But, if you're like me something will draw your attention away and then OUCH! 
TKR Rodney's TKR recovery
- Thread starter AussieRodney
- Start date
FCBayern
Former BoneSmart Staff Member
Hey! I resemble that remark! First class clutz here!But, if you're like me something will draw your attention away and then OUCH!
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AussieRodney
member
At least I'm not that bad. Yet.I visited the walk-in clinic again today because my hip & lower back are still killing me. The good news is that there is nothing wrong structurally, and the problem is muscular. Not too sure where I go from there, except to keep plugging on PT exercises, keep walking, icing and elevating, and stumble around the apartment like a cripple.
I'm starting to seriously doubt that I will be going back to work in 2 weeks, although I have suggested that it MIGHT be possible if they gave me "light duty" clients. Just have to wait and see.
FCBayern
Former BoneSmart Staff Member
Back to work in 2 weeks would definitely require "light duty" clients @AussieRodney! I would expect you would need to get to at least 6 months if not longer to support someone else's weight without paying a price. This recovery is a marathon not a sprint!
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AussieRodney
member
Just under 3 months out.
Knee feels good, although still a little swollen. At least the parts that should bounce back to touch do actually bounce back. If I move the kneecap left to right, it clicks. The leg is still carrying some fluid, because it is a little bigger than the left one, and I am still eliminating through my urine.
My lower back and possibly left hip continue to give me trouble. When I wake up in the morning, it sends a searing pain down my left leg, pain level 8-9. Fortunately I have a urinal at my bedside and often use it instead of struggling to the toilet. If I stand in one place for more than a minute, the pain coming out of that whole area rapidly gets to 7-8 and I am forced to find the nearest chair to sit on. I have visited the walk-in clinic and all they said was that the x-rays were normal and get yourself some Lidocaine patches. I hit it with Stopain whenever I remember to do it.
I can walk easily using my frame, although that hip area will complain after a while. Walking without it is a struggle, but do-able for very short distances inside the apartment.
No, I won't be returning to work at the end of this month. There. I have just admitted that to myself!
Through an opportunity here on the forum, I have joined the OneStep company to help them to test their phone app, which analyses my walking gait. I open the app, find and poke the "Walk" button, stuff the phone into the brace above my knee and start walking. When finished, I pull the phone out, go back to the app and hit "Finish". It then does its processing and shows me details about the walk, such as Step Rate, Left/Right balance, Stride Length, Hip Rotation Range and Average Speed. In addition, I have been assigned a PT person who has provided me with a 10-day program with different exercises each day. Definitely not "Same Stuff, Different Day".
Knee feels good, although still a little swollen. At least the parts that should bounce back to touch do actually bounce back. If I move the kneecap left to right, it clicks. The leg is still carrying some fluid, because it is a little bigger than the left one, and I am still eliminating through my urine.
My lower back and possibly left hip continue to give me trouble. When I wake up in the morning, it sends a searing pain down my left leg, pain level 8-9. Fortunately I have a urinal at my bedside and often use it instead of struggling to the toilet. If I stand in one place for more than a minute, the pain coming out of that whole area rapidly gets to 7-8 and I am forced to find the nearest chair to sit on. I have visited the walk-in clinic and all they said was that the x-rays were normal and get yourself some Lidocaine patches. I hit it with Stopain whenever I remember to do it.
I can walk easily using my frame, although that hip area will complain after a while. Walking without it is a struggle, but do-able for very short distances inside the apartment.
No, I won't be returning to work at the end of this month. There. I have just admitted that to myself!
Through an opportunity here on the forum, I have joined the OneStep company to help them to test their phone app, which analyses my walking gait. I open the app, find and poke the "Walk" button, stuff the phone into the brace above my knee and start walking. When finished, I pull the phone out, go back to the app and hit "Finish". It then does its processing and shows me details about the walk, such as Step Rate, Left/Right balance, Stride Length, Hip Rotation Range and Average Speed. In addition, I have been assigned a PT person who has provided me with a 10-day program with different exercises each day. Definitely not "Same Stuff, Different Day".
