TKR Post-Op...TWO YEARS!!!!!
Posted , 14 users are following.
Wow...March 10th, 2018...already? Where did those two years go? Oh yeah...I've been trying real hard to forget all that crap!!! The end result?
IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!!!!!!! BIG TIME!!!!!
Eight months after the TKR, I got spinal stenosis which put a big crimp in my rehab. LLIF fusion in March of 2017...then a wrist repair in November and an L2-L4 spinal laminectomy this January. Yes...more crimps in my rehab. Still in a brace but started yoga and looking to resuming the gym work in April for my quads.
Unbelievably, I can climb stairs two at a time, no holding on, so stairs are no big deal for me. Lots of "muscle memory" from 45 years of hockey. But when I try to balance on one leg at yoga? Fuggeddaboutit. All those muscles are still weak from two years ago. I got more work to do. The exercise will be a lifelong thing...abandon it and you lose all that muscle tone. Keep up the work!!!
But the knee itself is GREAT. Some minor cramping a few days a months...Voltaren Gel...done. An occasional click or pop...ignore it. Virtually zero tightness or stiffness. Any remaining symptoms will disappear as I get the gym work done.
So...for all of you finishing one year: It keeps getting better. Just give it time and don't stop working at it.
For those of you still in your first year: time, work and patience. You will get there. Stay strong.
For those "Kneebies" just starting out: It helps to scream into a pillow. Take your meds ON SCHEDULE, eat healthy, hydrate, do your home exercises, ENDURE PT, ice, elevate. One big thing: Give up all your expectation and time tables. You CANNOT push a knee to recovery. If you try, it just swells and sets you back. The recovery takes a year...period...accept it...own it!!!
Update done...end of line...
4 likes, 15 replies
jenny80029 CHICO_MARX
Posted
Congratulations!
?🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
MAT2018 CHICO_MARX
Posted
🍾🎊🎉🎉 Congratulations and thank you for sharing your experience with us newbies.
debbie08326 CHICO_MARX
Posted
Love to read all your posts . I will be two years in May from PKR and wow time flew by ! But I will say it definitely took me all of these almost two years to recover . It’s an unforgettable journey for sure .
Anyway congrats Chico, on YOUR two year journey . And thanks a bunch that you continue to post . It is a “club “ only we all can understand .
Don’t know where I’d be without this forum .
Enjoy your well deserved , hard earned anniversary !
Debbie
Oldfatguy1 CHICO_MARX
Posted
You got it goin' pal. Stay off the skates and stay in the gym. This wee will be a 3 year anniversary for me.....the discovery of epistaph and the beginning of a 4 month journey without a knee. 4 months of having the leg in a soft cast with only 25° bend and toe touch. 2 months of twice a day antibiotic infusions through a PICC line. 4 months of trying to be a caregiver to my wife while attached to a walker. Another of life's learning experiences and challenges.
Stay with the program and stay out of surgery.
robin15577 CHICO_MARX
Posted
CONGRATULATIONS! Thanks for all your shared wisdom 😊
lorraine58772 CHICO_MARX
Posted
i’m have a situation, my knee started contracting when i fall asleep, it’s excruciating pain, my knee curls up and 1st time it took 30 min to relax. 2nd time it took 10 min. It’s like a MUA without the Anaesthesia. I’m afraid to fall asleep. i started using my medal brace but it most uncomfortable.
This is big set back for me, I was making such good progress before this. Every time my knee contracts, my knee is in pain all day.
CHICO_MARX lorraine58772
Posted
Are you sure it's not Restless Leg Syndrome? I've suffered from that for decades. The nerves in my thigh and knee fire every 2-3 minutes causing a contraction...most annoying...hard to sleep. You hope that it's not nerve damage related to the TKR. If it is, you hope that it will resolve in time. If it's RLS, know that I've tried different Parkinson's-type meds with no relief. My doc has me using 1 mg Xanax (fast-acting, short half-life benzodiazapine) to relax my legs to I don't get that contracting feeling at night when I try to sleep. Find the cause of why this is happening...then treat it. In the meantime, there has to be something that will alleviate the contractions. Push for it.
lorraine58772 CHICO_MARX
Posted
I’m still sleeping with my brace, I can’t take the pain when it locks up.
My tolerance for pain is very low. I pray for all patients who have to go through this ordeal.
jean04276 CHICO_MARX
Posted
deb06149 CHICO_MARX
Posted
Congratulations, on your two years, you certainly have been through a lot. In too was diagnosed three years ago with spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease and have two cysts in my back. Have been on pain management for two years to put off surgery, I have REAd done on each side which last a year to two. So when this knee came up it hasn't been fun. Your words of encouragement help as there are days...
I'm four months and since I stopped p.t and just I'd exercises at home, the knee and quads don't feel as strong. I know I'm still just in the beginning, ill keep plugging along. Thank you for all your words of wisdom. Deb
marilyn10235 CHICO_MARX
Posted
I still have 7 months to go before I reach 2 years on no.1 TKR. I hope to be in a similar situation in 7 months!
Marilyn
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Snoozy69 CHICO_MARX
Posted
Congratulations Chico, your posts have certainly helped me except how my recovery has gone. If I had listened to physiotherapists I had seen after my TKR my flexion would still be at 80 degrees but you told me it would get better if you work at it and it has. I know you keep telling us not to fixate on numbers but when my physio told me what your flexion is at 6 weeks is more or less what you are left with I got very worried. I'm pleased to say after a bit of stretching I can get to 110 quite easily so I feel like finding that physio to prove her theory wrong 😋
CHICO_MARX Snoozy69
Posted
I'm really glad that you've done the work and have had the ROM success. Also, back to work at 5 months was right in the middle of the 4-6 month range. Even so...take it slowly...sit...elevate... You still have six months to go!!! The next big milestone people frequently mention is nine months: "I'm starting to feel like more my old self." That's a good feeling... Gone will be your current residual pain and tiredness. You'll have more energy and you won't think about the knee as often as you do now. All of this happens imperceptibly.
At nine months and then at your one year anniversary, you'll wonder where the time...and the pain...went. Yeah...still some tightness and clunking...that lasts a bit longer. At 2 years, I rarely feel anything...just have to get all my strength back now as I've been sidelined by two spine surgeries (one of them a fusion) and a wrist repair since the knee was replaced. Everything in 22 months... I must be repaying Karma for something I did in a former life...geez... Figure I was a hit man for The Mob...
diana70696 CHICO_MARX
Posted
I am with you. Three years and going strong!
erela CHICO_MARX
Posted