Patient, Heal Thyself!!!
Posted , 20 users are following.
I've done a lot of posting on this site, trying to overcome my own situation by encouraging people to be strong and do the work necessary to get well again. Now it's my turn. I expected something, it didn't happen and now I have to confront it.
I'm at 8 1/2 months. ROM is 0 / +132, overcame some severe sciatica starting in week 5, got off all the meds and walking aids, hit the gym for the quads. Thought I was done at 7+ months...boy was I wrong...
While looking for a new position in IT (45 years...Sr. Process/Solutions Architect), I thought I'd work P/T at the local Best Buy selling computers for the holidays. Heck, I've built all my own machines for decades and know all the technology intimately. This was an easy choice to get back into the working world. So I stopped the gym and went to work. Baaaaad idea...
Standing on my feet for between 5 and 8 1/2 hours a day, I've realized that my quads are still too weak to do the time. Day starts off horribly but I get stronger over the day until I get home and just collapse. I need to get back to the gym on my off days and do more quad work but I'm just really tired. I thought that working and walking (7,000 to 10,000 steps a day on my FitBit) would rehab the quads. WRONG!!!! Gotta get back to the leg work. There is really no alternative. I had to learn the hard way and pay for my arrogance.
On top of that, I've re-developed sciatica on both sides...in my glutes...the sciatic knots. This is very painful and radiates into my fused back. So I've got pain in the back, butt and quads but have to work four days a week on my feet (including Black Friday this coming week...five days in a row). Good thing...the knee is PERFECT! Great ROM, zero pain. It's everything else that has gone to hell.
Doc gave me some Tramadol that I take before work...helps a little bit. Will NOT go back to opioids. Need to go back to my chiroprator next week to see if she can straighten out my hips again to relieve the sciatica.
Lesson: You're not done until you're done. Period. I thought I could skip the end of the rehab and jump to the head of the employment line. It doesn't work like that...and I should have known it. Haven't joined a new band because I know that I can't haul all my bass equipment and do a 4+ hour gig without significant pain. But I thought I could handle work. Wrong.
A TKR is a very humbling experience. If you think you can breeze right through this and ignore the brutal reality of it all, you're just as delusional as I've been these past few weeks. You can convince yourself that you're done when you're really not. Talked to my doctor cousin who ripped up a major leg tendon and was in a cast for 6 weeks. Quads atrophied just like ours do. Told me it will take a year to get them back...and I didn't listen. I thought his prediction did not apply to me...thought I was beyond it. I'm not. This is going to take the full year...period.
Take heart, my fellow TKRians...we will all be a lot better down the road but there are no shortcuts. No excuses...do the work. Me too...
8 likes, 60 replies
Nextoneplease CHICO_MARX
Posted
First of all, Chico, I am sorry you're having such a difficult time and wish you well.
Secondly, thanks you all you guys on here
I am 8 months post TKR and like some of you, had begun to think I was 'back to normal'. (Anyone remember what that is,by the way?) Then.....yesterday I woke up with excruciating pain in my knee, felt like it was under the kneecap and at the top of the shin. So bad, I couldn't touch it, and could hardly weightbear. So I came on here for some fellow feeling, and boy, did I get it 
You guys are amazing, you put up with so much and yet keep going.
But.....what's up with my knee?? Part of it, I think, may be that I have almost stopped the exercises over the last couple weeks.....and a couple of days ago went out round town with my husband. Struggled to keep up with him, walked a bit further than usual, and......stood around more than usual, at a carol service, waiting for a bus, shopping for a few Christmas items. It seems that's all it takes to set my poor knee off again. A timely reminder that I am not fully healed, and that I must keep up the exercises. It will take a year, I'm not yet done......
Thankfully I have a scan booked for next week, because I'd just instinctively felt there was something not right. We'll see...
good luck all all and thanks for being here xx
CHICO_MARX Nextoneplease
Posted
Really, really hope that you just overdid it. Every time we think it's over or that we could short-cut the recovery, that damn knee comes up and slaps us in the face. Yes, it will take a year...or more. I set a goal to be back on skates January 1st...not going to happen. Maybe June 1st...we'll see...especially after knowing I have back surgery AGAIN in my future. This really does suck...but we just keep at it. I work in computer sales at Best Buy part time with my huge back brace on and then come home and work for AT&T as a remote IT Architect. I stay busy!!! 9,400 steps today!!! Back and legs hurt but the knee doesn't swell so that's a good sign. Drugs! Drugs! My kingdom for some drugs!!!
Nextoneplease CHICO_MARX
Posted
Thanks Chico. I don't know why I'd forgotten the rehab timeline.....wishful thinking, I guess! But my knee is definitely not right. It swells a lot by the end of each day, and is very stiff in the mornings, in addition to the pain. In fact it feels a bit like it was before the op (though nowhere near as bad).
im up to 5000 steps most days, plus have taken up a bit of Pilates. I'd like to do more but have to listen to my knee's reaction....
I want to work, dance, walk, visit my daughter in London, help look after my grandchild.....these aspirations are all so difficult to achieve.
Well done for everything you do, I reckon you have a will of iron.....good luck with your back. And thanks for the reply
CHICO_MARX Nextoneplease
Posted
There are days that I have the will of a wet noodle...we all do. You may have those aspirations and you actually may achieve them. But for now, set some modest goals and work on them. If you have pain and swelling, back off and ice. We've all done this...you can and will get through it.
Nextoneplease CHICO_MARX
Posted
Very wise, Chico, very wise. I wish it wasn't so, but it is.....it's back to the elevation, ice and proper physio....not just wandering around and letting myself think it's exercise lol.
goodnight all x
tammy11224 CHICO_MARX
Posted
Such good (and obviously heartfelt advice)!
I will take heed as I'm due to be dismissed from PT next week. I will definitely stick with the exercises!!!!
Best wishes to you in your own healing!!! You are truly inspirational!
Tammy
lyn32416 CHICO_MARX
Posted
Hey Chico. I've missed a lot of posts on here as I spent most of November and all of December in Thailand. The internet was not my main focus.
I sincerely hope your health improves this year. No one has any idea of another's suffering really.
I am full of gratitude for my minimal discomfort.
I know you'll deal with life's trials and outcomes, no matter what but there are folks on here who value your input so much and I am just one of them. Stay strong.
CHICO_MARX lyn32416
Posted