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Bilateral TKR SusieShoes' New Knees

@SusieShoes you are a rockstar! I love reading your progress and recovery updates so much! They give me hope that in a year I will not remember what the knee pain was like before TKRs. I am glad to hear your FIL is adjusting well, and hope he continues to be do well there.
 
I just read your comments about how your father-in-law is doing. What a load off your minds! I'm so glad he is fitting in and having some pleasurable moments.
 
Five Months: An Interesting Conversation

So today I went to my periodontist (yes, I have more than usual contact with dentists) and got the go ahead for dental implants. You see, I had two lower front teeth pulled prior to my BTKR. Abscess in one and the other was the other side of a bridge, so.... Anyway, I'm getting my smile back and Mr. Shoes could not be happier. But what was interesting was the conversation.

We were making small talk about TKR and he asked about PT after the surgery. I admitted I was a total sloth when it came to mine and he said he'd just talked with a patient whose surgeon had ordered NO physical therapy at all. None. Said he didn't need it and should just -- get this -- walk around and do daily activities. Patient did great. Walking like a champ. My dentist wondered if maybe that was the latest trend? He's heard that from a few patients now.

I was so happy to hear this. My OS was all right with me setting the tone of my own PT (no weights, no machines except a bike, no pain). And more and more OS, at least here in this area, are saying no PT is necessary.

That's a trend I can sink my teeth into.
 
My surgeon doesn't allow any PT at all for the first month after a knee replacement. He says your knee needs that time, to start on its journey of healing. For that month, we rest, ice and elevate our leg, and walk around the house.
After that month, we just go to PT once every 2 weeks, where we are shown a few new exercises to do at home.
His patients all do well and achieve good ROM, as I did, and he hasn't had to do a manipulation to help with ROM for the past 4 years. I think that speaks for itself.

I did no PT at all after my last TKR and only minimal PT for the one before that. I just let the normal activities of daily living be my exercise. Both my knees are strong and reliable. They straighten fully and bend to about 125 degrees.
 
@SusieShoes, at first glance, pre-eye drops, and with only one cup of java down the hatch, I read "So today I went to my Proctologist." :yikes: Needless to say, I am now making another cup of coffee and the eye drops are in; phew!

If that's the latest trend in Philly regarding TKR recovery, I sure hope it spreads around the country like ash spewing from a super-volcano; great news!
 
Yep, you need that second cup of coffee. :) I'm a two cup in the morning gal myself. Otherwise I might drift back to sleep!

It's an interesting trend. I had a nice talk with my PT guy (even though I tortured him for six weeks, we got along famously) and he was very interested in my "unusual" approach to PT, which my surgeon endorsed -- no machines and only active stretches and bends. I told him I wasn't worried about getting more ROM because it would come anyway and that I came to PT mostly because it got me out of the house so I could talk with fun people like him. But I did give him some things to think about.

I don't think PT is irrelevant to knee rehabilitation. I just 1) don't think everyone needs it, and 2) want the people who might need it to get the right kind, not the "no pain, no gain" philosophy that in the days and weeks after surgery can lead to very bad consequences. But in later recovery, and for matters of gait, I think PT can be very helpful.

I talked with a trainer at my HealthPlex. Yes, I'm interviewing personal trainers! Imagine that. But they have one who focuses on wellness and rehabilitation (this health club is attached to a hospital) and she is all about something they call "functional fitness" and pain management. I told her my situation, and she recommended Aqua Easy (least impact aquatic exercise), some light upper body weight work (to start), and Chair Yoga. I'm thinking she might be the one. :yes: I'm so out of shape for visiting the grandchildren. I should at least be able to pick one up!
 
I hope that trend finds its way a little south of you to Dover, DE!

Part if my anxiety of seeing my surgeon in less than 2 weeks is that I have not followed all his instructions about PT and exercises and I'm still not bending well at almost 7 months and I'm afraid he will say it's because I'm not doing my home exercises. He also likes to push my knee to a painful place to measure rom, which I am not going to allow this time. That scares me too. He's not going to like what I can do on my own at this point.
 
It is good news to hear this, Susie. We need individual programs aimed at our specific situations. @Jockette , I understand your trepidation about seeing your OS. I was scolded at my 3 month check for taking a couple of weeks off exercise when my PT ended after 12 weeks. I was still using my bike a little but was so sore - and he was not happy with me. He told me I had to join a gym, which I kinda sorta did by joining the fitness club at a residential senior center. Guess what? I am still sore though thyroid problems might be contributing to that. I see him in a week and have butterflies about being judged. I am 69 years old and yet I don't want to be scolded again! ;-)
 
It's natural to want to make our surgeon happy. I wanted mine to approve of how well I was using his fine work, and was kind of afraid he'd find me lacking. Maybe my ROM wasn't good enough. Maybe I couldn't walk far enough (he set walking goals per rehab app). But...he was thrilled with my only okay flexion and one knee lagging in extension. He said it would come, was happy with my walking, and looked for all the world like a proud parent.

