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TKR The adventure begins

I started using the recumbent bike at the gym after getting the OK from my doctor at 2 weeks, and it really has helped my ROM and over-all stability and strength of my knee.

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I agree, Jeff. I think the bike has helped tremendously and I've been on it since they put me on it in PT about 10 or 12 days out. I think they were expecting me to rock the pedals back and forth for a while but it was fairly easy to make a revolution. The first week or two, it was mildly uncomfortable to start but I loosened up after a minute or two and then it was fine. No discomfort at all now. I'm slowly adding a bit of resistance and trying to rebuild muscle.
 
Great update, @Jajakio! I love the waterfalls in your neck of the woods. Just be sure to set a reasonable goal for those trails! Remember that you have to get out after walking in and save some of your stamina for that.

I'm also very interested in biking. Are the trails in your area generally flat, or are there lots of bumps, twists, turns, hills?
 
12 weeks tomorrow

I'm so happy I had this knee done. Here I am at 12 weeks. Completely back to normal activity level. I've been working full time for a few weeks, shopping, cleaning house. Well, okay I was never a great housekeeper even before my knee went bad. But I have mopped floors, changed sheets, cleaned out the refrigerator. I can walk without any limp, and recently noticed I'm walking faster at my natural pace. I have sufficient energy to get through the day usually without naps or icing. Even evenings aren't always spent on the couch recuperating anymore. I'm back to enjoying cooking and making more complex dinners without worrying about standing over the stove for too long. Mentally I'm tackling things too. I have the guy coming out next week to give me some bids on a renovation project.

Next big milestone; I've researched it and thought about it and I'm going to get over my fear of falling and ride a real bike outside. I've been riding the recumbent bike for a good while so I expect I can pedal. I want my normal life back. I think the kid and I will hit the local bike trails this weekend if it doesn't rain. Its a nice easy few miles through to woods with only little gentle rolling. Our immediate neighborhood is quiet but pretty steep up and down. I will take it easy and remember I have to get back too. Although there is a spot a mile or so out where the road runs next to the bike path for a short while. If I'm really worn out, I'll send the kid back for the car and make him pick me up there.
 
You notice I do not say I have zero discomfort. Occasionally a little ache or discomfort or a little stiffness but not enough to stop me from doing the things I want to do. I've got most of my energy back but probably not 100%. Now at 12 weeks I'm planning to start a bit more muscle strengthening. More walking, more biking, maybe a little weight training. I've been sedentary for too long and it's time to slowly build up some endurance. My son is 16 and a no pain, no gain kind of guy. Good for him, he's at the top of his form. I'm more like; do until it gets uncomfortable , then keep doing that every day until it's easy and only then do a bit more. He thinks I'm a wuss Im sure. But even if it doesn't involve the knee, I have no desire to work out until I'm too sore to walk the next day. Probably just the age difference. Although, I've never been a hardcore athlete even in my teens or 20s. But I've always been active.

All I wanted out of this surgery was to be able to keep up a comfortable work routine walking around all day and be able to garden, shop, hike and bike as long as I wanted to. Maybe ski again? I hated running when I was 19. I don't think I would care to run a marathon even if I had perfect natural knees. Maybe that's why some younger people are not as happy with their knee surgeries. They expect way more than that. I sympathise. It is hard to slow down involuntarily at any age. But for what I want I expect it doesnt matter if my ROM is 115 or 135. I honestly have no idea what my ROM since I left PT and I don't guess I care. I can do what I want. The only even slight issue is going foot over foot on stairs. Works most but not all of the time going up and part of the time down. When I am tired or in a hurry, I'm still one footing it. I keep practicing everyday and I'm sure it will continue to improve. The nice thing is I can do stairs relatively comfortably and go up and down as often as I like.
 
The only reason I want to come down stairs foot over foot is because one foot at a time takes too long and I am impatient! It will come as our knees continue to heel. Interestingly, I found that different staircases in my house have different riser heights. I can go up and down and stairs outside the front door. I can go up the stairs to the second floor with no problem. And I can come up the stairs from the basement very slowly and taking great care to get my operated foot high enough. Never noticed this before surgery. Lol
 
You are right, OJ2. My basement steps are the worst. My rear deck is about 8 feet off the ground (hilly Tennessee) and just about as many steps as the basement stairs but less steep built stairs and I have far less issue going foot over foot on them.
 
Cleaning out your refrigerator--I'm impressed! That would involve quite a bit of bending for me. What a great report, @Jajakio! I think your goal of riding a "real" bike out in the "real world" is a super one, as is your plan to send your son for the car if you need to. Others have mentioned taking a cell phone on any foray, "just in case." I had never thought of that. I tend to leave the phone on the charger or in the car; I'm definitely not tethered to it. We do need to plan for contingencies. It's prudent, and something we try to teach our kids! Knock on wood, you'll never need assistance!

I'm thinking of taking over some of the cooking again. You mentioned standing over the stove. That's what has been holding me back. I've found standing in one place one of the hardest things. I think it has to do with not having zero extension yet? Anyway, your interest in preparing more interesting meals is a wonderful sign of your recovery! Your son is probably enjoying the more complex meals--unless he is like our son, who would just as soon have pizza every day of the week, and most meals of the day.

Maybe the most telling sign of your recovery is that you are feeling mentally up to new challenges. That's been one of the most surprising artifacts of this journey. Even after letting go of the meds, which definitely led to fuzzy thinking, I've been surprised at how difficult it is to get back into things like planning or making decisions. So congratulations!!
 
