TKR Second TKR Done, but still not very patient

[Roy Gardiner]

Linda, I would have to be able to hop into a warm bath, but as my support is being provided by my ex-husband, it probably sounds a bit funny to say I would feel really weird with him helping me in and out of a bath.

I can assure you that he'd get mixed messages too...

One day I hope I will be a support on here and not need so much advice and reassurance.

That's exactly what those of us who hang around on here after the event are doing -- paying it forward. We all can remember so clearly what it's like -- deer caught in the headlights -- at the time, and how valuable the support is.

 

[leejaa]

Ellen, "knee time" is a great idea and a great way to think. I am glad you are checking into not returning yet and giving your knee time to get better. Glad your pain is better after that fall.

My knee (September knee) was actually fairly ready to return and my other knee (January knee) was fine and strong. My body was not quite as ready and that is still the issue for me. My knee is actually doing quite well - hardly any swelling. My stamina and tiredness is the hardest thing right now especially since with the projects I am catching up on I am doing 9hr days. Doing OK since we are picking up quite a few meals out and I am not trying to cook on top of my days at work and not doing any exercises at home.

Stay on knee time and you will get through this recovery stage. Lee

 

[NetballKnees]

Hi Lee ... I am glad your knee is coping okay with the return to work. Sorry about the drain on your stamina, but I guess working is something we have to do to pay bills and eat. I am just very lucky with the sick leave entitlements I have in my job. I work for local government - Moreton Bay Regional Council - and the added little bits are sometimes quite generous. Also, as we work a 9 day fortnight, there is not really a need for the occasional pretend sick day, so I was lucky to have a bit of leave saved up. It is all on full pay too, so there is no difference to financial income while I am off.

My ex-husband has gone away for the weekend, so I am totally on my own for the first time since I came home from hospital. Haven't been managing too badly at all, but haven't done much except for make meals and do a bit of washing. Of course, as things in life usually go, as soon as I have settled myself in the recliner and managed to get my pillow stack organised, one of the dogs wants to go out or come in and I need to get up and then come back and do it all again. I have a new respect for those Bonesmarties who have always managed on their own right from the word go.

Hope you are able to have a lovely relaxing weekend Lee, and catch up on some rest and recovery.

Ellen ...

 

[leejaa]

Ellen, isn't it wonderful that now you can get up and down to let the dogs out. It is the little things like that really remind us we are progressing - at least it was for me. I would do laundry (small load) and take it out of the machine myself and hang it up instead of having husband do it.

I am planning on resting in between the laundry and the grocery shopping this week end and of course petting the exuberant Riley (our dog) and Pepper (our cat). The good news is I will have Thur off since it is our Thanksgiving holiday and since we do not have any family really and being tired I am not doing a big meal, just enough for us. Also, my husband is off this coming week so I will drive myself and thus will try to just work 8hr days - almost a vacation.

May you have a wonderful week end with much sunshine

 

[Josephine]

My ex-husband has gone away for the weekend, so I am totally on my own for the first time since I came home from hospital.

I did all but 5 days of my recovery on my own and managed very well! It's very doable.
Read the potted version of my recovery here Knee recovery - UK style.

 

[NetballKnees]

Hello Bonesmart World ...
leejaa - thanks for visiting again. I hope you have managed some healing rest this weekend. I wish we had a holiday like Thanksgiving over here. It seems a lovely tradition and much more worthwhile than some of the reasons we have public holidays for. Plus, I love turkey!!!!!!

Thanks for your post Josephine. I wasn't trying to say "poor me - how hard - this can't be done" when I mentioned that my ex had gone away for the weekend. I actually just mentioned it and the fact that I would be on my own for the first time. I did quite well.

I have read your story before and you did marvellously. Your ROM at an early stage was fantastic. I dream of that ROM.

I did say that I had respect for all those who had to manage on their own right from when they come home from hospital. And those with lower degrees of ROM must have a very hard time of it; AND those who needed to manage with walkers as I STILL do at nearly 6weeks. It gets a bit awkward doing all the fetching and carrying while using a walker. I actually had to ditch it a couple of times and do my Frankenstein monster's impersonation. Interesting walk - trying to remember with the surgical knee to go heel/toe, step and remember to bend the knee and with the non-surgical leg, due to medial ligament damage, it is kept straight with no bend in the knee. I wish someone could have been home to tape the walk.

I wasn't totally alone all weekend - my daughter and her partner dropped in this morning to drop off my car which they had been using; and two of my sons called in this afternoon to see if I wanted anything from the shops as I am a long way off driving. My other son lives in Sydney, so I didn't expect him to drop in.

