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TKR Sounds

@SarahJane .... Then I won't tell you about the Chicken Pot Pie I made for supper tonight..... :heehee:
I hope you've had a good day!

I had gentle PT today, ran a couple of errands and cooked supper for my neighbor and enough for us. My neighbor had LTKR, 4 wks later RTKR, 3 wks later double mastectomy. She's a strong woman! Today she had a PET scan. We are praying for good results. She deserves a break!
 
I'll keep your neighbor in my thoughts. I hope she has good news from the PET scan. Any one of those surgeries is quite enough to go through; all in the same year - YIKES!

Ever since we've been talking about southern cooking, I've been craving chicken and dumplings and Texas mustard greens (no ham hocks, bacon, etc., just plain). I bet you make a mean chicken pot pie, too. After telling @wberry about my pre-surgery iron-rich cooking, I took a container of homemade meatballs and marinara sauce simmered in cast iron, microwaved it, and added it to some pasta. Trader Joe's Green Planet green food juice blend.
 
Thanks, @SarahJane! My neighbor did get good results from her PET scan. Finally!

I can't tell you how comforting it is to read that many of us have the same experiences, concerns, problems and frustrations with this journey. And how uplifting to read all the good posts about accomplishments! It gives me hope on those days when I fear this will NEVER be over!!

Sometimes its a shock when I look down and my knee has swollen to half again it's normal size and all I've done is sit for an hour or so doing what I love, painting ( and I've completely put "Buddy " out of my mind! ) That's when reality sets in and I remember that I'm not the only one who is experiencing this! As we say in the South, "misery loves company"!
 
I understand how frustrating and disappointing it is have our recovering knees wimp out midway through something we really enjoy doing. Especially since you were Doing The Right Thing by elevating Buddy while you worked. However, you have to remember that you're doing a lot of standing while cooking and doing other things around the house. The cumulative number of hours Buddy was being used were probably longer than you realized.

Glad you are feeling well enough to get back into water colors. I wasn't able to do anything creative while I was on pain meds. I didn't have the concentration. Did you have a spinal or general anesthesia? A friend of mine who's a science professor says that general anesthesia's effects last much longer than we expect them to. That's a good excuse for my brain fog.
 
@SarahJane You're probably ( totally) right about how much I've put Buddy through. But, my goodness, he's made of strong stuff! He should be up for it??? :heehee:

I had a block but enough other stuff to knock me out from pre-op to my room! I knew NOTHING. My brain was a fog for weeks. I've pushed myself to paint. I painted one large watercolor of fall leaves ( Because I wanted something new to hang in my newly remodeled bathroom! ) and have painted several 5x7" cards. I generally have notecards printed from scans of my paintings. I am retired but stay incredibly busy, so this sitting around has driven me crazy! :flabber: And for those reasons, I am very thankful for my new Bonesmart friends!
 
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@SarahJane Here's the "Falling Leaves" painting. Soon the view out our windows will look like this!
 
"Buddy" turns 10 wks old tomorrow! He's becoming much better behaved. I can take him out in public and ( most of the time) he acts nice. Today we went to church and he was quiet and respectful, allowing me to concentrate on the service instead of trying to get him comfortable. He does not like to go out for hours on end and becomes very fussy ( sometimes even angry) when we walk a lot. He does LOVE his ice.

"We" have one slight concern/question for some of you Smarties. Over the past 3 or 4 days, swelling has moved down from around my knee to about 4 inches below and slightly inside. The relief from the knee no longer being tightly swollen is wonderful, but this now looks odd. Yes, I'm icing and elevating several times a day. Any ideas? I hope you will simply confirm that this is normal!
 
Beautiful watercolor, @Thesoutherncook. I bet it will look lovely when it's hung in your remodeled room.

At our stage of recovery, I don't think we're out of the woods yet as far as swelling goes. I don't have a specific answer to your question. Maybe a moderator, adviser, or Josephine might know more. @Pumpkln, @Celle, @skigirl, others? (I assume you have nothing else which might contribute to swelling, like congestive heart failure.)

