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TKR Put the right knee in...and then the left.

Normal can mean adding one thing very gently, and see how your knees react. If ok, then you can do it again and maybe a little longer. You knees' reactions should always be your guide.
 
Normal probably won't look anything like it has the last few years. After all, that's why you did this, isn't it? I am excited to see what my new "normal" will look like as I have been struggling with my knees since I was very young. I really don't know what my body is capable of, but I am excited to find out. :happydance::yay::dancy:
 
Normal is such a fluid thing, isn't it? One day last year I looked over at Mr. Shoes and said, "My world has become small." Like you, I've little by little become less active. Because of pain and disability, I'd condensed things: only left home once a week to do all my errands in one, painful trip; stopped taking my morning walks; delegated more household and garden tasks to Mr. Shoes (the man is a prince); dropped out of the gym because of the pain. On my last cruise, I stayed on the ship in port because excursions hurt too much, even with Percocet. The world shrinks to almost nothing when you hurt too much to move.

The new normal is great. It's almost limitless. Those morning walks are back, and they're a pleasure again. I'm meeting new people and doing new things. If someone says, "Let's go," I no longer hesitate. I go! I can walk anywhere. You are going to love the new normal. You will do all the things you once loved doing, and more. All the world's doors are flung open. You have only to pick and choose which ones to go through.

And you've gotten the best advice from @sistersinhim. Take it slowly, especially at first. There's such a temptation to throw oneself headlong into doing things, when we really need to learn how much we are ready to do. It's not like we turn a corner one day and, wellah, we are capable of doing things we haven't done in a decade. Our bodies need a little time to adjust, grow stronger, and relearn a few things. Patience goes farther than haste.

I love reading your thread. You're wonderfully optimistic!
 
SusieShoes said:
You're wonderfully optimistic!
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Optimism rules in waking hours--but those lying awake in the middle of the night hours sure can drift to the dark side.

Getting back to normal is going to be a long process. A friend picked me up yesterday in her comfy car and we went for a drive, with a pause at the Starbuck's drive-through to get an iced mocha. It was a pleasant 45 minutes--great to visit and to see something other than my immediate neighborhood. But I paid with an increase in swelling and soreness last night. Nothing catastrophic or lasting but a reminder that these are early days and progress is slow.
 
That first month is a killer, and possibly the first six weeks. My knees were very reactive. If I did new exercises or tested them in any way, they swelled and I would have to ice and elevate more the next day. It's so much better just a few weeks later when they allow a little more work and are agreeable to changes.
 
Susie is right. With the first knee I remember thinking that 6 weeks would be a turning point, and it was, but now I find myself thinking "why can't I do that yet?" all the time. I think it's just too easy to expect too much the second time because you've been there, know it gets better, and why can't it just be better now!

Get out, enjoy, but expect to rest and pamper your knee a bit. It deserves it's share of pampering, too. Hope you are having a good day. :hi:
 
@sandi4213 Ah, yes, that impatience thing! Get better now! And I have to keep reminding myself not to compare the 2nd knee to the 1st but it's SO tempting to take a peek back at my posts to see how I was doing at various points. I do remember thinking at about this point in the 1st recovery that there was no way I'd be able to rely on my right knee--it was just too sore and stiff--and then at some point after 4 weeks, heading into 5, the knee did turn a corner (as the PT kept telling me it would do). So, here's hoping the same thing happens with #2.

I'm having a sleepy day today but I have no plans except a friend dropping by in the late afternoon so I'm just going with the sleepiness and taking little cat naps.
 
@gertie, indeed what will be our new *normal*? It's a great question, one that I certainly cannot answer as yet, but I'm hopeful it will have some semblance to an activity level of roughly 2-4 years ago. I don't know if that's asking too much, but it's pleasant to envision. I rather like just winging it, playing things by ear, instead of focusing on all the "Used to do's,", so I'll probably continue on in that vein and make a lot of little discoveries as I go along. I know some people have very concrete goals, often quantified by numbers, but....that's just not for me. However, to each their own, eh?
 
gertie said:
She said I should start getting back to my normal routines-- and that has given me pause. What is "normal"?
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Is there really such a thing as normal? Perhaps we might do well to change it up and not have *getting back to normal* as a goal for our recoveries? We've gone through/we are going through so much on this TKR recovery journey, so why not throw caution to the wind, jump in with reckless abandon, and focus on creating a whole new *normal*. For me, that would be so much better than going back to what once was. If you think about it, people suggesting we *get back to normal* are in reality suggesting that we return to pain, mobility issues, inability to engage in many activities, and everything else that we had with our originally issued knees. No thank you!:no-fin: We deserve so much more, in my opinion. :SUNsmile: Hang in there, we'll get each other through this!:flwrysmile:
 
Fire wolf said:
creating a whole new *normal*. For me, that would be so much better than going back to what once was.
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That's a good perspective to take--and a good reminder that nothing is static--there is no absolute "normal". Sadly, up to now, I've associated those words, "a new normal", with someone's deteriorating health--something that friends who have had serious and debilitating illnesses have said as they try to cope ("well, we just have to get used to a new normal")--it would be great to reimagine it in a more hopeful way.
 
