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TKR Thank Goodness I Only have Two Knees!

Continuing improvements every day thank goodness! I was able to get in the shower again yesterday and I'd say so far today...it's back to being maybe what it was before Saturday? It's close. I'm being careful with it still. I've done some light stretches/bends/whatever. My leg aches but I think that's just from the surgery - haha! I don't feel that pain going down my shin like it was when I walk though it seems to come on more in the evening as the day goes on. Staples come out tomorrow! No idea what happened to it and what that was but I don't want it to come back. Just taking it easy.

I had a huge surprise - my son living in Orlando and his girlfriend from the UK showed up on the doorstep last night for a 5 day visit! They had kept it secret (in cahoots with my son who lives nearby). His girlfriend flew in to Orlando from the UK last Thursday and is here for several weeks. I haven't seen her in person for more than a year. They will drive back to Orlando on Sunday but it's such an amazing treat to see them both! :yahoo:
 
Thank goodness it's improving! I am sure the aching is due to the natural healing process since it's such early days for you. Getting the staples out tomorrow should be a relief.

Aww, what a wonderful surprise you had in the unexpected visit of your son and his girlfriend, just what the doctor ordered. :wink: Enjoy your time together as a family!
@selketine
 
Glad to hear you have some daylight. Best of luck at your OS visit tomorrow! Will be interested in hearing about the outcome.

Thats awesome to have some visitors. Hopefully this will divert some of your brains attention away from the recovery a bit.

ENJOY!
 
Hope you're feeling even better this morning, selketine. Big day, getting the staples out and a visit with your surgeon.
Hopefully you're able to get there with relative ease and little discomfort. Please let us know how it goes.
Wishing you the best! :)
@selketine
 
Everything went very well for my 2 week + 1 day followup! Had x-rays and got the staples out (33 staples this time - I had 43 staples in my January knee!). There's almost no swelling in this knee either. My January knee looked like an overstuffed sausage just massive and this knee & leg - well it's pretty close to my other knee. The surgeon was happy with my bend and all and didn't see anything amiss. He said he had no idea on exactly what popped in there or why - he said it could have been a few different things. I had no problems getting in and out of the car (well had to pull off my shoe) and walking around the medical center was fine as well. The pain from the pop over the weekend seems to have resolved itself and I'm starting to trust it's not coming back.

I've started doing sitting heel slides and quad sets and the like back after the problem last weekend. I think my extension is not as good with this knee as the January knee and it's sort of a weird feeling to walk on a slightly bended knee. The January knee always felt straight to me even when it wasn't perfectly straight. I think the bend comes easier on this one...maybe? There's less swelling so that's good. I have vowed now to spend at least the next 4 weeks being obsessed and worried over my extension so I'm glad I've found something to occupy my fears - haha! I can see why people don't like it when their extension isn't normal.

I actually see how people are tempted to go to a restaurant at 2 weeks post-op or do other things that my January knee would have said is about as likely as me climbing Everest. I'm much more stable probably because the other knee is fixed and doesn't hurt. I could barely stand long enough to brush my teeth and now that isn't a problem at all. However I'm WAY more sleepy - holy cow I need so many naps. I just hit a wall of NOPE and have to close my eyes. I am tempted to perhaps venture to the grocery store next week (husband driving) for a short walk down an aisle (preferably M&M aisle although I still have a bag of them).

Fingers crossed that it continues to proceed in an orderly fashion.
 
Great news! Glad to read you're feeling better, the pain has eased and you received a nod of reassurance from your OS that all is well. I'm happy for you. Enjoy the weekend!
@selketine
 
selketine said:
for a short walk down an aisle (preferably M&M aisle although I still have a bag of them).
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I can relate, except it's dark chocolate kisses!

It's great to read that your knee has settled down from last week's episode. Your doctor seems happy with your recovery, so that's a good thing.

Don't worry about that extension, it'll come naturally as you heal. Many find that their extension comes in slower than their bend. Mine did.
 
First PT appointment in the Kaiser medical center today and it went well. I really like this PT but unfortunately his next appointment is....MID-NOVEMBER! haha! Good grief. I signed up for that 2 hour group PT joint class but I'm not very keen on it. I don't want to spend 2 hours straight doing exercises. I don't know what to do about that cause November is too far.

My bend has gotten better since last week - up to 96 from around 90. He said my leg is almost straight. The interesting part was that we discovered that my RIGHT leg is weaker than my left leg. He said that's the opposite of what it should be since I just had surgery on the left one! He did suggest strengthening exercises for that side since the muscles in the hip/upper thigh are not working as well compared to my newly operated leg. Go figure.

So far, so good. I still have more pain (discomfort? enough to keep me awake or wake me up) in the new knee and down that left leg. Very minimal swelling - no idea why since my January knee was massively swollen in comparison.

Oh...and they missed a staple last Thursday when they took them out so I got that one little hold out removed today. I told the guy I thought about hanging some gold charms from it like a decoration - make a TikTok and start a viral trend haha! Bling up that knee baby!
 
Great that your PT appointment went well. Love the idea of the charm . Maybe there will be a cancellation and you will get an appointment sooner. I’ve got my first PT appointment on Friday.
 
selketine said:
I don't want to spend 2 hours straight doing exercises. I don't know what to do about that cause November is too far.
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Two straight hours of doing exercises is definitely too much. You will be fine not going to formal PT until November. You know what to do because you have already been through this once!
 
At this point, walking as tolerated, quad sets, and heel slides plus advancing normal activity as tolerated will be fine.

You shouldn't do real strength training on the newer knee beyond that for another couple of months, as muscles take a good 6 weeks, tendons and ligaments 12 weeks.

Then if you want to you could add in semi squats, short and long arc quads without weights.
 
I accidentally posted before finishing.
On the weaker January knee, you'd be safe to start with a 5# ankle weight on that leg if PT showed you short and long arc quads (also easy to find online).

Rule of thumb with weights is do a single long set of as many reps as tolerated, moving very slowly and steadily, without ever going to full flexion or full extension - you want to keep the muscle "under load" (working) but not at either extreme since that can stress tendons.

DO take at least a full day off from that exercise afterwards.
DON'T increase weight by more than 10% every few sessions is the usual guidance but if all you have is a 5# and a 10# use your judgement!
 
Happy One Month Anniversary, selketine. :wave:
Hopefully you're doing well and I wish you a wonderful weekend.
Take good care!
@selketine
 
Layla said:
Happy One Month Anniversary, selketine.
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Thank you Layla! Hope all is well with you! I am just rolling along. My ROM is improving and I "think" my extension is better? Harder to tell. I'm negative extension now on the right knee so they definitely don't match at this point. My biggest issues are pain inside the knee when I try to walk heel/toe - it makes me want to walk with a stiffer leg. I couldn't walk with a bended knee at all pre-surgery or it was very painful - so it harkens back to that. Not sure if that's related and I don't know why it would be since the inside of that knee is gone. I'm guarding it now when I walk because I don't want it to hurt (like I did pre-surgery too!) so it's hard to figure out.

My other issue is stamina for being up or being out. I just can't go far - but I couldn't pre-surgery either so I'm sure my muscles are just saying "nope." I'm also having more trouble sleeping after this surgery - 5 hours is about max unless I take a Tylenol PM and I hate taking those.

I'm also having stomach reflux issues - which might be due to the meloxicam the surgeon had me on for a month. I just finished it.

I thought I might be able to start back at work part-time but it's hard to say - gonna see how this week goes. I started back at 8 weeks last time and was full-time back at 12 weeks.
 
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