Bilateral TKR SusieShoes' New Knees

[sandi4213]

What a fantastic report, Susie! You are truly a btkr rock star. I think your posts are going to be so encouraging to those just starting this journey. Thanks for all of the support and encouragement you share.

 

[IowaNana]

Susie - What a great report! You are continuing to do amazing things and progress! We are doing our fantasy football draft this weekend. I enjoy having the kids together, but don't enjoy the fantasy football part. But - I do it because we need an even number and the kids really love it. I have lost the last two seasons and have the losers trophy displayed in our dining room. We have a winner and loser trophy and each is to be displayed until the end of the next season.


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[SusieShoes]

@OJ2 and @IowaNana, isn't fantasy football fun? My beloved team, The Galloping Gekkos, has won our Super Bowl, but I'm usually middle of the pack. I dislike drafting--the pressure! stress! too many players I don't know!--but like having a team. The league has been together so long some teams have been inherited (FIL's team is now owned by his granddaughter) and getting together on draft day involves house guests because people come from out of town. We too have trophies and a plaque with every winner back to 1999 when the league formed.

Last year, I changed my team name to the Limping Gekkos, because of my knees. But this year the Galloping Gekkos are back in force!

 

[Pheebs52]

Susie, those knees of yours are the gift that keeps on giving; huzzah! Soon, you'll be pole-vaulting, or skae boarding through your FIL's new facility, lol! There really IS a lot of walking in those big places and of course, lots of standing still while on a tour. The Knees have it!

 

[mechellec]

Susie, only you will get this. Monday, my husband asked me if I was blue because of my knee and I had to confess to him that I was blue because of how long I had to wait for the next season of GoT! [emoji23]


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[Pheebs52]

@mechellec, have you tried "The Americans," or "Bloodlines," or "The Tunnel," as an interim *fix* for your GoT withdrawal? I think you'd find them all helpful to get over the initial symptoms.

 

[Faele]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what on earth is Fantasy Football??

 

[Faele]

ZINGERS!!! What a good name, whoever thought of it! I too have experienced a couple of these. One or two were very mild, and I wondered what it was. However, one occurred while I was sitting down, and my right foot shot up into the air. I too am wondering if it's to do with the tendon "resettling itself" or whatever they do. There was also an odd sensation; as some of you have said, it's hard to describe. Sort of prickling, not exactly pain, but sharp. I guess it's part of the healing process. Miss Left hasn't done it (yet)!

Congratulations, SusieShoes, on becoming an advisor! You'll do well. You certainly have a way with words!

 

[SusieShoes]

@mechellec, I'm bereft. Where will I get my dragon fix? I need to know who lives and who dies. Most will die, of course, but someone has to live... right? What's most fun for me is finding out if I've figured out the plot twists. I fear a long wait until we learn what happens.

 

[SusieShoes]

@Faele, well, it's an American football thing. People join leagues (most are free, but some are pay or involve gambling) and pick players on existing professional football teams to be be on their "team." These are fantasy teams, but using the statistics of real players during the season. The league I'm in is free and consists of family and friends. It's friendly competition to see whose "team" wins the weekly head-to-head matchup. We get quite worked up about it and angry when "our" players get bone-headed or underperform.

It's all in good fun.

 

[mechellec]

Well Susie, at least Jon Snow finally bent the knee!


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[SusieShoes]

Four Months: The Never-ending Mystery of Swelling

I'm four months out from having my knees replaced and I still have swelling. It's not a lot of swelling. It doesn't approach the level of huge, and it doesn't hurt particularly. Mostly it doesn't hurt at all. I can and do walk for miles without pain. I zip around the grocery store, startling Mr. Shoes with my ability to be in four places simultaneously (not really, but to hear him describe it...). I rise and lower myself from chairs, sofas and toilets without using my hands or arms, and... well, maybe the knees are a bit stiff.

The stiffness comes from the swelling. So does the one, persistent thorn in my knee - Lefty's unhappy "spot" that in certain positions, bends or movements, produces level 2 pain. As pain goes, it's not much, and it appears less frequently with every week. I just wish it wouldn't insist on hanging around.

