your leg hanging straight down while sitting on the bed says 90* to me. Most OS don't expect that until 6 weeks! Your knee isn't even 2 weeks old yet.

Fire her. Cancel all other pt. You don't need it. You need to heal first before trying to exercise that knee. Just use it normally. I never took pt. Not for 11 knee surgeries. Check out my thread. I did just fine without it. You will do much better than you are now without it!
 
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Paula is right, the squats, lunges etc. is what's holding back your ROM and creating swelling which I turn keeps your knee from bending. Don't do any other of her exercises, just ice, elevate, rest. No cleaning, dusting etc. for 3-4 days and see how the knee responds. Squats are a huge no,no and probably responsible for your night pain. Here's a link to help you estimate ROM.

https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/rom-range-of-motion-information.3730/
 
Pheebs52 said:
I did stair lunges; no problem. I did marching in place; no problem. I cane-walked around my house 3x, a little wobbly and a little ouchy, but still, no problem. I did some modified squats; no problem.
Click to expand...
If you keep doing those exercises at this early stage of recovery, there will be a problem. It's too early for lunges, and marching and squats are both very bad for such a new knee. What's more, they're all totally unnecessary.

All those exercises are likely to upset your poor knee that is only trying to heal, and they will make it more swollen. That will make it harder to bend. That kinda defeats the object of doing them, doesn't it?
Your knee will bend as the swelling goes down, because it's the swelling that is keeping it stiff.

It's not exercising that gets you your ROM - it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your ROM is there right from the start, just waiting for all that to happen, so it can show itself.

Pheebs52 said:
To say she is not happy with my flexion is a supreme understatement. She feels a call should be made to my surgeon so I can get in sooner to see him than my standing appointment of 6/15. She seems to sincerely believe I will end up with an MUA if he can't do something now. My question to her was, "What can he possibly do?" I did not receive a satisfactory answer. I am going to call his office this afternoon and request a chat since I now feel threatened and bluesy. I know I shouldn't allow her to make me feel the blues, but it's how I feel this afternoon. I cried after she left and I am not one subject to tears, so that alone was rough. I did my stairs for her twice; no problem. I did stair lunges; no problem. I did marching in place; no problem. I cane-walked around my house 3x, a little wobbly and a little ouchy, but still, no problem. I did some modified squats; no problem. My leg extensions are tough, but I did them without tears. She felt they weren't high enough, I thought they were great. Bottom Line? I flunk heel-slides; HUGE PROBLEM, according to her. My leg hangs almost straight down when sitting at the edge of the bed. I don't know how many degrees that is (she's not saying) but it must be close to 90, right? I think I hate her.:yikes:
Click to expand...
I think you need to tell that little lady to go away and not come back. She has her own agenda, which isn't your knee's agenda, and she's upsetting and worrying you.

She has you on an exercise regime that is more suited to three months post-op, not eleven days.
She's doing more harm than good.

You can do straight leg raises, and the heel slides will come. It's so easy to do them incorrectly and it sounds as if your knee will bend OK without them anyway. Instead of trying to do heel slides, just sit on the edge of the bed and let your leg hang down, as you have been doing. That will let gravity help your knee and it won't do any harm. Doing that, and just walking around the house is all the exercise your knee needs right now.

There's no need to rush to get ROM, because it can continue to improve for a year or more after a TKR. There's no deadline you have to meet:
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR

PT isn't compulsory, or even necessary. Many of us (including me) recovered without any formal PT, but just let our normal activity be our therapy. We have good results.
Saying no to therapy - am I allowed to?
 
That's nonsense! Kick that therapist to the curb!

I just had my last home PT session and I can't do nearly what you can, and she thought I was doing great! (And I'm on day 17!)


Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum
 
Thank you my very wise Bonesmart friends, from the bottom of my heart. After she left today, I felt like such an abject failure and that's something I don't normally feel. In fact, I've been quite pleased with most of my progress to date until she ripped it all to shreds this afternoon. I looked at the ROM chart (thanks @KarriB) and would estimate my flexion to be around 85. For 11 days post-op, I think that's pretty darned good!

I can pick items up off the floor, put my own shoes on, walk with a cane a bit if I choose, go up and down my stairs, (slowly but without pain,) get dressed without assistance, get in and out of the shower without problem, and do many other typically *normal* activities of daily living. If they hurt, I don't do them. None of these mentioned hurt.

