TKR Suzibelle on the Road to Recovery

As Clara (@uva55) says, it wasn't in the fine print :sad:
I say, if your loved ones don't understand, get them to watch a video of a TKR on YouTube, I couldn't watch past the bit where the surgeon starts to drill the bones. This surgery is akin to a double amputation, if you think about it :yikes:
 
Ah yes, Suzibelle, the weepiness was awful. My children freaked out and couldn't deal with it, and I didn't know it was a normal response. Those were rough days.
 
I wasn't weepy so much as short-tempered.I think all our emotions are fragile during recovery.

I remember (to my shame) that once I yelled so hard at my poor husband, just because he wasn't telepathic and didn't sense immediately what I needed him to do. The poor man fled to his office at the other end of the house and he stayed there for a couple of hours.
 
I have been surprised at my weepiness-- I read the article here on post op blues before I went to surgery, but I didn't realize it would start so soon. I've been using an app called "happytap" when I start planning a pity party. It helps. But if my husband dared say a less than encouraging word, I fear I might go ballistic. Thankfully, the preop class we attended together addressed mood swings (and had very graphic PowerPoint of what the surgery looks like). I'd have your loved ones watch the video!!


Shelia
RTKR - 8/23/16
LTKR - 9/20/2016
 
I wasn't weepy so much as short-tempered.I think all our emotions are fragile during recovery.

I remember (to my shame) that once I yelled so hard at my poor husband, just because he wasn't telepathic and didn't sense immediately what I needed him to do. The poor man fled to his office at the other end of the house and he stayed there for a couple of hours.
I was definitively both weepy and short-tempered!
 
So today marks 6 months and 2 days since my surgery date.

Here's the progress (some good, some not-so-good):

  • I sleep reasonably well compared to month 3. The biggest issue I have is a back that has not adjusted to my altered gait. I often wake up with a very tight back.
  • My leg is STILL not straight. As a result, my back hurts (see above). I still use the crutch sometimes, but it's more for my back than my knee. I hate this dependency on the crutch. A bent leg also means an agitated knee cap, usually worse first thing in the morning. I do massage and move it around several times/day.
  • My calf muscles are TIGHT. I was told this by my last physio. I stretch them A LOT. I have been to some massage therapy, but I haven't found the right one. I'm giving it another try on Monday. I want a sports massage that will help my with my calves and help realign my poor back.
  • My bend is probably around 112-114 on a good day. I am between full insurance coverage, so it hasn't been measured since August.
  • Altered gait also seems to be causing my issues with my right hip. I can't tell if it's muscular or not. It is definitely very tight, and sometimes it hurts to rest on it. I hope yoga will help bring this back for me.
  • I can swim over 1200 meters without a rest, I can ride a stationary bike on a challenging resistance up and down hills for up to an hour.
  • I can do gentle yoga (which I need for my back and hip and calf and....), and I'm hoping this will help w/ the straightening.
  • I can drive up to an hour in comfort, but it does cause my leg to swell.
  • I can climb stairs, one foot after the other, but I still need a railing for reassurance. I generally granny step downstairs unless I have something to hold onto for my left or both sides. Shallow steps are obviously easier.
  • My leg still tightens behind the knee after any prolonger period of sitting.
  • That feeling you have after surgery like your leg is wrapped in a rubber band? It's nearly gone.
  • All the weight I lose post surgery came back with a vengeance. Even more noticeable, the absence of muscle mass on most of my body (arms, stomach, legs, etc.) means that clothes don't look as good. This is depressing.
  • I usually use exercise as a way to relieve other stress in my life, and I would like to get back to the strong body I had a year before my surgery. This body is depressing me, as is my inability to take nice long walks along the beach. Hell, long walks anywhere would be welcome right now.
  • No one says the weepy stage won't reappear. It went away for a long time, but as I face 6 months (big milestone, right?), I feel like I'm not where I wanted to be. Life is not "more or less back to normal" as my surgeon suggested it should be. Today I am having a bit of a pity party.
I originally did the surgery so that I could have the active lifestyle I once had. I want to hike 12 miles and be ok. I want to take a dance class again. I want to get back to my barre method classes. I have not reached the moment in which I feel like I can say, "I'm glad I did this," perhaps because I haven't achieved those goals yet. For others who were terribly immobile pre-surgery, they might already be at the "glad" stage at 6 months. However, I just want to walk with a normal gait, to do my exercise with a leg that is straight and be back to living, without most of daily thoughts consumed by discomfort or "knee talk". Roll on "glad" stage. I'm hoping it will be in month 7.
Pity party over. :)
 
