TKR TKR Recovery surgery on 10/13/21

Glad you're progressing well. Those are great reports for one month out.
 
I'm at about a month out now, too. I'm feeling like I'm ready to get out of the house, as well, but leary about how I'll handle it. I agree that a couple of hours would be my limit, maybe even past my limit!

I call the late hours of the afternoon/early evening my "witching hour." At this time I'm so tired and achy, almost as if my knee is begging me to stop all activity for the day. Most evenings I crawl into bed by 8:00 and even if I just read for an hour or so, it feels like such a relief to take a break.

I agree that people expect us to be much better at 4 weeks out. I can tell you that I'm still very much healing, taking pain meds, and need at least one nap every day. Glad I'm not going back to work for another 6 weeks. I'm going to need the rest! You're right - patience, patience, patience.

Happy healing!
 
TKR- Entering into week 6!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Yesterday was a good day for me I started at my surgeon's office appointment and she showed me the xray of my new device and it was pretty cool! She said I was making good progress! then came went out to lunch with hubby and did a few errands. I logged in about 4300 steps that's the biggest number of steps I have had since before the surgery!

I was getting ready to go to my sister-in=laws for TGiving dinner this afternoon and I started to feel very tired and knee was sore, not super painful but mainly fatigue and nausea. The thought of eating a big Tgiving dinner was NOT appealing to me and all I wanted to do was stay home and rest. I have been lowering my oxy to maybe one a day and I wonder if I feel the side effect withdrawals or just plain overdid it with hubby yesterday. I feel like the pattern is good day go out do stuff and bad day take to ice and bed rest. Anyhow, I did NOT go to out to Thanksgiving celebration dinner :( AND ofcourse missed last years due to COVID. SO very depressing and I felt very sorry for myself! (especially since if today was yesterday all would have been good. If that makes sense!)

That's my sad tale about Thanksgiving I have another chance tomorrow to host my daughter and son-in-law with catered food. hopefully, it will be a good day.

Happy Healing everyone!!
 
Awww. I'm sorry you missed your Thanksgiving celebration. I agree that this Thanksgiving is pretty depressing. I'm at 4 1/2 weeks out and recovery going well, but after one good day, it seems like I'm wiped and sore and have to ice and elevate a lot. We are actually having our dinner tomorrow. Luckily my husband and two daughters are doing all of the work. They told me to sit and elevate and not to do anything. We are only having my daughter's boyfriend and mother-in-law over, so not a big crowd. Just 6 of us all together. If it were up to me, I'd not have dinner at all since my appetite is not great either!

I think you made the right decision to stay home and rest. You wouldn't have had fun anyway. I am also weaning off of the oxy and I, too, am feeling a lot of exhaustion. Also, my whole body is achy like I have a fever/flu but I don't have a fever or the flu. Hope this passes soon. Good luck and try to have a better day tomorrow.
 
@BarabooProud Yes,I feel like that was a good decision, upon waking up today feeling rested and no nausea. I'm glad you have support with your husband & daughter, I feel supported too and got some nice leftovers! I think it just shows the recovery pattern and to be super aware of it as we feel better. My husband pointed out I'm in the middle of Week7, not 6! LOL... still early days.

Also agree that it is a total body recovery, emotional and we have to remember the strong pain meds and how they affect our body and mental state. I'm glad we got catered food today so will take it easy and just enjoy my daughter and family! Hope your dinner is wonderful and good progress continues!
 
You are doing your activity/recovery the same way I did. I'd do a little more one day then rest the next one. If I wasn't feeling up to par, I'd rest another one. Doing too much and causing pain and swelling just sets the recovery back. Listening to the knee's reaction is the easiest way to recover.
 
4,300 steps sounds huge to me I am sure I am only doing a few hundred? I find that if I do not elevate leg enough my knee round the wound goes black like a really dark bruise! I totally understand about the appetite - I eat because I am a foodie and it is meal time and my hubby needs to eat but if I was on my own I am sure I would only be snacking. Although I generally do enjoy the food once I start eating. Sorry you did not get to your Thanksgiving celebration
 
TKR- 7 WEEKS POST OP

Checking in here. Thank you for all your great comments. My Thanksgiving Friday was really great, and I got my appetite back! I was supposed to return to work on Monday (part time) but pushed it out for 2 weeks. I'm glad I did! I took it easy over the weekend, but got out Tuesday to shop and managed to make a big Turkey Soup out of the carcass, it was a 2 day process! It was DELICIOUS! Knee has been NOT bad at all but yesterday my LEFT non-surgical knee tapped me on the shoulder (yikes) pain and I have to start thinking about the next surgery which TOTALLY FREAKS ME OUT! I'm thinking same time next year? Too much to think about! Oh yah, also worth mentioning yesterday was the first day of NO OXY!

I think the moral of the story is to remember that this is recovery time,not CLEAN OUT CLOSET time or re-organize kitchen cabinet time. My goal TODAY is to do a little cooking and walk maybe 20 minutes and do a little housework, laundry. My house is full of stairs so I think I get extra credit every day for going up and down!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Hope everyone is continuing to heal and let me know if you had your 2nd surgery close to eachother. I totally respect the bi-lateral people, but I get how you just want it one and done!

Now for the holidays :(
 
@ALOKneedsadvice great advice, I will be 8 wks out on Monday and thankfully have been off Oxy since week 4 and using tylenol extra strength. I am actually looking forward to the next surgery on the left as yesterday I really got a severe pain in that knee which has been locked for a long time prior to this surgery. My PT feels the left is actually hindering me from advancing since it doesn't move and I can't do some of the exercises on the bike.
 
