Right TKR soon; great hopes!

[Carole4815]

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.

I agree, it seems a lot safer. While you were posting, I was taking another shower (ah!! ) and I felt very well balanced, able to see exactly what is in front of me and exactly where the 3" threshold is that I need to step over instead of trip on. Plus, my weight is perfectly centered on the plain jane walker with this method.

Once inside the shower, I have a great shower stool that is 21" high. So, I can sit on that easily while taking my time to wash oh so thoroughly.... :D And I have two sturdy grab bars to hold onto while I am standing up after sitting on that shower stool. Then to exit the shower, I can open the shower door and transfer from hanging on to the grab bars, to hanging on to the plain jane walker.

This all must sound so boring to everyone! But I have never been, well, would you call it "semi-disabled"? I have never had these problems before, so it's all new to me.

 

[sewhat]

I read your entire thread tonight. You've had quite a time of it. I'd like to lose 53 pounds. You are an inspiration. My biggest worry is my 2 year old granddaughter jumping on me. You have to deal with just getting from the handicap parking space to the door . My orthopedic surgeon gave me a permanent handicap placard when he found out I have Parkinson's Disease. My husband loves it.
Have you tried any of the exercises yet? I can tell my legs are stronger just in the short time I have been doing them. I've been working on upper body strength too to get ready for using a walker.

 

[Carole4815]

I read your entire thread tonight. You've had quite a time of it. I'd like to lose 53 pounds. You are an inspiration. My biggest worry is my 2 year old granddaughter jumping on me. You have to deal with just getting from the handicap parking space to the door . My orthopedic surgeon gave me a permanent handicap placard when he found out I have Parkinson's Disease. My husband loves it.
Have you tried any of the exercises yet? I can tell my legs are stronger just in the short time I have been doing them. I've been working on upper body strength too to get ready for using a walker.

Aw, that is so sweet of you! Losing weight is so hard to do, especially when you have to sit almost all the time. It took me a year. I still need to lose more later on. I don't have any grandchildren but I'll bet your granddaughter is cute even when she jumps on you!

I have a permanent handicap hangtag from an OS I used to go to years ago. My sweetie offered to go with me to joint class and so on, so that should make it easier. If the handicapped spots are taken, he can drop me off and I can sit in my walker and wait until he parks the car.

As for the exercises, I tried a few but haven't been as diligent about them as you have been. I probably have a lot of upper body strength since my right knee won't bear any weight (so my arms get to do that using the walker).

 

[luvcats]

2 new knees is a little overwhelming. I'm going to need remedial 'getting a life' lessons. It's been so long since I was truly mobile, I'm not sure I remember how it works! There are so many things I stopped doing.

Losing a bunch of weight will help too, once I'm up and about. I can't tell you how disappointed I am to not be one of the people to lose my appetite from drugs and pain. lol I was really looking forward to the boost. I know you get that! I still have so far to go.

 

[Carole4815]

2 new knees is a little overwhelming. I'm going to need remedial 'getting a life' lessons. It's been so long since I was truly mobile, I'm not sure I remember how it works! There are so many things I stopped doing.

I could make a list for you! Starting with going to the grocery store, or even better, walking to the grocery store. Then maybe taking a stroll in the park, down to the lake, and sitting on the park bench watching the ducks. Even better, go to the zoo and see all the animals!!! Maybe go hit a basket of balls at your local golf course's driving range. Go to a local art museum! Plant a vegetable garden. I could go on but I'd drive us both nuts.

Losing a bunch of weight will help too, once I'm up and about. I can't tell you how disappointed I am to not be one of the people to lose my appetite from drugs and pain. lol I was really looking forward to the boost. I know you get that! I still have so far to go.

Yes I do get that! I have about 100 pounds more to lose. I don't expect it to happen all at once, but if I can start going to the gym eventually then I know I'll be healthier, weight loss or not. Plus, I lose weight more easily when active. And finally, I regard the gym as "recess for grownups" because there are so many fun, active things to do. Just like going out to the swings and slide at recess when I was a kid in elementary school.

 

[luvcats]

I could make a list for you! Starting with going to the grocery store, or even better, walking to the grocery store. Then maybe taking a stroll in the park, down to the lake, and sitting on the park bench watching the ducks. Even better, go to the zoo and see all the animals!!! Maybe go hit a basket of balls at your local golf course's driving range. Go to a local art museum! Plant a vegetable garden. I could go on but I'd drive us both nuts.

