Bilateral TKR The Historian - recovery diary

[TheHistorian]

I was up at 8:15, left the house an hour later, helped my mother move, spent time with my nieces and nephews, stopped by my bike shop, and hiked the 3/4 mile Black Rock Sanctuary Interpretive Trail. Picked up dinner, and was in bed by 7:15. Spent nearly 11 hours out and about.... my first time spending an entire day out of the house and not needing a nap. I am tired and very sore.

I took Tylenol at 9 AM and 7 PM. I should have taken one mid-day. Perhaps I overdid it?

 

[jerseychick]

Hmmm....it certainly sounds like you overdid it, but you are doing great!

 

[bottomshollow]

As long as your day was worth the tiredness and soreness you have now, we'll overlook the overdoing THIS time! :th_heehee:

Sounds like you had a pretty "normal" day being helpful and having fun.

 

[TheHistorian]

As long as your day was worth the tiredness and soreness you have now, we'll overlook the overdoing THIS time! :th_heehee:

Sounds like you had a pretty "normal" day being helpful and having fun.

As I commented elsewhere about the hike, 3/4 of a mile felt like six. Or worse. When I hiked up Mount Tom in central PA in 2010 I didn't feel as badly as I did today. And it wasn't just the knees. My back, and oddly enough one side of my diaphragm hurt as well. My guess is that the muscles in my back and diaphragm are used to my body moving a certain way, and now that I no longer have that odd twisting motion in my gait they are rebelling. Or it could be that I'm tensing up when I have to walk distances. I had the same thing happen when I used the grocery cart at the supermarket earlier this week. Then I thought it was my body attempting to stabilize me as I walked. Today I used the cane and had the same problem.

BTW I'm surprised I haven't slept more. I napped about an hour. That's all for a ten hour day out of the house. Meanwhile it's the middle of the night and I'm listening to Saint-Saens piano concertos while posting to Bonesmart. I wonder when I'll get back to a normal sleep schedule?

 

[TheHistorian]

Hmmm....it certainly sounds like you overdid it, but you are doing great!

Best view on the Interpretive Trail. It's an ADA compliant trail, but it only has two benches. I could have used more.

 

[TheHistorian]

@Josephine:

I have a question about taking Tylenol. How much can I take? I've been making do with a single tablet of 525 mg as needed. Can I go higher in dosage? Thanks to the PE I had I can't take NSAIDs since I'm on Coumadin.

 

[bottomshollow]

I can tell you that you're allowed up to 4000mgs in a 24 hour period of Tylenol. So you could take two 500mg tablets 4 times a day for example. This is the medically approved amount, and Josephine has stated this in a number of posts on BS.

Beautiful view from your hike.

 

[Pleinair5]

As I commented elsewhere about the hike, 3/4 of a mile felt like six. Or worse. When I hiked up Mount Tom in central PA in 2010 I didn't feel as badly as I did today. And it wasn't just the knees. My back, and oddly enough one side of my diaphragm hurt as well. My guess is that the muscles in my back and diaphragm are used to my body moving a certain way, and now that I no longer have that odd twisting motion in my gait they are rebelling. Or it could be that I'm tensing up when I have to walk distances. I had the same thing happen when I used the grocery cart at the supermarket earlier this week. Then I thought it was my body attempting to stabilize me as I walked. Today I used the cane and had the same problem.

BTW I'm surprised I haven't slept more. I napped about an hour. That's all for a ten hour day out of the house. Meanwhile it's the middle of the night and I'm listening to Saint-Saens piano concertos while posting to Bonesmart. I wonder when I'll get back to a normal sleep schedule?

Historian, we are going though much the same. I find my body adjusting to a new gait, and then the more I do (like you, trying to get back to hiking/walking and all) then I am sore all over, back and hips and knee, and I saw on your other post that you are also exploring some otc pain meds---tylenol----I found as I did more I would be achy afterwards. Don't want to stop doing things so I am listening to Jo now about pain management (since I am off narcotics) . I am now experimenting with tylenol and some regular ibuprofen as I want to keep up the activity level without paying a price later. I found when I went to the grocery store and used the cart, by the time I was done, I had to go sit on a bench while the woman checked out my purchases.

Hoping we both start sleeping better soon. I am hoping with light pain management and I am using some herbal sleep aids, that soon I will get a better/longer and less interrupted night's sleep.

 

[Josephine]

(such power I have! )

Pleinair, you should read this article again, specifically that part about the progression of activities which says

Weeks 4 and 5
Lengthen the walks to about 10-15 minutes once a day, maybe twice a day if it doesn't cause your knee/hip to swell or be painful.

Activity: now you can do some dusting and push a vacuum round the middle of the living room; do more meal prep and maybe fill and empty the washing machine

Weeks 6 and onward
Start taking car trips to the shops but keep them short and sweet at the start, no longer than 15-20 minutes
Take at least one 5 minute rest while you are out.