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AussieRodney
member
I had the good luck of stumbling (yes, pun intended) into a job where all I have to do is drive. Yes, you read that correctly. I don't lift anything, carry anything except my lunch bag, I just drive. The hardest activity is at the end of the day to top up the fuel tank. The project is in preparation for the transfer of the Puget Sound Emergency Radio Network from analog to digital. The task is to conduct a comprehensive survey of the strength of radio signals from and to the existing towers in King County, by taking specialized equipment into each "tile" on a map of the county. Each tile is a rectangle on the map and only exists on the map, not on the ground, We have to navigate into them from existing roads. The equipment sends a "Can you hear me?" signal to the tower and when it receives a response, it marks the tile as complete. The tester sitting in the back seat of the van does all that, while the driver drives.
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AussieRodney
member
At TKR plus nearly 4 months, I am REALLY happy with the way my new knee works, but it clicks when I walk. Is this normal?
Great report that you are happy with your new knee.
Yes, that clicking is normal.
Here’s an article about the clicking/clunking:
bonesmart.org
Clicking and clunking is completely normal after this surgery. Clicking/Clunking after TKR
Yes, that clicking is normal.
Here’s an article about the clicking/clunking:
Clicking/clunking knee joint after surgery
Revised March 9, 2021 by Jamie Many patients who undergo knee replacement surgery will describe noises that come from their replaced joint. People commonly mention a clicking or clunking coming from their knee replacement when they walk, and they often worry that something is wrong with their...
bonesmart.org
Clicking and clunking is completely normal after this surgery. Clicking/Clunking after TKR
Fantastic news! What a blessing you have with that job, just what you needed!
Don't worry about the noise from your knee. My still clunks, but doesn't hurt at all.
Don't worry about the noise from your knee. My still clunks, but doesn't hurt at all.
NightQuilter
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Congrats on the job Aussie! My knees at 8 1/2 years still have little clicks in them - nothing anyone else can hear - more of a feeling. But I would not change a thing!
doxiemom2017
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Hi Rodney,
Congratulations on your new job. Thank you for your detailed recovery thread. I have enjoyed reading it and found it helpful for my own recovery. I also had my procedure at Kaiser. I will be 6 weeks tomorrow, and will be back at my desk job on Wednesday.
My recovery area near the couch is similar to yours...towels, pillows, blankets, etc.
Your ROM is fabulous snd I am very jealous!
Wishing you good luck with your new job and a continued good recovery!
Congratulations on your new job. Thank you for your detailed recovery thread. I have enjoyed reading it and found it helpful for my own recovery. I also had my procedure at Kaiser. I will be 6 weeks tomorrow, and will be back at my desk job on Wednesday.
My recovery area near the couch is similar to yours...towels, pillows, blankets, etc.
Your ROM is fabulous snd I am very jealous!
Wishing you good luck with your new job and a continued good recovery!
SpaceGirl
senior
Congrats on your new job! That sounds like a great job to take it easy on the new knee! My knee still is clunky from time to time, not hurting, or really think anyone else can hear it LOL but I "feel" it! Glad you're doing so well!
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AussieRodney
member
Yes, my wife was tired of the living room looking like a homeless shelter.My recovery area near the couch is similar to yours...towels, pillows, blankets, etc.
Thanks so much to everyone for the replies and encouragement. I still had issues with standing for more than about a minute, so I agreed to a steroid injection into the epidural space, about a month ago. The procedure itself was uneventful. It took nearly a week to see any substantial results. I can now stand for 2-3 minutes (wow). When I asked the spine specialist about next steps, he said that it was up to me to decide whether more of the same would be an improvement, so now I am tossing up between putting up with it as is, forking out a $250 co-pay every time, or proceeding with a spinal fusion. Any comments on that, please?
