TKR The Snail and Her Walker - A Slowpoke's Recovery<
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Now that it's the day after forever, I finally feel like I'm making progress @kneeper! I get so excited when I can hobble from one part of a room to another without the walker, crutch, cane, or pole. Far from a healthy gait, but I'm just so thrilled to be able to walk without assistance for a few steps.
And I am loving my new trekking poles! I love to stop and talk to other people using assistive devices. I find they are always so friendly and it's so nice to encourage each other. Now that I'm sporting what look like ski poles, they're great conversation starters.
I overdid it a bit walking around a few stores yesterday and had to skip the pool today. Iced and elevated for several hours today. But I'll be back in the water tomorrow! I've been wearing swim pants to cover my scars (and so I don't have to shave my legs) but tomorrow I'm going to shave, wear swim shorts, and let those red bad boys lead the way!
And I am loving my new trekking poles! I love to stop and talk to other people using assistive devices. I find they are always so friendly and it's so nice to encourage each other. Now that I'm sporting what look like ski poles, they're great conversation starters.
I overdid it a bit walking around a few stores yesterday and had to skip the pool today. Iced and elevated for several hours today. But I'll be back in the water tomorrow! I've been wearing swim pants to cover my scars (and so I don't have to shave my legs) but tomorrow I'm going to shave, wear swim shorts, and let those red bad boys lead the way!
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I hope it happens soon for you @kmak81230! 
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Week 12 Update.
Sadly, Monday found me driving back to the office in the dark to put in a full day of work. Department lunch out, meetings in a building down the street from my office, and struggling down five flights of stairs landed me unwillingly in the ODIC.
Top it off with my boss asking me, "When will you get off those things" and following that up with the two people he knew who were walking around just fine at three months made me want to go home and never leave. If only I could pass this swollen, painful, unstable feeling in my knees to him for five minutes, he'd sing a different tune. Blah.
All in all, I feel exactly how I thought I'd feel. Swollen, painful, unstable, and exhausted. Thankful I have a few days of vacation to burn so won't work more than three days a week through the first week in January. I love working from home, did so in previous jobs and want that back in my life so I've been applying to remote jobs in hope of getting one soon. Life is too short and precious to be stuck in the wrong situation!
Sadly, Monday found me driving back to the office in the dark to put in a full day of work. Department lunch out, meetings in a building down the street from my office, and struggling down five flights of stairs landed me unwillingly in the ODIC.
Top it off with my boss asking me, "When will you get off those things" and following that up with the two people he knew who were walking around just fine at three months made me want to go home and never leave. If only I could pass this swollen, painful, unstable feeling in my knees to him for five minutes, he'd sing a different tune. Blah.All in all, I feel exactly how I thought I'd feel. Swollen, painful, unstable, and exhausted. Thankful I have a few days of vacation to burn so won't work more than three days a week through the first week in January. I love working from home, did so in previous jobs and want that back in my life so I've been applying to remote jobs in hope of getting one soon. Life is too short and precious to be stuck in the wrong situation!
traceys
graduate
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Larryhg3
senior
@ teecup That is complete **** from your boss. I am with you, let them spend a half hour feeling what you feel right now. Odds are he would be curled up in the fetal position saying please make it stop. Hopefully you find something that is a better fit soon.
kmak81230
post-grad
Hugs to you teecup. Easier said than done, but try to ignore your insensitive boss. I hope you have some restful days over the remaining month and early 2019. Sounds like you need it!!
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Went in Monday for my 3-month check up for my second knee. Would not have gone in if I wasn't having issues, but I'm having issues. The only time I don't have a burning, stretching pain around the top and sides of both knees is when I'm reclined and not moving my legs. At almost 8 months out from first knee and 5 months out from second, I know that's not typical. I'm still taking Norco and extra strength Tylenol to control the pain, and Celebrex for the swelling. It has only been two weeks since I've been off the assistance of a walking pole. I've had too much pain and stiffness to walk on my own. Buy my quads/hams/glutes are finally built up enough to support me.
When doc examined my knees, he commented about the amount of swelling and the color of my scars - still very purple - and how the skin around my knees is different than my other skin (wrinkled like an elephant's) and the capillaries are showing (red dots all over). He said that was an indication of the healing inside, which is not healing. He asked me if it still hurt to have items touch my knees. It does. When I'm home I have my pant legs rolled up much of the time because it's irritating to have material touch them. I also get pain in the back of my knee sometimes, more of a pushing pain that comes and goes. He said he would be concerned that I had an allergic reaction to the metal if I were running a fever, but I'm not. He also said the implants he used (Smith & Nephew Journey II) are hypoallergenic so he wouldn't expect me to have an allergic reaction.
His diagnosis? Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). I'd never heard of it before. He prescribed a Medrol does pack (oral cortisone steroid, which I will not take because the cortisone injections in my knees before surgery caused major flares that lasted for weeks), Lyrica (Gabapentin makes the world spin around me), and Elavil. I'm happy to say that the pain is now gone; I'm left with the stretching feeling, but I'll take that over burning pain any day. After doing a bit of research on CRPS I learned that some people recover from it, and some don't. I'm hoping and praying that I'll be among the percentile that heals. I would hate to have to take these meds for the rest of my life!
