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Sounds like you are ready to go home, let them know, and have them discharge you.
TKR TeeDee's Knee, see?
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TeeDee
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I'm home. No therapy scheduled yet. For the time being I'm following the mantra and it's working out great. I am getting a sense of how long I can do any particular thing before swelling gets to be a hinderance. I hadn't noticed it until now but my computer desk chair turns out to sit nice and high so it's easy to get up from, making it possible to get work done in short bursts without pain. No thanks to rehab, they didn't get my staples out so I have to wait until an appointment with my surgeon on Tuesday which will make it 22 days with these things in, but at least they're behaving themselves.
Walking! I'm a big fan of it!
Walking! I'm a big fan of it!
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TeeDee
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I guess the staples are hindering bend? I feel what I think is the famous tight band, but if it's a mix of swell, staples, and ROM I can't seem to feel the differentiation. As it is, the staples don't bother me as such. They aren't getting caught on my pants, they don't hurt to touch, the only thing I'm noticing is in how I have to keep my cat from walking across them for fear one of his nails pulls any out. Hope the surgeon isn't going to have trouble digging any out, yikes at that idea.
TexasTee
post-grad
I'm still on the theoretical side of this equation but I'd imagine they aren't helping and at that amount of time the skin is going to start to heal around them. Is there not a PA or someone that could take them out sooner? My OS said the nurse that will come to my house will do it around 10 days.
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TeeDee
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Great googley-moogley, what fresh heck is this? I have an appointment on Tuesday to have my long-overdue staples removed, and now weather reports say it's scheduled right in the middle of a blizzard for NYC? Owell, scrambling tomorrow morning to see if someone, anyone, can fit me in for an office visit before the storm hits.
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TeeDee
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Update...Yay, staples are out today, 25 days after they were put in. They came out fine except for one which bled a gusher, but oddly enough I think it was the same one that bled when pt first got me up to walk the day after surgery. I wonder if it happened to be inserted in a capillary or something and acted like a plug. Anyway. Surgeon was thrilled with my recovery and showed me off to his staff. "Look at her! Three weeks and she walks without a cane!" Being very overweight, I think frankly I was expected to have a more difficult recovery than is happening, but as we all know, It Is What It Is. I do have the swelling and tightness sitting for a while, and man alive, the energy drain is walloping my butt, but I get lots of rest to compensate. I did use crutches to get to the surgeon's office, but it was only to stay stable and upright while slogging through the slippery snow on the sidewalks here in the city. I take one Percocet before bedtime to sleep through the night, otherwise only on my ordinary meds. Haven't tackled regular stairs yet other than the couple outside my apartment building. I did okay on the model stairs at rehab so I'm not fearful of the prospect.
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TeeDee
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Blushing as I just noticed my signature listed a surgery date a whole year earlier than was fact.
Update: Having a good time! The knee has settled down for the most part. As we know, there are good days and bad ones, but the bad ones aren't teeth-grindingly bad. Pretty much, I sit at the computer and get my stuff done there, and get up a lot to do this or that task, then when the knee starts feeling a bit tight and swells I lay down for half an hour and it deflates. At night I prop my legs up on a foam wedge and spend the prime time TV hours relaxing with my guy. Most nights I don't need any meds, but if I do two Tylenol Extra Strength get me through the night unless it was a very very hard day, upon which case I take one oxycodone instead of the Tylenol.
I do laundry, cook, and it's awesome to be able to catch up on the years of small tasks I've been unable to handle around here. The most intimidating thing that awaits is my imminent rental of a car, because I've been a passenger in cars since the surgery, but I don't know how my leg is going to handle the few hours of driving I'd like to do this weekend. What's the saying? Fortune favors the brave? Hope so!
(Shhhhhhh, don't tell the bigwigs, but I told the nursing home doctors that I'd do outpatient PT rather than have someone come to my apartment. I promptly have had not a moment of any kind of PT other than practicing walking up and down the stairs in my apartment building.)
