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TKR Sailor's Recovery Thread

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An update on my wife's skin condition:
She finished the course of strong antibiotics, and the swelling, redness and pain of the cellulitis infection is now gone. She also feels much better from a general well being standpoint. She was probably sick for quite a long time with this infection building up.
They took a tissue sample from the sole of her foot, at Stanford. That was a dreadful experience for her. I was with her, and I can say that she did not like it. Anyway, the diagnosis from the biopsy is Dyshidrotic Eczema.
You can read about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eczema and here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyshidrosis
So she has gone a few weeks without a flare-up, but now another one is starting, but it seems not as bad as previous ones. She will probably have to have a steroid injection or two before her quick getaway to Mexico in Oct (girl's vacation with one of her college buddies, who is an ex-pat), and our big vacation in Nov, which is a Caribbean cruise. I just feel so sorry for her, as the bad flare ups are really debilitating. I hope and pray that the docs can possibly nail down the cause, and find an effective long term treatment.

Roger
 
SFBaySailor I am glad to hear your wife is doing better and the flair up isn't too bad. I hope you are doing well and the tendonitis is easing up.

Take care:flwrysmile:
Ms. Disenchanted (AKA daughter stalker)
 
DS,
Thanks. Well, if it was tendonitis, it was very short lived. I haven't had any quad pain in almost a week now:) The quads are really settling down. Also, the stiffness (rubber band feeling) and swelling are way down. There is only some swelling near the knee cap. This is what YOU will experience soon!! Get ready for it. It feels almost like a normal knee sometimes. Things are definitely healing!!
I read your thread today. Just hang in there, 7-8 weeks is a tough time. It was for me. I was just back to work, and doing a lot of walking, like you are, and it was really hard. But things will get better!!!

Thanks for the wishes for my wife. She told me that she's getting on that cruise ship in Nov, even if they have to Medivac her on!! OK, then :whistle: I really hope things get better for her.

Have a good weekend. Tomorrow, I have to tackle the lawn mowing. Then, some R&R!

Roger
 
SFBaySailor
Good morning Roger,

Just a check in! Good to see you here online! I hope you are doing well. I am guessing this will be one of the last two weeks I get a 4 day work week. :cry: I go back to the OS August 28th to see my fate.

Take care :flwrysmile:
 
Maria,
Nice to hear from you.
Yeah, the reduced work week was nice, wasn't it?
I hope you do well if you go to 5 days/week.
I have my first business travel next week, a short hop for 2 days to our So Calif office. It's a definite go, as my boss really wants to see me there for some training! A few weeks ago, I think it would have been tough walking through airports, and sitting on a plane. But I think I can handle it now. We'll see how it goes.
Good luck at the OS! How is your flexion? Have they measured it at PT lately?

Roger
 
Hey Roger,

You will do fine on your business trip. I just know it! At night you can always ice and elevate.

I am going to lobby for a few more 4 day work weeks with more hours working. ROM 127 and extension still stinks at 3-5 depending on the day. I still go to PT 3 times per week and they are working on extension and strengthening of the quad/hamstrings. I have a week right quad/hamstring set from 35 years of using them incorrectly. I'm sure I will have to continue to go to PT maybe 2 days per week. I am okay with it. I know I need it.

Take care :flwrysmile:
 
Thanks, DS!
I've been icing & elevating once each night when I get home, and that seems to have been working pretty well. I use a Polar Ice knee wrap at home. But when I travel, I'll have to bring an ice bag, the type that has a screw-on top, so it won't leak in my luggage. I have my favorite hotels that I stay in, and they know me well. I can always ask for a room close to the ice machine...LOL...most folks try to avoid those rooms!