Just wanted to share about my CRPS in case someone else is way past their surgery date but is still having a lot of pain and/or swelling. You're not being a big baby or imagining it. We know it's real!
I'm in the process of reading Josephine's and others' posts on Bonesmart about CRPS.
When doc examined my knees, he commented about the amount of swelling and the color of my scars - still very purple - and how the skin around my knees is different than my other skin (wrinkled like an elephant's) and the capillaries are showing (red dots all over). He said that was an indication of the healing inside, which is not healing. He asked me if it still hurt to have items touch my knees. It does. When I'm home I have my pant legs rolled up much of the time because it's irritating to have material touch them. I also get pain in the back of my knee sometimes, more of a pushing pain that comes and goes. He said he would be concerned that I had an allergic reaction to the metal if I were running a fever, but I'm not. He also said the implants he used (Smith & Nephew Journey II) are hypoallergenic so he wouldn't expect me to have an allergic reaction.
His diagnosis? Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). I'd never heard of it before. He prescribed a Medrol does pack (oral cortisone steroid, which I will not take because the cortisone injections in my knees before surgery caused major flares that lasted for weeks), Lyrica (Gabapentin makes the world spin around me), and Elavil. I'm happy to say that the pain is now gone; I'm left with the stretching feeling, but I'll take that over burning pain any day. After doing a bit of research on CRPS I learned that some people recover from it, and some don't. I'm hoping and praying that I'll be among the percentile that heals. I would hate to have to take these meds for the rest of my life!
Just wanted to share about my CRPS in case someone else is way past their surgery date but is still having a lot of pain and/or swelling. You're not being a big baby or imagining it. We know it's real!
I'm in the process of reading Josephine's and others' posts on Bonesmart about CRPS.
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donnag1108
senior
Sorry to see you are having these issues but at least there is some improvement. Thank you for sharing this information. While I am only 11 weeks out and having no issues I had never heard of this and it's good information to have. Hopeful you continue to see improvement.
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Thank you, @donnag1108. It has been wonderful to get relief from that pain. The meds make me feel a bit weird, but I can function.
Very glad you're recovering without issues. That's how it should be!
Very glad you're recovering without issues. That's how it should be!
traceys
graduate
Oh Teacup I am so sorry to hear you are struggling.
It’s the worst feeling when pain just wont let you rest for even a moment.
Celebrate the little things. They are markers that you are heading in the right direction.
It’s the worst feeling when pain just wont let you rest for even a moment.
Celebrate the little things. They are markers that you are heading in the right direction.
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Here I am almost 15 months since the left TKR and 12 months the right. I survived!
Every day I'm thankful that I can walk without arthritis swelling/pain, and that the surgeries are behind me! I have one God-made joint left (left hip) and aim to keep it. While it has been hard to get in a "workout" as I still have the constant stretching sensation around both knees (so weird) and the tops and outsides are still puffy and sore, I'm doing what I can. Bottom line: I can walk without assistance, and for that I'm thrilled!
My ortho surgeon finally washed his hands of me and referred me to a pain clinic to manage my meds after his Complex Regional Pain Syndrome diagnosis. I had to sign a "pain contract" for my opioid (Norco). I'm also still on Lyrica, Celebrex, and Amitriptyline for swelling and to try to stop my nerves from telling my brain I hurt. But I DO NOT intend to live my life on these drugs so the first thing to go is Norco. I've stepped myself down (under the clinic's supervision) and at the end of next week I'll be off that stuff. I'm uncomfortable, ranging from a 1 to 3, but I can live with that, taking a few over-the-counter meds when it starts to shoot for the 4. My next visit is at the end October. I'll be stepping off one of the others, or at least trying to.
Summation? I'm still recovering. Slowly. And for every inch of progress, I am thankful.
Every day I'm thankful that I can walk without arthritis swelling/pain, and that the surgeries are behind me! I have one God-made joint left (left hip) and aim to keep it. While it has been hard to get in a "workout" as I still have the constant stretching sensation around both knees (so weird) and the tops and outsides are still puffy and sore, I'm doing what I can. Bottom line: I can walk without assistance, and for that I'm thrilled!
My ortho surgeon finally washed his hands of me and referred me to a pain clinic to manage my meds after his Complex Regional Pain Syndrome diagnosis. I had to sign a "pain contract" for my opioid (Norco). I'm also still on Lyrica, Celebrex, and Amitriptyline for swelling and to try to stop my nerves from telling my brain I hurt. But I DO NOT intend to live my life on these drugs so the first thing to go is Norco. I've stepped myself down (under the clinic's supervision) and at the end of next week I'll be off that stuff. I'm uncomfortable, ranging from a 1 to 3, but I can live with that, taking a few over-the-counter meds when it starts to shoot for the 4. My next visit is at the end October. I'll be stepping off one of the others, or at least trying to.
Summation? I'm still recovering. Slowly. And for every inch of progress, I am thankful.
I am 2.5 years post op. Though I still have some issues, I am also still seeing improvements. You probably will, too!Summation? I'm still recovering. Slowly. And for every inch of progress, I am thankful.
