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Bilateral TKR Scheduled February 2016

Thanks Celle for that explanation. I will look into it.
 
I had those night time little jabs and I could not stand my blanket touching my knee either. What I did at night was to put a bandage on my knee, this would take the rubbing of the blanket off. Then I would during the day, several times ( once per hour) gently rub, massage my knee with the palm of my hand to get it use to rubbing and touching. By week 4 I was free from that type of pain at night.
 
@Creation I guess I better try do the rubbing hourly, I have been doing that but not methodically. I need to take this more seriously because it's messing up my sleep. When I had a foot operation they said to use different things to rub with, like a cloth or a feather or fabric and the hand. They said there were deep nerves and lighter nearer the top of the skin nerves. Don't know why I didn't think of that till now. Thanks for reminding me.
 
Day 61 2 months!

Well officially it was yesterday but close enough :heehee:

So at 2 months I can now:
  • Walk with a cane after I am warmed up a bit.
  • Incisions are totally healed up
  • I am driving. But if I sit in the car for more than an hour I have to get out and walk around.
  • The fog of meds is cleared and I can think straight, read and work on computer.
  • Can sit at a restaurant for 2 1/2 hours, but then watch out, exhausted.
  • I can stand to cook, I do pull up a stool to assist for long jobs. It does tire me though.
  • Going up and down stairs, 17 steps.
  • Have not tried vacuuming yet.
  • Not really hard cleaning the house yet.
  • I can shop at small stores, Aldis, Trader Joes, if I hold onto the cart. It does tire me and feels like I won't make it through to the car, but I do.
  • Go to my beach and sit
  • Sit in my lawn swing, it's pretty hard to get out of but I do it!
  • Sleep most nights, thanks to lotions and bandages over the incisions, 1/2 oxy.
  • Still icing and elevating a lot
  • Still doing heel glides and walking in home, practicing on gait and lifting the feet correctly.
I'm sure there is more but I can't think of them now. There is still a lot of pain, but it's bearable, don't notice most of the day, at night it's worse. Thanks for this forum for helping me get through this ordeal and onto healing! :egypdance:
 
:yay:You're doing great! My pain at night always seemed to last the longest. Maybe it's because there's nothing to distract us. It does go away.
 
You're doing very well now. :yes!::yay::happydance:

Pain at night does seem to oonger. I think it's a good idea to take some pain relief routinely at bed time for a while longer.
 
Drove to meet a friend at a pizza place. Walked with a cane from the first handicapped parking stall across the street. Pretty stressful to do that but I made it. My legs still feel very heavy and awkward when I first get up but after a few minutes it's better. Sat for a couple hours, put my legs up on the booth, at one point I realized my legs didn't hurt at all and I was amazed. My friend invited to swim at her club next week as a guest so I see how that goes. I am a little curious to see how the water temps feel on my knees, especially the hot tub. Seems counterintuitive to get in the hot tub after all the icing I do. :scratch:

Thought I might grab some hamburger from Aldi's afterwards but decided I didn't have enough energy and didn't want to push it. It was really nice to get out on my own and meet old friends again. Didn't have any repercussions from that yet, but haven't gone to bed yet and it's midnight so we will see how this night pans out. Last night was waking every hour all night long but I stayed in bed and finally slept till 8 am. Here is hoping tonight is better. :sleeep:
 
Day 64 Week 10

Got permission to do PT in the pool. Will be going in for an evaluation and "goal setting" meeting next week. We'll see what theses include. I still don't want any painful pushing of any sort. They said I would get 4 to 8 sessions. I am going back to my rehab stay place because they have a nice small pool that is rarely used and has a door with parking right out front of it bo the walking will be good. Much better than the other option with a big parking lot, walking through a building and than the pool.
 
KayeKaye said:
Will be going in for an evaluation and "goal setting" meeting next week.
Click to expand...
Be careful with these----
KayeKaye said:
I still don't want any painful pushing of any sort
Click to expand...
If the goals force them to try this---you are absolutely correct in not letting them hurt you---take anything only to the point of discomfort.

It is hard to set goals when you are not in charge---the knee is. I found out that when you set a goal, and the knee has other ideas, it is frustrating and the knee wins.

The pool PT sounds wonderful, and I think that it will be helpful---enjoy the gentle nature of the warm water and what it offers.
 
I think the swim therapy will be good. The paper I received from the doctor says:
2-3 sessions per week for 3 weeks
Teach Home Program
Gentle range of motion only, pool therapy, gait training, balance control.
I like the part where it says "Gentle"!:yay:
 
It makes all the difference if you elevate while out, especially at a restaurant. I always did, but went to a really nice restaurant before the theater one night and didn't elevate. After dinner, the play, drive back and forth my knee was so big I could barely peel my trousers off! Lesson learned!
 
Day 66

I have been pedaling more for the last few days. Yesterday I went up and down the steps (17) 4 times. Last night I had big shooting pains right in the middle of my knee cap left leg. Maybe I overdid it? Today it's still sore and the right leg has joined in the shooting pains. Woke up at 6 am and started icing. So hard to do so little. The backs of my heels are still sore from too much sitting and contact on them. I do prop them up so they don't touch but I guess not good enough. Along with that I have been having such bad eye-aches. Wondering if it's from not enough sleep or the med I take at night. If it keeps up I will have to get to the doctor. And now Youtube doesn't support my blu ray player anymore. Whine whine whine. :sigh:
 
It sounds as if you might have done a bit too much. See what a few days of less activity, with more rest, elevation and icing, can do for your knees.
 
You seem to be doing really good! We all over do it and we only know after the fact!
Awsome you can do the stairs! I am still going up and down one leg.
 
Creation said:
You seem to be doing really good! We all over do it and we only know after the fact!
Awsome you can do the stairs! I am still going up and down one leg.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I have no choice because I am in a split level house with 17 steps to get out. Before I left rehab they had me practice on a 7 step flight of steps several times. I do pretty good and can go normally foot after foot instead of one foot at a time going up. Going down is bit more difficult. One thing I have done going down steps for a long time is go down backwards, it's much easier. Course it is probably frowned upon but I have been doing for decades. I have a friend who had BTKR a year ago and she is still going up with one leg at a time.
Whatever works! :flwrysmile:

Been resting up for the weekend, might get out today but will use a wheelchair if I go to a store. It sure did hurt with every step, my knee had big jabs of pain with each step. That has subsided for the most part today. Still a bit sore. I have to be more careful on the pedals and maybe break it up into 10 minutes per hour instead a whole half hour.
 
Day 70 Week 11

Well last night getting out of the car I wrenched my left shoulder. Not happy. Hard to lean on the walker now and hard to move around in bed. ugh. I will give it a few days and mention it to the PT when we start swimming this week. Still haven't gone swimming yet, the PT is doing paperwork on their end to get it started. I hope to start soon because I feel so stiff and am not doing much.
 
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