TKR Winner winner, chicken dinner! Bionic Liz's new RTKA

[Cratchit]

Midsomer Murders is hilarious! Who`d want to live in a place like that? Probably cheaper housing due to the dangers and no-one wanting to live there but can you imagine trying to get insurance??! The Father Brown mysteries are similar; murders are two a penny but the priest is always on hand to solve the mystery. Always. Hmmm . . .

The knee is coming in handy as part of my wind down to retirement strategy! By the time I go back to work on a phased return and with the amount of annual leave I have outstanding from this year, I will be able to reduce my working week so that come July 4th and retirement, I should only be on part time hours!

Glad the antibugs are kicking in. The wound looks good! Hope you feel less tired soon

 

[Celle]

I agree that, with all those murders, it's a wonder anyone is left alive in MIdsomer Murders.

However, make no mistake, bar the murders, there are country villages just like that in England. And, no, the houses in them aren't cheap. People like to live there, because they dislike the bustle of the big cities.
My cousin was the neighbourhood midwife in a village like that. She and her husband were very involved in the village life and the village has been very supportive of her husband since she died.

There is a very popular UK programme called Escape to the Country. I love to watch it, because it shows some beautiful parts of the UK. Outside the big cities, the UK is still a "green and pleasant land."

 

[mbrown]

@L.I.T dang Liz you're getting sooooooo ripped off. You may not even get a scar out of this deal. I'd complain if I were you! That's hogwash.

 

[KarriB]

Liz, the TKR looks great! My scar is loooooong! They used the same incision for the infection, just made it longer.

 

[Mireille]

Hi Liz, glad you're doing well. Your knee looks fantastic!

 

[Cratchit]

@Celle, the prices down South are truly ridiculous and way out of reach for most. But oh, they are pretty little places! This was the view yesterday of our corner of the `green and pleasant land` from our bedroom window. It`s not like that today! The Scottish have a great word for weather like today - dreicht!

 

[L.I.T]

Green, oh how I miss green! I hope one day to make it to your side of the world. My grandfather was 100% Irish, and the rest of me is English, Scottish, and Welsh. It would be neat to see from whence they came I'm one of those idiotic people that always felt I had to work and be serious in my younger years - no exotic vacations or travels around the world. Needed to work and pay the bills. I have a good friend who had absolutely no money and did an 'around the world' trip just by staying with random people and in hostels. Oh how I wish I had his courage back in the day! So far, all I get to boast is Vancouver, BC and various tourist places in Mexico! We'll, there was a Caribbean cruise, but that doesn't really count.

We, too, have had gray days here. LOTS of rain for the desert - and has caused many mud and rock slides in Zion. But we do get some awesome clouds in the mountains. Still, I sometimes still miss the GREEN

Today, I seem to be ANGRY LIZ! I can't get this blasted internal swelling to go down. The hardest part was the 'tease' last week of 2-3 days where it went down and I could actually bend without feeling like something was going to pop out. Then *poof* overnight it was all taken away.

I have spent the last 4 days icing and elevating nearly nonstop, and it seems to do absolutely no good. And since I have too much time on my hands, my brain starts playing detective - scar tissue? Infection? Did the change in my generic brand of Celebrex make it less effective? I seriously need to find something to distract my mind. Especially since all this icing is making my leg coooooooooold and achy.

@mbrown, I agree I'm getting ripped off! Maybe I can get my $$ back? File a complaint with the BBB? Perhaps there is complaint box at the surgeon's office

I have no idea how it looks so good, honestly. The scars from my plastic surgeon look OK, but not like my knee. And the port scars from my shoulder and arthroscopic knee look just like regular wide scars - except for the hypertrophic one which is pink and raised. Who knows. Luck of the draw. Although unless it gets a little uglier, I will still miss my 'battle scar' of honor LOL

 

[Mireille]

I hear you Liz, the internal swelling feels just as bad as the external. I woke up pretty stiff and did some stretching while drinking my coffee. Wanna talk angry? I get vicious without my morning cup of joe, lol

I was still feeling stiffer than yesterday so we took our dog for a walk and it made it feel better. Still somewhat stiff but I guess every day can't be a party!

