TKR RubyWhitesocks TKR recovery

We had the discussion and it was satisfactory to both of us that at least until such point as my surgery leg allows me a few consecutive decent nights of sleep it is for the best that she take the guest bedroom and I will let her know when I can handle otherwise. Even at that point, she should be aware and able to move over there if my need to be up or adjust positions keeps her awake. I do think that just putting my situation into words here and getting encouragement from people here helped me to advocate for myself.
I'm glad you've reached a solution that is acceptable to both of you.
 
Communication ..always works:) Glad you sorted it out and you have a better sleep .
Jan x
 
I am so happy for you! I am wishing you some good nights of sleep!
Take care.
 
what is happening at this point is that 2 weeks and 3 days in from my left TKR, I am having some of the electric/tingly type of nerve pains that make sleep difficult. My wife suggested I call the surgeon and get him to prescribe gabapentin, which she takes for her diabetes to control nerve pain. On the paperwork from my surgeon, I saw that it was a medication they used to prescribe routinely, but for some reason, the surgeon no longer does that. Unfortunately, won't be able to pick that up until tomorrow, but am hopeful it will help the issue. Anyone here have good luck with that med after TKR? Saturday night was the worst, I was only hooked up to my CPAP for two and a half hours before I woke up feeling like there was fire beneath my knee cap. Due to my moaning, cursing and crying out in pain, the reading on the CPAP was that I had 25 events per hour. Under normal circumstances if I can use the CPAP for seven hours, I can be between 1.5 and 3-4 events per hour. Back in my presurgery days, I could get a sleep-score of 90-100 most nights , but my discomfort level trying to sleep has dropped that down to 30-49 most nights, due to many times of mask on and off and short hours of sleep. I know it will get better but it is frustrating. How many of you have experienced this sort of CPAP plummet? I had an internet issue that left my computer not working well with the internet, so that's why I have been away for several days. I usually get on here before I go to bed.
On the good news front, the PT therapist thinks I am doing well for where I am at timewise. Got on the bicycle today and did five minutes, did the leg press and all of the exercises for an hour and got the ice machine treatment before I left. Not needing the cane in the house except for up and down the steps, and I still use it when I go out of the house as a precaution. I wrote a poem on Healing that I may post here after I send this. Thanks for listening and giving any advice or sharing any stories that relate to the two questions posed above. I am thankful for this forum.
 
Healing
To feel normal in my body
To feel normal in my mind
To incorporate the new sensations
Into the life I left behind
Or perhaps to feel the feelings
From a lifetime of being me
But working towards being better
With the prospect of a pain-free knee
And to be appreciative
Of the people in my life
Who help me to recover
Family, friends and Wife
No man is an island
And I land on soft, but solid ground
Because I care for so many who care for me
In this life that I have found
I will stand, walk and not fall
And let gratitude resound
So I embrace the truth
That I am only ever half-way there
But I am on the road to recovery and discovery
So I've no reason for despair
I'll feel normal in my body
I'll feel normal in my mind
And I'll learn to be better daily
Because that is the best way to be
And I'll incorporate the new sensations
Into the life ahead of me
 
Maybe it's because I'm a guy, maybe it's because I'm married to a woman ten years younger than me, but my mind is on Sex. I guess partially because I've always felt it was a great stress reliever and way to connect and bond with my spouse. Certainly, I was less able to function sexually with two bad knees than I would have preferred, and was thinking that when I have two good knees, things should be so much easier theoretically in that department. I just have no idea the time frame of that and will definitely be asking my surgeon when I see him later this week for the post-op appointment. However, I am so wanting to provide my woman her pleasure in the meantime, and have made that clear to her, so I'm thinking that at least I can give her some relief in other ways and that in and of itself makes me feel sure that the other will happen in its time. Certainly we were able to make it through the seemingly endless time period after her hysterectomy, so this too shall pass. Thanks for allowing me to vent. I hope that some of you on here who have come out the other side of this will feel free to reassure me that things have resumed and possibly improved for you in this department.
 