When I was complaining about the IT band pain, my physical therapist thought that it was being caused by swelling in my knee. He suggested that I place my hands on either side of the knee and gently stroke up my thighs about 6 inches, to encourage the fluid out of the knee area. I don't know what to do once it's below the knee, but you might try that technique to encourage whatever fluid in the knee area to go up your thigh rather than down your shin.
 
As long at is it not hot, red, and/or painful it is probably just how your knee is healing. Post a photo, others may have a different opinion.
 
@pumpkin.....Thanks! The swelling goes down when iced and elevated. When it pops up again, I will take a pic! Not red or sore. My knee has been warm from the first day!

@SarahJane. Thanks for your sweet words about my painting. :roseshwr:

My only concern about pushing the swelling upward is that it might decide to stop at my knee again! Eeek! I have had such a good day with the tightness gone from all around my knee!!! Thankfully, it decreases with ice and elevation! I'll massage gently?!?
 
I wouldn't advise pushing the shin swelling up again, but you might try the technique from the knee up, just to keep anything that might be in there from going down the shin.
 
The swelling will move around somewhat. I am glad to hear that the knee swelling is going down. But still at this stage it is easy to overdo. My surgeon told me two hours down for every one hour up until week 4 and then one hour down for every two hours up until week 10.

You can try some support hose which might help the swelling move up the leg, it will have to drain that way through the lymphatic system.
 
Thesoutherncook said:
Over the past 3 or 4 days, swelling has moved down from around my knee to about 4 inches below and slightly inside. My only concern about pushing the swelling upward is that it might decide to stop at my knee again!
Click to expand...
No it won't do that but to be sure, continue the massage right up into your thigh. It's a pretty harmless technique.
 
@Josephine. Thanks! I've been massaging ( and of course, icing and elevating! ) and it IS beginning to look better. I am so very thankful for this forum and the timely advice! In just a matter of days, I've felt relief from the tightness around my knee and much easier movement.... Just as you all said would happen!
 
My OS told me to ice & elevate more, and also to contract my quads/do more straight leg raises. He said the quadriceps muscles help to push fluid away from the joint. This makes sense, as it took me 3 weeks to manage my first straight leg raise, and much longer to do them properly. My swelling didn't go down until my quad was firing well. It was severely atrophied going into surgery, and slow to "wake up" after. For my next TKR (coming soon) I am being much more pro-active: I'm doing lots of straight leg raises and quad sets. Also, I ordered a proper leg elevator wedge, and one of those cryo cuffs that pumps up for a little cold compression therapy. These products are en route from Amazon, will let you know how they work out. Support hose were still too painful against my scar at 5 months post op, but I could probably wear them now.
 
@Clipless You are very lucky to have an OS who gives advice! Mine is an EXCELLENT surgeon, but it begins and ends there. I've learned more on this site than I could have imagined!

Isn't Amazon great? I'm a believer in those elevator wedges for sleeping! We live in a small community where we have very few resources and consequently order from Amazon regularly. One day the UPS truck came roaring up our mtn drive, screeched to a stop and when my DH went out to get the pkg, the driver sheepishly admitted he had no delivery for us. He said his truck turned in out of habit! :heehee:

I have a dear friend who has been my gym buddy for 2 yrs trying to either get me past needing this surgery
(obviously that didn't happen!) or getting me in shape for the surgery! Thank goodness we went to the gym 3x a week for those 2 years! My left knee is waiting it's turn.... Which I sincerely hope is a long way off! I will ramp up the quad exercises and push that swelling OUT! :upright:
 
It was measurement day at PT ( for insurance purposes). I was bummed that my extension was 105 ( down from 108 though). My PT said not to worry because my "good" knee is only 103 and the goal is for equality. @Josephine or other experts, does that sound right?? Flexion went from 98 to 117. This is week 10 post op.
 
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