My husband and I love to travel and Scotland is on our bucket list. We've been visiting Europe for the last 3 years but still haven't made it to the the Western US. We're supposed to go to Holland and France in May and we hope my knee cooperates in time. We like to hike, Sigh....

 

[little red canoe]

Holland=bike. You will be fine.. Nice trip!

The swelling will come and go.. and it will get better and more predictable with time..

 

[L.I.T]

@Mireille @little red canoe , I hear Holland is beautiful... My husband would love for us to go on a bike trip there! Biking and hiking are the reasons I went ahead with the surgery... It's hard to be in beautiful places and not want to explore!

I did go on a short walk this morning - gave my knee a solid 1hr15min icing, and then set out. With each step, I could almost feel the knee expanding. By the end, everything inside had started clunking and shifting around.

I really so hope the swelling gets more predictable (and less, for that matter). I joke about it, but it is a bit demoralizing - not to mention I don't know whether to stop doing all activities (and ice/elevate full time which isn't having much effect at the moment) or just keep doing some mild exercises which make it swell. I'm going to have to do the walk of shame into my PT's office tomorrow since I seem to have made a u-turn from my previous progress.

I'm also going to try some ibuprofen today - I'm still not sure I trust my husband's generic celebrex (my rx is still on hold pending a 14 day wait for 'preauthorization' from my insurance - even though they filled it at the hospital. Go figure)

 

[Mireille]

@L.I.T That's the main reason for my surgery too. We spent 3 weeks in Italy last May and we walked an average of 13 miles a day, hiked hills and climbed way too many steps. It threw my knee over the edge. We will both be biking and hiking soon!

I agree it's demoralizing. It makes you feel like you're doing something wrong. I had right hip arthroscopy 12 weeks ago yesterday and my hip still acts up and swells up every now and then. I'm starting to get used to the ups and downs, not sure if that's a good thing, lol.

I've been taking an ibuprofen 800 during the day and an oxycodone/acetaminophen 5/325 in the evening. This combo seems to be working for me right now. I decided to take 1 oxy prior to therapy tomorrow. I also take a Xanax .25mg before bed. It helps with the anxiety I've been experiencing since my hip surgery in late October. I've been getting between 7-8 hours sleep for the last 3 nights. Huge blessing! I hope they figure out your Celebrex soon!

Everyone keeps saying recovery isn't linear, ain't that the truth!

 

[Celle]

@L.I.T
LIz, hang in there, because things are going to get better.

It's about 4 weeks since your surgery and you're still in the middle of the "angry tissue" stage. It's a difficult time, because your mind is saying "I ought to be doing better", but your knee is saying "Not yet, my dear."
Where are you in recovery?? (TKR)

On top of that, your emotions are fragile - most people get the blues and some get angry. I remember that I didn't cry (much) but boy, did I get angry! One day, to my shame, I screamed at my poor husband, just because he wasn't psychic and didn't instantly guess what I wanted him to do. The poor fellow fled to the other end of the house and stayed there for a couple of hours.

Unlike many other surgeries, you aren't going to be almost completely recovered in about 6 weeks. Full recovery from a knee replacement takes about a year, although you'll be able to do most things by 3 months and will feel about 90% of normal by 6 months.

The swelling will gradually go away, but it will keep coming back for months, whenever you overdo things a bit.

Don't start worrying about adhesions. There are two reasons why you don't need to:

1. They don't form this early in recovery.
2. You know you don't have them, because you have felt times when your knee is not impeded by swelling - and The Knee could bend better.

Remember that recovery isn't linear. It's more like two steps forward and one step back - or a roller coaster, with lots of ups and downs. Overall, though, you are making forward progress.

My own surgeon does not allow any PT for the first month after a knee replacement. He says that the knee needs that time, to start on its journey of healing. His patients all do well, and he hasn't had to do an MUA for the last 4 years.
All I did in the way of PT was just my normal daily activities, initially just walking to the bathroom and back. Both my knees are strong and reliable. They extend fully and they bend to over 125 degrees.