On the days she doesn't come, I don't do anything except walk a bit and some leg dangling. I don't do any housework; Mistah will take care of all that for as long as necessary.

Though all of you feel today's exercises with her are extreme (and I'm sure you are right! ) I just wish to clarify that none of them have caused me pain while I've been executing them. I have flatly refused to do anything that causes pain and this does seem to get under her lizard skin. Today, she wanted to push my knee back further while doing a heel slide and I reminded her she is not allowed to touch me and the knee was as bent as I felt it could safely and comfortably be. She then told me my *attitude* was most unusual and a hindrance to progress. Apparently, all of her clients just cooperate with her agenda. I find that so very hard to believe.

My husband thinks her agenda is simply more money. She is paid per diem. If I remain in Home Care longer than the norm, it's more money for her.

I did call my surgeon's office and have an appointment to see his PA on Monday. I want to hear from his lips that there is nothing abnormal or unusual in my progression or supposed lack thereof. If he says there is a problem, than he will have to find a solution I can live with, but whatever that might be will not involve her.

She will not return here. I will call her agency and cancel all of her visits.
 
Pheebs52 said:
My husband thinks her agenda is simply more money. She is paid per diem. If I remain in Home Care longer than the norm, it's more money for her.
Click to expand...
He could be right.
Some of the PTs get obsessed with ROM because it's one way they can prove to the insurance companies that their ministrations are effective. They can prove "progress" with increasing numbers. That they upset and worry their patients doesn't seem to be considered at all.
 
I am so glad you are cancelling her! I was told absolutely no squats! One of the video exercises the PT assigned me was squats. I don't so them. Heck - this surgery wasn't to enable me to do squats and lunges. It was to enable me to walk and do the every day activities of life without pain. Those are the activities that are important to me in this recovery.

I am also SO happy you got a good night's sleep! Hurray! That deserves some good ice cream to celebrate!


Sent from my iPad using BoneSmart Forum
 
@IowaNana, thanks for your support! I don't have any ice-cream in the house, but....we're getting some really good pizza tonight; yum!
 
..and at your stage, I doubt the OS office says anything different to you than you're doing really well! I will say, my OS gave me the MUA word at 4 weeks, but I think that was his standard protocol (not that I agreed with it or liked it). At 11 days, walking with a cane, stairs, etc.... you really are doing great!!! And you're right, that PT does not need to return.
 
You're doing awesome, don't let her get you down. It sounds like your ROM is very good at this time in your recovery. You know she's wrong, but it will be great for you to hear the PA say it.
Let us know what he says.
Kudos for sleeping that long, I don't think I slept that long until about 2 months.
Please don't doubt yourself because of this woman, you're doing great!
 
@Pheebs52 ~ you are doing great, a heck of a lot better than me and i'm 6 weeks post op with only 70 degrees flexion and just had my first physio session. it seems some of us recover better in certain areas and worse in other areas than others. i can walk very well (so i think) without any device, feeling very solid on my new knee, yet i can't put on my sock or shoe, which i discovered yesterday getting ready for physio. i've only been wearing bare feet around the house and slippers outside. i couldn't even get my slip-on sneakers on without help!! i won't be doing squats anytime soon as that's one of the exercises that ruined my knees when i joined hubby's "yogalates fore golf" class. at the end of 6 weeks i could barely walk. the instructor had us doing continuous squats, not like in my yoga class where we did very slow, deliberate squats. good for you letting your physiotherapist know your limits and hopefully you'll find another and let them know from the get go that there is more than one philosophy of recovery!
 
Wash that woman right out of your hair, and life, and far away from your knees. You're doing great! I bet your OS will say the same. There are lots of other PTs out there, and you can find better.
 
I feel like I've just received an enormous group hug and....I'm crying...again! Good grief, I don't like this weepy person I've become today. Thanks so much to each and every one of you for giving of yourselves with such kindness and empathy.
 
@Pheebs52 it's very normal for those exercises to not hurt at the time you're doing them. It can take a few hours for the swelling to come on and bring the pain and stiffness. My PT consisted of stretches, leg lifts and heel slides. The therapist had me do squats, I tried one and said never again. You'll do them, just not in this time frame. Please take a look at the Activity progression for TKRs to see what you can do that won't hurt or bring on swelling. I do believe once you stop the aggressive exercises you'll have more bend and 85 isn't bad at all for 11 days, but 11 days is really too early for many of those exercises. Take a few days off and you'll notice the lack of nighttime pain and even more bend.
 
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