Hope all in Bonesmart world are recovering and life is going well for you.

Ellen ...

 

[Josephine]

I wasn't trying to say "poor me - how hard - this can't be done" when I mentioned that my ex had gone away for the weekend.

Oh I didn't read it that way either! You are not in the least the kind of person who sits and rings her hands and cries "oh woe is me"! I know that. Sorry if my reply led you to think I thought that. I didn't and wouldn't.

 

[leejaa]

Ellen, Thanksgiving is a great holiday since besides celebrating a meal and friends/family there are no extra demands.

I used some bags attached to the walker to move things around and someone else suggested a large baking tray for the top upside down.

When your knee allows you can always have a Thansgiving dinner with turkey for your family and ex to celebrate.

Have a great day. Lee

 

[Jozilla]

Hi Ellen - I agree with Lee when you are fully recovered start your own family tradition. Thanksgiving is truly my favorite holiday. If we all think about it we can be thankful for so many things. Just good food and sharing with family and friends makes me more than thankful. I am grateful for this. Everyone had their own variation here but turkey is usually a big part of it. I have an Italian heritage and when I was growing up the turkey was a minor part of the food. My grandparents immigrated from Italy and for years they did not eat turkey. It was only when my uncle who was around 10 at the time cried did my grandmother start making a turkey. It was always homemade antipasto and ravioli (we would have contests to see who could eat the most) for thanksgiving. I make a very traditional meal now as we all love turkey but I will always make an antipasto. Then we all enjoy the football games that are on, rest and eat dessert! My tradition now also includes having my 11 year old granddaughter stay with me overnight so her parents can join the crazies shopping Black Friday sales. I am getting hungry now! Hope you are feeling better. Sounds like you did great this weekend. Regards - JoAnne


Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart®

 

[NetballKnees]

Josephine - no I apologise. I was a bit too touchy I think and over-reacted.

 

[NetballKnees]

leejaa Jozilla .. thanks for your visit. You are right - there is no reason why I can't adopt our own family Thanksgiving. We do have so much to be thankful for. We seem to have adopted Halloween over here, so why not Thanksgiving? I love the sound of the way you take families, food and just slow down and spend time together. Also love the sound of your Italian feast Jozilla. My youngest son, Daniel, and his partner, Tash, came back this year from living in New York for a year and last Christmas they were invited to spend the day with some friends who were Italian. Daniel said it was the largest feast he had ever seen.

The Black Friday sales sound very much like what we have over here on Boxing Day. The Boxing Day sales attract so many people who appear to go quite crazy from what I have seen on the news. I have never been to the Boxing Day sales. I never have any money left after Christmas, but thousands of others seem to.

I have had quite a good weekend. Managed quite well on my own. Everything took so long to do though, but that's okay - I'm not on a timetable at the moment. I'm on Kneetime. Geoff did decide to stay away for an extra day. He probably needed the rest.

I must admit I am finding the walker too restricting at the moment and am moving around the house without it for a lot of the time. As I said before, it is not a pretty walk. But it is reasonably stable, except for the non-surgical leg which is just getting more and more painful. I do so hope it is not a tear of the ligament.

I had a treat today. My friend, Helen, who is a hairdresser, operates a salon at her home. Very beautifully equipped with all the proper equipment and she has cut my hair for about 15 years now. She came to get me and took me to her place which is only a few minutes drive away. I have been riding stretched out on the back seat of cars, but as Helen has two car seats in the back for her grandchildren, I had to sit in the front. So I put the seat right back and with a little bit of wiggling, managed to get my leg in. It was a bit difficult as the bend is still at only about 60degrees but I made it.

So now I have a wonderful new haircut (very, very short) and it has been coloured a warm brown with red highlights. It has cheered me up no end. My knee is a bit angry tonight - swollen and very, very red and hot. I don't think it liked having to be down as much as it was today. But it was good to be doing something as normal as having a haircut.

Surgeon's visit on Wednesday for six week check up. I do not think he will be too impressed with my lack of progress. He said to me on the day that I left hospital that if I came back at 6 weeks without a bend of at least 90degrees, he would put me into hospital and do a manipulation. I have decided that at 6 weeks, I am not going to have one done. Not yet.

I think I have also decided not to go back to work until the New Year - probably about the 13 January. That means I will get to celebrate my birthday at home this year.

leejaa I hope your week goes well and you are not so tired. Have a great week too Jozilla

Hope everyone in Bonesmart world has a good week too and your recoveries all proceed smoothly without any hiccups.

