Bilateral TKR Vicky's recovery thread <<

[tk07080]

8 weeks since surgery. Resumed all everyday activities. Stopped PT 10 days ago. I was doing great 10 days ago. Now for the last several days it's again hard to get up from sitting and I am stairs are difficult. What do you think? @Josephine?

 

[Jockette]

8 weeks since surgery. Resumed all everyday activities.

What are these activities?

 

[tk07080]

Household activities, decorating for the holidays, driving, shopping

 

[Jockette]

8 weeks since surgery. Resumed all everyday activities. Stopped PT 10 days ago. I was doing great 10 days ago. Now for the last several days it's again hard to get up from sitting and I am stairs are difficult. What do you think? @Josephine?

I think your knee is telling you that you are doing more than it’s ready for. 8 weeks is still really early in this recovery and you have a lot more healing to do.

 

[sistersinhim]

At 2 months you are 1/6 of the way healed! Slow down your activities some and ice and elevate more. You have to give your knee time to heal. Otherwise, it will take even longer to heal. If it's inflamed and swollen from doing too much, then it has to concentrate on getting rid of the inflammation and not on the healing. The healing should always come first!

 

[Jockette]

Once we start feeling a little better we start doing more, thinking we are healed more than we really are. If the knee does a bit of a regress then we have to reevaluate things and make adjustments to our activities.

 

[Josephine]

Show where the pain is using this chart, please

 

[flsungirl]

I’ll be 12 weeks Monday! This morning when I woke up the tight band was in the middle of my knee. It didn’t last long but it made me wonder when it left! I didn’t even know it wasn’t there anymore. Pretty awesome! My knee clicks on occasion and at first it grossed me out. It doesn’t happen as often but I suspect I will have it off and on after reading other people’s journeys. My foot has been getting numb off and on too which was a huge problem for a few weeks after my surgery. So I’m a 1/4 of the way and hope everything continues to get better. Wishing you easier and better days ahead

 

[tk07080]

@Josephine it's both my knees

 

[CAB]

Hang in there tk07080.
Recovery from BTKR does take time.
Your knees will really tell you when they have had enough.
Most probably like most of us, the more you can do, you do, and then our knees scream. Take your drugs when you need them. You wont ever see that medal for toughing it out!
Ive learnt that if i need a stronger pain relief Im going to take it. So go ahead and be kind to yourself@

 

[Josephine]

it's both my knees

Why do you say that? Do you want me to leave two charts?!

Just tell me L and R

 

[tk07080]

@Josephine Its E all the way across the front of both shins

 

[Josephine]

You mean like this?

 

[tk07080]

@Josephine -yes

 

[Josephine]

I noticed earlier you said you'd been doing Christmas shopping. Can you explain what that has entailed? Like how long were you out shopping for, did you take regular rests, that sort of thing.

 

[tk07080]

I go out for hours. Don't feel the need to rest. The pain is mostly doing stairs and getting up from sitting. I have regressed to doing stairs one step up with one leg then bring the other leg up to the same step.

 

[Josephine]

You go out for hours? Do you not understand that this all contributes to the pain you have been complaining of? You can't split it all off like that. What you do during the day will impact on all other parts of the day. You cannot avoid it.

 

[sistersinhim]

Oh my, you're just over 9 weeks into a at least 52 week recovery. Your knees are still babies and need to be treated like them. That means lots and lots of rest still. You need to listen to your knees and see how they react to your activities. If you hurt and or swell at the time or that night or the next day, then your knees aren't ready for that activity. Wait a few weeks and then try it again. The knees always have to boss!

 

[tk07080]

Am I doing my knees harm? Could there be long term negative effects to my knees? Or is it just the temporary pain afterwards? I really need to get shopping done and besides, it's my favorite hobby!

 

[Celle]

Your poor knees!
They've been through major surgery that's caused a lot of trauma. They need time and gentle treatment, so they can heal.
Whether you like it or not, that healing takes a long time - as long as a full year for all your tissues to heal completely.

At this stage in your recovery, consistently doing too much will prolong your recovery and cause you more pain.
Slow down, shop online, and find a hobby you can pursue while you're resting.

You may find this aspect of recovery hard, but dig deep for as much patience as you can muster, and know that in doing that you are giving your knees the best opportunity to recover.

If you persist in doing too much too soon, it is possible that you could set up a scenario where your knees become chronically irritated and inflamed.