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TKR The adventure begins

I hope my recovery comes along as well as yours Jajakio.I'm getting the Conformis knee also.My surgery is August 31,and my short term disability will run out after 12 weeks,so I will have to go back then.I will need a good recovery.
 
Day 18

So here I am between 2-3 weeks.

The good stuff; I went to the library for 20 minutes today with son driving. Used cane there and felt pretty good after I came home and iced and elevated for 1/2 hour. I made dinner last night. Sat at the table and assembled two quiches in frozen pie shells and baked. I am comfortable standing at the stove for 5 minutes or at little more so at a time so it's quick stuff like eggs or assemble sitting down and stick in the oven. But not too bad overall. I also walked down to garden on cane after resting from library and picked cucumbers and tomatoes then wandered down to chicken house and fed chickens and collected eggs.

The bad stuff: nights are still rough. My son thinks I'm crazy but the second bottle of percoset is not working like the first. He says I'm just getting used to it. I really don't think so. I took the last one of the first batch of pills just before bed. I slept good until 3 or so as I have been doing. Took the first pill from the new bottle then at 3am. I was awake until 5 and slept poorly after that. I'm on tylenol during the day and had been doing percoset only at night. It has been much worse since the new bottle of percoset. Last night I went to tylenol at night and it was honestly a little better than the last couple of percoset only nights. The first bottle I could feel the percoset kick in 35-40 minutes after I took it. This batch nothing. Took it before bed three nights running - nothing at all an hour later. Husband doesn't say anything but he seems sceptical too. So I guess it's a good time to transition to tylenol. I suspect it would be tough to convince anyone else to do something about it.
 
i think it's great that you had the stamina to do all that you did today ~ sitting in car (that's the worse thing for me even still), library, preparing meals, walking to garden, bending to pick vegetables, feed the chickens and collect the eggs, then walking back to house. i most certainly could not have done all that at the 3 week mark ~ perhaps you did too much and that's part of the reason that you possibly need more pain control. i hope you can take it a little more easy the next couple of weeks and let yourself heal. you don't realize you're overdoing it until after, especially at night. :elevate: remember to elevate and ice after your activities.:yes:
 
The feeling that the Percoset isn't working as well could also be related to the fact that you are starting to do more during the day - witness all you did, above. You get away with it during the day, but it catches up with you at night time.
Do check your activity against what it says in this article:
Activity progression for TKRs
 
I hate admitting I'm wrong but I was. The husband listened to me rant for a while about bad percoset then suggested I try 2 before bed last night just to see if that did anything. He was right. I could feel them kick in and I slept well last night. That doesn't entirely solve my problem because i was hoping to be off percoset by 4 week mark so i can drive. I know, i know we dont always get what we want... But good to know it is there if I need it.

Its tough for some of us hyper, impatient people but I truly am trying to listen to what my body is telling me. That is probably some of the most useful advice I received here. I think the activity timeline is useful to help us realize we may be going slower than we expected and it is normal and helps encourage us to be patient. But that being said, we are all going to be doing different things on different time frames depending on our age, weight, overall activity and health prior to surgery. None of us would expect a 78 year old overweight diabetic woman to resume activities at the same rate as a 38 year old athlete.

I don't mind at all being reminded to take it easy, sometimes others can see things we have a hard time seeing in ourselves. And I appreciate learning from the range of experiences and recovery times others have had.

I think thus far my recovery timeline seems similar to the one laid out presurgery by my surgeon. He expects me to be driving at 4 weeks.I have the conformis custom knee and the surgeon seems to think that results in quicker recovery time. I suspect it is difficult to know as we all heal so differently. All I know is I am pleased with where I am now.
 
Being pleased with your recovery says it all!
 
I agree... being pleased with your recovery is a good place to be. It's natural to be impatient, or want to be further along than we are. If we're patient, though, our healing eventually catches up to our expectations. :flwrysmile:
 
Jajakio said:
None of us would expect a 78 year old overweight diabetic woman to resume activities at the same rate as a 38 year old athlete.
Click to expand...
While that's true, you've both had very similar, major surgeries and your knee tissues are going to heal at the same rate, regardless of your age. The internal healing doesn't happen faster, just because you're younger.

