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TKR Powerhouse's Recovery

This recovery truly is like a roller coaster ride.... up, down, up, down.

I'm 5 1/2 weeks out. Tues & Wed this week were marvelous! :yahoo: I slept better two nights and had barely any pain. Got stuff done. Great ROM. No cane, no walker. Even did some client accounting at my desk for a couple hours.... it felt NORMAL!!

Then *poof* it's back to sleeping only 30-45 mins at a time (even with sleeping pill), very stiff, so exhausted and brain fog galore.

So disappointing...:oyvey:

I have my daily journals from when I had my left TKR back in 2015. Boy, by 5 weeks I was doing great...cooking, shopping, lunch out with friends...I started driving at 3 weeks and back to work almost full time at 5 weeks. Went to PT 2x week.

I hate feeling like a victim.....a cripple....still needing so much help at 5 1/2 weeks.:cry:
 
I didn’t sleep well until I was 4 MONTHS out! It surely IS a roller coaster ride. Try to be patient. Eventually there will be more ups than downs.
 
Sadly, it can be this way. No two joints are ever the same in recovery. But it will get better. This is one time your body is in charge and you are just along for the (rollercoaster) ride.
 
I guess having patience is the only thing we can do right now. I just wish there was a way to figure out when it's going to be a good day and when it's not.

I had two good night's sleep and two wonderful days. Then I had two horrible night's sleep and two days that felt like I was back at week two. Last night I had another good night's sleep and today so far is pretty darn good.

The lack of being able to predict is so frustrating. :doh:

So, it is what it is.....or as my retired Marine hubby would tell his men, "Suck it up, Marine!" :loll:
 
This is why we call it the rollercoaster of recovery. :wink: :console2:
 
Hi

Two questions please - almost 7 weeks out:

1.

I have been off all narcotic type drugs for almost 3 weeks. Just Advil.

I’ve noticed lately I am occasionally using the wrong word for things….. i.e. today I wanted hubby to hand me a big pillow, instead I said, “Will you please hand me that umbrella?” :doh:

I called a fork a cup, I called a salt shaker a pan…a couple others. SO WEIRD & OUT OF PLACE OUT OF THE BLUE. Am I losing it?????:oyvey:

2.

I’ve been off walker for 4 weeks and off cane for 2 weeks (unless I am walking a long distance like into a medical facility, I will carry the cane). When I wake up in the morning, my knee is really stiff, same as when I’ve been sitting for a while.

Is it better to use a cane for those first 5 minutes of working out the stiffness or just go ahead without cane? (I worry about throwing my hips of whack by limping too much).

Advice appreciated.

Thanks for all the priceless information I have gleaned from you all!!:angel:
 
I don’t know what to say about your words issue. I do know that I jokingly blamed the anesthesia I was given for anything weird or “off” for the first year!

About the cane, if it makes you feel more stable, use it. It is a tool to help you. I remember Celle saying there are no prizes for giving it up early.
 
I use the cane first thing in the morning because I worry the stiffness might make me fall. when I am tired and achey at the end of the day I may use it as well. My cane is one of the folding shock corded ones, and I will probably keep it on hand for any long outings, in as backpack or totebag or in my car for quite a long time.
 
Yes, you’re better off relying on the cane at least in the morning until you feel stable enough to go without. Did you have general anesthesia?
 
Powerhouse said:
Hi

Two questions please - almost 7 weeks out:

1.

I have been off all narcotic type drugs for almost 3 weeks. Just Advil.

I’ve noticed lately I am occasionally using the wrong word for things….. i.e. today I wanted hubby to hand me a big pillow, instead I said, “Will you please hand me that umbrella?” :doh:

I called a fork a cup, I called a salt shaker a pan…a couple others. SO WEIRD & OUT OF PLACE OUT OF THE BLUE. Am I losing it?????:oyvey:

2.

I’ve been off walker for 4 weeks and off cane for 2 weeks (unless I am walking a long distance like into a medical facility, I will carry the cane). When I wake up in the morning, my knee is really stiff, same as when I’ve been sitting for a while.

Is it better to use a cane for those first 5 minutes of working out the stiffness or just go ahead without cane? (I worry about throwing my hips of whack by limping too much).

Advice appreciated.

Thanks for all the priceless information I have gleaned from you all!!:angel:
Click to expand...
Hello! As a peri-menopausal woman, I occasionally say the wrong word and don't even realize it! My husband will point it out, and I'll be like "I didn't say that" because in my mind I said what I intended to say . This is prior to surgery. I still do this, it's normal as we age. Yes it's embarrassing to us and especially to me if I am doing this at work (zoom meetings) in front of my younger co-workers who just think I'm "losing it". Honestly I can't care about their opinions. It will happen to them someday too .
 