Maybe it's because I'm a guy, maybe it's because I'm married to a woman ten years younger than me, but my mind is on Sex. I guess partially because I've always felt it was a great stress reliever and way to connect and bond with my spouse. Certainly, I was less able to function sexually with two bad knees than I would have preferred, and was thinking that when I have two good knees, things should be so much easier theoretically in that department. I just have no idea the time frame of that and will definitely be asking my surgeon when I see him later this week for the post-op appointment. However, I am so wanting to provide my woman her pleasure in the meantime, and have made that clear to her, so I'm thinking that at least I can give her some relief in other ways and that in and of itself makes me feel sure that the other will happen in its time. Certainly we were able to make it through the seemingly endless time period after her hysterectomy, so this too shall pass. Thanks for allowing me to vent. I hope that some of you on here who have come out the other side of this will feel free to reassure me that things have resumed and possibly improved for you in this department.
At this point in my life I am SO happy to be single lol … absolutely last thought in my brain at the moment . I’m sure it will all work out , don’t worry :)
 
Okay, so today is my post operation meeting with my Surgeon. In addition to asking his advice on the Sex question above, I'm trying to formulate the questions I want to ask him when I see him. I intend to ask about the specific aches/pains I am having, his recommendations re: sleep positions/arrangements. His thoughts on how/when I should work back into my tai chi/qi gong routines. I did get my doctor to prescribe ambien for sleep and took the first one last night and got the longest time on my CPAP I've been able to get since surgery, so I think that will be a plus in the long run. I'll inform Surgeon of this. Anything else I should be asking him that I'm forgetting? I'm sure that the PT people will have communicated my progress to him, so I guess he will let me know whether or not he is pleased with that. I have a PT session after my appointment with the surgeon. Wish me luck!
 
Hope it goes well . Be interested in what is said about sleeping positions , as I’m really struggling with my loss of sleep
Good luck !
 
I know that there are emotional rollercoaster days in the healing from TKR or any surgery, but today I'd like to ask for positive thoughts/prayers to be sent my way. I got an A+ from my surgeon on my post op visit today and had a good PT session afterward. Then I came home and looked closely at the photo I took of the xrays taken at my appointment and noticed that on my right leg that is scheduled for TKR on August 13th, there are some black spots on my femur. I don't want to jump to negative conclusions, but I will definitely be on the phone first thing in the morning to my surgeon's office to alert them to what I have spotted/seen, as I'm pretty sure they were focused on looking at my left leg that has already had the knee replaced. I know that I'm not trained to look at xrays, but I see one black circle/dot and the other is bigger and shaped like a basket with a handle on it. Disconcerting to say the least. To top it off, today was what would have been my first wife's and my 33rd Wedding Anniversary. I've previously stated that she died 6 years ago from metastasis of breast cancer. Since she has been gone, my step-daughter and I like to think of this day as our Familyversary. But my first wife did discover that her cancer had metastasized when they did an xray following a car accident, so it is a little hard not to let my mind go there. I will update when I get any response tomorrow from my surgeon after I alert them to my concerns. Thanks for listening/reading and sending good vibes my way.
 
I do hope all is well with your right leg and that the explanation of those spots will be non threatening. Yes, I’m sure it’s hard for your mind not to go in the direction of something wrong.

I like your term Familyversary. The loss of our first spouse is undoubtedly hard and I’m glad you can remember her together with your new family, as she is still very much a part of you, and always will be.
 
I do hope all is well with your right leg and that the explanation of those spots will be non threatening. Yes, I’m sure it’s hard for your mind not to go in the direction of something wrong.

I like your term Familyversary. The loss of our first spouse is undoubtedly hard and I’m glad you can remember her together with your new family, as she is still very much a part of you, and always will be.
Thank you for your kind wishes. Turned out to be a false alarm, but I am still glad that I checked with the surgeon out of an abundance of caution. Surgeon assures me that whatever I am seeing is just a shadow/glare result of iphone to computer photo taken across the room, because he sees nothing like what I see on the original x-ray. So that was a huge relief. I am glad that surgeon gave me more pain meds, because with my natural tendency to push myself and PT progression, I've needed a little help. Also glad I got something to help me sleep from my doctor. I know that all of this takes time, so I don't need to be an over achiever if it is going to send me backwards. I just need to listen to my body. I got seven hours of sleep the first night I took an ambien, and six last night. I will try to get seven again tonight. I know that I am dog tired, just got up to ice my leg and then will hook back up to CPAP and hope to get good rest.
 
