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TKR VW's new joint venture

Bummer on the "stone in knee" sensation; pffft! Perhaps they moved your leg in some strange way while removing the stitches? I also second the idea of a therapeutic, short walk. I have to, since I do it every night; hah! Sunshine is also good therapy IMO. :SUNsmile:
 
Day 16 post op.
Slept better, even tried to sleep on my tummy for 10 minutes and then gave up: not too good just yet... when I woke my knee felt stiffer than on previous mornings.
Noticed that I can sit with my leg down for a bit longer before it complains.
Today I switch to tablet form of heparin. Good riddance to needles. But when one reads the accompanying leaflet it sounds scary taking such a medicine. Eeeek.
10 more days only of that. I hope.
Tried to walk to café which is about 350 m from our apartment but half way there it just ached too much. The strained thigh muscle gives me grief.
Will try again on Sunday. (2 days from now)

I wrote my OS telling him of the young doc's poor bedside manner, but primarily to tell him of the poor hygiene habits of same. Wonder what the reply will be. OS is away this 4 day weekend.

I think what bothers me most is that really tight band feeling. Otherwise I managed several household things quite well albeit slowly.

Still icing, still elevating: the BS guidelines have taken hold.:smile2:
 
Stick to those guidelines and you will do just fine!
 
@VW54, sorry to hear you were unable to compete the cafe walk, but the knee/leg rule. Annoying, but true. By Sunday, it might feel substantially better; who knows? At any rate, you did get outdoors to enjoy some sunshine.:SUNsmile:

I still have the tight band sensation though I believe it is lessening somewhat. I could move the leg better at PT this morning and could feel some of that tightness loosening up. As I was pushing the bike pedals, I envisioned pizza dough being stretched out; hah! There were some thick spots and some thinner spots if that makes sense. In any event, I think we'll be stuck with that sensation for quite awhile to some degree. Naturally, it's very evident when trying to perform certain exercises or tasks. I expect that, but I really find it most annoying in bed at night. I am sleeping on my side/stomach and basically, it feels like I'm lying on a bunch of lumped up blankets. As a result, I move the leg, seeking a non-lumpy position. Well....there isn't one, lol. It's my leg, not the bed. Regardless, I still prefer sleeping that way to back-sleeping. Color me crazy!:yes!:
 
It's my favourite colour! I'm painting with zany too.
 
So some tries :eyebrows:got:censored:. Never mind.

Day 17 post op.
Physiotherapist was here and was happy with my progress. She heard my tongue waggle. :wink:
DH was here to observe how she massaged my lower leg so that he too could do it for me 1x day. Yay.:egypdance:
She also said to do various exercises but not to push beyond pain. DH heard it. Double yay.
She also said rehab start 3x week ( 3-4 hours) in late July is good timing. Earlier makes little sense.
She told that as part of her training to be a physiotherapist she attended several operations, including a TKR. It helps understand her patients better. Most of her patients are from the parish and are post op hip, knee, shoulder, spine.
She also does Ergotherapy evaluation of homes for the handicapped. So I feel lucky with her.
She corrected my gait with crutches and encouraged me to get outside once a day.:SUNsmile:

Very tight feeling still there and bruises in calf area makes it uncomfortable to elevate knee. But I do anyway.
 
It sounds like you had a beneficial meeting with the physiotherapist; yay! Glad your husband was there to observe and listen as well.:SUNsmile:
 
You mentioned flying in a few month on another thread. Here's some info on flying with a TKR. I flew for the first time with my TKR a few months ago. Both times I set off alarms even though I told them about my knee. I had to be wanded and patted down. We allowed time for that so it was no problem at all. One TSA agent was very understanding.

https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/flying-soon-after-surgery.13054/
 
Thanks KarriB, I had read that article pre op and it reminded me of our travel just after my fall with meniscus tear. We toured Sicily, me with crutches. Getting on the plane first was good but last upon arrival was not as good. I used my backpack as a footstool.
Should I be well enough to travel mid September, and it will be a spontaneous -and therefore a bit more expensive- decision. Glad it's not a must travel event. But the one in November we booked before my OS moved up surgery date. DH is so looking forward to this. But so am I!
 
