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TKR Woohoo! Now I've got two!!

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Were you sitting in a chair for all the billing and phone calls? That could do it, if you aren't elevating at all possible times!
 
Good point. You're probably right. I sat at my dining table for the first bit, and elevated knee 1 as it was achy. I did eventually move so I could elevate both legs.
 
I told my hubby to hold all the hospital bills until I could review them to ensure that insurance paid what they should have. The hospital bills correctly, it's the insurance company I have to watch like a hawk, as they will do anything not to pay a claim to the full extent they are obligated. That alone makes my blood pressure rise and my knee swell!!

Have a good day!

Dawn
 
Judy, I find that if I get started onmy thesis papers on the computer, my leg will be swollen. What I have started doing is setting an alarm, that makes me get up every 30 minutes to walk around and stretch. Then I also take breaks in between and have started icing my leg again! All of the measures help tremendously! :happydance:
 
Slept better last night but still napped this afternoon and am so tired now again. Sat outside for a bit with a friend...surprisingly hot day and no sign yet of the rain they've called for. I feel like somehow that would help me. I'm able to walk a bit sans walker. Sometimes I just do it without realizing until I need the darned thing which I've left behind! Other times just a couple of steps is hard (then don't do it,right? Duh.). So this is all good and I should be feeling good about things. And I am. I know how lucky I am that there's progress, that my ROM is pretty good, and that there haven't been any complications (knock on wood).

But i just wish I could chase away the blues on a more permanent basis. I know I am not being as diligent as I should be about my exercises: they just drain me too much, even though they're essentially the same I did for knee 1. That's it. I feel so drained. I know it's kind of par for the course, but as I said before, knowing isn't the same as knowing. I've got no one lined up to even drop by for almost a week, though that could change, I guess. Couldn't even book grocery delivery until four days from now! (hard to ask neighbors to pick up things for me as I am the youngest on the street by about 25 years.) so wah wah wah again. Feeling blue and overall not that well. Plus the two-year anniversary of losing my mom is in 10 days, and I still am struggling with that. Just a horrible couple of years (did I already say this?): my mom, broke my ankle, injured my wrist then had major but not wholly successful surgery on it, knee 1, and now knee 2. And pretty much all on my own without a real support system. It just gets overwhelming at times, much as I try to put on a brave face.

Sorry. Got sidetracked into yet another pity party. Thanks for letting me vent. I really don't have anyone to truly do that with the way I need to.

And to top it all off, I think I have a hangnail.
 
I hate hangnails! We can vent, complain, cry, worry, hope and celebrate here. Not necessarily in that order. But never alone and always with support at Bonesmart! Hey, it will make your neighbors feel good that they are needed by someone so much younger! We have a neighborhood newsletter, and my surgery was mentioned after I got home. A neighbor I have never met brought dinner over one night. I was 60, not sure how old she was, but her husband was 95. It made her feel good to do something. Don't underestimate people.
 
God! those hangnails are just treacherous! And so painful!:rotfl: I was really feeling bad for you---and then you threw this out there and I found myself laughing.

Of course, you're drained. You've had 2 major surgeries just 6 months apart. You hadn't really completely recovered for knee #1 before you were back getting knee #2. Cut yourself some slack, sweetie. I know it's tough when you're alone coping with this---I had just a taste of it---and it was not fun. This is why I'm glad I did mine two days apart and am having just the one recovery.

Curl up with cute but useless cat and rest. I sending you a little angel
[Bonesmart.org] Woohoo! Now I've got two!!
to watch over you.
 
Thanks. Love the idea if a newsletter. I'm sure my neighbors would fetch a loaf of bread for me (I long for toast). The 85+ year-old fellow next door brings my recycling and compost bins up from the end of the driveway without fail every week. And when they went on holiday, they actually got another neighbor to do it! You're right that people are essentially nice. But since we don't have a newsletter, how do I rouse everyone's sympathy? Perhaps I'll attach a note to cute but useless cat's harness and send him outside to spread the word...

I love the angel.
 
Or you could hang a big banner out in your front yard! Hello Everyone.... Me and my useless cat would love some company! :whistle:
Seriously though, I bet if you waited for the guy who brings your trash cans up, he and his wife would love to help and I bet they would love the idea of a neighborhood committee. After all, they make sure someone else takes care of you when they aren't there! Neat neighbors! I have great neighbors like that! :happydance:
 
I have an idea! My daughter lived in Atlanta when her first two babies were born. The custom there was to put a big blue or pink bow on the mailbox by the street and the whole neighborhood showed up with Southern hospitality. They also put a big stork in the front yard. Maybe we could start a new custom of putting a hospital style red cross on the mailbox with an appropriate body part planted on the front lawn! Dang, that's a good idea! Lol!
 
