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TKR Susie-Q's 2nd TKR Recovery Thread

Thanks, ladies. I always wonder if I'm too wordy and why would anyone want to listen to me blather, especially about non-knee related stuff.

I do have a couple of issues. Anyone out there have delayed hair loss from their surgery? My hair is thinner on top than it was when I was younger; having babies, iron loss, etc and probably hereditary issues has thinned my hair in my 40s and 50s. I feel like it's gotten even a little thinner in the past couple of weeks and I'm wondering if it could be delayed this long from my surgery. Hopefully it will fill back in some. :unsure:

Also, I'm doing all the stretching and exercises but I feel like I am back to square one every day with my extension. I don't seem to be making any more progress that I can tell. I can't measure it and I'm probably just impatient. I know time will tell and I'll probably make slow progress as the days/weeks go by. I'm not taking any pain medication anymore, not even Advil or Tylenol. I have a few aches and pains in The Knee, I know it's still healing and this is normal. I really don't even think about it when walking around, I can pivot, spin, dart here and there as I'm working in the kitchen (ok, that makes me sound like a dancer, which I most certainly am NOT) or doing chores around the house without pain. When I sit in a chair I try to stretch it as much as I can so I'm not just sitting with it elevated and/or straight. It will gain ROM over time, I know, I'm just impatient!!!
 
Susie-Q said:
hair loss from their surgery
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Yes! I also noticed that my nails are really brittle. Spoke with my primary care doctor and she recommended --- please sit down before you read this -- prenatal vitamins! :thud:

She said all the medications we take right after surgery impede the absorption of many key nutrients and that the side effects show up months later. She likes prenatal vitamins because of the high folate content, but warned me that it takes 60-90 days to see improvement.
 
Very little spare time to sit on the couch these days and if I do then hubby is usually yacking away next to me and I can't think to read or type. I worked two hours on Saturday night and then a full 4 hr shift on Sunday morning (not much time to recover in between) but I did take some Advil and Tylenol Sunday morning so I was feeling pretty good. I took my father in law to the urologist this morning and that was more work than usual. He has had to stop using his walker and now has a wheelchair (or transport chair) as they are calling it, for when he goes out in the car. So sign into the assisted living, go to his room, help him get in from his recliner into the transport chair, coat on, bag attached, wheel to the car, help him get in the car, collapse the transport chair and lift it in the back of my car, drive 15 miles to the doctor and reverse all of that to get him out, up the elevator to the office, check him in, wait for him and then the whole thing in reverse again to get him home. Whew!! No wonder I'm tired! Stopped at the store on the way home to get ingredients for our cookie day tomorrow (more like dessert day, there aren't really any cookies being made but bars and truffles and the like). In between all of that this weekend was the normal housework, dog walking (I made son and hubby take her a couple of times), exercises, bike and cooking.....I'm taking a much-needed break before I have to start dinner. I've been meaning to make a crock pot chili recipe (low carb too) for the past few days but I haven't been home to get it in the crock pot so I'm just going to make it on the stove and let it simmer for a bit. Whew!!!

:yawn::sleeep::zzz::yawn:

Oh! I bought the prenatal vitamins. It's been 23 years since I've taken any! :spin:
 
Susie, I was losing hair way before surgery and I used to have long thick hair when I was young and it stayed pretty thick until maybe my mid to late forties and started thinning out. I didn’t really start doing anything about it until the last few years. I took hair vitamins for a long time and i did have some new growth. Then I decided to take Collagen because that also helps our joints in addition to hair and nails. Scared to death I will have another knee surgery on my partial done in 2016. Trying to avoid if I can.
I always enjoy your posts! I enjoy hearing about your days and what you are able to do. Your story of your FIL reminded me of all the times I used to take my mom to appointments or just going out to eat. I had bought her a transfer chair and like you said you get a real workout getting them in and out multi times.
You are doing so well in your recovery! I get discouraged but know this is a long recovery. My husband can’t quite comprehend it and he expects more out of me than I can do. I have to set him straight nearly every day. I really came unglued early on one day when my pain was severe and I had a major meltdown and was crying and yelling at him which I have rarely done in our marriage.
Good luck with the pre-natal vitamins! oh, I was so disgusted with my hair that I bought myself a wig several yrs ago but I don’t feel comfortable wearing it. I just feel fakey with it on. But they do make very natural looking ones now.
 
Thanks for your kind words, Sharon.... I used to have long thick hair when I was young too, my hair dressers used to comment on it. Having two kids, then getting low iron, losing a bunch of weight a few times, all put stress on my body (plus two TKRs) and so my hair is thinner on top than it used to be. I don't think I'm bad enough for a wig but my husband has mentioned several times he's fine if I want to go to some place that can help treat it. (I didn't think it was that bad!!) We'll see if the prenatal vitamins work! I took ferrous gluconate for quite awhile to get my iron up and I've been taking the Hair, Skin and nails from Costco for awhile now. Nothing seems to work. My best friend is hair spray and if the wind is blowing too hard I'm in trouble.

No reaction from the checker, sadly! I think she was too stressed by having a big line of customers to deal with. I just picked them up yesterday and haven't had time to switch out the One-A-Days from my med dispenser yet.
 