Update: Having a good time! The knee has settled down for the most part. As we know, there are good days and bad ones, but the bad ones aren't teeth-grindingly bad. Pretty much, I sit at the computer and get my stuff done there, and get up a lot to do this or that task, then when the knee starts feeling a bit tight and swells I lay down for half an hour and it deflates. At night I prop my legs up on a foam wedge and spend the prime time TV hours relaxing with my guy. Most nights I don't need any meds, but if I do two Tylenol Extra Strength get me through the night unless it was a very very hard day, upon which case I take one oxycodone instead of the Tylenol.
I do laundry, cook, and it's awesome to be able to catch up on the years of small tasks I've been unable to handle around here. The most intimidating thing that awaits is my imminent rental of a car, because I've been a passenger in cars since the surgery, but I don't know how my leg is going to handle the few hours of driving I'd like to do this weekend. What's the saying? Fortune favors the brave? Hope so!
(Shhhhhhh, don't tell the bigwigs, but I told the nursing home doctors that I'd do outpatient PT rather than have someone come to my apartment. I promptly have had not a moment of any kind of PT other than practicing walking up and down the stairs in my apartment building.)
What a great story!!! You're doing really well. Amazing how we can heal just fine from all this on our own schedule! Those stairs are enough of a workout for anyone. Good for you!!!
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TeeDee
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Hi all!
Thanks to you good people for your own inspiring experiences. You've made the ups and even the downs a source of invaluable information that's made the whole process a great deal less, well, not to sugarcoat it, but you've all kept it from being frightening. There was a point when I couldn't conceive of having bones cut from my body willingly without accepting that I'd be swapping one kind of pain for a different kind.
What did I get instead? I won the life lottery. I'm almost six months out from surgery. Setting aside the other knee that still needs to be done, my life is better. I didn't realize how much energy I didn't have until I got it back and more. My replacement knee is the good knee. I can truly say I love my replacement knee. Knowing it can't get arthritis anymore brings peace of mind. It doesn't hurt. It twinges for a second once in a while, that just reminds me it's still healing. I gain a half degree of bend every so often and I can notice the difference.
I feel like I'm blessed because I have years of pain in the past, and how many people get to use the word "in the past" about such a thing? Knee replacements, when they go well, can be miracles, but they're miracles you can schedule!
Thanks to you good people for your own inspiring experiences. You've made the ups and even the downs a source of invaluable information that's made the whole process a great deal less, well, not to sugarcoat it, but you've all kept it from being frightening. There was a point when I couldn't conceive of having bones cut from my body willingly without accepting that I'd be swapping one kind of pain for a different kind.
What did I get instead? I won the life lottery. I'm almost six months out from surgery. Setting aside the other knee that still needs to be done, my life is better. I didn't realize how much energy I didn't have until I got it back and more. My replacement knee is the good knee. I can truly say I love my replacement knee. Knowing it can't get arthritis anymore brings peace of mind. It doesn't hurt. It twinges for a second once in a while, that just reminds me it's still healing. I gain a half degree of bend every so often and I can notice the difference.
I feel like I'm blessed because I have years of pain in the past, and how many people get to use the word "in the past" about such a thing? Knee replacements, when they go well, can be miracles, but they're miracles you can schedule!
Angel1978
Sr Bonesmartie
Wow what a great update. I can't wait till I am further along. Xxx
FaithMitchmommy
PKR December.1,2014
TKREV MARCH.2,2015
FaithMitchmommy
PKR December.1,2014
TKREV MARCH.2,2015
KYata
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Great report! Love these great 6 month reports so much.
My new knee is starting to be the good knee too. Finding I stand on it more than I was, not as hard to stand and do stuff as it used to be. Still have days with less energy than I wish I had but things are definitely looking up. I was out of commission for close to a year, need to be patient.
My new knee is starting to be the good knee too. Finding I stand on it more than I was, not as hard to stand and do stuff as it used to be. Still have days with less energy than I wish I had but things are definitely looking up. I was out of commission for close to a year, need to be patient.
referee54
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That is a great update!!! Thank you so much for coming back and letting us know how you are doing!
I thank you also for letting others, who are in the "Dark Days of Recovery" know what awaits them---you have helped to lift their spirits!
I thank you also for letting others, who are in the "Dark Days of Recovery" know what awaits them---you have helped to lift their spirits!
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