JoWo & Sisterpat,

Good advice about the cane when stiff... I've only been using it when I have to walk a long distance. But I thought it would be better to when I get up and I'm stiff to use it for a few minutes so I don't throw my whole body out of whack by limping.
 
Gingerbread said:
Hello! As a peri-menopausal woman, I occasionally say the wrong word and don't even realize it! My husband will point it out, and I'll be like "I didn't say that" because in my mind I said what I intended to say . This is prior to surgery. I still do this, it's normal as we age. Yes it's embarrassing to us and especially to me if I am doing this at work (zoom meetings) in front of my younger co-workers who just think I'm "losing it". Honestly I can't care about their opinions. It will happen to them someday too .
Click to expand...

Yes! I am 63, so post-menopausal, but I have been on bioidentical hormones for 15 years which saved me from most menopausal symptoms!

I have noticed as I age that my memory is not as crisp as it used to be. But nothing really bad like the beginning of dementia. :)

But these recent ones - since surgery - were starting to scare me. I was on the phone with the hospital and they asked for my social security number and I've had that memorized since I was 16 years old ... for the life of me I could not remember what it was. I froze and I just told her "um..um...um... wow.. I can't remember.. hang on ...hang on ...I'll get it" and she laughed and said that a lot of people can't remember their's. I ultimately remembered it about 60 seconds later but that scared me a lot.:doh:

Like you, the older I get the less I care about people's opinions!!!
 
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Sisterpat said:
Did you have general anesthesia?
Click to expand...

Well, I was totally under. But it was different than my other knee surgeries & even my sinus surgery. I always was intubated before. This time I had a nerve block injected right above my knee, and an epidural and then they gave me something they called "the best margarita you’ll have" and they shot it into the IV. I only had a oxygen mask on, no tube.
 
Powerhouse said:
they asked for my social security number and I've had that memorized since I was 16 years old ... for the life of me I could not remember what it was.
Click to expand...
Years ago I went to Sesame Place, with one of my children’s classes, and on the way out of the park they asked for my zip code. Right after I told, them I realized it was the zip code where I had grown up, and I hadn’t lived there in years! I don’t know what made me say that or why it even came to mind!
 
I made lemon bars the other day, and when telling my partner about them I said I made a dessert with "those yellow things"... I also wrote down my address with the numbers all scrambled on a form the other day. I really hope it's the anesthesia!
 
Yay, freedom! Finally driving!!! Ahhhhhhh.... :)

IMG_20210822_132416_871.jpg
 
Hi

I'm now at 8 weeks. Sleep has better, alleluia. Rarely need pain meds. Started driving again, amazing the freedom it brings! :yahoo:

I only went to PT three times in the first two weeks after surgery and after my surgeon pushed on my knee to get extension and then pulled on my foot to my butt to try to get flexion.... I couldn't move for four days. I decided to do to the BoneSmart Way!

I have worked up to daily walking 20 minutes around the block. I don't use the cane much in the house but I do use it when I go for these walks. I can go up the stairs fine but going down the stairs is like a death threat! So waiting awhile to attempt it. :sad:

One thing that kind of hit me out of the blue in spite of the improvement I'm seeing, there's some sort of "the blues", weepy, crying at drop of a bucket...so unlike me. :oyvey:But I think most of that must be coming from all the horrible news around the world and the lack of control that I have as well as recovery.

My flexion was still only at 90, and my extension is not where it should be. I bought this great device for increasing ROM.... it also works for hip replacements and shoulder surgeries. It's been wonderful esp for increasing flexion, strengthening hamstrings & quads.

It's from Bob & Brad ....called Knee Glide.

IMG_20210824_103025.jpg
 
Powerhouse said:
One thing that kind of hit me out of the blue in spite of the improvement I'm seeing, there's some sort of "the blues", weepy, crying at drop of a bucket...so unlike me. :oyvey:
Click to expand...
This is one of the reasons you feel like this, and its very common:
bonesmart.org

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it

Post op blues is feeling depressed, weepy, nervy, shaky, fearful of the future, anxious, overwhelmed by what is happening to you, convinced it's never going to get any better and finally, uttering that most intense of all cries "I wish I never had this done!" It arises out of a variety of...
bonesmart.org bonesmart.org

I‘m glad you found a good way to gently work on your ROM!
 
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