TKR Twinkletoes' Recovery

[Janet2012]

Boy, I hope it starts to get better fast!

 

[kneeper]

:console: bummer that you can't take stronger pain meds

 

[referee54]

Hang in there---take it gently! Ice and elevate and do not get frustrated and try to push all that much. Your knee is still angry after the MUA---let it settle down.

 

[Jamie]

Twink.....help me understand why you had to do exercises in the dance studio in addition to your therapy. And....why you must go to therapy every day.....no rest days in between. This sounds like way, way too much working out to me.

 

[referee54]

I would agree---I had PT twice a week after my BTKR---and I did some extra gentle stretching and I rode the stationary bike in between---but that was it.

You have to let your surgical knee rest and recover---even people who workout with non surgical knees and joints understand the importance of allowing the body to recover after a workout.

PT twice a week should suffice---less is more, as they say.

 

[Celle]

I would agree---I had PT twice a week after my BTKR---and I did some extra gentle stretching and I rode the stationary bike in between---but that was it.

You have to let your surgical knee rest and recover---even people who workout with non surgical knees and joints understand the importance of allowing the body to recover after a workout.

PT twice a week should suffice---less is more, as they say.

Dear Twink, Do follow referee 54's advice!

Your poor knee has had a rough time - first a replacement and now a MUA. It's been cut, sawed, pulled around, hammered, had a foreign body inserted into its bones, been stitched up again, and now it's been pulled and wrenched. It needs time to recover, and it needs to be treated gently.

The MUA will have caused it to swell again. Even if you don't see much external swelling, it will be swollen on the inside. That swelling will prevent it from bending as much as you would like and no amount of physiotherapy will increase the bending until the swelling is gone. In fact, too much over-ambitious physio could further irritate your knee and slow down recovery.

At the moment, being kind to your knee is most important. Rest, ice, elevate, and do only gentle bending and stretching exercises. Twice a week is quite often enough at this stage for physiotherapy, with no additional exercise in your studio.

I know it's hard to be patient, but it's your knee. Be kind to it! It will be worth it in the end. :flowerysmile:

 

[Twinkletoes]

Janet ~ Thank you for the well wishes. Good luck to you on your up-coming BTKR on June 4th!!!

Kneeper ~ I know. I don't know why it is that my system just cannot tolerate or take and/or is allergic to all those 'feel good' meds. I am hoping that soon I will be in a better place with my pain.

Tim ~ Oh yes, my knee is definitely very angry and swollen!

I do ice and elevate as much as I can, but when the surgeon explained that it's really important to keep the knee moving so that the adhesions won't come back again, I understood. I simply could not take that!

He said that there was a lot of crackling and popping when he manipulated my knee, so there was a lot of adhesions in there. The exercises I'm doing at home in the dance studio consist of pushing gently back and forth on the stationary bike (I cannot do a full rotation yet) and some work with the exercise ball on the massage table with my heels bringing the ball towards my rear and holding for 5 seconds and then extending out and holding for 5 seconds. Repeating this 10 times. Then, sitting on the ball and holding onto the ballet barre, rolling back and forth and then bouncing a little. And, last but not least, laying on the massage table with my right knee dangling over the edge. Pull my knee back and holding and then swinging gently back and forth. I do this a few times a day and then ice and elevate. I'm praying that this will pay off and when I see the surgeon again on May 2nd, I might be able to ease off a little...but I don't have much hope of that.

Jamie ~ I agree with you...it's way too much work! I hate that my entire life is my knee. In fact, I will always remember 2012 as The Year of The Knee! I have a very big birthday coming up next week, but I've decided that until I feel better, I am not going to celebrate!

Tim ~ I would agree again...a day of rest for those non surgical knees is fine, unless you have a schedule and can keep up. When I was dancing professionally, I either worked out and/or practiced almost daily. Several years ago, I didn't have problems with my knees. It came on slowly and then I found that I had osteoarthritis in both knees and was able to keep them going with the injections until this past year.

Celle ~ I know that I'm still in the early stages, but having to have the MUA really did me in. And, I knew that the adhesions had to be very bad because I felt as if I had a steel band going down over my knee cap and several inches down from there. I also know that adhesions can form again if I don't keep it moving. So, I am caught between the wanting to be nice to my knee

and telling it that it just has to move and I'll ice and elevate it often. Yes, I am very impatient, but I'm so frustrated and for this week anyway, I am going to listen to my surgeon and see what happens when I see him next Wednesday.

I'm afraid that I'm still in the stage where if someone asks me if I'm glad I had the knee replacement surgery, I will say without hesitation, "No!"

 

[Twinkletoes]

Here I am again, on my birthday

and just came home from PT. I am not exactly pleased with my flexion (81 degrees today - the therapist didn't want to push it further since my ankle is a little swollen (from the MUA?) but it was 84 the day after the MUA). That's better than it was before the MUA. This knee recovery thing is a Full Time Job! I'm at 12 weeks from the TKR and it feels like 12 years!

I have to see the surgeon tomorrow (one week from the MUA) and I am very worried about what he'll have to say.

Anyone have any advice and/or information regarding recovery and obtaining flexion after the MUA? My extension is pretty good...

I am only concerned with the flexion.

I can't believe that I almost forgot to mention... Sunday evening we went out to an early dinner and to the theatre to see Billy Elliott. It was terrific! We had seen it last year in New York and loved it. But, what I wanted to say was that I slept for three consecutive hours!!! And, another three consecutive hours after that! It was amazing. Then last night, I again slept for three hours at a time!

