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TKR Slainte's Big Adventure

Taking a quick break from work. Sitting here with my leg up on a chair, icing the back of my knee. Today my knees are 15 weeks old and 3 weeks old. Graduated to a cane today, and am glad not to be quite the spectacle in the parking lot, what with my son dragging my walker out of the trunk and holding it for me while I scoot scoot scoot out the back door of my tiny car. Monday and Tuesday I was so tired that I fell asleep in the backseat on my 18 minute commute home. Yesterday I managed to stay awake, and actually got a decent night's sleep last night! To bed at 10 - woke up at 2 for pain meds - slept until 6. What a difference sleep makes! Working 8am to noon the rest of the week, then back to 8am - 5pm next week.

Had fun last night. Ordered pizza and watched Back to the Future with my husband and two children who still live at home. The kids had never seen it, and I think it held up very well. Wanted so much to have a beer with that pizza.

I can confirm that every knee is different. This second knee is much slower to gain flexion. I make it a point to do the gentle roll forward in the desk chair with my foot down - just gently stretching that knee. Was about a week later making it to the cane on this knee. Just hurts the back of my knee when I lift it to take that step. I am just slowly practicing, and it is getting better. I had such a tough time with my IT band in the first knee, but apparently I don't have one in my left leg. :heehee:

I am so ready to be done recovering. I am glad that I went ahead and did the second knee. My husband and I have a weekend away booked for his birthday in late January. I am hoping to be able to walk down a short trail or two in the beautiful state parks of the Florida panhandle. I needed something to look forward to. Tomorrow is Friday! Hooray!
 
@Slainte
Good morning!!
I have been distracted from posting here...I've been dealing with my job being eliminated while I've been on leave.
:hairpulling:
Ridiculous and stressful!!

I have been catching up on your progress with your second TKR.
Sometimes I think I'm crazy doing the second surgery on 11/30, but your story is reassuring!!
My replaced knee is feeling pretty solid, though I still have the annoying tight band feeling.
My other knee is actually more painful and keeps mefrom walking more than a few blocks comfortably.
I look forward to being "normal" by springtime!!

(Of course my friends and family would say THAT'S never going to happen). :rotfl:
 
@Slainte , yesterday my OS tried to get me to admit that this TKR recovery is easier than the first, but I can't commit yet. Different, yes. Easier? Not so much.

I lol'd at your description of "scoot scoot scoot(ing)" out the back of your little car. I wish I had thought to ride in the back seat for the long drive to yesterday's OS appointment, as my knee was killing me being down! At one point I managed to prop it up on the dash, which helped but would have been patently unsafe in a crash. I'm glad I added my son to my car insurance policy. He's only 18, and therefore expensive to insure, but nonetheless an excellent driver with fast reflexes. He passed his driver's exam at 17 with flying colors, and on a stick-shift, no less. He has his own vehicle, but it's a low slung sports car-- no way, ha ha!
 
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@Gramanator57! , sorry about your job. Nothing like hitting a girl when she's down. But maybe it will give you the time to go ahead and get the second knee done. I won't say it's the most fun thing I've ever done, but it does give me a future I can look forward to.

@Clipless , my son turns 26 in January and I understand I have a rate reduction in my insurance to look forward to. Sons are expensive! Riding in the front seat is probably at least a couple of weeks out for me. Smart of you to prop up on the dash - crazy how much just sitting with your leg down hurts after a while. I am following your recovery with great interest. Keep up the good work!
 
@Slainte I hear you. I am so sick of recovering. I just want to be done. Saw my OS team today and seems I have a bit of IT issues going on, so I'm back to PT for a couple of sessions. Mostly just hurts going down stairs.

Sitting at a desk is tough. My 14-week old knee is now used to it, but I remember those early days all too well. I also hear you about taking a vacation. I leave for Florida Nov. 1, and like you I worked pretty much through recovery, started part-time in week three (but no commute). Planning this November vacation was the best thing I did for myself. I am really looking foward to seeing the Gulf again.

The only good thing about working early on in recovery was that it was about the only thing that diverted my attention from my knee. Glad you have a January trip to look forward to. Heading up north to do some dog sledding?
 
@Slainte - you are doing so well.. Really... Be so proud!!!! You are awesome!! Keep moving forward... Two down.. just get through recovery.. and you are leading the pack of the rest of us!!! I know I need #2 done at some point in the not too distant future.. Be proud to hold that baton for those bringing up the rear.. :)
 
Thanks, Braunzie. Just woke up to take meds and am checking bonesmart while I wait for them to put me back to sleep. I like these 4 hour work days. Today will be my last one. And it is Friday!

My stamina is coming back. I got home from work yesterday, slept two hours (!) and then made bread in the bread machine for garlic bread. Made Chicken Alfredo from scratch. Took a bit longer than planned because I had to dig out a couple of extra frozen chicken breasts to replace the ones that disappeared off the kitchen counter. All three dogs looked guilty so not sure of the culprit. I had planned to make a salad but my energy was gone by then. I was drenched with sweat! But happy to eat a decent meal. Will cook some this weekend, because I know full workdays next week will leave me too beat to cook. Or to want to eat, for that matter!

Time for a little more sleep before I pick up that baton. Will try to be a worthy leader!!
 