Same with the swelling. It's welcome to go away anytime, please. I've left the door open. Leave already. But it stays. I can feel it there, wrapped around my knees like some oversized sweater, every time I wear jeans. Unlike knit pants, denim can be unforgiving. Mr. Shoes noted the resident swelling this morning after my shower. "Yes," I said in resignation. "They're still healing."

Swelling is part of healing, so I suppose I will just have to accept it. Grudgingly. It reminds me to continue to elevate and ice. I'm still using my Lounge Doctor.

 

[jboles]

You are doing wonderful!! You give me, and I'm sure many others, so much hope and inspiration!! I had to make the awful, hard decision to place my mother in a nursing home 10 years ago. She was in end stage kidney failure and had to have skilled nursing care around the clock. I had a full time job and wasn't able to care for her. It was the HARDEST decision that I've ever had to make, but something that most of us will have to deal with at some point in our lives.

 

[SusieShoes]

@jboles, you're so right. We know we're doing the right thing, and yet it is so very difficult. Thank you for relating your experience with your mother. I'm finding out that so many of my friends here have strong shoulders, and good advice to give.

 

[kmak81230]

Agreed on the swelling (and resultant stiffness) Susie. I think it is the only thing that is still bothersome to me at this point and it seems to always be there - a little more as the day goes on but even in the morning the knee is not as bony and well-defined as my other knee. Of course there is the laggardly ROM issue but I've mostly put that out of my mind as I know any gains will be minimal with the ever-present swelling. I am happy to not have the discomfort most of the time so have to muster up the big "P" to deal with the swelling.

 

[SusieShoes]

@kmak81230, it's easier to live with the swelling, just knowing it's there and making my knees stiff, when feeling no pain. That sure makes a difference. But yeah... the big P. This part of recovery drags quite a lot. Every day, just stiff... stiff... stiff. And yet it is getting less stiff. Those happy changes we love - more energy, more movement, less pain, more sleep - used to happen fairly quickly, within days or weeks. This having things happen in terms of months is more of a grind.

 

[gertie]

This having things happen in terms of months is more of a grind.

It seems like each phase of recovery has its own unique challenges for our patience! Early on it's the frustration with being in pain and dependent on others that seems never-ending, but then there's the reality that this is a year-long process. I remember this from healing a broken ankle years ago--the initial daily/weekly gains and then the slow journey to full healing.

 

[mechellec]

Great post about swelling! It has been my nemesis since my MUA. I have never had swelling issues in my life until this surgery (but then again I've never experienced anything like this surgery). My biggest challenge all along has been trying to work on the swelling and stiffness but still work on bending my knee and the two have not been in sync at all. I have to say that I loved your comment that swelling is healing. Maybe if I look at it that way it won't make me so angry.


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[liam2015]

i'm just reading your post now, SusieShoes, talking about swelling and i just recently posted about my own swelling. good to know it is connected to healing, then again it's connected to stiffness, which is connected to pain in my case but just when i get up from sitting, driving and getting out of the car after driving or being driven. it's so darn frustrating. i'm sitting here with my lounge doctor too, watching t.v. looks like most of us have this swelling, so it must be normal!

 

[KarriB]

Susie, at 3 months I had my first real outing since my TKR. Tickets to Wicked had been a Christmas gift and although I knew my knee wasn't quite up to it, I wasn't missing Wicked. I'd already missed so much. My leg was down for the drive, dinner and the show. My niece dropped me off at doors so I didn't have to walk as much, but by the drive home my leg felt like a sausage in my pants. When I arrived home around midnight I was exhausted, but had to peel my trousers off like a banana, my leg was so swollen! Then at midnight I laid flat on the sofa with my legs up on the arms, covered in ice packs. I couldn't go to bed with the swelling, it was so uncomfortable.

My leg still swelled when I was working part time at 4-5 months post op and I'd go home and elevate. It became such a habit that I was still putting my legs up 7 months post op anytime I sat, swelling or not! So the swelling may continue for a few months, elevating may just become a habit for you too.