I hope and pray that this continues because I have been so sleep deprived since my TKR.

 

[speccybecky]

Happy Birthday x

 

[PooShay]

Twink, Happy Birthday! Hope there was cake!

You mean you slept during Billy Elliott? :th_heehee: Glad you were able to get chunks of sleep! Always helps one's disposition when awake. I, OTOH, couldn't fall asleep last night. Poor hubby went to sleep in the guest bedroom. I just couldn't get comfortable. (when I say that of my friends, they wonder why I couldn't get comfortable. When I say that here, I need no explanation.)

 

[karmigirl]

Twink,

Happy Birthday.

I think it is to be expected to lose a bit of flexion from what they got at the MUA, just for a bit. You have to realize that 3 degrees is not that much and it sounds like you are doing fine. Just keep up with your flexion exercises , gently, spread them out during the day. Don't try to do all at once this is what will make the swelling return. Gentle, small amounts, slow will win the race.

 

[Ditzzeechick]

Yes!!! You rec'd my birthday gift!!! I knew you wanted sleep more than anything else :th_heehee:

Don't know anything about MUA but I wish you much sleep, on this your birthday.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Thank you all for the birthday wishes!!! No, I didn't sleep during Billy Elliott!

I enjoyed every minute of it! And, I was mistaken...we saw it the first time in London in August last year. But, we did see other shows in New York in September...

Bev ~ Yes, sleep (or lack of) has been very worrisome to me.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that I wanted sleep more than anything... I do like to get real, tangible gifts too!

I am High Maintenance and proud of it!

PooShay ~ Oh yes, there was Chocolate Fudge Cake! And yes again, we here at BoneSmart understand completely about not being able to get comfortable with those angry knees!

Rose ~ I don't just lose a little flexion, I can't get past 80 or 81 degrees since the MUA and it is so frustrating...and painful! My OS doesn't comprehend slow winning the race. I can't take much more of this! (not that I have any choice but to continue...)

 

[Twinkletoes]

Hi again!

I went to see my OS and when he walked into the room, he asked how I was doing.
I said, "Can you hear my knee whining?" He said, "No, but I can hear YOU whining."

He doesn't want to see me showing my cranky face.
Is this better?

How about this?

Don't tell him, but it's more like this...

and sometimes like this...

I'm going for acupuncture

tomorrow morning
in the hopes that he can take away my pain since
I cannot take pain meds and/or anti-inflammatory meds.

My OS also did say that I could ease off the PT and not go every day,
but that I do need to go a couple times a week and do the bending, etc.

 

[kneeper]

:th_heehee:

 

[Janet2012]

I think every OS surgeon should go through a joint replacement as a prerequisite before dealing with patients, needed or not.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Kneeper ~

Janet ~ What a brilliant thought! They cannot possibly know what our pain is like until they've been there and felt it. It's one thing to be sympathetic and compassionate, but no one can know what it feels like until they've experienced it. Another reason that Bonesmarties are so terrific; They've all been there, done that and know precisely what we're talking about. I remember saying that a few days after my TKR surgery that I was thinking, "

...I've change my mind, I don't want the surgery!"

I'm still stuck in the Cranky Stage (at 13 weeks) and keep thinking (I forget who said it here in Bonesmart) - When someone asked him if he was happy that he'd had the knee replacement surgery, he replied, "Not yet!"

I have to go back to my OS on the 22nd and I keep thinking that I'd better be better...or else! I don't know what the or else could be, but I can't keep NOT bending! My knee is not cooperating!

 

[Lori]

Yikes. I guess reading your posts makes me understand that some recoveries are tedious & not how we'd have expected them to be. How was sitting at the theater? Sitting for any length of time with my knee bent is so painful, so I have to move around, rub it, etc. At least going to the show took your mind off your knee, especially since the performance was good! Your knee had to be bent pretty far to sit in the seat! It must have been worth it to be able to see a live performance! I just had my birthday on 4-30 & now I'm 53. I have made the decision to have my knee "done" on 6-4-12. I'm hoping that next year at this time I'll be hiking Torrey Pines State Park, walking the trails in San Diego, riding my bike in the San Diego Tour de Cure for diabetes (I'll be thrilled to ride the 11 mile easy ride) and breaking in a (well deserved) new pair of figure skates. Praying that my recovery will be uneventful & that I'll be open to learning things throughout this chapter in my life. I am going to start a journal just prior to the surgery, so I can re-read how I felt during this summer. I guess having a TKR is a little like being pregnant. Nine months & your life is never the same. Maybe after nine months your life will again be full of the things that make you happy & fulfilled. Praying for you, too. :biggrin:

 

[Ditzzeechick]

Twink, I love your faces!! I'm in total agreement with Janet as far as the medical caregivers lack of "real" joint replacement experience. The closest I've come is a PT who had an ACL tear due to jogging. My therapist has caused some pain in the past 5 days so I'm taking tomorrow off in order to recuperate (I've been feeling so good recently!) Monday I'll discuss with her won't we won't be doing going forward or at least until my thighs are able to handle the stress and strain without screaming on their own! Funny, no knee pain but they are causing pain elsewhere, this must stop.

 

[Dianne]

Ooo Twink, hope u get to feeling better real soon..my knee cracks and pops also but is feeling some better since I started taking Celebrex last week...and I have found that just standing up and bending my knee throughout the day a few times seems to keep it from getting stiff..don't need anything extreme!! Happy belated birthday and pray for u to get some good results....
love
Di