 

[NetballKnees]

Forgot to say, I had another small first today. I needed to go to the ladies while having my hair cut. Helen's salon is set up away from the house in the garage, which is kind of dug down a bit into the ground. I have not done any stairs since the operation. I did not even do stairs in PT at hospital. When they found out that I had no stairs at home, they did not see the point in doing any. I do go down and up a tiny bit into the shower and out the front and back doors. Anyway, I digress. I had to walk up 3 steps, which were only pavers set into a background of rocks before negotiating other pavers in rocks on a slightly upward direction before getting to the lovely paved flat area and into the downstairs bathroom. I managed the steps with the walker on the rocks and even managed to get down and up off a "normal" height toilet (I still have the raised over-the-toilet seat at home).

Coming back down was another matter. When I put the walker down onto the rocks to come down, because of the slope, the front of the walker was on the rocks, but the back legs were up in the air. I knew if I put any pressure on the front I would go a... over (not sure if that expression is used overseas - it means ummm rear end over), which would have been funny, but probably would have hurt. Helen came and held the front up level with the back while I stepped down and with that support I managed to make it back to the salon. I did have to remember though to use the TKR leg as the "good" leg because the other one doesn't take weight at the moment.

So that was another thing I did today.

 

[Jozilla]

Sounds like you had a great day! You are progressing.


Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart®

 

[chestnc]

Hi Ellen, sorry to hear you are having a difficult time with the bend. My flexion has been good and so has my ROM. But I know that without continuing the exercise, I can easily slide back into a problem. My knee has been a bit swollen now so I actually have not been doing my exercises as rigorously as I should.have been icing and taking my pain medication and have along with cutting back on doing so much. I think I felt I had the stamina and energy initially and maybe over did it. Will see PT tonight and see what she thinks. I realize that having a TKR is a lot of work post op.

RTKR on October 23,2013
RA diagnosed 10 years ago

 

[leejaa]

Ellen, how wonderful to have a treat of having your hair done. Sounds marvellous with the soft brown and highlights. It is such a lift to have the hair done. Also, congratulations on the stairs. Great job.

Have a good day. Lee

 

[NetballKnees]

Hi BS World (bit reluctant to use the abbreviation as over here if we say "oh, that's BS", it means a male cow's excretia , but I digress). Anyway, I went to the OS (no hidden meaning for that I don't think) for my 6 week check-up. I can't believe that 6 weeks has gone already and my knee has not progressed that much. Actually this week I have felt a bit different with it. The back, which is incredibly swollen, feels a bit looser and I have been moving around the house under my own steam. Not stable enough to go outside under my own steam though. Anyway, I digress again (I do that a lot).

To my surprise, while the OS was NOT happy with the lack of bend (currently at an estimated 70degrees), he said there was no need AT THE MOMENT to schedule a manipulation because he was sure it would come. I do have to go back in another 6 weeks to make sure I have reached the Holy Grail of 90degrees. The OS said it was almost impossible to do everything you want to do without at least 90degrees. He said the scar looked "fantastic" (no surprise there seeing as how he was the one who stitched it). Wasn't concerned with the excessive swelling and just shrugged about the really sore spots I have on the inside of the knee.

The OS also tested my straightening and originally looking concerned, held my leg and told me to relax it and said it was very close to 0 when I relaxed. He said he could tell from my walk that I held my knee too tensely. I had already realised this - I tend to hold the muscles above the knee tight all the time but that is because for the last 5 years I have not felt confident enough in the knee to just let it go. It is something I will have to work at, but not sure how. Any ideas?

He also cleared me to go back to gym, to do upper body strength work - chest press here I come - and wrote a note to the physio to tell her it was okay for me to have hydrotherapy and telling her a few things he wanted her to try, which he did not make me privy to. I guess I will find out tomorrow.

And he cleared me to go back to work on 13 January 2014 (after a request from me).

Oh, and I must tell you about getting in the car today to go to the OS. My son, Matthew, took me and we went in his car, which is a Nissan Patrol - big car and very high off the ground. Because I am reasonably tall - just over 5' 10" (175cm) and have long legs, it has not been possible for me to get in the front passenger seat of a car with not much bend in the knee, so although it is not recommended, have had to travel stretched out on the back seat of cars. I had not attempted until today to get in a car as high as Matthew's, and although the Patrol is a big car, with the front seat fully back, there is still not much room to get a leg in with a knee that won't bend much. As my non-surgical knee is out of action with a medial collateral ligament strain and is very, very painful, it was a case of leaning on the edge of the back seat, throwing myself onto my back and then sitting up and shimmying myself across the seat to lay the surgical leg across. My skirt was being pulled down by all the shimmying and Matthew and I were both in fits of laughter. (except for me it was ROTBSOCL- Rolling on the Back Seat of Car Laughing). I wish I had taped it. It could have won in Funniest Home Video or something. Getting out was simple, but then I had to get back in and after walking from the entrance of the medical centre to the lifts and to the OS office and back again, the legs were a bit worn out and that was even more of an effort. Still I did it and to celebrate, Matthew went to McDonalds and bought me a large Coffee McFrappe ... which, by the way is a wonderful antidote to any constipation you might be suffering.

