Right TKR soon; great hopes!

[luvcats]

I don't think I could have managed these last bad years without Amazon Prime! My right knee was better than the left, so I could still drive just fine so I could manage a grocery store if it was one with convenience carts, but if not, there was no way.

I got myself a package of Medline Ready Bath wipes from Amazon for when I couldn't shower. Those are the ones the hospital gave me when I was stuck there for 2 weeks and couldn't shower. They worked quite well, no residue and they didn't dry out my skin.

Sorry about all the whining.

Don't be. Forums are the right place for that, where you're sharing your struggles with other people who know exactly where you're coming from. Not everyone has the pain of a torn meniscus, but I've been in a number of situations where the distance I needed to walk seemed insurmountable and then when I did that, there was no place for me to sit. We get it.

A few more weeks, and things will definitely be looking up!

 

[Poctdb]

@Carole4815
I had a TKR on June 24 and was alone for the process. First outpatient PT is today.....
Does your ice machine have a high table? I used a folding 3 step stool which left the machine higher than my knee. (I have the same machine as you.) I used the other steps as storage-blankets and pillows mainly since I slept in the recliner. I went through 50 bags of ice in 3 weeks. Some people use frozen water bottles but I found the ice stayed colder longer. Also....it is a lot of bottles in the freezer. I had 12 and it wasn’t enough.

I should have overhauled my freezer prior to TKR.....I was in ice close to 24/7 for the first 3 weeks. If you are going to use packs, have a lot of them prepped. There are YouTube videos on how to home make gel ice packs...cheap. I did make a few but the ice machine was cleaner to use.

A carrying hint for the plain Jane metal walker.
Buy a big roll of Velcro. Cut it to fit whatever. On the plain Jane walker, the ice machine can be attached using Velcro to the walker using the large opening on the non surgical side. It makes it easier to carry when full and stabilizes the walker. Stretch the ice machine tubes across the walker handles. I also used the Velcro to attach a grocery bag with stuff in it to the walker also. I did not have a basket.

Another thing that I found helpful were big drinking mugs with a straw that did not sweat. Lots of liquid, fewer trips but no ruined furniture. I ordered Bubba mugs from WalMart.

Did you get a “grabber” in your kit with the lifter pack? If not....they are VERY handy. I got two, a small one...at times I used it to grab the large one....to reach what I actually wanted to get.

Hmm....snacks at my nest were also important. I needed crackers to take the drugs because eating was not attractive for 2 weeks.
Sorry for the long post....hope it is helpful.

@luvcats I made an egg casserole that freezes beautifully. Toss in any and all veggies and meat of your choice, warms in 3 minutes from the freezer. Would you like the recipe?

 

[Carole4815]

@luvcats , you are such a kind and caring person! Also I didn't know about those bath wipes and I'll put them on my list. I can't get from the handicap spot in grocery store parking lots to the motorized carts. Well, maybe I could if my life depended on it but knee pain being as it is, I am not eager to try. There are other options that I could explore, but Amazon Prime has been great and convenient. Also I get a box of frozen meat in dry ice from butcherbox dot com delivered to my front porch every other month so that I get more protein for my weight loss efforts. It all works out.

@Jockette , last night I ordered an extra Amazon Prime box of non-perishables that I don't need yet, to start stocking up on stuff. I'll do it again next week and make sure I have lots extra. Thanks again.

@Poctdb , what an amazingly helpful post! I have one of those three step stepstools too, that I haven't been able to use for a few years due to knees and aging. At last, a use for it! I have moved everything in my (standard, freezer on top) freezer underneath the shelf, so the entire top shelf plus the door will be for water bottles, bags of ice from the icemaker, and my two large gel ice packs. Hopefully that will be enough room. The gel ice packs are helpful for me right now, but they don't stay cold for more than an hour or so. So after surgery I am going to be relying mostly on the ice machine (which is "Out for Delivery" right now). I have to figure out what size water bottles to use with it and then buy a pallet of them and see how much space they take up in the freezer. I have a grabber and a walker basket, but will look into that mug for sure. I have been using paper cups and this juice jug from Amazon, which I can fill and lay on its side on my rollator walker to carry it to my recliner area. It does leak a little but it's good enough. Every day I drink the whole 68 oz that it holds as part of my weight loss/maintenance regimen.

Last night I could hardly sleep due to knee pain, and this morning I felt kind of "out of it". So, resting today and doing nothing. If I don't feel better I will probably have to get my sweetie to move my ice machine and walker inside from the porch when they are delivered this afternoon.

