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TKR Ups and downs (11 weeks post op)

I do agree that moving around during the night can upset the knee. At 10 months I still like to sleep all night with my leg on my elevating wedge. It relaxes my knee and keeps me in one position all night.
 
I wish that worked for me Jockette. I use my Lounge Doctor for as long as I can at night, which is about an hour. Then I start tossing and turning. The wedge gets tossed off the bed and I proceed to knot up my sheets by turning from side to side. I move around a lot at night, as my husband loves to point out (in retaliation for my pointing out how loud he snores I'm sure).
 
Same here, before surgery I tossed and turned a lot sleeping on my side, which on occasion my husband said drive him crazy (I’m sure it did many other times but he’d only mention it occasionally. He snores, and has for years.

I guess the honeymoon is over at almost 42 years of marriage and life happens!:rotfl: (Though sometimes it’s not funny. )

My wedge has a cut out in the center for one leg which I think helps keep me still. I didn’t like it at first, it hurt to have my leg on it in the early days, probably because my leg was so upset from the surgery, but I’ve come to love my wedge.
 
A milestone today! I drove for the first time with my new knee, 7 minutes each way to Trader Joe's and back. The knee had no complaints driving, but fifteen minutes in the store was enough to completely drain me, so I'll keep the errands short and sweet for the next week or so.

It was so good to get out of the house, especially ahead of the next snowstorm.
 
I too left the house on my own this week in my car. Although I do have an automatic, so in the UK the clutch is my left leg and I have had my left knee operated on (not sure which way round the pedals are in the USA). No way could I have driven with a clutch though.
I too was exhausted after 10 minutes so went home to bed !
It was good to get out of the house and I think my husband was happy to have some peace and quiet away from me :)
 
Getting out of the house is great medicine! I got out by going out to lunch about every week, but was sure to prop my leg up at the restaurant. Next trip to Trader Joe’s try using a motorized cart until you’re a little farther into recovery, 15 minutes is long at just a month post op.
 
I've been trying to identify my baseline activity level, how much I can do before I'm tired but not overly so. That way, I can stop before totally wiping out. So far, the magic number is eluding me.

An hour and a half at my desk this morning rendered me completely useless for the rest of the day. I expected the knee to be stiff after sitting, but the exhaustion surprised me. I think this is the toughest part of recovery for me, not the pain or stiffness.

I admit it gets me down. Normally, I would have no trouble with resting a lot and accepting that I can't get much done in a day. But I am so behind in paperwork and the responsibilities of managing my parents' care and finances, that it is distressing not to be able to make headway with it. Many of the things that I need to do are time sensitive and already late. Some of them involve the IRS, so I can't just ignore them. I hired an accountant to take the burden of managing my mother's many caregivers' earnings this summer while we went through the process of finding and moving to our new home. I'm sure it will help eventually, but so far it hasn't made much of a difference.

May I whine some more? When I saw the writing on the wall last spring, that taking care of my parents was a constantly growing job and that my husband has health problems that may require me to be his caregiver at some point, I knew that I needed to get my knee replaced as soon as possible and we needed to move into a different house. What really gets me down is that events keep overtaking me. I was hoping to move house and recover from surgery in time to be better able to handle things, but things keep happening before I can catch up with them. Life feels like a grind. I'd like to lighten it with friends and making music, but I don't have the energy. I have dinner plans with a good friend on Thursday and worry that I'll have to cancel.
 
I hope you will be able to get together with your friend. It will be very good for you. If you’re not up to going out maybe your friend could bring a take out meal to your house.

I’m sorry you have so many heavy responsibilities. I wish I had words to help you there but I’m at a loss for them. I can offer a hug, though. :console2:
 
Jockette, you're the sweetest. I bet it would be nice sitting over a cup of tea with you sometime.:beer:

Your suggestion about dinner is good, and I'll give it a try sometime. This Thursday is a little different. My friend and I are bandmates and a bass player we play with is appearing at a pub not far from my house. We wanted to go and support his band. I gave them a heads up that if I make it, I probably won't stay long.
 
If you go, bring a pillow, towel and a bag of ice, cover your knee while putting it up on a chair and ice it while listening to cool tunes.:ice:
 
A cup of tea together would be lovely!

Don’t do hardly anything during the day that day so you have some energy to go out. Arttie’s suggestion is great. You’ll enjoy being there for a while.

Early on, before I was ready to attempt to bowl again after surgery, I did go to watch my friends in our league once in a while. I would put my foot up on my husband’s bowling bag. It was fun to be there. 12 weeks post op I started back bowling, very carefully, and a little at a time.
 
And I forgot to add, how cool that you play in a band!
 
An hour and half at a desk when you’re 6 weeks post op probably is too long for your leg to be down. I was 10 weeks post op when I went to the dinner and the theater. My leg was down the entire night and felt like a sausage on the ride home. I had to elevate toes above nose for an hour before it was comfortable enough to go to bed.

Have you looked at the Activity progression for TKRs to gauge what your activity level should be?
 
KarriB, I have looked at that article on activity progression many times, and it has helped me set expectations somewhat. I guess what has stumped me is how up and down the progression is. I want to have some idea of what I can do and what is too much, but it changes every day. So now I'm trying to just go with the flow.
 
Going with the flow is a tried and true strategy. Your knee will be better some days than others, and how it feels doesn’t always follow logic. All you can do is cope with the moment. It’s a bit frustrating for planning types —I can be that way— but the day comes when your energy starts showing up reliably again and your pain is remarkably less, and its safe to start committing to spending time doing other things than resting and healing.
 
Just curious. When in your recovery did you start sitting down and getting up from sitting without using your arms to take some of the weight off by holding onto something nearby? At 6 1/2 weeks, I'm still involving my arms when sitting and getting up, because my new knee and both thighs start to complain if I don't.
 
I’m still using my arms. Why not, if it helps!
 
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