Meanwhile, I try to use the knee as much as possible. For short distances, up to about 50 yards, I usually walk without frame or cane, although I usually support the knee with a brace for most of the day. For longer period events, such as shopping, I'll take and use the chair, and if the pain of standing still gets too much, I can lean on the front of the frame, or on the shopping cart, and take some of the pressure off. The end result is that by the end of the day, it hurts to walk, but not enough to stop me. The brace comes off at bed time, and by then the pain from my Restless Legs is far more serious anyway!
On a different note, some time ago, Julie bought me this expanding chair. Yes, it's Captain America. It folds down from 18" height to just 2.5". You can see where the lugs on the side fit into the notches with a simple twist, so it's spectacularly easy to fold up or down. Wow, she's useful after all (her words).
At work, we all gather in time for a 6am start. Because I couldn't stand, I had to sit in my vehicle and found that I was missing out on all of the conversations. Now I can extend the chair and place it in front of my vehicle, sit on it, and people come and talk to me! I get to get to know everyone and find out their names.
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AussieRodney
member
Also, I have conquered the problem of carrying things on a Zimmer frame. I have 3 elastic straps which live with the walker, loosely attached to the front of the side struts. When I stretch them out over the opposite strut and hook them back on, they form a layer that will take a box containing quite a lot of stuff. That box weighs nearly 20 lb. It's a bit hard on the gliders on the feet, but it works for short distances.
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AussieRodney
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Wow, I can't believe it's been 3 months since I've been here. As they say, "Time flies when you're having fun." The driving job is still active. The first phase of testing had only 2 people in the van: driver and tester. The van was equipped with a laptop and radio, plus GPS and radio antennas on the roof, plus a flashing strobe light at the rear of the roof for safety. This phase was for Bit Error Rate testing, where most of the work was done by a laptop. It was running software that would know our location from the GPS, as well as an on-screen map that showed the tiles in the test area for that day. For each tile, it showed the status as yellow for untested and green for testing status.
As we entered a tile, it would sense that from the GPS signal and proceed to send a signal to the tower that it was testing that day, and change the tile color from yellow to pale green. When it received a reply from the tower, it would change that status again from pale green to dark green, and we would move on to the next one. The time between tiles could be anywhere between a few second if the streets ran straight through them to ages while we navigated around the end of a huge valley. On one really productive day, when most of them were on strait road aligning with the tiles, we tested 300 tiles.
The second phase, that was completed nearly a month ago for Delivered Audio Quality. This time there were 2 vans in each team, with 4 people in each van: driver, navigator and 2 testers. One van was the lead and the other was the follow. In each van, the navigator operated a tablet with a similar map on it, to direct the driver where to go, and to manually update the status of each tile. The object was to test the quality of the signal between the vehicles and the Dispatch Center. For each tile, one of the testers would use the radio to speak a script: Lead to Dispatch, Dispatch responds; Lead to Follow, Follow responds; Follow to Lead, Lead responds. For the majority of tiles, the response was "That's a Pass", although every occasionally it was "That's a Fail", with a short discussion on the reason. In our household, the expression "That's a Pass" has taken on a new meaning!
We start the third phase on Monday. In between phases, in an attempt to keep the people committed and the teams together, we have all been kept on (staying home) on full pay. Gotta be happy with that!
Meanwhile, the knee is working perfectly, although it still gets a bit sore when I do too much walking without my frame. The right lower back remains as the pain source. I have now had a total of 3 of the "cortisone in the epidural space" injections. The next and probably final one is several weeks away because the doctor doesn't want to over load me with cortisone. Each one gave me SOME relief, but they are nowhere near a cure. I alternate between walking almost normally using the frame to just about cripple with the pain and "I have to sit down NOW".
And on top of that, I suddenly put on about 20lb, probably because I was unable to get the amount of exercise that I was getting previously. Ugh!
