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Bilateral TKR Second Year Progress

At eight months I still would have stiffness if sitting for a long time. My reason was board game marathons. The Big Italian Family does these every weekend and I would sit for three or four hours sometimes. Getting up after was a stiffness fest! Both knees stiff. Some minor pain. Sometimes I’d ice at night.

Four months later, I can sit without that stiffness after. Don’t know precisely when that happened. It kind of gradually just faded out.

There’s kinda sorta mostly normal... and then there’s normal normal. Every time I think I have surely reached normal normal, I realize a few months later I was wrong. The knees are still getting better.
 
SusieShoes said:
Getting up after was a stiffness fest! Both knees stiff. Some minor pain. Sometimes I’d ice at night.
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Exactly @SusieShoes - That's how I felt last night after tutoring four students at an hour each, and then sitting at the desk writing up assignment emails, and then sitting some more figuring out a complicated schedule for a new student. Not only did my knees feel stiff and swollen and achy, but my back was killing me - lol. Felt good to lie on the bed with my legs elevated on my Lounge Dr. with ice on each knee, reading bonesmart posts. Can't get much better than that - lol.

What is really amazing to me is how much I am enjoying tutoring again. I really do love it. My students are all studying for a professional licensing exam, and the majority of them are repeat takers, having tried and failed previously, in this very expensive and time consuming process. So there's a lot of hand holding and cheer leading, in addition to working with some very challenging study materials. For years it has been something that was so rewarding, but last year during the tutoring season leading up to my surgery, and then the one beginning three months after surgery, it was all I could do to show up and do the job, much less really care about these desperate people I was working with. I would have taken the year off if I could have afforded to do so. As it was I worked a reduced schedule, but it was really tough.

Now though, I feel like I have my mojo back. I guess the difference is that I am very much healed from all the pain, fear, anxiety and stress of severely arthritic knees, and knee replacement surgery. I am still healing of course, at 8 months in this year long recovery, but I am just simply in a much better place. It is such a miracle to have so much positive going on in my life. I am living a short mile from my family and see them quite often, I love, love, love the neighborhood I have moved to, I am able to walk and move and drive and participate in my life mostly pain free, I can earn some badly needed money to get caught up, I am making new friends, how much better can it get? Life is really grand! And my San Diego son and two of his kids, my precious grandchildren that I left behind when I moved, are coming for a visit next month. This is me here with a big smile on my face.

I continue to be grateful for this site and all you wonderful cyber friends who have been there for me through so much. Sending love and a big, gentle hug.
 
How was the overnight visit with your granddaughter?
 
@Jockette It was so fun. My granddaughter (name is Beatrice, but we call her Bea) will be six next month. She is a darling girl and so easy to handle, especially when she isn't with big sister, who is also darling, but when they are together it is double trouble. Rosie, the older one is 7,, almost 8.

So we baked a cake, consolidated two mother's day bouquets by culling the blooms that were deceased (she loves projects) watched a movie, read a book, played Uno and a board game, can't remember what its called. I don't think I thought about my knees the whole night. And she slept really well, never woke up once. We were two bad girls and ate our cake for breakfast (we also had bacon and eggs) and I took her home a happy camper. I visited with my kids for about an hour, they were dragging a little bit because they stayed out pretty late since their girls weren't home. Rosie was at a birthday party sleepover. I remember those days when my mom would take my kids and we'd have a night out.

Did your family leave and did they do lots of honey do chores for you? I love it when they are around, but it is lovely when they go home, the house is restored to order, and all is peaceful with great memories made. Do you agree?
 
mlwreader said:
it is lovely when they go home, the house is restored to order, and all is peaceful with great memories made. Do you agree?
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I do agree but I am sad today since they left.

And yes they did do a honey do list for us. My daughter offered her services for cleaning, our son in law helped my husband with music on the computer and they are always considerate and helpful.

I’m glad you had a lovely time with Bea and cake with breakfast sounds great, you go, girls!
 
@mlwreader, you are having a fantastic life! It sounds like Denver is just where you are supposed to be. It is great that you are getting so much fulfillment from your tutoring and i'm sure you are a wonderful help to your students. Life with two good knees is kind of amazing, isn't it? Going hours without thinking of them is fantastic. Take care!
 
Good to read your thread as I’m only weeks away - although only one knee.

I’m still icing (gels from fridge now, freezer too cold) and elevating every evening.

I walk quite a few miles now with no limp but an unusual gait due to stepping long.

Still quite a bit of pain at night waking me 2-3 times. Do you have any pain/ache still?

My only issue is not being able to cycle yet but I’m working on that!

Thanks for keeping posting.
 
Gel-girl said:
Still quite a bit of pain at night waking me 2-3 times. Do you have any pain/ache still?
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Hi @Gel-girl - I don't experience pain during the night. I still sleep with a pillow between my knees on my side though. And I do wake up a lot during the night, but I'm pretty sure that's due to my age and not my knees, because the girls seem pretty happy at night. That wasn't the case the first quarter of this year long recovery however. And I will say that on a rare occasion I might wake up with one of them hurting during the night.

I do experience stiffness and twinges upon getting up in the morning and also after sitting for a long time. I still can only walk 1.5 - 2.0 miles at a time, not because the girls are hurting, but because I get tired. And Ms. Righty still does not like going up stairs at all. I have to help her with the handrail.
 