Tomorrow will be four weeks out from left knee TKR. I'm getting around the house fine without a cane, only use it when I go up and down the stairs or outside the house. Main complaint/issue at this point is the really tight muscle on the left side of my knee and the muscle leading up the thigh from there. I told the PT person last time I was there on Monday and he did massage and worked some kind of cream into it, and I asked about e-stem and when I finished my exercises, he did that along with the cryo sleeve. I said to him:
"you can do those both at the same time?" and he joked "we've only lost three people this way" and then went on to say that it used to be common practice to do both with people who came out of knee surgery.
All I know is that after a pretty good workout, it felt good. I'm looking forward to more of the same for today's afternoon PT. Last night was kind of rough with those muscles being so tight. I iced them, used a massager on them, but finally decided to take a pain pill and try to sleep a bit earlier than my normal bedtime. Yesterday I went to do the bloodwork required for my right TKR in August. I'm really hoping my left knee/leg will be in a good place for the right TKR to happen. I have been doing a little bit of my tai chi, sometimes doing the seated routines you can find on Youtube, sometimes short standing routines. Even just doing a little bit of these seems to lift my spirits and remind myself that my whole body is a system that needs to connect to itself and the universe and that takes me away for a while from the hyper focus on the new knee and the leg that is trying to reconfigure/reconcile itself to this addition/change to my body. I'm glad I asked the doctor for gabapentin for the nerve pains. I do feel like this journey is headed in the right direction, I just have to allow for the little inconveniences and listen to my body when it says it needs rest or that I've pushed it a little too much. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to go past your limits to know what your limits are.
 
Ode to new knee number one
My new knee
is becoming part of me
muscles and nerves
must adjust accordingly

So aches and pains
must be dealt with
Iced, massaged, elevated
Exercised into gains

Sometimes I overdo
and swelling starts anew
But what can you do
besides take the long view

This too shall pass
and my new knee
will soon be
my “slightly senior knee”
Damn, I’m glad I don’t have three…
 
Maybe it's because I'm a guy, maybe it's because I'm married to a woman ten years younger than me, but my mind is on Sex. I guess partially because I've always felt it was a great stress reliever and way to connect and bond with my spouse. Certainly, I was less able to function sexually with two bad knees than I would have preferred, and was thinking that when I have two good knees, things should be so much easier theoretically in that department. I just have no idea the time frame of that and will definitely be asking my surgeon when I see him later this week for the post-op appointment. However, I am so wanting to provide my woman her pleasure in the meantime, and have made that clear to her, so I'm thinking that at least I can give her some relief in other ways and that in and of itself makes me feel sure that the other will happen in its time. Certainly we were able to make it through the seemingly endless time period after her hysterectomy, so this too shall pass. Thanks for allowing me to vent. I hope that some of you on here who have come out the other side of this will feel free to reassure me that things have resumed and possibly improved for you in this department.
Stephen Hawking and Elaine Mason had a hot and steamy love life. I am sure you can figure out a way moving forward with your aching knees. Where there is a will there's a way!

This is a family forum so that is all I can say on the subject!
 
Had probably my best day post left TKR, four weeks ago today. Possibly because I actually got eight hours of sleep hooked up to my CPAP, possibly because it was in the lower eighties temperatures instead of the nineties and I was able to get outside to walk. Also got a peddle machine that just lays on the floor in front of my chair, since I have been feeling like my PT time on the bike was loosening me up more than anything else. Less than fifty bucks on Amazon, I think it will be highly worthwhile for me. Anyway, I'm really starting to feel like bring on August 13th and my right knee TKR. Did twenty minutes of standing tai chi, which really helps me feel like my whole body is working towards healing. I know that I will probably still have some setbacks, but it was nice to have a really great day. Hope others have days like this in their recovery that make them say, yes, I've got this.
 
Glad to hear you had a great day! Week 4 into 5 was where I started to feel that I was going to make it through this. Little victories added up, but progress still zigzags for me. I have days where I catch myself smiling now!
 
Glad to hear you had a great day! Week 4 into 5 was where I started to feel that I was going to make it through this. Little victories added up, but progress still zigzags for me. I have days where I catch myself smiling now!
I appreciate your response. "Little Victories" is a song I love by Darden Smith. I need to look that up on youtube to give it a listen.
 
RubyWhitesocks: Love your Ode to New Knee No. 1!
You've captured the experience perfectly!
I too have said more than once: "It was worth it but I'm glad I don't have a third knee because I am never going through that again!"
 

BoneSmart #1 Best Blog

Staff online

Forum statistics

Threads
65,181
Messages
1,597,081
BoneSmarties
39,365
Latest member
Dave4562
Recent bookmarks
0
Back
Top Bottom