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TKR Smarttoys recovery

I'm jealous! We really haven't had a winter and the groundhog said an early spring! 12,000 steps! Wowza!
 
You all are an inspiration--the biking and walking, I mean. Maybe not so much the snow. Boston got hammered last year and we are perfectly happy to be enjoying a much milder winter this time around.
I just took my dog out for the first time yesterday and it really made my walk a pleasure. HE was so good--he would walk to the end of his leash and wait for me to catch up. (He has a fenced yard and his own dog door so we don't have to walk him, but he so loves to check out the world beyond.)
Be careful driving!!
 
Thank you KarriB and jarabas.

So, I had my follow up appointment this morning. The roads weren't great on the way to the clinic since it snowed most of the night. Which of course meant more shoveling for me this morning before I left. The roads were much better on the way home.

My OS was happy with my progress. Once again he asked me if I felt my knee was better than before surgery. At this point I think it is about equal to where I was before surgery. Some things are better and some are worse. The bad is mostly the swelling and stiffness when I've been too active. My ROM is 130/0 which I am happy with and so is my OS. I mentioned the occasional clunking feel again. He said the same thing as last time. He balanced the ligaments the best he could but the LCL is a little tight and the MCL is a little loose causing the occasional clunk on the medial side and it will probably always do it. I'm ok with that for now, but being the optimist I am, I will be in denial and say that once my knee is fully healed and my ligaments adjust and my muscles get stronger my clunking will go away.:snork:

As far as my ROM I haven't been doing much for flexion other than healing and some gentle bends in bed before I get up in the morning and lowering the seat on the exercise bike at the gym. That particular exercise bike has numbered seat height positions. I started at seat level 18 when I was first able to make full revolutions. Now I start at seat level 11 or 12 and move it one notch lower after I warm up and usually finish my 20 minutes at seat level 10. My knee bend is at around 90 degrees at full pedal extension and around 120 degrees when the pedal is at its highest.
 
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smarttosy,
Glad to hear your follow up went well. Your ROM is great, you can just ride the exercycle for exercise, with the seat set at the height that is best for you.
You are right to be hopeful the clunking will go away as you heal.
 
John, you have great flexion and thank you for describing how you have achieved it. I was very interested to read that you think there are good and bad about the knee still. I hold you up to my husband in your recovery and tell him all that you are doing - in comparison to what I can't do. Thank you for your honesty in that assessment also. When you have your stiffness and swelling, do you have pain or just the tightness and pressure of it?
 
Janis, with my swelling it's mostly just the pressure and tightness of it. It's sometimes painful/achy and that's when I know I need to sit down for awhile and elevate if possible.

It will be great when I can make full use of my flexion in daily life. Lately I find that there are times where I don't think about my knee when I'm doing things like working in the garage or shoveling and plowing snow. That's a big difference from a few weeks ago. But I usually think about it at the end of the day when I'm tired and sore.:snork:
 
It sounds like a basically positive visit. I keep comparing this recovery to the valve repair I had to have two years ago. It was such a relief to wake up and be able to get enough oxygen. My chest hurt like hell for 6 months. It took a full year and a half before got my energy back. It's great now, but all along the way there are these times you can't help but wonder will I ever get back to normal?
I had loose ligaments before surgery--I'll have to remember to ask my os how he dealt with them.
I don't think I clunk, but it feels a bit mechanical in there.
 
@jarabas , I can't imagine how bad the pain would be from opening you up for a valve repair and the healing afterwards. The only thing I could only slightly compare it to is when I had a bad crash years ago during a motocross race and collapsed a lung, rearranged my rib cage and breast plate. It hurt to move, breathe, talk, sneeze, sleep, etc for a long time. On the plus side I still finished 2nd place in that race.[emoji1]
 
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Here's my 12 week update. Not much new to report. Recovery seems to be going well. My ROM is still 130/0 which I'm very happy with since it is more flexion than I had before my surgery. I still have some stiffness and swelling when I'm on my feet too long. My second week of work went better than the first. I worked 7 hour days instead of 6 and I was able to stay on my feet for the whole time instead of taking a break every 1 or 2 hours like the first week.

I have changed my gym workouts a bit. I started using the spinning cycle instead of just the regular exercise bike. I've been switching back and forth between the two. The spinning cycle seems to feel a little more like a real bicycle. I still keep the seat fairly low to maintain my flexion. I'm still doing 20 minutes bicycle and 20 minutes elliptical for cardio and lifting weights 4 to 5 days a week.

I have been walking and playing with my kids and dogs more. I went for a 2 mile hike on Sunday with one of my dogs on a fairly flat snow covered trail. Snow is a little harder to walk in but it provides good cushion for the knee on each step. I've been getting 7000 to 12,000 steps a day lately. I will naturally be walking more when the weather warms up in the spring and I get busier at work and home.
 
Sounds like you're doing terrific. I'm just past 8 weeks, looking forward to being where you are in recovery !!!
 
Thank you Karol.

I don't think recovery can come fast enough for anyone. I don't know if I dare say it but my knee almost feels normal for brief periods lately.

Last Friday at work my knee stayed limber for most of the day and didn't swell up very much. I was hoping for a repeat on Saturday but that wasn't the case. It was pretty stiff by the end of the day.

