Sciatica by itself is no laughing matter; so sorry you are dealing with this, Birdylane, on top of the TKR recovery. Although my recent back pain has mostly resolved, standing any length of time makes my back ache, and I’m really careful when doing PT exercises that could throw it out (ie, donkey kicks).
Finding the balance between moving enough to keep making progress and doing too much is turning out to be tricky. I overdid it Wednesday and am paying for it now — horrible stiffness and deep aching behind my knees all the way down to my ankles. Cried a bit again this morning, something I haven’t done in a couple weeks.
Something really critical that I didn’t account for before surgery is the impact of the surgery on ALL my OTHER muscles, the ones that have for years been working however they had to in order to get me around on bad knees. My legs, esp the left, had begun to bow, and now that they are ‘straight’ my calf muscles are absolutely miserable. The loads on them are completely different, they are exquisitely tender to any touch and neither heat nor ice seems to make it better.
I have pins in both hips from a 40 year old surgery, never had any problems with them but again, with new knees and a completely different gait, I’m finding all kinds of issues with other muscles in my hips, back, thighs.
At 9.5 weeks out, I’m using a cane, going to outpatient PT 2x a week, no pain meds, icing at least once daily. I have not tried driving yet but am anxious to test myself in our driveway. (Unfortunately my husband hasn’t had it plowed and I’m unwilling to face snowy ruts on my first attempt.) It’s kind of a double edged sword—I’m doing well overall but this makes him think I’m ’recovered’ and able to resume all the house work and activities I did before. Not even close.
Being totally honest, this BTKR is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, physically AND mentally. It’s challenged me in ways I hadn’t expected. Although I’m making good progress in terms of ROM and resuming some ADLs, the constant physical pain still messes with my mind. Friends who’ve had TKRs say there was a day they stood up and realized the knee actually felt pretty good — that day seems a long way off for me.
Then again, I look at where I was at when I first posted to this site and can see that it HAS gotten better, just like all you wise and kind people told me it would. So, I persevere, and hope my fellow TKRers can do the same.