Yet another knee surgery thread

[MissMolly]

Sounds like everyone if progressing well!

 

[W2R]

[...]Here's my 6 week post-op update:[...]

Interesting! Have you thought of starting a thread to track your own weekly recovery? That way your recovery from week to week will be easier for future readers to follow than it is, when it's interjected into this thread journaling my recovery at 9 days, or into Chuckanuts thread about his recovery at 5 weeks. Although I guess you are closer in recovery time to Chuckanut than to me, so maybe your posts would be more helpful over in his thread?

Of course you are always welcome to post on any thread. Just thought I'd mention the idea of starting your own recovery journal thread in case that appeals to you. I'd just hate for casual future readers to think that at 9 days one can simply toss one's canes and ice machine away and happily go bike riding to get the mail.

 

[SumDay]

Interesting! Have you thought of starting a thread to track your own weekly recovery? That way your recovery from week to week will be easier for future readers to follow than it is, when it's interjected into this thread journaling my recovery at 9 days, or into Chuckanuts thread about his recovery at 5 weeks. Although I guess you are closer in recovery time to Chuckanut than to me, so maybe your posts would be more helpful over in his thread?

Of course you are always welcome to post on any thread. Just thought I'd mention the idea of starting your own recovery journal thread in case that appeals to you. I'd just hate for casual future readers to think that at 9 days one can simply toss one's canes and ice machine away and happily go bike riding to get the mail.

Actually, I did! http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f38/my-july-11-knee-replacement-98839.html I just remembered I did it! I forgot to mention that I still feel like I'm living under the fog of anesthesia. Seriously...

Should I copy my posts from here into my thread, and ask an admin to delete mine from this thread?

 

[Moemg]

So glad things are going well for W2R and Chuckanut!

Here's my 6 week post-op update:

Cane, walker and ice machine are now in storage in the basement. I do keep a spare in my car, just in case I have to park far away.

I am also struggling with stamina. I started taking Iron and B12 in hopes of a boost. Nothing earth shattering yet.



Hang in there everyone!

Have you thought about taking protein shakes to help with the stamina . I was taking Orgain protein powder and it really helped .

 

[Chuckanut]

I figure I will have the ice machine for a few more months minimum. I doubt if my swelling loving knee will let me get rid of it before 3 months minimum.

 

[SumDay]

Have you thought about taking protein shakes to help with the stamina . I was taking Orgain protein powder and it really helped .

Great idea! Thanks much.

 

[Chuckanut]

I stumbled across this on the Internet, so you have been warned.

It's called the Tailgate PT for the Knee. First, get your hands on a pickup truck. It doesn't even need to be street legal. Drop the tailgate down. Sit on the tailgate and swing your knees back and forth. On the backward swing gently force the knee to go a little farther than normal so you feel the stretch. Do this for as long as it takes you to down a few rounds of your favorite beer. If it hurts too much, drink more beer.

 

[aaronc879]

I stumbled across this on the Internet, so you have been warned.

It's called the Tailgate PT for the Knee. First, get your hands on a pickup truck. It doesn't even need to be street legal. Drop the tailgate down. Sit on the tailgate and swing your knees back and forth. On the backward swing gently force the knee to go a little farther than normal so you feel the stretch. Do this for as long as it takes you to down a few rounds of your favorite beer. If it hurts too much, drink more beer.

Just don't take it too far. My 80-something year old neighbor broke her hip last year and had a very hard time with pain. Despite her extreme pain they took her off opiods after a few months. She started drinking beer to numb the pain and is now drinking 3 cases a week(that's ~10 beers a day). That doesn't seem better than taking a few extra Oxys.

 

[Moemg]

I stumbled across this on the Internet, so you have been warned.

It's called the Tailgate PT for the Knee. First, get your hands on a pickup truck. It doesn't even need to be street legal. Drop the tailgate down. Sit on the tailgate and swing your knees back and forth. On the backward swing gently force the knee to go a little farther than normal so you feel the stretch. Do this for as long as it takes you to down a few rounds of your favorite beer. If it hurts too much, drink more beer.