Thanks for writing your 6 month progress report. It helps to know what to realistically expect.

From what I've learned here, it may take us a year or more to get to the glad stage. For me, I have a pic in my mind of the "before" knee pain -- I don't want to ever forget how life limiting my knees had become. Like you, I was very active, even with the horrible knees. But I was in horrible pain and living on ibuprofen . I think it's easy to forget how bad the 'before' was, when we are in the midst of recovery. It sounds like you are well on the way to meeting your goals-- just not in the timeframe you'd like. Here's to moving on to the 'glad'. You'll get there -- you are an inspiration and it is evident you do what you set out to do.


Shelia
RTKR - 8/23/16
LTKR - 9/20/2016
 
@Suzibelle
It's ok to have a pity party now and again, we've all had at least one at different times :bawl:
At 6 months you are only half way through the time they say it takes for a full recovery. So although you still have a way to go, there's lots of things you can do now. I've decided to try to stop putting myself under pressure to be further on than I am, I'm here and that's that, otherwise there's always a conflict between what I can do, and what I want to do, or what other people think I should be able to do, and that creates stress which hinders recovery, for me anyway.
Little by little you will get back to doing the things you love, maybe not as actively as before, but I have no doubt you will be glad you did this at some happy day not to far into the future.
Tabby xxx
 
Thanks for writing your 6 month progress report. It helps to know what to realistically expect.

From what I've learned here, it may take us a year or more to get to the glad stage. For me, I have a pic in my mind of the "before" knee pain -- I don't want to ever forget how life limiting my knees had become. Like you, I was very active, even with the horrible knees. But I was in horrible pain and living on ibuprofen . I think it's easy to forget how bad the 'before' was, when we are in the midst of recovery. It sounds like you are well on the way to meeting your goals-- just not in the timeframe you'd like. Here's to moving on to the 'glad'. You'll get there -- you are an inspiration and it is evident you do what you set out to do.


Shelia
RTKR - 8/23/16
LTKR - 9/20/2016
Oh, the regular doses of ibuprofen and icing of swollen knees! I look forward to not knowing that. I have begun to notice my non-operated knee giving me grief while I swim, so perhaps that is a small step in the right direction. Good luck w the left one in a few days time, @sheliac! On an unrelated note, I am an OSu grad, originally from Cleveland-area.
 
Th
@Suzibelle
It's ok to have a pity party now and again, we've all had at least one at different times :bawl:
At 6 months you are only half way through the time they say it takes for a full recovery. So although you still have a way to go, there's lots of things you can do now. I've decided to try to stop putting myself under pressure to be further on than I am, I'm here and that's that, otherwise there's always a conflict between what I can do, and what I want to do, or what other people think I should be able to do, and that creates stress which hinders recovery, for me anyway.
Little by little you will get back to doing the things you love, maybe not as actively as before, but I have no doubt you will be glad you did this at some happy day not to far into the future.
Tabby xxx
thanks from fhe encouragement, @Tabbycat! I have long felt a lot of pressure, especially from PTs, about ROM. It made me dread the visits, and they eventually realised it was stressing me out. There was ten day period between me leaving the hospital, where I had some physio, and when the surgeon (away for Easter) realised they had failed to make my appointment requests a priority. One physio sorta made me feel like those 10 days could be the reason I was delayed in straightening my leg. I don't know if that was the case. I can say that my surgeon and my physio team certainly had differences of opinion as to why my leg wasn't straight. But you're right: no point letting that stress hinder my recovery! Sound advice. :)
 