 

[Poctdb]

@Carole4815
I work in a lab so I test everything. I tested the ice machine with bottles first (3 bottles) then with ice icing my knees before surgery.

The bottles don’t all go under the water so they thaw at different rates. The bottles lasted about 1-1.5 hours and were not really cold. I had to switch the top bottle into the water to take advantage of the ice left in it after 30 minutes.

Ice in the Ossur lasts about 3hours. You can shake the reservoir and when you hear just gentle sounds of ice moving, you have about 15 minutes of cold left. Picture above is the size/type of bottle that works well. Can of corn is for size reference. Bottle is 500 ml. Ossur takes about a 8 lb. bag of ice per fill. I do not have an ice maker.

One last idea you may not need. I have a garage door with opener. I brought the opener to the nest and everyone used the garage to come in/out. PT, grocery delivery, neighbors etc. I never had to get out of the chair. If the door was down...no visitors. Up meant “Come in.”

 

[lovetocookandsew]

people who don't let themselves get fat never have to have knee surgery

Doesn't this statement make you want to scream? Personally, my TKR was a result of a sports injury, not as a result of being overweight, and my left knee is perfect! I've met many very slender people who've had, or need, knee replacements. They also have different causes; some from wearing them out being very active all their lives, some just from getting older and things wearing out, etc. I also know, or have met, many overweight people with perfectly fine knees. You showed a measure of restraint with this ignoramus though; I would not have been so restrained and would have let him have it.........lol. "Are you completely ignorant or just out of your mind" is close to what I may have said...but maybe I shouldn't say it out loud.

 

[lovetocookandsew]

The bottles lasted about 1-1.5 hours and were not really cold.

One thing we learned was when we emptied and refilled the water in the ice machine (which we did every day) we added water, then added the ice bottles, the added some ice to the fill line so as to make the water nice and cold from the start. It helped keep the bottles cold and frozen for hours, which kept the water cold. I iced all night long and the water was cold for most of the night and would just be starting to be cool at about the time I was waking. So we changed the water in the am, added the bottles and ice, and replaced the bottles as they melted during the day. I don't recall how often that happened, but it wasn't too often as the water pretty much stayed really cold with this method. Our ice maker was easily able to keep us in ice since we only added ice once a day, but I would have bought a few bags if we had needed them. I had plenty of water bottles in the freezer so as to make sure I never ran out of them-I think I had 12 in the kitchen freezer and more in the garage freezer just in case, but never had to use those.

 

[Poctdb]

@lovetocookandsew
Brilliant! Ice cold brilliance! I am trying right now....

 

[brucerit]

Carole4815, bonesmart people are the kindest, most helpful & knowledgeable about worn out joints. You and I are both over 70, and if we take the advice of bonesmart people that have been there, we don't have to be over 70 anymore. I have a TKR on my left knee on August 5th a.m. and a couple of months later I am going to have a THR on my right hip. After recovering from those two surgeries, I am going to be 22 years old. If you want to be young like me, then grab on and come along. Once you get past the surgeries and recovery, you can be any age you want.

I bought one of the commode seat raiser with the grabber, but after thinking about it I think I'm going to buy a Bidet, that way I want have to take so many Showers.

 

[Poctdb]

@brucerit
Wow.... I like your math but I don’t want to be 22...42?

 

[KarriB]

Check your nearest Walmart to see if it has on line ordering with pickup or delivery. There’s also a service/app now called Instacart that allows you to order groceries on line and they deliver to your house. My Walmart now does on line ordering with pickup which comes in very handy for those unable to shop or just don’t have time.

 

[Carole4815]

@KarriB , thanks. My Walmart has online ordering with a drive through pickup location just 3-4 blocks away that I used to use, but I stopped using it because it is hard for me to get the groceries from my detached garage to the house after I bring them home. If they deliver, that could work, so I'll watch for that.

@brucerit , 22 would be great! I'll be so glad to be able to go grocery shopping again, whether I'm 22 or 71. The last time I was able to do a full week's grocery shopping at a grocery store, was in 2016. Thank goodness we live in the age of internet ordering and delivery. That bidet sounds like a great idea. Maybe sometime (after a few years) I might have one of those tall toilets installed too. Good luck with your TKR on August 5th! Mine is just 8 days after that. We don't have long to wait.

@Poctdb , 22? 42? I'd take either one! Just not 13, please. It's much more fun to be a grownup.