That's the redneck's version of PT !

 

[bclover]

Still celebrating baby steps towards recovery.

My range of motion as measured by my PT increased dramatically yesterday, from awful (69 degrees) to a much better 82 degrees. Once it gets to 90 degrees I can shift from home PT to PT at their facility.

I did my own laundry all by myself yesterday, and put it all away! Carefully, making sure not to twist my knee, and with rest periods every few minutes. But I did it.

The energy drain of the first week seems to be improving a lot, too. Trying to be careful not to overdo, as I build my stamina back up a bit.

awesome!!

it took me quite a while to get any type of energy and stamina back, lol I really think that was the most frustrating thing

Glad you are progressing though

 

[Chuckanut]

and is now drinking 3 cases a week(that's ~10 beers a day). That doesn't seem better than taking a few extra Oxys.

I don't have the stomach volume to drink that much beer.

 

[W2R]

awesome!!

it took me quite a while to get any type of energy and stamina back, lol I really think that was the most frustrating thing

Glad you are progressing though

Well, yesterday and today I am demonstrating the age old axiom, "Two steps forward, one step back". Zero stamina again, lots of swelling and pain. My PT said I overdid and I think she was right. But anyway, with my ice machine and prescription pain medication I am doing OK and I will ice and rest.

 

[Chuckanut]

Well, yesterday and today I am demonstrating the age old axiom, "Two steps forward, one step back". Zero stamina again, lots of swelling and pain. My PT said I overdid and I think she was right. But anyway, with my ice machine and prescription pain medication I am doing OK and I will ice and rest.

I've learned that we progress by dribs and drabs. Sometimes there is an 'Aha' moment when we realize we can walk upstairs normally without having to drag the surgical leg up one step at a time. It seems sudden, but getting to that point involved a lot of small things coming together. And there are times when we go backwards for no apparent reason. That's happened to me several times. Grin and Bear It.

A few weeks ago I discovered I could sleep on my right side again - Wonderful!! Now I can also sleep on my left slide - Great! What did I do to get there? Nothing special.It happens at its own pace. No need to rush or fret.

Well, I did do one thing. I continue to practice good nutrition. This surgery creates a huge amount of wounded tissue in our knees. Good nutrition is essential to the healing of wounds. No surprise here. Our Grandmothers coiuld have told us that.

 

[omni550]

Well, yesterday and today I am demonstrating the age old axiom, "Two steps forward, one step back". Zero stamina again, lots of swelling and pain. My PT said I overdid and I think she was right. But anyway, with my ice machine and prescription pain medication I am doing OK and I will ice and rest.

Sorry to hear, but not unusual. From chuckanut's reports it sounds like it's sort of a zig-zag to recovery rather than a straight line.

Hang in there and take it easy.

omni

 

[W2R]

Thanks, Chuckanut and Omni550.

Luckily, so far I haven't experienced enough of these let-downs to feel depressed about it (yet). It's more of an "aw,shucks" feeling.

Last night I wanted to do without pain pills at bedtime, a habit that I seemed to acquire about a week ago I guess. Even if my pain is just moderate, I can't seem to get to sleep easily without medication; yet two pain pills have me sleeping within 20 minutes. Anyway, I was unsuccessful in pursuing sleep without them last night so I took some at 3:25 AM and was asleep by 3:40 or so. Logically I know it is too soon to be concerned about opioid addiction so I keep telling myself that but the fear of it is still there.

Yesterday I rested and iced most of the day, and will probably do the same for most of today. Tomorrow my home PT session will be with my physical therapist's boss. I guess he wants to see for himself how I am doing or something. Then the next day I get my staples removed by the Home Health nurse, and the following day and Friday my regular home PT. And probably another visit from the Home Health nurse. This is almost like work. I remember the good ol' days pre-surgery when my days were completely free. Oh well, this can't last forever.

A week from Tuesday I have my first post-surgical appointment with my surgeon. I am looking forward to getting out of the house and going somewhere.

