at 6 weeks, I have to decide in the day how much I think I can do, as excersise is important combined with leg up and ice. Then all the different family and friends visit which whilst taking meds and only getting roughly 3 hors broken sleep at night and 1 hour (if time) in the day.
i am frustrated watching my husband do the " man pegging washing tequinique on the line" - lol . And I am beginning to see all the other parts of the house that need cleaning, along with slowly trying to pick up a little bit of food shopping.
it is so easy to do "too much".
I Want my life back, and everybody sees my brave smile and thinks now I have been signed off at 6 weeks, I am able to be nana, mother, daughter ,sister, friend, colleague, oh and a wife and cleaner.
i had thought I would take this time out of work to catch up on the little jobs to save my boredom ( I wish)
i know now what will be said ( look after the leg first) , but it is so hard, as at 58 I have led a busy active life with many family and work commitments.
i just wondered how everyone else is coping with housework at what stage are you hoovering, pegging out washing cleaning, changing beds and all those jobs that expect you to manoeuvre on your knees!!
oh well got that lot off my chest!!!!
just feeling sorry for myself today after a bad night - did too much yesterday !!!!!!!
Bang on, my husbands working full time, I'm at four weeks, and feel I should be doing every thing, and feel really guilty because I just can't do it, not with out being in so much pain, but trying to get my husband to understand why I can't is so hard, he hasn't had it done , so how could he. 😏
Morning susan. I totally understand where you are now as I'm 13 weeks (I think) but trust me it will get easier. Everybody recovers at their own pace there isn't really much right or wrong as even doctors have different advice! 6 weeks is nothing really. I know it's difficult sitting back and watching the dirt get thicker and silly things like people don't hang the washing on the line right or hoover like we do but just think about yourself getting better....those things aren't really that important are they? It's you that matters! Everyone sees us with smiles on our faces when really we could cry a river with pain frustration and just general everyday things but it will get better. Im Gardening driving shopping doing everything mostly but underneath I still cry in pain and frustration. This group has been amazing they are wonderful we are all in the same boat and made to feel normal. If you want to cry then cry if you want to yell put then do so as I found that hiding what's inside doesn't really do us any favours it makes people forget the agonising trauma we have been through. Time will heal us just don't rush. Go relax in the sun make the most of it but 6 weeks is nowhere near enough time for people to think we are back to normal.
for the six months prior to op we awaited builders to extend our house and add a family room and porch! The very day I had the op they started, you don't tell builders you can't cant start otherwise another six months go by. So on discharge I came home to mess and more mess. This went on for eight weeks plus. We had 11 workmen in the house at one time and with the cutting through bricks more mess. After lunch I used to sit in armchair heating on curtains closed a sleep for hour or two builders were amazed that I could. So dust and dirt were not a problem for me. At end of build they cleaned up and hoovered left all in relatively good order. Now hubby painting he has had to clean as part of preparation could not have worked out any better!
Snap! I am 56 and so agree with you on this. I'm now 10 weeks following a pkr, after waiting 11 years to have it done. I so expected all the discomforts, but what I didn't expect was the up and down days. We all moan about cooking, cleaning, ironing, food shopping but oh I wish I was able to do all these things. I too had active family and work life, but all that seems to be passing me by at the moment......and I don't like it one bit. Some days the medicating, exercising , massaging, resting, icing takes up the whole day and when you're expecting some benefits from them and nothing happens it is so disheartening. Gardening is our hobby, and although my wonderful hubby is planting out my sweet peas, vegetables and putting out hanging baskets (which I did make, whist perching my bum on a high stool instead of standing!)......I want to do it! My op was 24 March so as I said I'm a good few weeks down the line, am signed off work until 25 June, and not expecting to go back even after that date. Physio are telling me to " walk normally" but also saying that my muscles "need to wake up" - well I'd love to "walk normally" and believe you me it's not for the lack of trying! I do drive normally and yesterday did manage to get in driving seat and moved car 5 yards on our drive! It's progess I know, but crickey it's so slow. I'll know I've recovered when I (a) can bend down and pick up my grandaughter and (b) can bend down and clean shower cubicle properly!. And to top it all my other knee (which isn't too good either!) has started to play up.
I had really bad day yesterday, seemed to cry at drop of a hat and have just surfaced after a sleepless night - does anyone else out there suffer from hot flushes from taking medication, that's another annoyance! Don't worry about getting things off your chest on this forum - some of the posts on here have brightened dull days (and nights) for me!