When I got home ex-hubby was looking after Sebastian (2 year old grandson), so I had the pleasure of his company for a couple of hours. Once I was home though it was "nick off Grandad, Nanna's here", so we had a lovely time together.

Anyway, am relaxing now with legs up and just waiting for the pads to re-freeze before icing again.

Sorry about the long drawn-out post. Hope everyone has had a great day and are recovering smoothly, with little pain and no problems.

Ellen

 

[lindaladyishere]

U will get there, u will when its time. Remember we r under the control of our knee. The knee rules us, and not us ruling our knee. Please please do not over dp it at the gym, i now your excited to go, but please take it easy on yourself and dont do too much. its sooo nice your x is helping, all the support helps. Take care, ice n elevate, the knee rules!

 

[Josephine]

over here if we say "oh, that's BS", it means

It's not an Oz prerogative. Just about everywhere knows that acronym!

And I have this really neat smiley I so long to use - this seems as good a moment as any!

he said there was no need AT THE MOMENT to schedule a manipulation because he was sure it would come.

Sorry about the long drawn-out post.

Don't ever feel you need to apologise for 'long' posts1 This isn't Twitter or Facebook and we don't mind long posts at all!

 

[NetballKnees]

Firstly, a request for Jamie or Josephine - would you mind please changing the name of my thread to "Patience is not my strong point'". Many thanks.

Haven't posted for a few days. Am a bit tired of not having any progress to report. Feeling a bit dejected. I know that is normal and I know this is a process measured in tiny little fairy steps rather than giant leaps, but oh to just be able to have something positive happen. Have been so fed up with things I have actually taken a little side trip into the ODIC the last couple of days. Went out to lunch yesterday with some friends from work. Was the longest time I have been in a car (40min) and needed to sit for a reasonable time with legs down, but they did source a pouffe for me to put my leg up on for a while. I couldn't believe how tight my knee was last night and the non-surgical knee, with the medical ligament injury, was almost impossible to move. So I iced, elevated and medicated - as usual. One thing it did for me though was make me so tired, I actually only woke up twice through the night instead of my usual 5-7 times.

I have moved onto a cane, which is a progression of sorts, but the physio wants me to get used to it more or less because she thinks it is time. Still need to lean on my walker to get in and out of the shower and first thing in the morning until everything wakes up and becomes less stiff. I read through other threads about people who had TKR after me and are walking over 1 hour a day and/or walking their dogs and with ROM of 100+. I KNOW we shouldn't compare journeys - everyone's is different and proceeds at its own pace, but I am so envious of their progress.

I put off my return to work, for good and valid reasons, but somehow I feel like I have "failed" in some way by not being able to go back when originally planned.

I thought I was finally getting into the groove of patience and "Knee Time". Guess not. I am not used to being like this. I am so tired of watching crappy television, trying to read books (mind does not seem to concentrate too well); taking little walks out to the front driveway and around the house; watching the dogs look at me with longing in their eyes because they desperately want to go for a walk and I can't take them - we used to have such lovely walks together. Ex-husband does walk them sometimes, but his 90-year old mother is in hospital at the moment, so he is going to the hospital every day and is worn out. Sick of having to constantly elevate my legs and ice the knee and move from recliner to bed and do basic, basic exercise because I am not capable of doing anything else and then elevating again and icing yet again. AND I feel guilty because I feel like this. Others are doing the journey so much harder than I am and with more courage and less whining.

I just want to cry, but I won't let myself because I don't think I would stop for ages. I know "depression" and "the blues" can be part of the recovery process, but I am already on anti-depressants.

The OS did give me permission to go back to the gym for upper body work only and to perhaps start on the upright bike, but with the lack of bend at the moment, I can't get on a bike (have tried). I was very excited at that, but won't go back to the gym until I can drive myself. I have a manual so that day is a fair way off.

I am just such a misery guts today, I hate being like this.

 

[NetballKnees]

Oh, forgot ... purely on a medical basis Josephine do you think there would be any correlation between drains not being used after surgery and the fact that my swelling is so severe? My OS does not use drains, preferring for the blood to go straight back into the body and feels it helps avoid transfusions. If drainage tubes would have lessened the swelling, I think I would have preferred a transfusion. Just curious.