Yep, extension will take some time if your knee has been out of whack for so many years. I had to work on it, as well. Wow, you certainly have had your share of arthroscopies on that right knee! What a history. That must have been brutal, but hopefully there was some relief offered as a result of some of those surgeries.
I also wiped out my knee at a young age. It was a multiple ligament tear in high school phys ed, playing softball. Ah, if only I had called that fly ball, then the center fielder wouldn't have come running and flattened me at full speed! Ouch. Oh well, coulda, shoulda....
:umm:

I'm sure they'll grant you the extra 4 day work weeks. You've been really proactive with returning to work, so it would be to their benefit.

At work, we are on 10 days forced vacation this quarter, to reduce costs. So I have the day off tomorrow! :)

Have a great day!

Roger
 
Well, today I took the boat out onto the bay for the first time since the end of July. None of my sailing buddies were available, so I single handed it. Last time out, I just motored around, but today I went for full sail. I was very pleasantly surprised! I was able to get up on the deck to raise & lower the mainsail, stepping up with my TKR knee, and there was no pain! Also, I noticed a big increase in strength in the leg! Up and down the companionway steps to the cabin.... not a problem! When I got back, I spent a couple hours doing some maintenance, including standing up for quite some time to hose the boat down. I think I'm beginning to realize the benefits of the knee replacement! Before the TKR, I would often be in pain for almost a week, after a day of sailing.
It was a short sail, though, because the wind jumped from 5 kts to 20+ kts within 15 minutes and I didn't want to take any chances while single-handing (Yes, SF Bay is one of the few places where an America's Cup sailboat race can be cancelled because of TOO much wind :umm: )
Hopefully I didn't push myself into the ODIC! I iced & elevated when I got home, and the knee feels fine tonight. I hope it's the same tomorrow!

Cheers,
Roger
 
Wow....that's just GREAT!!! I can picture the smile on your face as you discovered your new pain free knee was able to do all those things. I'm so happy for you!!!!
 
I am happy for you, Roger! I bet you felt free as a bird sailing!!! Good for you. Rest some today and all will be great!

Keep up the fantastic work! :flwrysmile:
 
That's even better!!!! GREAT!!!
 
My first knee specialist put me on 800mg of Ibuprofen and it helped a great deal until my primary doctor took me off of it because the ibuprofen was not good for my kidneys. My creatine/Bun levels were way off base! Now I'm not allowed to take any NAISD'S for the rest of my life.
 
Thanks scaredinCA.
Sorry to hear the trouble you are having with NSAIDs. It seems quite a few people do.
I started Ibuprofen since I stopped taking Vicodin at about 11 weeks. I tried Tylenol, but it didn't agree with me in large doses (gave me diarrhea).
Now, I am down to only 2 Ibuprofen, 2x /day. I think I can be off all pain meds in a very short while. I'm having very little pain now. :)

Roger
 
Well, I completed my first business trip since I've had the LTKR. It was a 2 day trip to my company's So Calif office. Short flight, about an hour and a half. I guess the knee did pretty well. I iced and elevated in the hotel the first night. There was no real pain the first day, but I did have a tiny bit of pain in the top of the tibia on the second day. It was short lived, fortunately, after resting a bit with my leg propped up at work. The trip involved quite a bit of walking, through the airports, and to/from the parking garages and the rental car facilities.

It amazes me that the city of San Jose spent billions of dollars on the airport renovation, but failed to put in a "people mover" moving walkway! Walking from one end of the Southwest airlines terminal to the other end can be a killer! It is about 1/2 mile!

But I found that walking slowly and steadily worked, and I tried not to walk too fast or take long strides.
When I got home last night, the knee felt fine, although a bit tired. I did have a bit more swelling than usual around the quads tendon, but no pain. I iced and elevated last night, and feel pretty good today. Again, it still feels tired, though.

This trip to So Calif is sometimes a weekly affair, but I may consider a phased-in approach and make the trip only every 2 weeks until about November. I work in Applications Engineering for an electronics company, which can involve considerable travel for customer support. So I hope that none of my East Coast or European customers have any sudden emergencies, otherwise I might find myself on a long haul flight very soon! I logged 75,000 flight miles for business last year. But this year has been much less, of course, due to the TKR.