Right........am off to tackle that shower cubicle - happy days!
im usually someone who says, time more important that chores, and family and sunshine first, but I think it's because the simple task of quickly picking up and carrying things from room to room without even thinking about it, is now such a task. I hate housework at the best of times 😭.
i just needed a moan, well I've kicked myself up the behind, and I promise to have a positive day.
im only 15 days post op and already things are getting me down, like the housework etc.
im also 58 years young and up to now I have been very active, so I can completely understand where you are coming from.
i know it is very difficult for us to sit back and let loved ones help you albeit they don't do it your way, but I've come to the conclusion that the dust and everything else can wait, we are all on the road to our recovery and it just takes time, I'm getting into a bed every day where the bed is not made and are having to try and adjust the sheets and duvet when I'm in bed, that's a laugh in itself, but my hubby is working hard and then he has to come home and just do the basics, so I do appreciate everything he does, it just frustrates me because I cannot do it, so keep smiling, keep your pecker up and just try and take each day as it comes and let tomorrow take care of itself.xx take care Sue xx you do have friends on the forum xx
You are entitled to moan you have been through major surgery and a very painful one too. I remember about 8 years ago my brother (god rest his soul) never recovered from 4 TKR and after the 2nd one they finally realised he was allergic to the metal and then the cement , but I remember thinking about him being in pain and not able to walk properly or sleep or do anything for over 3 years and thought he was being a bit dramatic to be honest the whole family did. Point is I never understood how traumatic a TKR was and he went through it 4 times continuously for years. I'm stricken with guilt no I know after going through this myself plus THR... (that was a doddle compared to my knee) . Don't ever feel guilty you deserve to rest just take each day as it comes
one good thing about having a moan on here, I really appreciate hubby, likewise he has his work to do also, and at least I have got rid of my frustrations on here and he is so relieved that this forum has become my private therapy - which costs nothing - lol 😀😭😀😂😀😟😀.
You are so right about our therapy forum it is so good to hear others moaning about the same issues you have. Maybe they should name it " knee replacement therapy forum"
also so right about having a laugh when reading other people's experiences of this operation, it is better than a bottle of wine!
Well for one thing 6 weeks is a very short time in the grand scheme of things. I was like you signed off for 6 weeks but realised there was no way that I could go back to work so soon. Was signed off for a further 6 weeks and that was when I felt more human. Started to do more housework, shopping and generally feeling more human. I would say start off with small tasks each day - like cleaning the bathroom one day, hoovering the next and so on. Just don't try too much too soon because it will show the next day with a very sore knee!!!
I am on tramadol and they make me have hot flushes like you I have a had another bad night I could sit here and cry due back at work in 3 weeks don't know how I am going to cope thinking about asking the doctor for something to help me sleep
I've read that hoovering is one thing you should leave to someone else for quite a while. . and thinking about it, it does actually tend to make you twist the knee, which is supposed to be bad. On the one hand, they say that as soon as the operaton is done, the porsthesis is as firm as it will ever be, and yet warn you about making gturning movements on the knee. I suppose it's the muscles which need protecting??? Changing beds is also a bit of no/no apparently . . .At six weeks, walking is usually pretty good. . which leads the unitiated to think we are totally recovered! It's all the other things. . climbing stepladders, reaching up to clean windows etc. . which really do take a long time! Try to forget the dust for a while . . and don't do too much!
I didn't get hot flushes with tramadol . . at 70, thank heavens, I seem to be mainly over the dreaded hot flushes. . . I just wonder if it is the tramadol, and not the beginning of the menopause? At 56, just about the right age! .the lack of sleep is one of the worst side effects of this oeration . . it makes it so much harder to cope with all the rest. At 20, weeks, I am now down to a quarter of a sleeping tablet, and probably going to drop them altogether to see what happens. .Don't want to get totally hooked on them . .getting off tramadol was bad enough!
Susan, forget the dust.... the carpet I have you can't tell if its been hoovered or not! might be the reaosn I chose it. We did a makeover two years ago and changed to white fitments and furniture....so glad I did you can't see the dust either! Hubby still in the back bedroom because of my restless sleepless nights. If it was him who had had the op I don't know how he would have coped because he sleeps like the dead each night. Less sleep for him and he would be like a bear with a sore head!
Its nice to keep things tidy which I do pottering about, upstairs is fairly tidy, bathroom kept clean and sparkling in case of visitors. I have done the washing and pegging out, even ironed the few things that needed doing. But today, filled the washer and the stupid thing has stopped working, won't spin or rinse so phoned for someone to come out in the morning.... But hoovering can wait, hubby doesn't do it like I would . There is a poem about dusting I will look it out and post...
Feeling a lot better today despite walking 2-3 miles yesterday and leg stiffened as I reached home...massaged, iced, heat...and elevated..rough night but fine this morning so getting 'there' slowly. 13 weeks PO, 75 but felt 95 last night.
I made the mistake at 6 weeks to think I could get back to normal. My knees certainly let me know that I still had to be patient. I am now 11 weeks & able to more but still have to have rest days if I overdo it. Frustrating, but unfortunately that is the name of the game.