TKR When will the swelling end?

[Celle]

ODIC is the OverDid It Club - doing too much.
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[Kathi 777]

I only over did it once... being a stubborn female thought I could carry a 20 lb propane tank. I agree this taking it slow is tough... and listening to your body and knee is better then being in misery at night laying there in pain.

The hardest part was icing and laying there with the feet up on the bed when I wanted to be out doing things. I took over chores rather quickly but there isn't much to feeding dogs as long as they have been watered. Making a dinner in the oven is a no brainer and I was on my feet 15 min to prepare then back to the bed/ couch to elevate. My basic rule was if I was up 2 hours then it was time to lay and ice for four hours.
The only time I sat at the computer was the 20 min at the first of the month to pay bills. ( sitting at a desk seemed to make the knees swell) and I avoided that for 7 weeks. )
Balance... also heel slides and ankle pumps were my basic exercises. A few leg lifts thrown in and I got my walking papers after 8 sessions of PT.

Find your balance of keeping that knee happy so you can do it all over again in a month or two. [emoji854] I am thanking GOD I found a Ortho who would do both as I about went stir crazy in Jan and early Feb. We usually are knee deep in snow and I figured it would deter me from doing too much... ha (we had a few 60 degree and 70* days !!!) so much for being snowed in !!! The only thing kept me off that harley was the roads are still salty and have cinders and small stones all over them. [emoji6] still I understand being this is a slow process getting the swelling to come down and get your range of motion back. blah! just try to relax and enjoy this time... per my husband. haha nope didn't make me feel any less antsy.

good luck and hope you find your balance and have a positive experience with your next surgery.


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[skigirl]

I think you have made a wise choice. Let's face it---if you slow down and let the knee heal, you will still be looking at two or three months more of taking it easy. REally, in the scheme of things, that is not much time. I was very careful with my second knee ---and I have skied on that knee with no pain for the last nine years. The three months I rested and slowly added exercises were well worth it.

When I was in college, I obsessed about getting a 4.0. I would drop a class if I thought I might get a B. and the result of all that worrying and missing parties and not doing fun stuff?? I graduated with a 4.0 and guess how many people have asked me about it since college? 0---that's right zero!! so being the fastest patient to recover would give you the same gratification!! Instead take care of your knee and, like an adult, let it heal and work in its own time.

 

[smcsmc727]

I'm too compulsive to lay at home and do absolutely no exercises so here's my compromise at 5 weeks past surgery. Today I went to a local community center and I used one of their state of the art stationery bikes and did a very relaxed mile. That's it. I came home and elevated and iced. Tomorrow I plan on walking a couple of laps at a very very slow speed. Other than those two things I may do a very gentle foot slide to bend the knee in bed, but nothing else. I'm driving a little, not much, and I've prepared a couple of meals and ran an errand or two.

 

[Celle]

I'm too compulsive to lay at home and do absolutely no exercises

Nobody here suggests you just lie around and do nothing. Life itself is exercise.
Your compromise sounds sensible.

 

[KarriB]

I found riding a bike at 0 resistance was great for my knee. It does sound like you are going about recovery wisely. It's important to find a balance and listen to your body.

 

[Josephine]

Today I went to a local community center and I used one of their state of the art stationery bikes and did a very relaxed mile. That's it. I came home and elevated and iced. Tomorrow I plan on walking a couple of laps at a very very slow speed. Other than those two things I may do a very gentle foot slide to bend the knee in bed, but nothing else.

That's just about what we recommend! Just not a programme of 10 exercises done 30 reps at a time three times a day! That's what I call excessive! And this chap who, last time I saw him, was seriously considering having his leg amputated because of the chronic pain he'd created during his insanely aggressive years of exercise PT: the seriously grave consequences of doing too much of it

 

[skigirl]

Bravo, smart moves. Just keep track, add slowly and if you get swelling, pull back for a couple of days and try again.

