Thoughts at 28 weeks post op and 13 weeks post op TKRs

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Hi All!

I am now 28 weeks and 13 weeks post op from my two TKRs. Looking back at the last five years or so I have to reflect on all that's taken place and must say that if I knew THEN what I know NOW I definitely would have gone in sooner to see about having my surgeries.

Of course recovery from ANY surgery is grueling, and TKRs bring their own special issues (swelling, having to walk on knees that have just had tremendous trauma, pain, dealing with medication FOR pain that may bring its own trouble and side effects, taking blood thinners and giving yourself SHOTS in your abdomen, having to be helped to the bathroom...The list goes on and on!)

Even with all of the recovery issues and dealing with physical therapy and STAIRS (my personal nemesis!), I STILL have to say that I am MUCH BETTER off than I was before my surgeries. Before having surgery I would begin experiencing pain even walking into the grocery store! By aisle two I was standing on one foot, standing on the other foot, leaning on the cart and wondering how I was going to get all my shopping done. If I grabbed a few items and left, I was angry at myself that I didn't get all I needed. If I stuck it out and DID all the shopping I needed to do, I really paid for it when I finally got home, needed to put away everything and put my legs up KNOWING I would be experiencing great amounts of PAIN for days to come because I went GROCERY SHOPPING!

That was absolutely ridiculous on my part, but I put up with it, and I bet many of you put up with it, too!

I now can shop for HOURS, garden, shovel snow, play with our granddaughter, climb into our son's new truck, stand in the yard talking to my neighbor, bake cookies, and NOT have to stand on one foot, stand on the other foot and look for chairs to sit down on everywhere I go. I wish I had soldiered on and gotten my surgeries sooner.

I was fortunate to have no complications with my surgeries. I thank God every day for that. I am retired, so I have no schedule I must keep and can rest as needed. My husband has health issues of his own but TRIES to help. I am grateful for that. I am a positive person and pray a lot, and I KNOW FOR SURE that has been a HUGE part of my recovery.

I often look down at my HUGE scars on my knees and reflect on the last 28 weeks of my life. I have to say that even WITH all the pain, the recovery issues, the relearning how to walk again, using the walker and cane and working on developing proper bend and successful straightening, I STILL would do ALL of it again because I now have my life back. At 64 I can walk again. I can do the things I USED to love to do, and I have a chance to enjoy my family again by looking forward to our youngest son's wedding in September and playing with our oldest son's baby girl without CONSTANTLY being in pain and thinking about my knees.

I am SO GRATEFUL that I took the leap of faith and had my surgeries!

It is my hope that we all reach a point of less pain, be able to do things we haven't been able to do, get our life back and enjoy ourselves and our favorite things to do.

I am so thankful to everyone here on this site. I have learned so much here and have especially appreciated that I have people available who really understand my issues. Thanks to all who have helped me throughout these many weeks of recovery and will continue to be there as I keep recovering!

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Dear Cheryl

It is good to read you are now in a good place, isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing!!!!!  It is also wonderful to look forward to and do things that a few months ago would have been impossible.  Long may your happiness last and that your husband’s health improves.  Think of your scars as tattoos; rather radical at our age, don’t you think

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Oh Cheryl, I am so pleased that it has all worked out so well for you. I am very, very envious. I had a partial a year ago this month and I wish I could get my life back. I am still in pain, still on crutches which affects the rest of my frame due to previous operations. Still on the strong painkillers. I am 60 and feel 80. I have begged my consultant to see me again, even though he says there is nothing else to be done. I really want a total knee replacement as I hear of such good results from a total. Your post gives me encouragement to push for it.

4

Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us.  All posts and comments here are helpful and informative and give us the incentive to carry on.

I myself am nearly 7 weeks post op TKR and at the moment feels more like 7 months! Don't get me wrong I am doing great, I have a great bend and not bad extension. Having said that my life revolves around PT, exercise bike, painkillers and icing. I am due to have 2nd one done later this year and the thoughts of this fills me with dread.

As stated in a lot of the posts here, you are not really told how long the recovery will be and how long you will need painkillers for pre op.  I would not be abe to do the PT without them and fair play to the heroes that come out of hospital and are drug free in a week.  I would be lying comatose without them.