This is a good list! Although no amount of being thin and mobile is going to make me think golf is fun. lol. My husband plays.

On our list for next year is to hit many of the Smithsonian museums. We've lived near DC for 8 years and I've only been to 3 of them.

 

[KarriB]

Ladies, I loved reading your dream list of things to do after TKR recovery and I’m here to tell you they’re doable! Just don’t push your recovery too fast, give your knee lots of time to heal and you’ll be ticking off list items.

 

[Carole4815]

@KarriB , that would be so amazing! I promise I will not push my recovery too fast but just the idea of seeing and doing some of these things is simply incredible from where I sit (and sit, and sit... )

@luvcats, I have wanted to see the Smithsonian all of my life, but never have done that. What a terrific idea! Before I retired I used to travel to DC a couple of times a year for work, but never had the time to see the sights (or the Smithsonian). Some day I want to see all of the Smithsonian museums but especially the National Air and Space Museum. I understand that you can rent motorized wheelchairs if you are still recovering from your TKR's and don't feel up to walking all day long.

In your location, there is SO much to do! Maybe you have already done some of it. I think that taking the White House tour would be amazing... imagine standing where all of our great Presidents throughout history, have stood.

I live in an older, fairly urban suburb of New Orleans, less than a mile from both a Trader Joe's grocery store and a Whole Foods grocery store. Both parking lots are always jammed and impossible, even with a handicapped hangtag, but who needs a parking lot if one can walk? Once I recover and build up my strength and endurance, I could walk to one or the other every day or two, and pick up one small bag of whatever groceries I needed. When I am ready to do this, I could start by parking as close as possible, and then gradually park a little further away, and further, until I was walking the whole 1/2 mile or mile from my home. I have no idea if I would need my rollator walker or not but would take it with me at first, just in case.

My neighborhood is SO walkable! I could really enjoy walking places more instead of driving.

 

[luvcats]

The one I think most people think of the 'The Smithsonian' is the American History museum. That's on the top of my list. But really most of the museums here are part of the Smithsonian umbrella and there are a lot of them. I have seen no recent evidence that motorized wheel chairs are available. The last email exchange I had with the Air and Space Museum Hanger out by Dulles airport is that they have wheelchairs on a first come first served, and I couldn't even get them to admit they had a wide one, much less motorized. As far as I could tell, if you needed something like that, you have to bring your own.

That is unfortunate, because I really want to go back there. All the docents who run the tours are old air force and they have the most fascinating stories about the planes! I'm looking forward to seeing it again when I can stand and listen.

On the other hand, the Zoo has ECVs and was pretty friendly. The Baltimore Zoo and the Baltimore Aquarium again have wheel chairs, but nothing motorized. Not even ECVs. I checked.

It's lovely that you live in such a walkable area. I do not. I can't think of a single non-residential destination in any direction that's a reasonable walk. I know you're going to enjoy being able to just dash off and pick some things up with out all the hassle of parking and traffic.

 

[Carole4815]

@luvcats , how disappointing about the wheelchairs at the Smithsonian! I must have misunderstood something that I read online years ago. Good thing I didn't buy tickets and arrange for a trip out there just for that (which I actually thought of doing a few years ago, even though I never travel). Maybe you could rent one from a medical supply place, or maybe they would have ideas of how to rent one. The American History Museum sounds amazing! I love learning new things about US history.

The zoo sounds like a terrific idea and one can spend hours, or days, exploring a big zoo! Back around 1980 when my daughter was a toddler I had a seasonal pass to the San Diego Zoo, where we were living at the time. I was still a stay-at-home mom, so we could go to the zoo nearly every day. She loved the animals, and I wanted to walk pushing her stroller so I could lose weight. We never got tired of going there and we both learned so much.

Icing and elevating as I type. I did one load of laundry and my knee decided that was too much. Ow. If it hurts this much BEFORE surgery, I can't even imagine what it will be like AFTER surgery. Ugh.

 

[luvcats]

Icing and elevating as I type. I did one load of laundry and my knee decided that was too much. Ow. If it hurts this much BEFORE surgery, I can't even imagine what it will be like AFTER surgery. Ugh.

Not that my experience is necessarily valid for you, but even the day after surgery when everything hurt, it still hurt different, and better. Really. Now it's official, for any activity, my old knee is the louder complainer.