What I'm saying is that if you feel that a break from PT will help, take that break. Your knee won't suffer.
And, if you go to PT, don't feel guilty for not making continual progress. Just because the therapists have targets for ROM, doesn't mean that you have to get caught up in the numbers game. Their target doesn't have to be your target.
It's not exercising that gets you your ROM, it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your ROM is there right from the start, just waiting for all that to happen, so it can show itself.

 

[L.I.T]

Thank you both. I *know* these things but it's always helpful for me to hear the reassurance... It's just sometimes my head doesn't always match my feelings....and I keep reverting back to thinking I have some modicum of control over it all. The other part is it doesn't make sense to me - at my PT on Wednesday, aside from the Nustep, we didn't do anything that required pain or exertion (and even 5 min on the Nustep wasn't painful or difficult)... Not to mention that the day after, I had no issues. So my logical mind thinks "something must be wrong b/c the swelling came out of nowhere". I forgot that logic doesn't always work in this.

So I try to remind myself (over and over) that recovery is not linear... And that I know I am prone to swelling. It's just that my emotions don't want to seem to listen. That, and even though my husband is being as patient as I have ever seen him be, he is still *impatient*. He doesn't seem to understand why I slid back or why I still cannot get up and cook dinner, etc. I have taken on back a few house duties... nothing strenuous or difficult - only things like cat duties, and maybe doing some occasional loads of laundry or helping to put up groceries. I have 'suggested' (STRONGLY) that he come read the info on here, but remember that he is a physician, and with him comes a small but stubborn amount of ego. (Think along the lines of "I'm a doctor, I don't need an internet forum to tell me things".) Don't get me wrong... He's not an jerk - he's just used to diagnosing and fixing... Not caretaking. Unfortunately, like me, he also likes for things to make logical sense (bowing my head in humility with all this tkr stuff).

If I'm totally honest on here, hubby and I had a really trying last year. Just about a month before my TKR, we were beginning to get back in the groove of things. So this surgery, while needed, came at a bit of a tough time. All in all, he's trying, and being supportive when I need him to be. He just doesn't *understand* fully.

SO... I will pick myself back up, keep slapping on the ice machine, and head to PT tomorrow like a champ. My PT is a wonderful guy, and he will not chide me, razz me, or even tease me about backsliding a little. I know he has seen it all, and will handle me with a gentle touch and an even gentler attitude. Most people who know me realize I tend to be more hard on myself than anyone else...

Remember, I wasn't joking about Days of our Liz

In all seriousness, thanks for riding the roller coaster with me. 

I couldn't do this without y'all. Well, certainly without someone committing me! (although I have to admit sometimes, it might not be a bad idea!) :cool:

 

[mbrown]

Hang in there Liz. This too shall pass. You got this girl. You got this.

 

[Celle]

Liz,
However great they are at many things, I don't think men are programmed for nurturing instinctively. They want to fix a problem, not help it to fix itself. So, it's harder for them to sit back and let nature take its course. That must be particularly hard for a doctor, who is used to taking action.

My husband is a Civil Engineer. He relates everything to mechanics. So, according to him, my knees have mechanically sound hardware in them, so they should work perfectly. He's clueless about anything to do with our bodies, unless he can relate it to hinges and pumps.
It works best for us if I tell him exactly what I need him to do, how, and when.

As for your swelling, maybe the additional few tasks in the house have been just a bit too much for your knee?
Do what you have to do, but don't worry about the knee swelling up again. Just try to stick to doing things that don't upset it too much.

 

[Cratchit]

I think people like you and I, Liz, very often use humour as a cover for feeling the antithesis of happy. We plaster on that smile, laugh, joke cajole because that`s what we do. Besides, humour is so much more `acceptable` than misery - and you get more responses! Being real carries a cost. Tears are shed in private.

That need for understanding is very deep. Without it this process can be so lonely. My husband is so supportive, keen to do everything and everything that helps and though he tries very hard to understand, he, like others who have never been through this process, doesn`t really `get` it. I see the look glaze over his face when I wince or when I stumble or when I`m wittering yet again that I`m in pain. He doesn`t know he`s doing it, he would be horrified that I am hurt. He`s an accountant, very analytical - things are very much accounted for! He has a spreadsheet for everything, even my meds! That`s how he stays in control. Not me, I crashed at maths. This feels like crashing again.

