TKR Ten weeks later . . .<<'

[Spex10]

Just noticed-my scar looks just like yours. The top bit is red and a bit raised but soft. The colour changes depending on how bent the knee is.

 

[KarriB]

Are you going to live it up until March 6th?

 

[Cratchit]

@Spex mine goes a great shade of deep purple when it`s cold or not been elevated for a while. Looks grim! Thankfully it`s less sensitive than it was but still hates the bedsheets and jeans, if I could even get into them, are a definite no no. So woolly tights it is then!

@Karri I should do, shouldn`t I?! Now, what should I do? Suggestions on a postcard - or on here!

 

[KarriB]

I had great plans on changing my hair color (because I wouldn't be at work), going to the movies, out to lunch, visiting friends, but I went from being sick to going back to work in a matter of a few weeks. I didn't do any of those things. It was supposed to be my retirement rehearsal. However, I was too worried about my students to take more time off.

So do whatever the knee will let you do.

 

[L.I.T]

Wouldn't you know it! Both of us getting kicked out of PT - what do you think it means? Nothing good, I'm sure

So Nordic walking - I actually had to look it up. I can't imagine why you shouldn't try it.... Unless it's a ruse to get you to defect to Finland or something

There's a guy (75 yrs old) down in St George (nearest city to us), and every day, he puts his backpacking pack and hiking boots on, gets his walking stick, and treks down the sidewalks in St George.... All while puffing on this very sherlocky-holmes pipe! EVERY DAY! It's kind of fun, because he's just a regular icon now.

You could dress up in your wooly tights, a flowery shirt, and one of those great derby hats, and be an icon right where you are - all while Nordic walking (I would abandon the pipe, though!)

I'm so happy you got a clean bill of heath - albeit I'm a wee bit jealous you have -5 extension Work, ugh. I don't envy you the paperwork. Rules and regulations are no bueno, and I hope you escape those (maybe with the Nordic walking?)....

Xoxo

 

[Cratchit]

I had great plans on changing my hair color

Cool! What colour would you have changed it to? It's mad how quickly time is passing now compared to the slow, slow days immediately post op. I expect it'll go even faster now that l have a return-to-work date.

@L.I.T I think l probably already am an icon in the area - or an idiot! I think l've become a bit of an oddity in the area on my dog walks on accounts of my woolly tights and little skirts, not quite de rigeur for a country walk! I care not!

I may have got my + and - the wrong way round; my knee isn't quite flat to the boards yet so not sure whether that's a plus or a minus? There are certain things l always get the wrong way round and this is one of them!

Now then, a flowery shirt . . . Hmmm . . .

 

[L.I.T]

If she's not careful, this lady is going to have a bunch of hatchlings by the time leaves the derby!

 

[L.I.T]

I wonder if this lady realized she had a Muppet on her head?

 

[Cratchit]

What are you like, you daft muppet!




Erm, l've got one of those hats . . .

 

[Spex10]

I'm wearing mine right now. Nothing else of course!

 

[L.I.T]

@Spex10.... The question is...... Are you pedaling?

 

[Cratchit]

Nice sunrise as l showered just now. Today would appear to be a stick day. Ouch.

 

[L.I.T]

Beautimus! Wield your stick proudly!

 

[Spex10]

Back to @L.I.T.'s post. I'm pedalling so hard that I'm now powering the generator. I'll have to keep going until the dishwasher finishes. Excuse me for now -just on the last push...

 

[KarriB]

I've let my hair go gray because it's so short (I'm lazy) so I was going to try coloring the gray out. It never happened though.

 

[Celle]

I stopped dying my hair about 5 years ago. It's all grey now, with a white flash at the front. I can't wait for it to be all white - and then I'll be able to put a coloured streak in it, to match my outfits.

I once worked with someone whose hair went white when she was only 26 (it was a family trait). Her eyelashes and eyebrows stayed dark. With her huge, brown eyes, she looked stunning.

 

[Cratchit]

I was rummaging round the internet this morning and came across this in the Daily Fail from 2014. Not the best resource for info but never-the-less an interesting read from the perspective of understanding just how complex a process TKR is and how the underlying disease process affects the structures of the leg. This adds to the explanation of why this recovery can be so difficult and long, especially where deformity has occurred as a result of OA.


Successful knee replacement depends not just on removing damaged bone and replacing it, but in shortening and lengthening the ligaments around the joint.

'As well as affecting bone, osteoarthritis hardens and shrinks the ligaments,' says Richard Grogan, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

'If the ligaments get hard and tight and shrink on the inner side, then the ligaments on the other side get stretched out to compensate, causing bow legs.

'When it happens on the other side, you get knock knees. So balancing these structures is key to getting the new implants to perform as they should.'


So this explains my (now ex) bow leg!

 

[Cratchit]

It's all grey now, with a white flash at the front

Ooh, l love white hair! I wouldn't mind if mine went white rather than grey but l suspect it'll be salt and pepper like my Dad's.

 

[L.I.T]

Yes! It does appear to be quite involved.

Here in the states, the running joke amongst surgeons is that othopedists are just football jocks who made it through med school. Yet, after reading some articles on the intricacy involved in placement of the implant, and the different kinematics of each specific implant, I'm amazed so many of us turn out as well as we do!

I'm glad you found that article - it's good (sometimes) to just know there's a solid reason why recovery might be longer or more challenging!

Now if only they could develop the 'patience pill', we'd all be home free!

 

[L.I.T]

I'm down with the white hair, too.... Although mine will be a solid steel gray. I did develop an early gray streak on the right side... Very similar to the mom in poltergeist! Probably a good thing I never had kids