Thanks so much again for your story Cheryl.

Hope you have a wonderful 2016.

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Be careful what you wish for.....  A TKR may set you back further than you think. Your consultant was being honest when he says there is nothing he can do.  All his remit is, is to do the surgery only.  After that, it is the physio department, they can ask for more x-rays etc as well as try and get you up and running.  If you are still in pain, then you need to join a pain management team.  This is normally headed up by a consultant whose expertise is pain and the treatment thereof.  You may find that you wont need surgery.  Don't forget all the nerve endings in and around your knee have been cut.  These have to reattach.  There will be little bits of debris floating around, getting caught in various places.  Your muscles also need to get working, whilst they are in a weakened state nothing else will work. Be patient and speak to your doctor and or physio.  For you it could just be early days. Having previous operations will not have made your recovery any easier.

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Hi cheryl190571

Congratulations on all your hard work and positive outlook to get to where you are today. You have been through a great deal over the last few weeks, and to hear if your successful outcome gives us all hope for our futures too.

I had a L TKR 17 weeks ago and initially thought I had made a mistake having the surgery due to the level of shooting/stabbing pains, especially throuout the night and the painful exercises I felt I was pushed into doing (especially the lunges on the stairs) I wept buckets through the pain barrier till the Physio told me to stop with the lunges and just concentrate on all the other exercises. The relief was huge.

After a while I reintroduced the lunges when my knee felt stronger.

I can now walk with no pain or limp for the first time in 4 years. It feels a bit stuff and heavy but that's all.

I swim just the same, even breast stroke (with a lazy left kick)

Like yourself, I feel I have my life back. I can play with my 2 yr old granddaughter, which I love. And shop and do housework with no problems.

I have a few twinges in my other knee but that's all. I hope it holds out for a long time yet. So for you to have had suck a great outcome after 2 surgeries is FANTASTIC. Well done, your an inspiration to us all.

Good luck for the future and I wish all fellow TKR patients the very best of recoveries. Happy 2016 everyone.

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Hi Sue!

I WILL think of my scars as tattoos! Great idea! Certainly each one of my scars has a story to go with it just like tattoos usually have!

Yes! Hindsight is really something! I am looking forward to being able to get out walking again in the Spring. That will be something I thought I might never be able to do again.

Thank you for the kind words for my husband. He suffers from diabetes and peripheral neuropathy issues that stem from his diabetes. Both have caused him many daily challenges and considerable pain. Diabetes is as nasty as Osteoarthritis!

Have a great 2016!

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Hi Susan!

I am glad that my post is encouraging you to keep pushing for what you deserve--feeling better with less or no pain. My cousin's partial knee replacement came with similar results as yours did. Had she not fallen a week ago and had injuries to her leg and shoulder, she might have thought about seeing to her partial knee replacement to find out what was wrong. Now she is recovering from TWO MORE surgeries (femur and shoulder) !

Please see another doctor and get a second or even third opinion. Everyone deserves the chance to live with less pain, and sometimes surgery IS the only option. I know that was true for me, and it may also be your chance to feel like yourself again.

Praying for you to have courage and strength today!

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Hi Ann!

Oh! How well I know about life revolving around Physical Therapy! That was the last thing I checked before going to bed...my PT time! I had Home Care and then outpatient PT, so between my two knees I was in Physical Therapy from early July until mid December! I must say, however, that my physical therapist was WONDERFUL! I worked very hard, and she acknowledged that, encouraging me and giving me more challenging exercises when she knew I could handle them. She would alter an exercise if if was causing me pain or give me a different exercise or machine to use that would accomplish the same goal. I will be eternally grateful for her guidance as I learned how to move again properly with my new knees, got stronger, and developed balance and gait with my newly-aligned frame!

Of course there were many days that I would have loved to just relax at home, but I KNEW I needed help to get where I wanted to be and got on my way to PT. I was often sore afterwards, but soreness led to a stronger ME and MUCH STRONGER knees and muscles. The push to get there and work hard DID pay many benefits.

Keep going on your PT, your bike, and your icing! You are still at the early stages where results aren't coming as fast as you might think they should. Keep reminding yourself of how far you have come since your day of surgery!