So, girl, we will be true to ourselves, have a weep when we need to and a moan when we want then we`ll pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and start down that bloomin` road again. However many times we face plant and go splat (metaphorically, of course!) we`ll keep on keeping on.

Incidentally, I did have a mini splat today. Well, not a proper one, more of a stumble. And of all the stupid things to trip over it was my nice, new dark-coloured cane that I`d parked up beside an armchair.

 

[little red canoe]

@L.I.T you are very early in the recovery. You are only four weeks out.. Wait till 14 weeks and the light is blinding you with possibilities.

At four weeks everything I did was kind of measured by distances between setting.. Now I just want to go and go and go..

Maybe not 13 miles. I just ordered a nice bike basket for next month.. While five miles on foot may be out of reach. Five miles on level paved bike trails is not.

I had a near fatal MI that was stopped in its steps, and a rare cancer at the same time so this knee thing to me is more bother than anything. And it does get better. I sure hope bad things come in threes so that means they are all done!

Yes my poor hubby is so patient and tries to understand. I suppose when I talk to him about knee recovery I am just whining.. He has been there through all of this.

And the above is why I am so unprepared to let time heal me.. let's get along with life that has been under suspension since 2014.

 

[Celle]

@Celle, the prices down South are truly ridiculous and way out of reach for most. But oh, they are pretty little places!

Yes, I know. My daughter lives in Wokingham, Berks, within the commuting area to London. House prices are exorbitant.

 

[L.I.T]

You guys are seriously the best. I fall into my pity pot, and there you guys are to help me back out. I very much need a heart icon emoji!

Yes, my hubby tries so hard....I also think that my 2 year hiatus attempt to avoid TKR with other (more conservative) methods probably has taken it's toll on him. Two years of me 'not being able to' and multiple surgeon opinions, trips to Mayo for stem cell treatments, physical therapy.... He's not had an easy time with it. In Ft Worth, it was easier, as it was flat, there IS no hiking, and the weather was always too hot or too cold. Here, all that outdoor activity is just staring us in the face. I think part of it is that I just hate to disappoint him - and (like you said @Cratchit), I can see it in his face sometimes. Thank you, @mbrown and @Celle You are right - I've got this, and all will be OK in the end!

@Cratchit, I think I'm busted Yes, humor is completely my method of escape - to be without would cause me to spiral into the pit of despair (obscure Princess Bride reference).

Thanks for helping to pick me up from my face plant... And for making me laugh, once again. I'm sorry about your mini-splat. Your cane should meet my youngest 20lb cat. He seems to think that getting kicked when we trip over him is a sign of affection. He looks up, purrs, jiggles his tail and comes back to give you a 'thank you' bump for kicking him .  Glad you are OK though - I do hope you sent your cane to the corner to think about what it had done Bad cane!

@little red canoe (can't get the 'tag' to work here).... YOU are an amazing woman! I had two cancer 'scares' this year (one still somewhat outstanding), and those nearly crushed me. What you went through with your rare cancer and MI are a million times more serious. Oddly, my Dad nearly avoided an MI this year from a rare heart tumor. I'm so glad you made it to the other side! Thanks for giving me hope for future activities. This whole process reminds me a bit of my divorce (that I did not want) 12 years ago. Time seems to move soooooooooooo sloooooowllllyyyyyy at first. 4 weeks seems like an eternity, even though it really is not. Patience is clearly not a virtue I have when it comes to my 'heal thyself' capabilities. I hope you get to enjoy that new bike basket soon! I really do understand wanting to get back to 'living' and appreciating life. It's too precious to just let pass

Thank you all (again and again and again and again). Now that I've spent 3 hours up in the night - it's time I try to get a nap in before making the trek to the city (for phys therapy) today. I feel so lucky to have you guys (see, I need that heart emoji again!).

 

[little red canoe]

What city? St George?
We spend some time in your area last April..
Sounds maudlin but our dog died in Page AZ in May of cancer. She had a long life of glorious hiking and did so until three days before the end.. We never managed to get it across to her that cactus is not your friend..