Parental figures. That's what our surgeons are. They expect us to do well, and tell us how to do it, and we want to make them happy.
 
@phrog I know! I am so tired of other people's expectations making me feel bad, even though I fully believe in the Bonesmart way. But I am very sensitive to what other people think, even if I don't agree with them.

And thanks to Bonesmart I have learned that there are different philosophies about tkr recovery. @Celle posted recently in a bit more detail that she was never concerned about regaining her knee's function because everyone told her it would come, given time. What an awesome philosophy! Off Bonesmart no one has told me that, all I hear is go to PT and do your exercises, and those who say it, even if they've had replacement, fully believe you can't recover without it. I thought it also, until I found Bonesmart.

I think the PT and exercise philosophy that many have, and the pressure it puts on us, is the main reason I don't want to have this surgery again. I guess I will have to do some research and find a surgeon who doesn't promote that philosophy. Philadelphia is not all that far from me.
 
@Jockette, even if your surgeon is not on board with the best thinking about recovery, you can certainly look for a PT who is. I am going to have #2 done with my same "no pain, no gain" paternalistic surgeon as I think he does good work (and there are very few choices in my small town) but I will stick with my same, gentle PT clinic that focuses on functional movement and not on ROM. Let's hope that these best practices about gentle recovery will spread across the country with the same speed as a viral video.
 
Susie, it sounds to me as though you've found the gym and trainer from Heaven! I can't wait to read about your progress there and wish I could join you, lol. I still haven't seriously searched our area, mostly because I basically know what's out there and it isn't anything that sounds quite so tailor made for a tkr person.
 
I may have found my future niche - offering personal training to post tkr folks. Wish you could hire me but a long commute. :hiking:
Please make sure your trainer is certified and listens.
Best, Dawn
 
Susie, you are on a roll! You keep improving like you are, and you're gonna be a teenager again! What a wonderful outcome you have had!:happydance::yay:
 
Oh what a day! First was the Big Italian Family Baby Shower. It's like a Big Italian Wedding but with games and laundry lines of baby clothes as decorations. And no dancing.

As aunt to the mother-to-be, I helped hang decorations, run around greeting guests, and make absurd requests of the restaurant staff, who were lovely. Midwestern nice comes in handy.

Ferried gifts (three SUV loads) home and helped carry inside.

Race home to drop off dog (as a family member, she goes to family visits) and drive into Philadelphia for the theater. Am sitting here now waiting for the show, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, to start.

I haven't been here since before my surgery. The last show was so painful for me, even though we took the elevator to our mezzanine seats. The walk to the parking structure, getting up and down as other people came and went... I still enjoyed the shows, of course! :)

This evening I walked with ease from car to theater. I could dash across a street (necessary in this city). I walked up the stairs. The knees have had a busy day. No ice. No elevating.

And they're doing fine. Time to enjoy the show. :wave:
 
Isn't it good to reflect on our activities pre TKR? I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Susie!
 
:cheers2:Something familiar,
Something peculiar,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Something appealing,
Something appalling,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Nothing with kings, nothing with crowns;
Bring on the lovers, liars and clowns!
Old situations,
New complications,
Nothing portentous or polite;
Tragedy tomorrow,
Comedy tonight!
Something convulsive,
Something repulsive,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Something aesthetic,
Something frenetic,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Nothing with gods, nothing with fate;
Weighty affairs will just have to wait!
Nothing that's formal,
Nothing that's normal,
No recitations to recite;
Open up the curtain:
Comedy Tonight!
Something erratic,
Something dramatic,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Frenzy and frolic,
Strictly symbolic,
Something for everyone:
A comedy tonight!
Something familiar,
Something peculiar,
Something for everybody:
Comedy tonight!
Something that's gaudy,
Something that's bawdy--
Something for everybawdy!
Comedy tonight!
Nothing that's grim.
Nothing that's Greek.
She plays Medea later this week.
Stunning surprises!
Cunning disguises!
Hundreds of actors out of sight!
Pantaloons and tunics!
Courtesans and eunuchs!
Funerals and chases!
Baritones and basses!
Panderers!
Philanderers!
Cupidity!
Timidity!
Mistakes!
Fakes!
Rhymes!
Crimes!
Tumblers!
Grumblers!
Bumblers!
Fumblers!

lyrics for “Comedy Tonight,” opening song for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Songwriters: Stephen Sondheim
 
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