 

[Kathi 777]

@smcsmc727, how is the knee behaving? is it less swollen? if you keep up with the heel slides and slowly working it I imagine you will have 120 bend at 7 weeks . I could feel when i started swelling... at the top of the knee at the incision site it pillowed out. Driving doesn't seem strenuous but for some reason made my right knee swell a bit more than the left. ahh balance! At post 9 weeks I feel great... there is some tightness across the incision site but pain is mostly gone and I am back to almost normal. good luck with your new routine! praying that knee behaves! are you ready for surgery #2 in a couple months?


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[smcsmc727]

Today is 5 weeks since my Right TKR.

For me, I've been a "good boy" this week. Yesterday I did 5 minutes on the bike and that was it. Today I walked 4 laps and that was it. I did do a little shopping but spent most of the rest of the day in bed with my knee elevated and iced.

There is little to distinguish one day from another. The swelling, the pain, the stiffness, it's been the same for several weeks. This is a much longer haul than I imagined.

I was supposed to fly out to San Francisco in 3 weeks but my wife lost her job a few weeks ago and we decided to cancel the trip. I am relieved that I will no longer be facing 6 and a half hours sitting in a tiny cramped space so soon after my surgery.

Originally, I was going to have my left knee done, but right now I'm not so sure. It's not in as bad of shape as the right and I don't know if I want to go through this ordeal all over again.

 

[skigirl]

This is a difficult time because of boredom. This is the time to do some of the stuff you don't do because you have not had time to do them!!

Here is some of what I did; I learned to knit on you tube, bought stuff on line and had it delivered. made hats for all the granddaughters! Watched Downton Abbey from day one. Looked at videos of Jane Austen.

I looked up some videos of old tv shows that I hear people talking about that I never have time to watch. Then, I got books from Amazon on my iPad and read a lot of mysteries.

I just looked up some kayaking videos on you tube because my daughter had one in front of her house---they were helpful. I watched a lot of ski videos on you tube. and started watching a show called Britain's got Talent on you tube--so many of the try outs are hysterically funny.

I had friends who took me out to lunch once a week--even though I had to put my foot on a chair. I walked my dogs---1/2 mile at a time.

I did a little bit of jewelry. I watched some Soccer games---ugh, it all sounds so silly when I write it down. Most of all, try to keep yourself going with something. You really do need to sit and elevate for the first two weeks. I made myself do that and almost all of the swelling was gone when I started PT at week three.

Here are some things that will make things worse. A PT who pushes your need to get extra rom!! This is a biggie, the swelling can last for weeks. For me, it was being on my feet in my studio---one night I was in agony--my knee needed more rest. So, at week 3---two hours down for every one hour up.

You are doing something good for your body, you are healing. So many people try to rush this stage and some frantically exercise so that they can be first to recover---we ususally find them later with tendonitis---you simply cannot rush these first three weeks.

take a topic and research it---Kayaking in Australia,in New Zealand. Beaches in Hawaii, how to change the oil in your car---you get the picture. Your computer is your friend right now.

I even got some audio books so that I did not have to hold the ipad!! Have you listened to the HElP? or Lord of the Rings? or Pride and Prejudice.

I am a reader, if you are not watch videos. Amazon prime was a good friend for those weeks when I had to order stuff on line since it was delivered in one or two days. I studied some art--oh yeah there are classes on Craftsy---cake decorating, knitting, sewing, quilting, painting---I took 4 on acrylic technique--oil painting, drawing. Now is the time to indulge your brain and find something new to learn.

 

[Kathi 777]

@smcsmc727 how is the incision site? has PT measured your knee? any improvement on it going down? by 5 weeks i had small pocket of swelling above incision but nothing to speak of... unless i was on my feet too long..
yes, i would put off the other knee if it isn't as bad... sounds like this one isn't behaving at all as planned. [emoji17] sorry!


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[KarriB]

As skigirl said, month 2 can get boring. I did manage to go out to eat a few times a week, propping my leg up on the booth seat or extra chair. Some have gone to the movies if their theater has recliner seats and took ice with them as well. I started doing a few things around the house, taking breaks between chores to elevate and rest.