The traveling article posted has some great information! I'm a flight attendant and deal with these things daily.

It is correct they do not care in security if you show them a card that you have had an implant. It makes no difference and you still have to go through full security.

But - do request the body scanner if available! Do not just go through the metal detector and then afterwards when you beep tell them you have a metal implant. Once you beep they are required to do a full pat down check and those are not fun. But if you go through the body scanner it shows where the metal is in your body and they just check that area. Much easier.

Bulkhead rows on all aircraft do not necessarily have more leg room. Sometimes you can't even stretch your leg out fully in front of you. It depends on the aircraft type and there is also no place to put your personal belongs there, they all have to be put up in the overhead. So keep that in mind. And exit row seats are for people who have no disability and can assist fully in an emergency evacuation. They will specifically ask you that question if you are seated there. So please be honest and let them know if you can't physically help. We depend on our exit row people to help us out in an emergency :-)

One more thing about seating, if you book an aisle seat expecting to be able to stick your leg out into the aisle please think that one through. The aisles on aircraft these days are very narrow and are very busy and constantly have crew members and other passengers walking up and down them. Very large and heavy carts are used and we can't always see ahead of them no matter how careful we are. I can't tell you the number of legs, feet, bags and straps I have tripped on over the years. It's very dangerous for everyone to have anything sticking out in the aisle. I see people come on all the time in wheelchairs and then see them stick their bad leg out in the aisle and I just know it's a disaster waiting to happen.

The wheelchair assistance is great - but do be prepared to wait! If you have to change flights enroute book enough time in between the flights. Better to have too much time to transfer than not enough. You can always get a bite to eat if you have to wait.

Don't hesitate to ask the flight attendants on board for ice! We are always happy to fill up ice bags for you throughout the flight. We want you to be comfortable!
 
We're off to USA at end of September which will be 8 months post op and hopefully the knee wont be a problem by then, have booked extra leg room seats, great tips from a professional @flyaway79 , will keep them in mind for sure:smile2:
 
@flyaway79, what wonderful tips. I always asked for an aisle seat so I could stick my legs out. Now, I know better. I might just have to bite the bullet and fly first class! That's on my bucket list anyway.
 
Great tips for flying. Thank you for sharing!


Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum
 
Day 18 post op
Don't know how much of this is a memory problem or awareness. ( I mean comparing one day to the previous and the one before) My operated leg feels so much stiffer from the time I woke up. But I slept well.
I did the gentle exercises Physiotherapist showed me and except for the slides, it went relatively well but the entire leg (not only the knee) felt like a huge lump of concrete around it, so heavy and stiff. Bah! Why isn't it getting better!?
I tried once again to walk to the cafe about 300 m
away but didn't make it more than 200 m.
I will try again tomorrow. And when I make it, I bet the Apfelstrudel will taste so good!

@knit2tog: was stitches, not staples. Scar is 26 cm long. Eeeek.
 
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[Bonesmart.org] VW's new joint venture
Good days, bad days and up and down days.
 
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Thanks! I needed that!

My post was edited because of the issues of copyright but you all can google for "knees cartoons" click on 'images' and some very funny ones will pop up. The one I laughed at so much shows an elderly couple and he asks her if she has swollen knees...
 
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The diagram put up by @flyaway79 was the best thing I ever read on this site- it just summed up the recovery process perfectly! It actually made me a bit more patient with my recovery as I realised it wasn't going to be straightforward! Even now at 5 months out I'm still getting aches every now and again, this morning when I got up and went to bathroom I felt the area above my kneecap was as it was when I was only a couple of weeks out and couldn't stand for longer than a couple of minutes. It was fine by the time I got downstairs, then this afternoon I was sitting out in the sunshine when out of the blue I got about 10 mins of the zingers and it's been a couple of months since I had any of those!! Both were a reminder to me that this knee isn't even halfway through it's healing time yet!!!
 
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