Wow you’re doing so well. I can’t imagine what it must be like to deal with two. Love the way they’re your girls. I think your further on with some things than me and not with others. Just goes to show every person and every knee is different- it’d be boring otherwise.
Keep posting
 
Gel-girl said:
ust goes to show every person and every knee is different- it’d be boring otherwise.
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@Gel-girl You are so right. I paid close attention when I was walking today so I could report to you. I am still feeling a sort of tight band or wooden feeling in each knee when walking, and it almost feels like resistance. I think that's part of what tires me out so much, it feels like walking uphill or against the pull of water when I'm really just waking down a perfectly level sidewalk. And I do feel a few twinges in the knees when walking too. I have heard others describe the wooden or band like feeling, and I believe at least one person said it went away at some point without them even realizing it. I hope the same happens to me. And the other factor that I have is adjusting to the high altitude in my new city. My new doctor told me it can take up to six months for the body to fully adjust.

I am sitting in my little office gazing out the window at the swimming pool and spa area. They have been working on the pool all week, draining the old water, cleaning and polishing it, and filling it with new water. It is so pretty. They are opening it this week-end, and the weather report is for temps in the low 90's. I have a feeling its going to be pretty noisy around here the next couple of months, especially when the kids get out of school. Still I am thoroughly enjoying watching and experiencing it all happen. I am thinking of doing some water walking in the pool - does anyone have any thoughts on that? I have not been doing any exercising other than walking and ADL's, and I'm a little nervous about starting something new. Slow and steady would be my guess as to what would be good for me. I wonder how much water walking would be good to start?
 
I did some walking in a warm pool around 7 months after BTKR and it felt good. I should have started with only 10-15 minutes though. I was a little sore after but it went away.
 
Have one of those pool noodles to help with balance, if you feel you need it.

My 55+ community has a pool, scheduled to open this weekend also, hot dog cook out included.

We all use those noodles and love them, for just floating and chatting.
 
It's so good to read your good news! I am 13 weeks post-op on my LTKR, and I'm 1-1/2 weeks away from getting my RTKR. I'm still rehabbing my left knee and now I'm "pre-habbing" my right knee. I love reading about people who are near the end of this journey, especially people like you who have such an upbeat attitude about the ordeal. I'm changing PT groups for my right knee for a change of pace and scenery. It sounds like you've changed to some beautiful new scenery, and now you have good knees to take you out to enjoy it!
 
Hi guys: I just popped in to post a request for advice on pool walking and saw a couple of new posts that I missed. Thank you @Chattalyn @Jockette @HoneyB. I wonder how long I should spend in the pool to start. And its not going to be a heated pool either - its very warm outside during the day and really cools down to the mid 50's at night. I guess I should just try it and see. I like @Jockette 's idea for a noodle.

I've been crazy busy with tutoring and realize the sitting at my desk is not nearly as much of an issue as I was afraid it would be. So glad. And I was just sitting with my legs up on the footrest, and the knees were bent at an angle and I didn't even notice them until I read something in someone's post and realized my knees were completely up in the air and bent, and felt absolutely normal!
 
I'm so glad my ignorance was bliss when I decided to get both knees done at once. What I didn't know didn't stop me, and now I don't have to worry about getting a second one done because they are both done. However, if I had known then what I know now I might have decided differently. But maybe not. I have had some scares, but overall the recovery seems to be really on track. For which I am grateful.
 
It's such a good feeling knowing you don't have to go through another recovery! I kind of knew what I was in for thanks to the many knee replacements in my immediate family, but it was still a grind to go through it. :tiredwheel:

You're in the sweet spot of recovery now. The worst is behind you and, while victories are more subtle now and occur gradually, pain-free knees that work wonderfully are in your grasp. :roseshwr:
 
I would think at 8+ months you wouldn’t have to be as careful as those of us who were in a pool much earlier.
Just go easy the first day, and float a lot between walking and then see how you feel later in and the next day. You’re already used to taking frequent walks.

PT put me in the pool at 4 weeks post op for 50 minutes and had me do countless bending and walking. :blackcloud:
That was mid April.

My community’s pool opened Memorial Day so I was 3 months post op mid June, but that was still kind of early. I tended to stay in for an hour chit chatting with others and bending my knee too much, it’s hard to stay still in the water even hanging on a noodle. I started staying in the deep end so I could literally hang, keeping my legs straight-ish and relaxed. I finally gave up and stopped going.

I also had that awful huge feeling in my knee when I was in the water, as well as in the shower. It’s a bit better now, but I don’t expect to bother much with the pool this summer unless my kids are here.
 
Jockette said:
I would think at 8+ months you wouldn’t have to be as careful as those of us who were in a pool much earlier.
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I was too scared to go to the pool in the early days. My stitches had an infection and then abscesses, and they took forever to close up. And then I had rashes, itchiness, and a diagnosis of psoriasis on the knees. This took me up to Feb., and by then I was packing and getting ready to move. So any time I thought about going back to the pool during those months, I was afraid to do so because I didn't want to further aggravate what was going on on my knee skin area. And of course I was told not to go into the water until everything on the surface of the knees had healed. So that's pretty much why I stayed out of the pool back then, and once I moved, the pool in my new place wasn't open yet. Also, I was having a bit of a set back after all the activity of moving house at 5 - 6 months post op, so I was hesitant to go to the YMCA, for example, because I wanted to give the girls a chance to come back from the move. Now I feel like it is time to try it. I do have my wet suit jacket from CA from my water exercise class, and I may bring that out with me to the pool to use if the water is still really cold. I'm excited to try it.
 
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