You are, I believe, now 5½ weeks out! :wink1:

 

[Pleinair5]

Jo you do have power!
Thank you for reminding me to go back a read this again. I went for *too* long a "hike" today and feel it big time. I have a physical therapist *telling* me she wants me to return to the hike I was doing prior to surgery asap. I told my husband I thought 5 week post surgery was a bit soon for that, though I was fortunate even to have been able to do it them with the lousy condition of my knee pre-surgery. I was trying to explain to husband, short walks, with a place for a break was good (PT wants me to be able to do it without breaks, and I do not see the benefit of that, frankly). Hubby is hearing her say that and said to me today, well, they don't want people sitting around doing nothing......(hardly what I am doing) so I told him that an oft asked question on here is, whether that PT, or that doctor, or that friend, has ever been through a knee replacement themselves (which none of mine have), and if not, their view on recovery may not in fact be very realistic.
Thank you for the reminder to read this, and to maybe pace myself a bit more. Slow and steady wins the race.......

 

[TheHistorian]

Map of the trail I hiked is here (trail is marked with a red dashed line):

broken link removed: https://dsf.chesco.org/ccparks/lib/ccparks/trails/brs_trail_map_3.pdf

Distance was 3/4 mile, and it took me about an hour to hike it, including a few minutes resting at the two benches. Walk would be a better description, since the trail is paved and engineered for wheelchairs, meeting standards set by the Americans With Disabilities Act. More benches for Americans With Disabilities who do NOT use wheelchairs would be a nice improvement.

Add in walking in my home, my mother's apartment (I described it as helping her move, but she insisted I just sit and I'm not strong enough at the moment to argue with her - and she knows it!), the bike shop, and at home and I had to have walked over a mile. And while I was seated much of the day, I didn't sleep during the 10 hours I was out of the house.

 

[TheHistorian]

PT today went better than I feared. Problem area was the left hamstring, as usual too tight. Its stretching more and more, and the PT folks think I'll get to near zero in the next couple of weeks. Right one gets to zero without a problem.

Walking is getting better. The problem I have is that if you tell me to work on something, I wind up emphasizing it. So while heel strike and bending the leg when I walk are important, I've been taking it too far. The goal is to keep the good traits I've learned and smooth them out so I don't lurch from side to side like Frankenstein's monster. That, and the muscle adjustments I wrote about, are what's causing the back pain on long walks.

I told the trainer I want to ride Crush the Commonwealth next year. When I explained its an endurance bicycle ride between PA's two biggest cities, he was at a loss for words. After he got over the surprise, he told me "your training has to start now."

And speaking of training, I'll be going back to the gym for upper body and core workouts. I was advised start at a tenth of what I normally would do and add back a tenth each session. The idea is that after 3 weeks I should be lifting what I did before surgery. The cautious pace is to allow me to ease back into it without hurting myself.

 

[bottomshollow]

I admire your dedication and desire. What a lot of hard work you've got ahead of you. But I don't doubt for a minute that you'll reach your goal.

My sport is spectatorship---and I'm excellent at it---I can sit on hard backless benches for long periods of time without falling off. And its takes no special talents or exercise and little or no dedication.

 

[TheHistorian]

So no one at Bonesmart loves me. Sniff sniff....

 

[Roy Gardiner]

I told the trainer I want to ride Crush the Commonwealth next year. When I explained its an endurance bicycle ride between PA's two biggest cities, he was at a loss for words. After he got over the surprise, he told me "your training has to start now."

400 miles in one hit? You like a challenge don't you. The PanMass is a good one, too.

 

[TheHistorian]

400 miles in one hit? You like a challenge don't you. The PanMass is a good one, too.

Crush the Commonwealth is about 380 miles, and people tend to sleep at least once on the ride. This year due to horrible weather conditions in western Pennsylvania a number of riders took three days to complete. Half the 2012 field DNF, including last year's winners who suffered hypothermia when trying to ride at night in 20 degree Farenheit wind chill.... so it sounds like a good time.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm drawn to such things. I might be compensating for the "cycling community's" well-known disdain for people who don't look exactly like themselves.

 

[Roy Gardiner]

Crush the Commonwealth is about 380 miles, and people tend to sleep at least once on the ride. This year due to horrible weather conditions in western Pennsylvania a number of riders took three days to complete. Half the 2012 field DNF, including last year's winners who suffered hypothermia when trying to ride at night in 20 degree Farenheit wind chill.... so it sounds like a good time.

Sometimes I wonder why I'm drawn to such things. I might be compensating for the "cycling community's" well-known disdain for people who don't look exactly like themselves.

You could also think about Audax. London-Edinburgh-London and Paris-Brest-Paris are the two longest.

Not all cyclists are so insular. I have found that the best ones aren't, generally speaking.

 

[zjrog]

I ran into roadie snobs a bunch 20 years ago. I couldn't afford their toys, and preferred to beat them than talk to them. Beat meaning to better tham, not physically pummel them (though more than probably needed it!)...

 

[TheHistorian]

A bit down today. Weather has been damp, and my joints have complained. I've moved back upstairs, which means I'm navigating steps six times a day. PT was tough on Thursday. So was getting caught up on spring cleaning. I miss having stamina.

 

[TheHistorian]

I've stopped noting flexion from my PT since I'm routinely getting 130 or greater. Ditto with extension.... we know the left needs stretching, but no need to keep mentioning it.