Cheers,
Roger
 
I came home from my business trip last night to find that my poor wife was using my walker, which had been stored away since about week 4 after TKR! She has recently had a very bad flare-up of the dishidrotic eczema on the soles of her feet, and it got suddenly worse while I was on my business trip. She is in terrible pain, and I feel so sorry for her. As I mentioned in post 141, the docs are still working on an effective long term treatment. All that works at this point is cortisone injections, and it provides about 3-4 weeks of relief for her.

She has quite a bit of travel coming up in the near future. First, she is on a "girl's long weekend" in Mexico in mid-October with her ex-pat college buddy who lives there. Then we are in Phoenix at the end of October for a long weekend at a Jimmy Buffett concert!!! :) Then, we have our big cruise vacation scheduled the first week of November, out of Port Canaveral, Florida! So, we've got a lot of stuff coming up! Cortisone shots in early Oct and early Nov are her only course of action at this point. We have travel insurance for the cruise, in the event that things get really bad. I'm just praying that she will be able to make all these trips, and more importantly, make them comfortably so she can actually have a good time....
Any knee issues I am having seem so trivial compared to what she is going through.....
 
It's true, all it takes is watching someone else deal with something far more difficult to put our own pain or worries in perspective. I'm glad you are taking care of yourself, too. Hopefully, you'll be able to go on that cruise and your wife will be able to go on all her trips. The more important thing is long term improvement for both of you. Good wishes going your way.
 
Hey SFBaySailor,

I am just now catching up on your thread. I am glad to hear that you did well on your business trip :yay: , but sad to hear that your wife is in pain again :sad: . I hope and pray they find a way to deal with her issues quickly. I know it is hard seeing her like this, but it is probably comforting for her to know that you are there and willing to do whatever you can to help her. Please keep us updated on your and her progress.

Best wishes and take care :flwrysmile:
 
SFBaySailor said:
I came home from my business trip last night to find that my poor wife was using my walker, which had been stored away since about week 4 after TKR! She has recently had a very bad flare-up of the dishidrotic eczema on the soles of her feet, and it got suddenly worse while I was on my business trip. She is in terrible pain, and I feel so sorry for her. As I mentioned in post 141, the docs are still working on an effective long term treatment. All that works at this point is cortisone injections, and it provides about 3-4 weeks of relief for her.

She has quite a bit of travel coming up in the near future. First, she is on a "girl's long weekend" in Mexico in mid-October with her ex-pat college buddy who lives there. Then we are in Phoenix at the end of October for a long weekend at a Jimmy Buffett concert!!! :) Then, we have our big cruise vacation scheduled the first week of November, out of Port Canaveral, Florida! So, we've got a lot of stuff coming up! Cortisone shots in early Oct and early Nov are her only course of action at this point. We have travel insurance for the cruise, in the event that things get really bad. I'm just praying that she will be able to make all these trips, and more importantly, make them comfortably so she can actually have a good time....
Any knee issues I am having seem so trivial compared to what she is going through.....
Click to expand...

Hey, I found your thread with the new app. :) I'm so sorry to hear about your wife! I know EXACTLY how that feels as I've had horrible dyshidrosis on the soles of my feet as well. It is awful. :( I used to soak my feet in Burow’s solution (aluminum acetate 1%) or potassium permanganate solution (1:8000) for 10-15 minutes 3-4 times a day. Both can be found on Amazon. I used to do it three-four times a day. Also, I used to read up on this a lot and there could be a nickel allergy involved causing it. I get other water blisters on my body when I ingest gluten or dairy, so I have to be careful as to what I put in my mouth, ugh!

I will pray that your wife finds relief soon. I had doctors test me and nothing ever came of it. They could never pin down the allergy or what was causing it, so google became my friend!
 
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