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TKR Where did my energy go?<

Interesting!! My PT wouldn't give me any more time even though I hadn't actually used all my appts. (I went twice a week instead of 3 times)--said my plan of care was up.
 
I wish I had the luxury of six more weeks of PT to really build my leg muscles and work on balance, but what I am doing now is very basic and I see no need to go there when I can do it at home. If you want more PT, your dr should be willing to order it.

I find every PT has a different opinion. My first one said once I met my goals I was done. The second one is just continuing to cover the same ground over and over.
 
If you've met your goals and you're not getting anything new I think just cancel. They can't force you to have more appointments.
 
Third joint said:
I find every PT has a different opinion. My first one said once I met my goals I was done. The second one is just continuing to cover the same ground over and over.
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Since your knee replacement was done in July, I don't think you need to keep going back for more PT. The cynical side of me says that your current PT is keeping it going to claim more money from your insurance.

Most people move on to letting the normal activities of daily life be their therapy. Your knee will continue to strengthen as you use it normally.
 
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My pt said that as soon as I am back to work full time then he will discharge me. I only work on the anti gravity treadmill and I will miss using it but I won't have time.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. I did end up going to PT on Tuesday, but by the time Thursday rolls around my knee is usually stiff and swollen and I have cancelled the last two times. So I am officially done. I think I will start going to our local rec center which has all the exercise equipment I could possibly want along with treadmills, bikes, etc.

The PT claimed he was concerned that I could not walk for 20 minutes, but I pointed out that I have walked through multiple grocery stores and that takes longer than 20 minutes. Then he said he was concerned that I could not stand for an extended period, but I told him that was normal and I was working on it.

This is my third week back at work and I am not as tired at the end of the day, but by mid-week I am feeling the drain on my healing. I have found that a nap or an extra early bedtime usually snaps me back into healing mode. No painkillers for two weeks, just a daily celebrex - very happy about that as I was afraid that nightly percocet was going to be a hard habit to break.

I am working on bending the knee enough to kneel on it. It is going to be a long process I know, but I have gotten to the point that I can kneel for about five minutes on an office chair and actually bend it almost to the point of sitting on my heels. Squishy surfaces are more difficult. Anyone have any feedback as to how long it took them to be able to get down on the floor and crawl around or kneel?
 
Third joint said:
Anyone have any feedback as to how long it took them to be able to get down on the floor and crawl around or kneel?
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Oh my! Just the idea of this made my eyebrows go up into the back of my head. I am not much further than you so cannot actually answer the question.:shrug:

I did, however, try the kneeling in the chair thingie but didn't get very far in the bend. Seems like I could do it for a few minutes though. My knee is unusually tight today. Could be that I switched from Tramadol+Tylenol to Aleve for the day (just trying it out).
 
@hawk2go. Love your profile pic.!

When my knee is tight (like today) I usually think it is swelling. I put more ice on it, but that is hard to do sitting at my desk.

I take celebrex daily cause I love my ibuprofen, but since surgery cannot take it due to stomach upset. I have never taken Tramadol, is it a narcotic? I loved the percocet as it did the job, but it is narcotic so when I saw the Doctor last he said no more of those and I needed to wean off the one a day I was taking and then wean off the celebrex. So far there has not been a day I felt I could do without the celebrex :(
 
@Third joint Yes that is the youngest of my 6 grands on her 1st birthday in the pic. 1 week after The Knee, she fell asleep with me :SUNsmile: after her party.

I think some of my excessive pain during recovery was due to a Celebrex allergy. My doc typically prescribes Celebrex+Oxy but could only do the Oxy for me. I spent much of the 1st 8 weeks cycling through various narcotic and non-narcotic pain meds. The doc cut my straight oxy off at around 4 weeks, then cut my percocet off at 6 weeks. I found some vicodin from an injury earlier in the year (shhh, don't tell) and took those at night to sleep until they ran out at about 8 weeks. I've used long and short acting oxy and hydrocodone. I've been on tramadol ("narcotic like" whatever that is), diclofenac (NSAID), naproxen (NSAID-high dose), ibuprofen (NSAID-high dose), and acetaminophen. My PT said I was making my own percocet before it was actually prescribed for me.

My recovery has been good but I have been trying to manage the pain throughout even today. The tramadol+tylenol seems to do the trick but I long to be off the meds. It will happen in time, I know. The pain gives me pause to even consider the next knee.
 
Wow six grandkiddies. I can barely manage two.

I think I was lucky because I had three hip replacements previously and knew what to expect as far as pain. I have not had any times when the pain was excruciating, but in the evenings I would get "uncomfortable" and a percocet would relax me and then I could sleep better (backed with two Benadryl). I really hated giving that up, but stepped down by doing it every other night and then also using some Valium for nights when I thought I could not sleep. I still don't sleep like I did before surgery, but it is mostly because I have too many dreams. I thought getting off the meds would help with that - not yet. Sounds like you have certainly tried about every combo available. I am glad I don't have to do my other knee.

I was feeling pretty active before I came back to work, but now it is go home, eat and put my leg up to get rid of the swelling that has accumulated all day. I have tried to put my leg up at work, but it is impossilbe to get the height right and it ends up hurting worse. I wrap a bag of ice around it and fasten it with a belt until I can get home and put it up.
 
Third joint said:
I wrap a bag of ice around it and fasten it with a belt until I can get home and put it up.
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Oh, I wish I had a picture of my makeshift ice wrap for the office. A gallon sized ziploc bag filled with ice and fastened to my pant leg with binder clips. It was perfect to keep the ice around The Knee.
 
That's pretty close to mine. Ziploc bag with ice. I put it dead center of my knee and use my lift belt to wrap around the middle making sure there is ice above and below my knee then I use a binder clip to close the belt. Works great as long as i sit still. Any movement and it starts to slide.
 
You ladies do know that there are premade ice packs with velcro fasteners that will keep it right on the knee don't you?! :rotfl: (Mine actually feels like it has little ice cubes in it.)

I have been trying to kneel on the floor--no problem getting there, but the knee feels really strange in the "dead" zone. Not exactly pain, but still uncomfortable.
 
I tried one of those. Melted before it did any good. We have an ice machine at work and it lasts for hours, so I am content with my homemade job. If I could get a lazy boy in there to elevate my leg; work would be a breeze.

I am still numb on most of the right side of the knee. Really looking forward to some more strenuous activities. How many weeks out were you when you did your kneeling?
 
First time--13 weeks, and am still working on it!! I can put my knee on the bed or a thick well-folded washrag very briefly.
 
I got these to slip into my ice wrap at home. My leg might freeze before these babies thaw.
 
I am kneeling on soft surfaces every day. I can see it is going to be a long process, but will kept at it.

My son has had a recurrence of some eye problems and is almost completely blind till he gets surgery in two weeks. He is taking it well, but I know the stress and worry is affecting my energy levels and healing.
 
Hi, Sorry to bother again, but the last two days my knee has been really painful. A sharp pain above the kneecap when coming down the stairs and when I stand up to walk a lot of pain down the sides of the knee. I have been icing and elevating as soon as I get home. It is slightly better today, but yesterday I could barely walk on it and it took many steps to work out the pain. I also seem to have lost quite a bit of my ROM. I cannot think of any one thing I might have done to aggravate it. Is this common to happen during recovery? I literally feel like I have lost about six weeks of progress.
 
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