7 months (tdy) post TKR - feel like maybe some light at the end of the tunnel

I hear you with the humidity making pain worse.  I swear I can predict storms now, particularly when the barometic pressure is down, man it hurts 3x as bad.....

For me - its seems that building up muscles around the knee is the key to strength, balance and mobility. I went to a private trainer at the gym and it has been a godsend but then for a few months I was depressed and did nothing - my knee got worse and I gained weight. Now I am losing it (again) and building up my fitness and already my knee is less sensitive (always been sensitive on the scar), less stiff and more mobile after 5 sessions one each day for 30 minutes - they know which exercises to do,how many reps, weights etc and I am so pleased i am back on the leg extensions and leg curler and can literally feel the improvement. Everyone said it can be up to a year (and even more) which is really frustrating when I know people who have recovered very quickly - for me the magic 12 months is coming but I know that, if I put the effort and thought into it I will improve even for another 12 months. It was stiffness and discomfort rather than pain from about 8 months, so hard when you want to be active and normal. Getting an automatic car really helped too. 7 months is still 'early' so jsut keep at it and hopefully though a lot slower and less noticeable (keep a monthly diary) you will see more improvements. I can go upstairs easily and downstairs normally most days now and could not do that even 2 months ago! Dont give up. We are all here on this forum and for me it has also been great as I live alone. Sorry - hence the long reply!! 

I'm almost seven months post op on MY LEFT TKR, too! (Had #2 done three months ago.)

Your bend is better than mine! Good progress, Donna! I keep working at bend, but I work even harder to maintain my STRAIGHTENING because that helps me get a MUCH BETTER stride. My Springtime Goal is to resume my 3-5 mile walks that I so enjoyed before all my craziness with knee pain began five years ago. ( Of course I will begin with a walk down the street and back!)

I, too, had severe tourniquet pain with my left leg following surgery. Everyone would ask me how my KNEE felt. All I could feel was pain like someone had shoved a STEAK KNIFE into my thigh! Also, like you, I had one heck of a time feeling my left quad muscle. It was as though it had DISAPPEARED! (A brilliant technique suggested by one of my physical therapists was to do the exercise with both legs simultaneously. When I DID that, it was like Leg #2 --my not-yet-surgical leg-- was TEACHING Leg #1!!! A few weeks later I was able to do quite well finding and using my left quad muscle!)

I laughed (Sorry!) when you said your leg felt like cement! I would describe my left leg in those first three weeks as a TREE TRUNK filled with CEMENT!

We are here in NE Ohio, about a mile from Lake Erie--quite close to Canada! We loved our green Christmas, too! We finally have lake effect snow, so when I go out to the mailbox I walk across the grass. When I go to my neighbor's house I also walk on the grass. My thinking is if I feel like I may fall, I can just RAG DOLL it and fall safely onto the soft snow!

For years I walked our son and daughter-law's German Shepherd at lunchtime. In Winter, she and I never walked on roads because I didn't want her feet to be harmed by the salt. We would jump through big drifts, and sometimes she would zig as I zagged. I'd go down, and she would come over and lick my face as I would laugh and TRY to get back up! I learned how to stay loose, so I never got hurt. Glad I learned that technique then because I STILL use it! (When I am more confident I may take over her walks again!)

Have a GREAT time in Florida! Wading into the ocean is great practice for balancing, and if you fall, you just have to worry about NOT swallowing salt water!

Keep in touch! We have experienced so many similar things!