Isn't turning that corner wonderful? You round it and everything looks different. Achievable. The things you want to do are yours again to master. Bike riding. Every household chore. Gardening. Even skiing (though probably not quite as soon as bike riding). It's the Who Cares About ROM phase, where whatever it is is good enough.

Recovery goes on, and your knee is still healing, but it's happening in the background. Your life has supplanted it, and it's in the foreground now.
 
There seem to be many corners on this road to recovery, but each one gets you a little further along the path. Enjoy them all.
 
3 months

Here I am 3 months out from surgery tomorrow. Things have been good but I had a mediocre week where I seemed to go backwards a little. I have been living a very normal life. Working, shopping, cooking, walking. Almost no naps or icing. Very little discomfort and only a little stiffness. This week I've still been going at normal pace but Tuesday my leg swelled a little and was mildly sore all day. I've been more tired than usual all week. I even slowed down Wednesday and iced in the evening for the first time in weeks. Today swelling is down but I'm still tired. Oh well, nothing serious I'm sure, just a little reminder that progress isn't always straightforward forward. I don't feel like I've been doing more than I did last week or the week before. I think I'm just glad to be far enough out from surgery that this discomfort is the exception and not the rule.

Overall, I am good. The swelling is gone except for one small patch on outside front of knee just beside knee cap. A soft swollen spot 1 inch high and 1.5 to 2 inches wide . It has been there since the beginning and isn very uncomfortable . That and some half numbness just below the knee for a few inches on that same outside area.
 
I have that same spot near the knee cap that feel spongy, like its fluid. I also have general swelling, but none that feels spongy. But its still early in my recovery, 5 weeks out. Glad you're doing well Jajakio.

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Sounds like you are doing really well despite a little blip! Isn't it wonderful to feel half way normal?
 
3 months

Well it has been a frantic week and I'm fighting to keep my balance. I'm the Big Italian Cook among my circle of friends. One of my very best friends is getting married (she's the one who organized my two week meal brigade when I first got home from the hospital so I feel like I want to do something for her. ). Anyway her budget is tight so I volunteered for a fairly small wedding cake plus pretty cupcakes. This weekend I made 250 cupcakes in 4 flavors and they are all residing in my big freezer waiting to be decorated next weekend. I also experimened with some pretty toppings and at least I know what i want to do. I also managed 5 dozen truffles. It would have been 6 dozen but the husband and the kid ate all the key lime/white chocolate ones because I popped off to the store without telling them not to touch them. Oh, well they pronounced them fantastic so I'll just have to make another dozen some night after work. The kid ( my sweet almost 17 year old son) promised to help so the cupcake decorating will go pretty quickly next weekend. My grandmother ran a resturant in my childhood and she taught me to cook and bake so volume isn't an isnt a huge issue. But I was tired by the end of the day. I have 2 more weeks until the wedding. I am spacing things out so I'm just going to keep making and freezing a bit at a time. And allowing a bit of extra time for tiredness or minor disasters.

The knees held up wonderfully so far!

3 months out and the knees are pretty much letting me do most of what I want to. Not totally pain free but just occasional discomfort and minor stiffness, I'm sleeping pretty well on my side at least part of the night. Still waking up and moving to a different position a couple of times but dropping right off to sleep again. Most days no tylenol or aspirin. Seldom icing now either. We are thinking of going kayaking late in the week. I'm excited but not 100% sure. I will probably be clumsy getting in and out but I will just be happy if I can do it at all. Tomorrow is all day Nashville shopping . This is kind of an off week because it's the kid's fall break and we are taking out a couple of days to do things but I'm still working part of the week.
 
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Great report! I'm right behind you and doing similar things (except for real work) ! Good to hear that everything is going so well! I'm impressed that you can stand on your feet and bake and decorate cakes, too.
 
It was a full day, @Thesoutherncook. 21 dozen cupcakes I think. But I wasn't on my feet the whole time. I would mix a pretty large batch of batter in my trusty kitchenaid, then pour 3 pans at a time and sit down while they baked, at least part of the time. By Saturday evening I never wanted to see another cupcake again. That's out of the way now though.

I do not think I would have even thought seriously about attempting this presurgery. Being on my feet for 20 minutes was very painful. I am spacing things out but it looks like I will be able to do this, white choclate roses, edible lace and all. Besides, I'm thinking a good portion of the cupcake work can be done sitting down. A t worst, I could decorate a few dozen every evening. I've got 2 weeks before the wedding.

Another thing, I'm eating too much sugar while doing this and I can tell the difference. I saw a youtube video about a good TKR recovery and he mentioned going on an antiinflammatory diet for a month before and after surgery. Meaning lots of fruits and veggies, lean meats, no sugar or refined flour. I did research and Mediterranean diet kept coming up. That was essentially what I did before surgery- low carb version of it anyway. I did not swell near as much as some people and I wonder if that was a factor at all? I'm sure there are a lot of other factors too but I so need to be done with this sugar and back to decent food again.
 
But, @Pheebs52 , I have dibs on the cupcakes!! @Jajakio , what a good friend you are and how wonderful that you managed to do so much baking only three months post op. Your recovery seems right on track. I love a success story!
 
I thought I saw on CNN a news flash about a traffic jam and huge post TKR crowd outside your house clamoring for cupcakes - they sound delic!!! I do think you're on to something about the sugar and anti-inflammatory diet. I also need to get back to a sugar and unhealthy snack-free diet. Congrats on such a great recovery. You are doing awesome!
 
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