Sent from my SM-G800R4 using Tapatalk
 
I am now 13 weeks out from surgery. Recovery seems to be going well. I'm happy with my range of motion and I think there is still some room for improvement when I'm further along in my recovery.

I have been working 7-8 hour days now which is pretty much normal hours for winter. I still have some swelling and stiffness at work but it's sporadic. My knee stiffens up when I am standing in one place for too long and then loosens up when I start walking again. I sit down occasionally as long as I can keep working while I sit. Hoka makes a mid height hiking boot with really thick cushioning. I bought a pair to wear at work and they have been very comfortable. I hope they hold up to the abuse from work.

I feel a little stronger week by week. My gym workouts have been going well but I overdid it either at the gym, at home, or at work last Tuesday. It's hard to pinpoint what I did or where I did it. Regardless I took it easy for a couple days and didn't do anything but go to work. By Friday I was back on track.

Running is getting easier. I still don't run for any distance and I don't do it for a cardio workout. I just want to be able to run when I want to play with the kids or dogs and for agility competitions. I have some Hoka running shoes that are super cushioned and I've been practicing running mostly on my forefoot to help keep shock to my knees to a minimum. I also bought my wife a pair of Hoka running shoes since I liked mine so much. She is really happy with them and thinks they are very comfortable to walk and run in. They are a bit expensive but I found some good deals at the end of the year as long as I wasn't too picky about the colors.

I haven't lost much weight yet but my clothes fit better lately. My goal is to lose 25 lbs by spring/summer which will put me around 200 lbs. For my body type 190-200 lbs is a good weight for me.
 
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John, this sounds really good-inspiring. I have just gotten to my 8 week mark, just finished my first week back at work (part time) and have so many questions about what is ahead. For example, I never even thought I might be able to run again --and here you are doing it! Fantastic. I know this doesn't mean that I will be able to run, but it makes me think with a more open mind about what might be. So happy for you.
 
Great report! I'm very happy for you! I'm sure you will continue to progress even more in the coming months.
 
John, you are doing great! I think recognizing when you over do it and resting will be the key to a continued good recovery. When will you compete in another agility trial? Will your daughter compete also?

Charlie is still very timid, so not much training going on yet. I am taking him to our vet tomorrow for a checkup even though he had a very thorough checkup when my boss had him. He is enjoying the new fenced in yard - although the snow is a bit messy. He was so excited the first time he went out in the snow, he rolled in it! Ha!
 
@Timetolive Janis, I don't have any competitions coming up until the weather warms up. The people that owned the indoor facility close to me have moved to a new location. They will be holding outdoor agility trials when the weather is nice enough. I may have to look for some events that aren't too much of a drive. Buddy doesn't like car rides. I think he gets motion sick. My daughter will definitely get to compete at the next trial. She does great and she would do even better if she had a dog of her own to compete with. One that really listens to her like Buddy listens to me.

My dogs love to run around in fresh snow. I hope Charlie's checkup goes well. It can sometimes take awhile for an adult dog to develop an attachment to a new person. It may be especially hard if he never had a real attachment to a human prior to you getting him. It all depends on the dog and the situation. My older adopted dog Lily took about 6 months or more to develop a real attachment with us. She was about 4 years old at the time. Now she follows me around constantly. It might be that she wants to be near in case we are going to do something fun.:dogwalk:
 
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@smarttoys. John, just stopping in to see how you are doing. Are you having much swelling at this point?

Charlie barked! It took three weeks, but he barked twice. He was chewing on his elk antler and just barked. A milestone! Ha! He has become quite the lapdog for my husband and is now eating out of his dish without us having to sit with him. Slowly, but surely, Charlie is getting comfortable. Still not doing a lot of training, but he will get on his bed on command, come (sometimes), and is learning "no". He gets very distracted on the leash still. Thanks for all your advice regarding our newest family member.
 
@Timetolive Janis, I'm glad Charlie is getting more comfortable. When you do start training him remember to set him and yourself up for success. Start with frequent training sessions but only a few minutes (3-5 minutes) at a time and keep it fun. Keep him wanting more. I try to run Buddy through a dozen or more training moves and tricks each day just to keep his skills sharp. It literally takes me 2-3 minutes. When the weather warms up I will be spending more training time with him to work on his agility training.

I was going to start doing monthly updates instead of weekly but since I'm here writing I'll give my 14 week update.

I don't have much swelling anymore. I have a couple lumpy spots here and there by the end of the day. I have been much more active lately which sometimes takes it's toll by the end of the day. It's nothing that a good nights sleep can't fix though. I've been getting between 10,000 and 15,000 steps a day on most days and have been going for more walks and hikes with the dogs. I prefer hiking over walks on the streets or sidewalks. Hiking lately has been a combination of mud, grass, and snow with a little ice thrown in for good measure.

Work is still a pain but I can work longer and faster before I start feeling sore and tired. Today I felt really good for the first 4 hours before I felt the need to slow down a little. I was almost working and walking around at my normal pre-surgery speed.

My gym workouts have been going well. I still do 40 minutes of cardio split between bicycle and elliptical and lift weights 4-5 days a week. I am slowly building more strength in my leg. Some of the strengthening exercises are noticeably easier. Running is slowly getting easier to do also.
 
Thanks for the training tips John. You are doing great with your recovery. I will look for the March update!
 
I'm glad Charlie is settling in so well with you, Janis. Taking it slowly seems to be the way for him adn it sounds as if he is happy.
 
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