Well, the thing is, how would I hang the banner? Cute but useless cat is trained to walk on a leash, to beg for treats, and to wake me during the night, but he's not so great on a ladder or with hammer and nails. But perhaps I will just call the neighbours on the phone and ask if they'd get me some bread and milk. Why do the simplest ideas just not occur to me? I'm going to say it's the brain fog from painkillers. Thanks for the smiles.
 
Janet2012 said:
I have an idea! My daughter lived in Atlanta when her first two babies were born. The custom there was to put a big blue or pink bow on the mailbox by the street and the whole neighborhood showed up with Southern hospitality. They also put a big stork in the front yard. Maybe we could start a new custom of putting a hospital style red cross on the mailbox with an appropriate body part planted on the front lawn! Dang, that's a good idea! Lol!
Click to expand...
That is a lovely idea! Do you want my address so I can be your test subject to see if it works? (the body part bit gives me pause, though. It's horrible, but Toronto, an hour away, seems to be experiencing a string of dismemberment murders with body parts being found in parks, rivers, and even in Lake Ontario. So I pictured an actual leg on the yard, all bloody etc. Ewww.)
 
Oh my! I'm thinking more a cartoon cut out, but I see your point. There is a church in Salvador, Bahia in Brazil that has a room, with life size wax body parts hanging from the ceiling and pinned to the walls. Legs, heads, hands, tongues, etc., what ever body part needed praying over or thanks given is taken to the church. That was creepy, but at least not gruesome like the real thing! Ok, maybe we'll just go with the red cross, maybe on a mylar balloon! Surgery here, compassion and help needed!
 
Janet2012 said:
. Maybe we could start a new custom of putting a hospital style red cross on the mailbox with an appropriate body part planted on the front lawn! Dang, that's a good idea! Lol!
Click to expand...

Hmmmm.... Body part that has been operated on! I can just imagine the crowds gathering say if if a guy has a vasectomy, or a woman has a hysterectomy! :rotfl:
 
RestAssured said:
Hmmmm.... Body part that has been operated on! I can just imagine the crowds gathering say if if a guy has a vasectomy, or a woman has a hysterectomy! :rotfl:
Click to expand...

Lol! I guess I didn't think it through that far! Maybe just the balloon then.
 
Okay guys, focus. I was having a pity party, remember? No time for such silliness and frivolity.
Thanks for cheering me up.
 
Thanks for the laugh this morning, I needed cheering up!!

My husband trained our cat to rollover for treats. You trained your cat to walk on a harness. I think there is hope to train cute but useless cat to walk to neighbors house with message attached with a wish list of needs. Then your neighbors would know just how talented you are, and bring casseroles and chocolates just to spend time with the cat whisperer!!

Seriously, sorry to hear you feel so down. I can only imagine how tough it is to work through recovery with such a thin support system. Good news is that at least your cyber friends are never more than a few clicks away. And as others have said, ask for help. Most people, especially retired people, jump at the chance to help others if they are able. You might be surprised to know that people might think they are bothering you, because they're not sure how you are. The worst that can happen is they say no. No big deal, right? And reverse your position; if one of your neighbors needed help, would you hesitate to help, especially if asked?

Take it day by day, don't be so hard on yourself. Exercises will be there when you feel able. This recovery moves at a glacial pace, that is fact. Don't fight it, just accept and move forward.

I too have had a tough 2-3 years. My husband had a serious medical issue 2 1/2 years ago that was life threatening. He recovered and is well, but it changed our family/lives forever. A couple months later my Mom had a stroke, then died 2 years ago on 9/3. It was agonizing. Then a few months later I fell at wNork on my knee which necessitated the TKR a year ago. Revision 3 1/2 weeks ago which seems to be going well. All the while, I am the only breadwinner through all of this, which required me to push through and work when all I wanted to do was shut myself in a closet and never come back out. I have no idea how I survived. Sometimes I wonder now, how will I survive. But, my logic kicks in, I think about my boys and what I need to teach them, and I take the next step. My boys are grown men, 21 & 24, but they need to know life's greatest lesson; that anything is possible with faith and perseverance. So, in the meantime, I have pity parties, eat too much and take steps.

So, it's okay, you have friends that care. Support is never far away. We know and appreciate the difficulties. Vent away! We've got your back!!

Be well and give cute but useless cat some treats!

Dawn
 
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