ALOKneedsadvice
I'm curious how you are doing now at 6 weeks out. I had mine on Oct 14th, and I'm the same age. Stairs are not in my vocabulary yet but getting close, doing half-stairs. I just started to be able to walk a mile without pain (with patience and no timer). Right on about the rollercoaster thing, it's enough to drive you crazy.

This is too darn funny actually. Wait a second, you just had the ends of both bones cutoff, metal objects hammered into them, then all that seriously complex structural ligament work has to be put back into place, ligaments cut and adjusted to straighten the leg, quadricep cut and sewn together, etc.
"..... Also, I wanted to mention that I think people around you think - well it's been a month are you ready to get into life again? ....."

Yeah, right, maybe for some, but I still have a ways to go...."..and miles to go before I sleep..."
Happy healing back at ya.
 
TKR - END OF WEEK 7 POST OP - FEELING GRUMPY

So here I am on a down cycle. Thursday of this week, I got up feeling great and did a 20 minute walk and definitley paid for it Friday/ and today. I mentioned before the stairs in my home. We have 12 going up to the bedrooms and 14 going down to garage/laundry etc. It's so part of my life it never occurred to me that I should count it in my PT. My neighbor said, "I bet you get plenty of PT with all the stairs" and a light went on! I have set up camp upstairs in my bedroom beause it is the most comfortable and private and I'm not right next door to the kitchen LOL! so I get up and down alot and when I feel normal I do shopping (haul up groceries) and/or walk and then a flare up. While I believe you should be using your knee and working it, at this stage putting extra activities is just stupid. So, in conclusion after the extra healing takes place from my walking excursion, I'm not going to be doing the walks or the mulitple errands. If I feel good, I will do one thing and add in all the up/down stairs.
I think my PT person should tell you: "if you have stairs count that as excercise!" Or maybe it is obvious and I have just been clueless -- LOL :loll: But this site has emphasized the take it easy approach especially in the early stages.

So I am pretty grumpy today and snippy at my husband and jealous that he got to go to a memorial service today (so you know I'm being unreasonable- HA!) I'm icing and taking it very easy, like my job right now is to heal and that means minimal use of knee. @CapnRic I love the description of the surgery, that also helps me realize what my poor knee has gone through! and yah, I still think I'm 28 years old and it's shocking to me that I am so laid up and I have to do it all over again with my left knee that is TOTALLY ACTING UP!

So if you are reading this just know I wanted to cuss all throughout this post, but I'm restraining myself. It's just a big fat rant about this crazy healing process. Like "haha, I tricked you! YOU thought you were O.K. and could do things, but NOOOO you will pay!" thanks for letting me whine and moan and groan. Maybe tomorrow I will get out and do ONE thing and then spend the rest of the day HEALING.

Peace & Love TKR's :) :-) (:
 
Doing all those stairs in your home is what I call “natural” PT and yes it counts. It’s an ADL (activity of daily living) and ADLs definitely count. It’s also why members who don’t go to formal PT have a good outcome, they do their ADLs.

I‘m sorry you are grumpy today. We’ve all felt that way in this recovery. :console2:
 
10 weeks Post OP - Checking IN!

Time flies during the holidays! I hope everyone had a wonderful one with family & friends.

I went back to work on December 13 - 8 weeks post-op surgery, usually about 5-6 hours a day, 4 days a week, it's about a 30-minute commute. I come home pretty tired, not just my knee being sore and the other knee that is bone on bone being sore, but my WHOLE BODY. I, like many of us have osteoarthritis and I'm feeling it all over. My joints in my arms are popping and they never did before the surgery, my shoulders and neck and lower back. I feel like the surgery has awakened my osteo all over my body :( -- I'm not going to PT any longer and just consider my moving around all day and work enough movement for my knee. I see my surgeon tomorrow to see if this is usual, has anyone else with osteo feel this way.... I wake up sore all over and both my knees are stiff and painful. Also, I'm not on pain pills anymore just high doses of advil. I want to also mention before I went back to work, I gave up sugar and bread and felt SOOO much better but that got undone with Xmas etc. I'm back on the no-sugar no bread wagon again...Diet really helps (for me at least).

Anyhow, this is my recovery so far. Would love to hear anyone who has the sore, achey body and not just the TKR. Any experiences with diet?

Happy recovery to all... AND HAPPY NY! 2022 will be AWESOME (FINGERS CROSSED :loll:)

Annette
 
I also feel my arthritis flared up after my replacement in April. I finally concluded that it is likely the combination of learning how to walk with my new knee which impacts my entire body (in a good way) as well as the tension and stress of the surgery and recovery time (which continues). As I prepare for the replacement of my other knee, I’m finding myself exhausted from the physical pain of the “old” knee as well as the psychological stress of getting everything ready plus the worry that it might be postponed because of the surge of COVID. I’m retired so I don’t have the impact of returning to work that you had. One lesson I’ve learned is that patience is not one of my strong character points!
 
@FourCats I totally can relate to the patience thing! Curious to know if your arthritis has calmed down as your healing progresses?
Thanks for your reply! Also I have three cats ‼️
 
Actually it hasn’t calmed down probably because the other knee (to be replaced next month) got worse as I recuperated from the first knee. My hope is that once I’m several months post op with the upcoming replacement, they’ll be able to work together! I also still find changes in the weather affect my arthritis. I used to chuckle when my grandma would say that “old Arthur” was visiting her! Now I get it!!
 
alokneedsadvice
I'm a week behind you and consider my rehab is going very well but oh, how stiff my knee is after sitting down for a length of time and also when I get out of bed. Even more so than after exercise.
I also have periodic nights of an ache so bad, I don't know where to put my leg, and then the ache goes for a few days.
Weird.
I am off all pain meds and have been for most of the time apart from Naproxen, of which I'm taking 500mg a day. I think that's Aleve in US parlance.
 

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