I have had 8 total surgeries in my life. And I was a bad yo-yo dieter for years. No wonder my hair fell out! My husband never has said anything about my thinning hair, I am the one that is greatly bothered by it! He used to make remarks about my weight but he has learned that isn’t a good thing to do. And after being so thin for most of his life, he now has that middle aged man gut! Lol! What goes around…………
 
My hubby never says anything about my weight either, which is good for his health. :snork: I've done the low carb thing several times and it's really the only thing that works for me. I've lost 60 lbs and gained it back plus more, then 45 and gained it back and finally both of us lost 60 (me) and 50 (him) a couple of years ago. I've managed to keep most of it off but lately, since surgery especially, I'm eating like a moron (to quote a friend of mine). Christmas is here and it's pretty much impossible to diet right now unless you are already in the swing of things. So Jan we will go back on our plan. I've got lots of recipes I know, it's Chinese take-out that's my weakness!!! I've got lots more weight to lose and that will be much better on my new knee in the long run.
 
Sugar is my weakness! I play cards several times a week with a few ladies and there’s always a candy dish on the table. I had lost weight this past fall, because I stopped eating that candy, but I’ve lost my focus this month. I’ll have to refocus next month. Low carb works good for me, too.
 
I had nausea in beginning of this recovery and then had no appetite when I was taking the narcotic pain meds for 2 months. Lost about 11 lb but have gained most of it back in this season of goodies! I am about 8 lb above my goal wt and every bit is in my middle. Grrrrrrrrr!
Susie, I agree with the low carb. My body responds best to eating low carb. I did Keto for a year to lose my weight in 2019 but that is hard to maintain so I try to stay low carb as a lifestyle!
 
@Sks1997 Right now I'm thankful for the little extra around my midriff, having to have injections around my belly button, it would be awful if I were skinny :heehee: Trouble is Christmas is a time when it is so hard to resist, this year friends have brought around so many gifts of cakes, chocolates & mince pies knowing that I'm unable to bake and they feel I need cheering up, so it would be rude of me not to enjoy their offerings, my husband too has learnt its not a good idea to comment on my weight, unfortunately he is extremely diligent about his weight & is not at all tempted by such goodies, he is very fit & very careful about what he eats, I'm the opposite I just love sweet things and find it hard too resist. Roll on Summer & salads xx
 
Susie-Q said:
I've lost 60 lbs and gained it back plus more,
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Ain't that the truth! Same thing happened to me. :(

I've got lots more weight to lose and that will be much better on my new knee in the long run.
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And as you can be more active with good knees that should help too. Definitely so many temptations during the holidays.
 
Susie-Q said:
I've got lots more weight to lose and that will be much better on my new knee in the long run.
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With 2 good knees, you've now got a fighting chance, especially if walking is your thing (as it is mine).

<confession begins> I've struggled with weight since I was 16yo. I was a premie baby and small for my age as a kid then puberty hit like a Mack truck. I did some work to lose the weight between my ears in 2018 - the mind trips from Mom encouraging me to clean my plate as a kid because she was worried I wasn't getting nourished and then challenging what I ate as a teen because I developed a love for food. I've been much better since I did that program, still overweight but making choices that work to be on a downward trend. Sweets are my weakness, so no problems making many dozens cookies for the neighborhood exchange. <confession ends - lol>
 
Susie-Q said:
Christmas is here and it's pretty much impossible to diet right now
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So true! I lost 6 pounds in the first few weeks after my surgery because of nausea from all the meds. I've been struggling to keep it off with a mostly plant-based diet.

But I am NOT going to miss out on all marvelous food (and wine) that is central to my big Italian family's holiday traditions.
I say "mangia!" -- we'll get back on track in January. :martini:
 
Yep, you ladies are right in my wheelhouse..... :friends: I have struggled with weight ever since I had kids. Just not young anymore and it's not good for those knees to be too heavy.

Cookie making day was yesterday. I had my sister, good friend and daughter here and we made Keebler bars, PB Rice Krispie sandwich bars, lemon bars, shortbread and coconut haystacks. We made the Grand Marnier truffles but they had to chill overnight and I haven't rolled them into balls yet. Time is getting short! The day was surprisingly tiring. It was a long time on my feet and we did have some wine, ordered out for Thai food for lunch and watched White Christmas. Today I met with a couple of friends for lunch, presents and visiting. Stopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond to see if I could find some Christmas placemats which I did. Now I don't have to iron my tablecloth and we can just use the red runner down the middle with the decorations and the red placemats. Our microwave finally died yesterday. It's been blowing fuses for months now if you open the door before it's done counting down. We bought a bunch of fuses on Amazon (hubby is very handy) and could replace a new fuse if one blew in less than 2 minutes. Yesterday it was blowing fuses if you even tried to use it so time to get a new one. We went out tonight and found one, amazingly, that is in stock but won't get installed until mid-Jan. Luckily we have a couple extra microwaves in the garage from when the kids were in apartments/dorms in college and needed them. So we have a back-up microwave to use until ours gets replaced over the stove.

Tomorrow starts my big prep for Friday's dinner. I took the roast out of the freezer, tomorrow I need to make my potatoes and get things ready. I probably already said this but my sister and husband and father in law are coming for Christmas Eve and my kids and hubby will be here so there will be 8 of us. We are expecting cold weather after Friday, exceptionally cold next week, very unusual for us in temperate WA. We're talking temps in the teens and near zero at night. :flabber:

Milestone: I think all those quad exercises are paying off. I went upstairs today to wrap a couple more presents and was able to walk down the stairs using both legs, one at a time, with no pain and even carrying a couple of light presents. No holding the railings either. This is without warming up on the bike or doing any exercises (didn't have time today but I will tomorrow). So ladies and gents, it will happen!!! It just takes time.... I might have some pain tomorrow but today I didn't. Yay!! It might be at 4 months for you, or 5 or 6 but it will happen. I will be 4 months post-op on Dec 30th.
 
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