 

[Chuckanut]

Sorry to hear, but not unusual. From chuckanut's reports it sounds like it's sort of a zig-zag to recovery rather than a straight line.
i

Lots of zig-zag, including some that go backwards at times.

From what I have read it's about one year for a complete functional recovery (That's the one people talk about) , and two years for the bones to stop their recovery process at the cellular level.

Of course, YMMV.

 

[2soon2tell]

W2R,

Sounds like a trip to Cafe du Monde might aid your healing.

 

[stephenson]

The folks on bonesmart.org are fond of showing two drawings side by side:
1. Planned recovery - nice and linear
2. Actual recovery - squiggles for most of the ink and then a straight shot to the finish

 

[Chuckanut]

The folks on bonesmart.org are fond of showing two drawings side by side:
1. Planned recovery - nice and linear
2. Actual recovery - squiggles for most of the ink and then a straight shot to the finish

Bonesmart is an interesting site.

I do wish they had more than just their stories and experience to back up some of their claims regarding recovery efforts. Some academic research would be nice.

I agree that PT to the extreme that causes pain and injury to the joint does not make sense.

OTOH, can one simply do nothing special other than light household duties for months and have an adequate recovery? That seems to fly in the face of the idea that we have to get moving and put some stress on the joint, or lose our motion.

 

[Moemg]

OTOH, can one simply do nothing special other than light household duties for months and have an adequate recovery? That seems to fly in the face of the idea that we have to get moving and put some stress on the joint, or lose our motion.

IMO unless they are motivated to keep increasing their household tasks it will take double the time to recover .Besides how long can you just do light household tasks without your partner getting tired of pulling your load ?

 

[stephenson]

Bonesmart.org is more of a support group with crowd sourced success and failure stories - wrt THR, i found all advice well structured. Hips can recover with zero PT! As long as the core need is mobility. Hip 1 for me was 20 years ago, hip to three months ago. I did nothing more that stretch and walk in both cases.

TKRs are a different bird, requiring significant effort and painful PT to be truly successful - or, at least that is my observation.

The site also tends to have more support than I like in a support group ...many will set up their thread and simply whine. While I tended to offer constructive advice, i sometimes got crosswise with the moderators for pushing folks to get off narcotics as soon as possible. They never pushed in that regard.

My story - https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/thr-a-doing-well.54206/

All in all, though, I thought it a great site to allow opinions and constructive advice from apparent experts.

 

[Moemg]

st night I wanted to do without pain pills at bedtime, a habit that I seemed to acquire about a week ago I guess. Even if my pain is just moderate, I can't seem to get to sleep easily without medication; yet two pain pills have me sleeping within 20 minutes. Anyway, I was unsuccessful in pursuing sleep without them last night so I took some at 3:25 AM and was asleep by 3:40 or so. Logically I know it is too soon to be concerned about opioid addiction so I keep telling myself that but the fear of it is still there.

.

Have you thought about cutting one of the pills in half so you are slowly decreasing your dose?.Pill cutters are sold at all drug stores and probably amazon .

 

[omni550]

Hey, W2R, haven't heard anything from you lately.

How are you doing with your recovery?

omni

 

[W2R]

Hey, W2R, haven't heard anything from you lately.

How are you doing with your recovery?

omni

Doing great today! Yesterday I had my staples removed and my ROM just before that was 90 degrees. Last night I slept 12 hours despite only one opioid pill. Today I had PT; did leg lifts with no assistance, and got on and off my bed without the leg lifter device, also with no assistance. Went outside for the first time (what a beautiful world out there! ). Got into my SUV for the first time today and didn't need the leg lifter device. Since I was already in the SUV, we went out to lunch at our favorite restaurant. And tonight, I am cleared for my first shower, thank heavens. I am pleased to be this far along on Day 15.

It's always two steps forward, one step back, though. This is a worse roller coaster ride than the stock market. Making progress, though.

 

[omni550]

W2R,

Wow...that sounds like truly amazing progress!

Thanks for the update.

omni