TKR Turning a Corner Towards Recovery

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I was having lots of pain, pretty much had given up on being able to walk without pain. Finally got a good PT...huge effort to do that, but I'm glad I made it. I have tendonitis under the knee. I thought it was something wrong with the actual prosthetic. So, at a year and a half, I am finally making the kind of progress I expected to be making at six months. Here's an exercise my PT now has me doing that I think is making a difference. I lie on my stomach and simply glide the knee up in a bend as far as it will go. Sometimes I hold, other times I just bend and release it to the bed. Another is with a machine at the gym. Low (ten pound weight), seat back as far forward as possible and I put both legs under one of those padded roll things. raise with both legs and lower slowly with the TKR leg. She explained that my tendon is all cross hatched and that this will lengthen and encourage it to heal in smoother line. Since everyone I see says I'm walking better after two weeks, I am going to keep on. If I haven't been clear and anyone wants to see a photo of the machine, I can take one. Just ask. I am so psyched that I am actually going to be able to hike soon. I am convinced!
 
This is soooo confusing as that s the exercise machine the hospital told me not to use.....?
 
Yes, this particular machine is not generally recommended for knee patients.---but I think Juniper's pt is using is in a specific and gentle way.
 
Great news, Juniper! I am at 15 months post op and it has taken me soooo long to get to where I feel I can go hiking too. I tried returning to teaching when I wasn't physically or mentally ready, lasted 2 months, then went on sick leave for the remainder of the school year. Now I am retired and enjoying myself. I start each day by going to the gym and working out for about an hour or so. Getting in the pool helped my recovery tremendously, along with using an elliptical machine when I was strong enough. I also use the leg extension machine you are talking about, but I keep it at 20 pounds and don't try to increase the weights like I do on all the other machines I use. I have no pain on the new knee, but the other one pains me sometimes. It has carried the load for many years. I have done small hikes on relatively flat land this past spring, but look forward to getting back in the mountains this fall.
 
I am so happy for both of you---and impressed that you did not give up!! I feel the same way==someone asked me what would happen if I lost a leg and could not ski---the answer is obvious, of course, I would learn to ski in a sit ski naturally!!!
 
This site has been a lifesaver for me, literally. I really was ready to give up, and I got encouragement, and I took charge and found the care I needed. Now the PT is giving me exercises that will gradually allow me to get up from a lower and lower seat. I want to canoe without having to be hauled up out of the seat. My knee still has that tight band feeling...more on some days than others. Do any of you find that it goes away completely? Or is it something you just have to live with? I'm hoping that with time and regular strengthening and stretching, the feeling will go away, but I'm not sure. So much better legwise and "head" wise than I was three weeks ago. Now I'm swimming and biking (at the gym) every day.
 
Juniper, it warms my heart to read your post. Yes, the tight band feeling does go away---someday you will "forget" to think about your knee for a day or two and then, you will know that you are almost done. I think it is awesome that you did not give up -- or "make do" with what you have---you searched for help and answers and will now end up with a functional knee. Congratulations, You deserve it.
 
Jane, so pleased you're getting better and better. Some days the tight band is there and others not at all, I'm almost always aware that my knee is new but it doesn't bother me.
 
Kelly and Nancy, it is so good to hear from you both. That's what I mean--encouragement and understanding. Thanks to both of you. Yesterday, as I was leaving our local Trader Joes, (a grocery story, since you may not know, Nancy) I saw a woman hobbling across the parking lot with a full cart. I offered to help her get her bags in her car and she said, "Thank you, Baby." We waited for cars so I pushed a bit. and said, "I know what it feels like to need help. I had my knee replaced." "Oh, they say I need that too, but I'm holding off, so many go bad." I told her I'd had a long recovery but I was getting great physical therapy and was doing so much better. I didn't say, "Oh, honey, I was never as bad as you are." We talked more and she asked me to write my PT's name down. I did, and the center as well, and then I said, "I think you may need to have this surgery, here's a great website that will give you lots of information and support." It's so great that you are the moderator, Josephine--I told her you are a nurse who has had the surgery and has all kinds of helpful advice. I wonder where I can post thank yous to this site, how to let docs and physical therapists know how unbelievably helpful you all are. I get why people stay with the site long after their healing has progressed. I felt so good talking to this woman. And she said, "Bless you, Baby. Bless you, Baby," as she left. I do feel blessed. Good feeling.
 
juniper Isn't it a great feeling? And you know, I get those warm fuzzies almost every day I post on here and at work and out in the real world! It's the best!