 

[smcsmc727]

I'm coming up on 7 weeks since I had tkr on my right knee. What I found is that my knee swells any time I am on my feet or sitting in a chair. I'm doing a lot of elevating and icing.

I was just wondering on the average, at what point will the constant swelling start to dissipate?

 

[KarriB]

We're going to move this post to your recovery thread as we like to have just one thread for recovery to keep everything about your recovery in one place.

To answer your question about swelling...every knee is different. Some knees swell well past 3 months post op. My knee did not like being down for longer than 20 minutes and would swell and become painful. I spent the majority of my time elevating my leg, but when it would become REALLY swollen after no being able to elevate I'd do toes above nose elevating. At 2.5 months post op I went to the theater (Wicked tickets for Christmas) sat with my legs down for the drive, dinner, entire show and drive home. By the time I was home at midnight I had to peel my trousers off like a banana, my leg was so swollen! Right then I laid flat on the sofa with my legs up on the sofa arms, ice on my knees to get the swelling down. I knew I couldn't sleep with that kind of swelling.

So try to follow the activity progression chart, but if your knee is one that swells easily you may need to find a balance i.e., one hour elevated for every half hour up. It may be trial and error, but at just 7 weeks I'm not surprised you're experiencing swelling. It's still early in this year long recovery.

 

[Jamie]

@smcsmc727 ... you'll notice that I merged your latest thread with your original recovery thread. You actually had posted in the pre op forum and, of course, your latest post should be in post op....in your recovery thread. We prefer that all updates and questions be in a single thread so we can go back and review your history if needed before responding.

As for swelling, KarriB is right. It's truly an individual matter and no one can predict when that will go away. In my case, I could get swelling even at 6 months out if I did too much. It is a barometer that tells you when you're pushing your knee too hard and it's a sign to scale it back a bit. If you listen to your body and respond accordingly, you'll do just fine. Just try not to get impatient. This is a long recovery for most people and, while you are able to do things, you must be mindful of what makes your knee swell and avoid that for a while. Having constant swelling (and pain or discomfort that goes with it) is not a good thing and you want to try and avoid it.

 

[Laurenkate]

All of the above. My surgery was January 27 and the swelling finally started going down a couple of weeks ago. However, my husband had to go out of town for a few days last week and a storm blew through here knocking out electricity and heat. Hauling two small loads of firewood and doing some minimal chores caused that knee to blow right up again. This past weekend was spent almost entirely elevating and icing. At this point, I'm getting antsy and bored and strangely addicted to "Dances With Wolves".

 

[jaschembra]

Oh the swelling and of course with swelling comes stiffness. I swear - I can just "think" of walking around and my knee starts to swell. I'll be 11 weeks tomorrow and pretty much any time I'm up walking or standing, I will start to swell. It's just my nature I guess. However, what I do notice is - it goes down rather quickly when iced and elevated, which I do a lot of. The other thing that has changed is the heat is better. No more ranging red angry heat because I've overdone something. Now it's just energizer bunny warm heat which is healing.

Sounds like you're listening to your body and getting in plenty of ice and elevating. Yes, month 2 is boring. Month 3 is a balancing act so beware. Very easy to become a member of the ODIC (over did it club), but we all do at some point or another. Enjoy this spring day!

 

[Red's Mom]

Loved reading your thread. Your working so hard to figure it all out. Balance. Patience. Awareness. It is all going to get better. In my early recovery days I would often be fantasizing along the lines that they should replace our knees and put us in suspended animation for 12 weeks upside down with ice blocks on our knees.

Get the other one done too and get on with a pain free life! It's a marathon at a turtles pace!

 

[hvtx51]

Last night I was starting to have a pity party and came across this thread since I can't seem to get the swelling to disappear (RTKR on 2/13/17). Smcsmc727 thank you for making me laugh, you definitely need to write a book for TKR. Those around me thought for sure I was losing it big time...hard to share stories with those who have not gone through this.

I too am a "sweller" and do everything but still can't get it to go down. I know we need to be patient but it is hard. So glad for this forum to help us all.