@lovetocookandsew , I agree so much! I was only about 20 pounds overweight when I injured my knee back in 1997. It has given me trouble for 22 years, and sometime along the way the other knee got painful too. It's sort of like the guy got the cause and effect reversed; the weight gain came after the bad knees, not the reverse. Also, thanks for the info!! I just got my ice machine delivered and in the morning I'll open the box and try it out.


,

 

[Carole4815]

Less than three weeks to go!!! 20 days. And then, the recovery period, and then the other knee. I will be so glad when my life no longer revolves around knees.

 

[brucerit]

@Carole4815, I bet that you and I will have smooth sailing on both of our TKR's. About the time you are readying for your other TKR, I will be going in for my THR, and we'll have smooth sailing again. I'll bet ya!

 

[Carole4815]

I sure hope so, @brucerit ! I think even a small improvement would be fantastic, and some of the people here have pretty substantial improvements after they recovery from surgery.

 

[Carole4815]

Finally!!! My hospital just called and scheduled me for joint class on August 6th, a week before my TKR. I didn't know if they had forgotten me, or what! But they hadn't.


Immediately I started worrying about being able to get there, but the lady explained about the location and it is very easily accessible. The joint class is not in the (huge!) hospital but in an auxiliary building a half block away, which is a high rise with a parking lot below and handicapped spots by the elevator, so I should be able to get there.

After the joint class there will be a nurse to examine me, give me information, get my history, make sure I have had all the required tests done, and whatever else it is that they do. Probably the stuff listed in the informative link I was given about it by Celle here at Bonesmart.

Anyway, I think this is progress and it is nice to know that I haven't fallen through the cracks.

In other news, I really over-did it today so I'll be resting, elevating, and icing (and probably posting here) a lot for the next day or so. Among other knee challenging activities I did manage to get out of the house for the first time in nine days; my sweetie took me out to lunch, and then a pleasure drive around our suburb. My idea of fun.

 

[Carole4815]

I did discover that my new "plain jane" metal walker fits easily through my shower door so that I can lean on it, as I step over the 3" threshold and walk straight in, then easily turn it around, put it through the shower door again, and lean on it there as I exit. (recall that my right knee will not bear any weight). I couldn't figure out how to use my rollator for that since it is slightly larger, so I was actually backing into the shower. That seemed like a bad fall waiting to happen, so I have been doing sponge baths instead for the past couple of weeks, most of the time. But no more sponge baths! At least not between now and August 13th, my surgery date. I had a nice long shower this morning, and another this afternoon just because I could.

The reason I can't put any weight on my right knee or straighten that leg, is that it is not only bone on bone, but also has a badly torn meniscus. One of the likely surgical outcomes I am most excited about, is to eventually be able to put weight on that knee and straighten that leg again. Then, getting into the shower will be so easy.

 

[luvcats]

I love those phone calls. It settles into your spirit that This Is Happening! I actually got a call today to start the process for my next knee!

The first shower after you haven't had one in a while is so lovely. I'm not surprised you took 2. I'm glad the new smaller walker is already proving it's worth.

 

[Carole4815]

How exciting that you are starting the process for your next knee, @luvcats !!! My surgeon is going to do my other knee too, when we think I'm ready for it. Can you imagine? Two good knees for each of us. That will sure be life-changing.

Yes, I am so happy to feel like This Is Happening. My knee with the torn meniscus (too) has been getting worse at a rapid rate lately which is why I had to start doing the sponge bath thing a while back. Before that, I was able to get into the shower more easily because I could use my right knee more. By now it is about as useful as a piece of meat hanging off my hip (in other words, what I mean is it's barely useful at all since I really can't straighten it or put weight on it). Anyway, I hope there are no more obstacles to getting this surgery because I would freak out if that happened. I don't foresee any more obstacles but one never knows. As time passes and my surgery date gets closer, the more I feel like this will happen and no more obstacles could arise.

 

[Poctdb]

@Carole4815

Obstacles....?

I showed up at 500am for my surgery.....first person if the day. The OS office “neglected” to get the pre-approval from the insurance company....surgery was June 24....appointment was made in the first week in April.
No OR for me until almost 8 am when the paperwork was finally in order.

Obstacles happen in the complicated system that is a hospital. Your good nature will see you through them if they happen.....

 

[kneeper]

Glad you figured out a system with your "plain Jane" walker for showering. Sounds much safer than backing in. It's always good to practice before the surgery.