And you were the best not only for spotting that dear lady's difficulties but also for taking the time to talk with her and offer her hope. It's almost (though not quite!) as satisfying as introducing someone to Jesus!
 
Jane, I also want to thank you for that lovely post. I reported it so that all the staff would see it--but then, forgot to say thanks myself!!! It is very satisfying to think that you have helped someone else---as you know now after your introduction to the lady you helped!!!

Positive things come to our lives when we face life with a positive outlook. (I hasten to add, as all of you already know, I don't always follow my own advice!!! I spent almost three weeks feeling sorry for myself last summer!!! Good for you Jane, for moving on to a more positive place!! And for helping others too.
 
I'm going to have my husband take photos of the exercises I do so I can share. He's off to a township meeting tonight. He's on the environmental council...working parks, erosion, flood control...all volunteer as he looks for work. A good man.

Anyway, the biggest change for me with this physical therapist is that she doesn't confine herself to my replaced knee. She sees that my other knee is compromised...I had it reconstructed when I was a kid because of so many dislocations. She also sees that I have hip weakness and that is actually what is interfering with my walking down stairs. Also...she's helping me build up arm and shoulder muscles so that I can lift myself up from the canoe seat. Things like "counter top push ups." I think the PT wouldn't mind taking pictures of the few exercises that I do on machines in the gym at PT. She's helped me do with substituting other exercises since PT will end after next week. If I continue to have trouble she explained how I could continue PT later.

Don't give up if your recovery is taking longer than you hoped. I actually did when March hit and I was well past the one year mark and still in enormous pain. Tight band feeling is still present but it is lessening. Thank God for good friends who pushed me to get the right PT no matter how many hoops I had to jump through to get it.
 
Here I am canoeing in Juniper Lake. One of the reasons I had my TKR was to be able to do this. Hooray! Also was able to hike up to Crystal Lake, a very steep hike, but I made it...relied on my new knee more than the other as I pulled myself up over a few boulders. My husband helped on the loose gravel, and I used my trusty walking stick as well. Major accomplishment. And I was able to get in and out of the new kayak, something I thought I'd never be able to do. Actually, the hardest thing about the trip was the nightflight back to Phila. A long time to be cramped in a seat. My knee didn't like it. But it was worth the wonderfulness of hiking, swimming in the lake...a wonderful cold that felt so amazing...and being in a boat on the water. It is so quiet and beautiful. I feel filled with the peace of this place.
 
Here's a question for some of you bone smarties with some medical background. I finally went back to see the surgeon. Never went for my one year visit, which he didn't seem to realize when he saw me. "No, it's been nineteen months," I told him. He could see that the PT had helped. And when I told him that I still had this tight band, like a block of wood in my knee, he explained that what I was probably feeling was the numbness of an artificial knee. "It doesn't have nerves so you experience numbness. Your brain translates that into an experience of pain." I'd never heard that before. He didn't think the fact that I can't stand for longer than ten minutes without pain has to do with the knee or tendonitis. "It would hurt when you were walking more than when standing, if it was tendonitis." He thought maybe a pinched nerve in my back.

I had to stop any intense exercise because of some surgery on my arm...have to wait until the stitches heal...and I can tell the difference with my knee, so I'm looking forward to getting back to my exercise routines. They have made such a huge difference. Finding the right balance of cardio, stretching and strengthening has been crucial for me. Now I get to have fun and it really is FUN. Nineteen months probably seems like forever when you are at nineteen weeks and still hurting, but for me, it's been worth it. Finally.
 
Nancy, the pro-active use of meds sounds smart to me. Then see how you feel if you space them out a bit more. I still take something some time in the morning when the swelling and stiffness start, although I always start by icing. I got a new ice pack that wraps around my leg and I like it a lot.

What new ice pack did you get?

Jude
 
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