@Slainte
I had decided to do the severance option to take time for myself and get both knees done and to focus on good recoveries.
So very upsetting to have been surprised by the conditions for actually getting the money.
I am confident it will work out...but it's not very conducive to relaxing and recovering!!
I'm not a fighter by nature, but when something is unfair I manage to find my inner warrior princess!!!

:arrow:

LOL!
 
After a too soon return to work, I really hit a wall Friday morning. I had been at work about two hours and just felt nauseous and frail. My knee hurt no matter if it was elevated and iced or not. I never never go home sick, but I bailed. I came home and fretted. I looked at my knee. It still had some discoloration along either side of the incision. And it hurt. I am still taking percocet regularly, and it has worked well. I went on the Web and read about infection. Nah, doesn't seem to be that. So I sat back and thought. I have been trying to increase my ROM in anticipation of my post-op appointment Monday morning. Just gently, I thought. And cooking. And emptying trash cans. And doing laundry. And working. It all stopped last night. I am going back into full recovery mode. I feel foolish for not seeing sooner that I was overdoing it. I will have to be back full time at work Monday. But am doing nothing else. The mind is willing. But for right now the body is weak. And comfortably nestled in bed.
 
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I feel your pain, well I hope I won't have too. I need to get back to work also. Gonna do half days for a couple of weeks. I have a desk job, so hopefully I will be okay.


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Hope you are resting and getting back on track! It is so hard to find the fulcrum point between doing not enou and too much! I'm back to ice,elevate and medicate this weekend due to something getting inflamed at the back of my knee. Going backwards. Hopefully you'll be back up and going again in a day or two!
 
Here we all go ..... Riding that rollercoaster called recovery! I'm doing the same today after over doing it all week! Today I just pooped :swoon:OUT! Exhausted from what seemed like nothing much... :bicycle1:
We'll all rest together!!
 
@Slainte kudos to you for going back to work so early but sorry that you have to ride that roller coaster. The ups and downs are definitely extreme but just know that you are in the company of friends who know exactly how you feel.
 
Sorry to hear about your increased pain but you have very sensibly identified the cause and I hope, by now, are feeling the benefits of resting up. I'm at nearly 17 weeks but know I've overdone it this week - knee is complaining - so I'm going to be icing and elevating most of this afternoon. It happens to us all, I think, even as far along in recovery as I am!
 
Went for my first post-op appointment with my OS this morning. I was being apologetic about my ROM, and he stopped me and said that I had bruising and swelling so of course my knee won't bend well. X-rays looked mostly good, but the kneecap is tilted on the "sunrise" view. He said that he thinks that is due to the swelling as well, and said that it should straighten out as the healing progresses.

Headed into work, and did ok until around 4pm when I hit the same wall I hit Friday morning. Suddenly nauseous and faint. Had my son drive me home and have been resting. I am trying to figure out how to overcome this feeling. I will just try to eat well, sleep well, and go slow. Hope it works.
 
I wish I could take more time off too. I can leave early if I need to, and that may happen this week. But I have clients that depend on me, and employees that need a paycheck Friday. In the world of home health care, some elderly folks are slow to trust, and having won their trust I need to be there for them.

Part of my problem is that my first knee was the poster knee of fast and easy recovery. This one is not awful, but is not a walk in the park. I am just going back to basics, and will do less than I think I can.
 
I know. You sound like me. When I think I have to do something because someone needs me to do it, I stop and ask myself: If doing this means I would not recover fully, would I still do it? Most of the time the answer is no. Now that doesn't mean I still don't do it (my work ethic is very strong), but perhaps I just don't give it 100 percent, so I have something left over for me. Once we have recovered, we can give it our all. First be good to your knee. Your knee needs you the most.
 
Be kind to yourself, you won't be able to help anyone if you're down and out. I understand how you feel though. I feel that parents entrust me with their children, so to leave mid-year for a LTKR would be disrespecting that trust. I felt terribly guilty two years ago when I had my RTKR, but I was in terrible pain and could barely move without cringing in pain.
 
Slainte said:
After a too soon return to work, I really hit a wall Friday morning. I had been at work about two hours and just felt nauseous and frail. My knee hurt no matter if it was elevated and iced or not. I never never go home sick, but I bailed. I came home and fretted. I looked at my knee. It still had some discoloration along either side of the incision. And it hurt. I am still taking percocet regularly, and it has worked well. I went on the Web and read about infection. Nah, doesn't seem to be that. So I sat back and thought. I have been trying to increase my ROM in anticipation of my post-op appointment Monday morning. Just gently, I thought. And cooking. And emptying trash cans. And doing laundry. And working. It all stopped last night. I am going back into full recovery mode. I feel foolish for not seeing sooner that I was overdoing it. I will have to be back full time at work Monday. But am doing nothing else. The mind is willing. But for right now the body is weak. And comfortably nestled in bed.
Click to expand...
My leg still shows several signs of bruising, and I've decided to just ignore them. They don't hurt, and my doc said they would linger a while. I think you are wise to cut back on your activities; your body has been stressed greatly - twice - and you need to spoil yourself for a while to give it time to recover. As soon as the official PT sessions were over, I cut all the exercises except heel slides and the bike. First thing I noticed was increased stamina, which helped me ease back into the routine things I used to do all the time to help my wife (fibromyalgia) - walk our dog, shop for groceries, do the laundry, vacuum, etc. Didn't try to do all that at once, just added an activity and got comfortable with it before adding another.

So kick back and play Eagles music all day, starting with "Take It Easy." :thumb:
 
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