@WestTexasGal
I'm sorry to hear that your PT and the surgeon's PA both said things that have you worried.
Your new knees aren't even 3 weeks old yet and already they're hassling you about ROM. That's so wrong!
Of course you lost a bit of ROM when you came home - probably the result of being a bit more active. Don't worry. It will come back. This recovery is never a linear progression. You'll find you take two steps forward and one step back all the time. And there will be times when you plateau and seem to make no progress at all for a while.
However, I do want to talk to you about the amount of exercising you're doing, and being encouraged to do.
You don't have to do lots of exercise in order to rehab your knee. Just concentrate on doing lots of
rest,
elevate, and
ice because it's the swelling that's stopping your knees from bending. The ROM is there inside already, just waiting to appear, as long as you don't do anything to stop it.
Can I suggest you stop spending a lot of time exercising each day and cut it right back? Your knees are wounded, not lazy, and they need time and plenty of rest in order to heal. Just walk around the house a bit and do a few
Heel slides and how to do them . That's really all you need to do at this early stage.
Also, in spite of what your surgeon says, PT three times a week is too much. Twice is plenty - and don't do any other exercise on those days. You see, you can't make your knees heal or bend faster by exercising, but you can slow down their recovery by doing too much.
I've had three knee replacements now. I had minimal PT for the first two and none at all for the last one. My knees recovered just fine. i can straighten them fully and I have a bend of over 125 degrees in both knees. I can do anything I want to with them. My surgeon has a policy whereby he forbids any PT for a month after surgery, because he says that is healing time. All his patients do well.
I'd like you to read these two articles:
Life in the slow lane
TKR: work “smarter” and not “harder”
Now, just in case your PT or the PA threaten you with MUA, remember that you don't need to rush to get ROM, because it can continue to improve for a year, or even longer, after a TKR. There's no such thing as a window of opportunity, within which you have to gain ROM, or all is lost.
It's never too late to get more ROM!
It's worth the wait for ROM
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Finally, remember that these are your knees and only you can say what will happen to them. If you ask a PT to stop doing something, she/he has to stop. You don't have to allow them to hurt you or do anything that doesn't feel right. PTs work for you, not the other way round. You don't have to please them. They have to please you.
So, set your limits from the start. tell them "I will not allow you to hurt me or to do anything that forces my knee."
Best wishes!