I'm still trying to get my leg to straighten after nearly 5 months!
Well, I'm on six w a non-straight leg. My last physio seemed to think the muscles had contracted so much that they are playing a role in this. I will say they are tight as a drum. I went back to heavier ankle weights dangling over the bed. Fingers crossed for us both?
 
Thanks for your honest appraisal of where you are at. I wasn't nearly as athletic as you, and had terribly painful and bowed knees, so my expectations aren't nearly as high. So helpful to hear the stories of how people are doing certain points along the way. Thanks again. Best of luck to you.
 
I didn't think I was particularly cranky:blackcloud:, but my sister who came to help me, begs to differ!
 
@Suzibelle your posting made me realize that I have a long journey ahead of me yet. Think if it were late Winter or early Spring I would find it more disappointing. We usually go for a vacation over the Summer months since I'm off work, this yr because of my surgery it didn't happen. Thought maybe this Fall we would go away for a weekend or so but I'm not feeling it yet, we could go, but I don't think I would get the enjoyment out of it that I usually would. I am just hoping by next Summer I am feeling good and ready for a Summer trip. It's funny all the things I usually enjoy like shopping, going bumming around for the day just don't interest me at this pt and time. Still to hard to get around yet, I'm limping pretty good especially as I get tired, probably should relay on the cane for support as I find at stores the shopping cart really aids me at getting around well. But with the Winter months upon us, it's more of a laid back time so maybe by next Spring I'll be feeling more like my old self again. Hope your not to far off before you feel like your old self. Looking over the handbook on knee replacement it talks a lot of about the first weeks and months, but doesn't say much about long term, wonder if they felt they talked about it more it would keep people from having the surgery, or because they themselves have yet to realize what a journey it really is from the patients stand pt. (one concern in the back of my mind about Winter time is ice and the chance of falling, I am not a graceful person, think that was part of my knee issue any time I ever wiped out always landed on that knee. Oh well guess I shouldn't worry about it, it is what it is, need to be careful, but still need to get out and live life.) I'll be watching your postings. Your half way there if it takes a yr.
 
Thanks for your honest appraisal of where you are at. I wasn't nearly as athletic as you, and had terribly painful and bowed knees, so my expectations aren't nearly as high. So helpful to hear the stories of how people are doing certain points along the way. Thanks again. Best of luck to you.

Thanks, @greatlakes. My uncle who is 25+ my senior had two partials a few weeks apart, and his right was speedy. The left not so much. He also had terribly bowed legs. Just goes to show you that age isn't the best measure for progress.
 
@zzevi I would worry about the ice, too, if I lived in a cooler climate. I have always had a fear of staircases and escalators, and that is somewhat amplified with my knee. My uncle told me that my cousin's youthful dog took off while he was walking. It actually pulled my uncle off the curb and to his knees. The good news? The replaced knees took the fall without issue. That was a couple years post replacement, so it's something to look forward to! Your June surgery should be well healed by next summer. I went home this summer almost 4 months, and it did curb a lot of my favourite summer activities. No mountain hikes, no long walks. I just did what I could to get out there. We rented those three-wheel adult big wheels, we took open-top kayaks and canoes on the water...just imagine what you'll be doing next June! Sending healing thoughts...
 
@Suzibelle
Some of the suggestions in this article might help with your leg extension:
Extension: how to estimate it and ways to improve it
As always, just do the exercises gently, and never to the point of pain.

Some of the exercises in this article will also help with stretching your falf muscles:
Hamstring stretches

As others have said, you still have time for improvement. It's not unusual for extension to take longer to achieve than flexion does.
 

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