Good thoughts @Fire wolf and @gertie. It says something about our culture when we feel "New Normal," is a negative phrase, doesn't it? I'm still luxuriating in my morning fog, but I think it should mean we're going to be up for new adventures, conquering exciting new territories and doing so with a newfound appreciation of the magnificent machines known as our bodies! KNEERAH!
 
KNEERAH! indeed! @Pheebs52 In an earlier reply you said something about some folks set quantifiable goals for recovery. I say that's not me but to a certain extent it is. One simple thing I look forward to doing again is using stairs as the default rather than always searching for an elevator. I work on the 3rd floor of a building with high ceilings so going from floor to floor means climbing 2 flights of 12 steps each. I want to do that climb easily again, up and down, and not live in fear that the aging elevator is going to die (as it has in the past). There's also a nice 2 mile walk through nearby neighborhoods--with some hills-- that I used to enjoy. I even look forward to mowing my own lawn. Simple things.
 
I think your goals are desirable, sensible and very attainable @gertie! I probably think loosely in similar terms, though I don't tend to measure walks by mile. I just think about pleasant walks I've taken and hope I'll be taking them again. The Marginal Way, up in Ogunquit, Maine is one I'd like to do again. And again. :SUNsmile: I still find stairs rather tiresome but I'm hopeful they will become easier with time. I'd like to get back to lap swimming, and am aware of my former glory in the pool, but have no specific goal to reach a particular number of laps again. Just swimming with good form, regardless of number of laps will make me happy. I sometimes think about skiing again....but the thoughts are nebulous, lol. They're probably also fanciful as well, since I still have another knee that kneeds replacement, so can't see that happening anytime soon. But, we can dream, right?

I think what I really meant about quantifying goals with numbers, was just that I try not to think of my recovery in those terms because if I do, it will just lead to frustration. Instead, I focus purely on functionality. I'm often mystified at what I perceive to be a fairly good level of function at 13 weeks, given that my flexion is supposedly less than stellar. The last time it was measured, I believe it was only 96, but that was around 2 weeks ago. Some of my new and exciting abilities may be due to having zero extension.....I really don't know. At any rate, I try not to attach much meaning to numbers in general. Of course, if my flexion was great, I just might feel differently, lol!:wink:
 
Pheebs52 said:
I think what I really meant about quantifying goals with numbers, was just that I try not to think of my recovery in those terms because if I do, it will just lead to frustration. Instead, I focus purely on functionality. I'm often mystified at what I perceive to be a fairly good level of function at 13 weeks, given that my flexion is supposedly less than stellar. The last time it was measured, I believe it was only 96, but that was around 2 weeks ago. Some of my new and exciting abilities may be due to having zero extension.....I really don't know. At any rate, I try not to attach much meaning to numbers in general.
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I think that's a wise approach.
My surgeon always says that what you can do with your knee is more important than the numbers. He doesn't even ask about ROM, but just says "Show me what you can do."
 
I'm at that week 3 into week 4 low spot. Had the same experience with the hip replacement and my first TKR--starting to see the possibilities of more activity but not quite there and not yet driving. The reassuring thing is that with both of the previous surgeries not long after this point I was able to drive again and the world opened up a bit more. Still had to be cautious not to overdo but was more independent.

One small bright spot--I went for a walk this morning and when I came back inside, without thinking about it, I used my newer knee to go up a step--granted, it's a shallow step, about half the height of most steps, but it was pretty easy. I'm not ready to do that as a regular thing but good to know the knee could do it.
 
Congrats on the mini-step! You're at a tough place in recovery as you said and as you know it will start to get better with each passing week. Hang in there and you'll be driving soon!
 
All those little baby steps add up to big steps! It's especially when it's so unexpected!
 
I'll bet your knee was reacting to the 45 minutes you were in the car. I couldn't put my leg down without swelling even at the 6-7 week mark.
 
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