Of course, deviating a little from the guidelines is to be expected, but it's wise to try to follow them, for the sake of your knee.
 
Good to know you're progressing well and "checking in" with the knee as you do activities etc.

It's possible you will be driving at 4 weeks, but it depends not only on being off pain meds but how the knee is doing as far as being able to brake quickly and so on. It took me 6 weeks ( by that time I was not taking pain meds during the day or timed my driving far enough away from a dose)-- At first I did a "trial run" with the car off , just seeing how I could brake and then a run around the block before planning on any real driving.
 
I know Kneeper, just because I want to doesn't necessarily mean I'm ready to drive. I know I'm not ready yet but I'm working on slowly reducing pain pills and gaining strength. I'm still taking percoset at night but tylenol daytime and hoping to reduce the nighttime stuff over the next week. My 4 week appointment is a week from Friday, so in 9 or 10 days we'll see if I'm fit to drive. I will make sure doctor signs off first and take it very easy in the beginning.
 
It was important to me to know that I could drive, but I will not be driving until I can walk unassisted and that'll be awhile, me thinks.
Anyway, as @gertie said, once I drive some place - what am I gonna do when I get there ? Here in Belgium, no motorised shopping carts !


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@Jajakio You're flying along! Feels good, yes? Sounds like you're in tune with your knee and what it requires in terms of rest vs activity.
 
You've got a good point, Nensi. I was hoping to drive myself to physical therapy. But otherwise, I don't love shopping at the best of times and I'm sure it will be a while before I shop for the fun of it. I keep needing to remind myself it's going to be a long haul.
 
@Jajakio , at not a month post I wouldn't worry or "work" at regaining strength. Your body is using all it's energy to heal from the trauma of surgery. Energy and stamina will come, but not for a few months. After my TKR and infection surgery I thought I could "work" on getting stronger, but no matter what I did I was still exhausted. I gave in to naps and doing very little and gradually my energy returned. Following the Activity progression for TKRs will help to balance actvity and safely move forward.
 
Tomorrow will be day 21

Overall going well. Tylenol daytime, two percoset at night (one at bedtime, one in the middle of night). Pain definitely less than that first horrible week or two. Not to say it doesn't hurt-it does but not the awful I wish I had never done this pain of early on. I know the knee will only heal so fast but physical therapy exercises are beginning to build up surrounding muscles and that is making things a bit easier, I have been able to pedal recumbent bike since 10 days after surgery. Most likely due to muscle memory built up from months of bicycling in hot tub prior to surgery. This week I haven't had to rock back and forth to get it going, I can just pedal. Walking okay with cane. Short walks though. It been too hot to walk outside much. Today I did a load of dishes, swiffered the kitchen floor, went out and fed chickens and did 5 minutes in the garden. My son drove me to the grocery and I rode the ridey cart around the store. I was tired when I got home but not wiped out. I napped late morning and after store trip, icing and elevating about 4 times today for a total of maybe 3 hours. I ate a ready made salad for lunch and my son cooked dinner. I'm getting ready for bed and feeling pretty good. I'm sure I'll have more bad days but I'm beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
 
glad to hear things are improving. that is amazing you can pedal the bike full rotation. you are doing wonderful.
 
You are doing amazingly! Pedaling the bike is something else. My OS told me to not even try the bike for 4 weeks out! And look at you! Of course, every knee is different! And yours is another rock star!
 
I know, sisters in him. I did not expect to bicycle that fast. Physical therapist put me on the bike on day 10. I kind of panicked for a second and said "this soon?" He assured me he didn't expect a full rotation, just rock it back and forth as far as I felt comfortable. Well I rocked it gently for about 2 minutes and then it just slipped around into a full rotation. I think the therapist was more suprised than i was and came running over to be sure I was okay. He only let me pedal for 2 minutes the first day. Last week I had to rock it for a minute or two to get going before I could pedal a full rotation. This week I've been able to go straight to pedaling and it feels pretty good.
 
I remember how good those first time pedaling felt! Good for you!
 
Hello there jajakio! I've just discovered your thread and have found you recovery journey very interesting! You've hit some remarkable milestones very early! Sometimes, that can be a bit problematic because it could lead toward overdoing, but in general, it's fabulous! Here's hoping you continue on this long recovery with just as much luck. [emoji4]


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