As we entered a tile, it would sense that from the GPS signal and proceed to send a signal to the tower that it was testing that day, and change the tile color from yellow to pale green. When it received a reply from the tower, it would change that status again from pale green to dark green, and we would move on to the next one. The time between tiles could be anywhere between a few second if the streets ran straight through them to ages while we navigated around the end of a huge valley. On one really productive day, when most of them were on strait road aligning with the tiles, we tested 300 tiles.
The second phase, that was completed nearly a month ago for Delivered Audio Quality. This time there were 2 vans in each team, with 4 people in each van: driver, navigator and 2 testers. One van was the lead and the other was the follow. In each van, the navigator operated a tablet with a similar map on it, to direct the driver where to go, and to manually update the status of each tile. The object was to test the quality of the signal between the vehicles and the Dispatch Center. For each tile, one of the testers would use the radio to speak a script: Lead to Dispatch, Dispatch responds; Lead to Follow, Follow responds; Follow to Lead, Lead responds. For the majority of tiles, the response was "That's a Pass", although every occasionally it was "That's a Fail", with a short discussion on the reason. In our household, the expression "That's a Pass" has taken on a new meaning!
We start the third phase on Monday. In between phases, in an attempt to keep the people committed and the teams together, we have all been kept on (staying home) on full pay. Gotta be happy with that!
Meanwhile, the knee is working perfectly, although it still gets a bit sore when I do too much walking without my frame. The right lower back remains as the pain source. I have now had a total of 3 of the "cortisone in the epidural space" injections. The next and probably final one is several weeks away because the doctor doesn't want to over load me with cortisone. Each one gave me SOME relief, but they are nowhere near a cure. I alternate between walking almost normally using the frame to just about cripple with the pain and "I have to sit down NOW".
And on top of that, I suddenly put on about 20lb, probably because I was unable to get the amount of exercise that I was getting previously. Ugh!
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AussieRodney
member
Ugh indeed. I now have my wife in control of my diet.
Hmm, that's a bit harsh. Let's just say that she is making numerous suggestions about what I eat.
Hmm, that's a bit harsh. Let's just say that she is making numerous suggestions about what I eat.
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AussieRodney
member
We acquired a really nice stationary bike for the grand sum of $15 (from Value Village) and I have started to go for a ride each day, gradually building it up. There's my exercise. And I've managed to lose a few pounds.
I still use the Zimmer frame for walking anywhere more than to the mailbox and back.
The driving job is still going, but unlikely to go past early October.
The latest cortisone shot went in last week, this time in the L5-S1 space. By comparison with the other shots in and around L4-L5, this one was a major improvement. Not a cure yet, but a little better. Strange not knowing which side to limp on - right knee and left back!
I still wear a brace on the knee for most of the day, so that it doesn't hurt so much. At the end of the day, when I take it off, this stuff is awesome! Yes, you can get it at Amazon. -)
I'm now nearly 8 months out. Question: When do "normal" activities stop generating pain in the knee?
I still use the Zimmer frame for walking anywhere more than to the mailbox and back.
The driving job is still going, but unlikely to go past early October.
The latest cortisone shot went in last week, this time in the L5-S1 space. By comparison with the other shots in and around L4-L5, this one was a major improvement. Not a cure yet, but a little better. Strange not knowing which side to limp on - right knee and left back!
I still wear a brace on the knee for most of the day, so that it doesn't hurt so much. At the end of the day, when I take it off, this stuff is awesome! Yes, you can get it at Amazon. -)
I'm now nearly 8 months out. Question: When do "normal" activities stop generating pain in the knee?
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AussieRodney
member
I'm now 10 months out on the TKR and still don't seem to have any answers to the question: When do "normal" activities (such as walking) stop generating pain in the knee?
The answer to your question is different for everyone. Some recoveries take 12 months, others 18 months or longer. There is no set timeline for TKR recovery.
Having said that, you have additional issues going on with your back that may be stressing that new knee.
Does icing ease the pain after walking?
Having said that, you have additional issues going on with your back that may be stressing that new knee.
Does icing ease the pain after walking?
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