 

[Carole4815]

@luvcats , that's encouraging that your new knee hurts less just 4 weeks after surgery! I think I can stand anything for four weeks and maybe mine will be like yours.

 

[luvcats]

She has been extremely cooperative. I can only hope her sister will follow her example in her turn!

 

[Carole4815]

She has been extremely cooperative. I can only hope her sister will follow her example in her turn!

My orthopedic surgeon says the knee I'm having replaced first looks better on the xrays than the other one which is awful. But I have to have it done first, because of the torn meniscus which won't let me put any weight on it or straighten it. So, without that torn meniscus maybe it will be pretty cooperative too. I have great hopes for both of us.

 

[lovetocookandsew]

Part of the difference in the pain has to do with the injured knee getting worse and worse with time, plus it's bone-on-bone pain. The pain of a TKR, while unbearable at times, especially in the early days, will recede in a relatively short time compared to the years of pre-TKR pain. I think that, while both hurt a lot, mentally we know this pain is temporary and will soon be gone, but the pain of a bone-on-bone knee will not get better and it just wears you down. So, even though your knee hurts after a TKR, we know it won't continue to hurt forever, so we can bear it just a little more.

Your surgery date is getting close @Carole4815 !

 

[Carole4815]

@lovetocookandsew , yes it is! I can hardly wait. I have been having trouble with these knees for a long, long time but hopefully not for many months longer.

 

[Carole4815]

Just 12 more days until my right TKR, and although I know those first days after surgery are tough, still I am looking forward to eventually getting better.

I looked at the score chart entitled "A Score chart - how bad is my arthritic hip or knee", that I found by following a link by Celle in the 4th post of this present thread. It contains a list of activities. There were hardly any that I can do any more at all. No wonder I feel so beaten down by life sometimes. But soon, that may all change. Well, maybe not to THAT extent THAT soon, but eventually with patience and persistence.

I have been using my ice machine almost every day, even though I haven't had my TKR surgery yet. It still helps a lot! Because of the ice machine usage I have been sleeping much more soundly, with less pain, and it is easier to get to sleep so I think it was worth it to me just for that alone. I still have bad knee problems and need knee surgery, so of course there is still considerable knee pain if I try to do anything other than just sit here. But, at least after icing there is less pain when I am sitting and resting. Consequently the pain is not wearing me down as much as it did, if that makes any sense?

Monday is my next OS appointment, the last one before surgery. Tuesday is my joint class and the hospital pre-operative interview. My recovery "nest" is pretty well set up by now.

 

[luvcats]

Almost there!!
Because you are in so much pain already, you may find that you have significant improvement right after the surgery, because it hurts different. That's what I found.
I'm starting my countdown to September now.

 

[KarriB]

You’re right in thinking there will be pain after surgery, but that it won’t be the same pain you’re having now and the best part...it’ll eventually go away. Yay! It sounds like you’re prepared for surgery day!

 

[Carole4815]

I hope you two are right about the pain being different. I'm tired of this same old pain day in and day out!

@luvcats , I think it would be the best possible thing imaginable if I felt better immediately. I mean, I don't expect it given what the surgeon will be doing to my knee in the operating room, but gee, that would be so much better than I had been envisioning.

@KarriB, that's the cool part, that hopefully after surgery the pain will be getting better instead of worse as time passes. I think I am prepared for surgery day but I really won't know until it happens. I read about one person whose recliner was uncomfortable for him after surgery, so he had recover mostly in bed. My recovery nest is all centered around my recliner and hopefully that won't be the case for me.

For me, being a federal retiree over 65, BCBS is secondary to Medicare which is primary. So I just called BCBS to see if I need to get pre-approval or if the doctor's people are supposed to take care of that or what. They said that the doctor's staff is supposed to do it for me. Good! One less thing to worry about so I can cross that off my list. I don't understand much about insurance procedures but hospital bills are so high these days that I didn't want to mess this up by not notifying BCBS about it. Yes I'm a worrier.

Yesterday I did manage to go out to lunch with my sweetie, so my knee hasn't been ruining everything in my life despite my "poor me" posts. We got a parking spot 10 feet from the door, and a table only about 10 feet further inside the door. So, that was easily workable, especially since it wasn't raining so I could take my time. It was fun to get out of the house. Plus, the small grilled chicken Caesar side salad that I ordered was delicious.