If your second knee is as bad as your first, it will only get worse if you don't get the surgery. My second knee was really holding me back, so I couldn't WAIT to get rid of the PAIN and get it replaced. My second surgery went well. I actually could move my leg/knee around in the recovery room! (My first knee/ leg felt like a tree trunk filled with CEMENT!) We think the PT with knee#1 strengthened knee#2 and made the whole process go better. You may find this to be true as well!

Be confident.

Be patient with yourself.

You will do GREAT with #2!

Thank you for writing!

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Very inspiring!   Thank you so much

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Hi Margaret!

Thank you for all the kind words!

It is wonderful to hear that you can now walk with no pain for the first time in four years! I, too, feel stiffness and heaviness, but I hear that kind of goes with the territory at this stage of the game. I'm thinking that keeping moving is a good thing, and getting the muscles stronger is also going to be helpful.

I'm glad you quit with the lunges when they were causing you pain. My trouble exercise was sliding my foot along the board at PT. I would get TERRIBLE shooting pains all the way down and up my entire keg. When we went to the Total Gym piece of equipment instead, all that cleared up, AND in working both legs together, I actually got stronger with a better bend and straighter legs!

Have fun with your granddaughter! Isn't it great to be a GRANDMA?!!!

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You are very welcome!

I always enjoy hearing updates from my friends here on this site, so I thought I would let everyone know how things were going for me since my surgeries.

Wishing you success and pain-free days and nights in 2016 and always!

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Keep on rocking!!!!

Has your husband tried acupuncture, sometimes those little needles can calm down the janglng nerve ends.  Hope he/you find relief of some sort as it cannot be easy on you either. xxx

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I am the adventurous one in the relationship. Yeah...two major surgeries in four months! He, on the other hand, is pretty scaredy-cat when it comes to ANY medical procedure. I have thought that acupuncture would be a great option for him! Maybe when I show him your message he will see that others are thinking along the same lines as I have been!

Yes, it is hard dealing with supporting him AND my own recovery, but we are doing it. Sometimes I think when you have to think of the needs of others, YOUR issues seem less big.

Thanks for thinking of us!

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How good to hear Cheryl!!!! You've been amazing on this forum and I've followed your journey with great interest . I've loved your honesty and your approach to recovery. I had my left TKR 6 months ago and am having my right one within the next few weeks. At least I know what to expect this time. The first one was along hard slog to get the bend,but I'm now at 105 deg bend and walking up and down stairs ok. I still have a pouch of fluid maybe a bakers cyst at the back of it and I can stiffen up of I do too much, but all in all I'm much stronger than before and think that once my right knee is done then il continue to recover all over. Happy days !!!!! Can't wait to get my life back

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Wow, Cheryl, what an encouraging 'blog'!! I am 77 in March and at 26 and 5 weeks post ops for TKRs and like you have struggled with pain, lack of sleep etc. On the plus side I have an absolute treasure of a husband and many good friends on and off FaceBook and in our village. I too have been looking back over the past 16 years and wished I'd had the surgery sooner, however, here in the UK surgery is the last resort after, exercises, pain relief, injections etc. Still, all done now and the only way is 'up'. I start my six weeks physiotherapy on Monday and found it so helpful the first time, I'm looking forward to it. Next step is getting back in to the swimming pool to do my exercises there.

Every blessing for your future and thank you again for your 'post'.

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Well done Cheryl 👍👍👍

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I'm happy with you and couldn't agree more. I also waited way too long and suffered longer than I should have because I was afraid. I had both knees replaced at one time. Yes, the surgery was painful but "bone-on-bone" was VERY PAINFUL as well and then it started to affect my hip. I am now about 9 weeks beyond my surgery and I am thankful every day that I finally did it! I still have surgical pain but it is NOTHING like what I suffered before. I would recommend "taking a leap of faith" to anyone suffering as we did, Cheryl. I'm so glad you're doing better , recovering nicely and have people who help and support you. I also am lucky to have a supportive husband/ partner. I'm thankful for him.

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At the risk of raising the ire of our male readers, the female of the species is stronger than........it is very easy to forget that the carer needs support as much as the sufferer.  As much as you love your husband, do not neglect yourself xxx

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You WILL get your life back, and you will be amazed at how much experience #1 will help guide you through experience #2!

Of course all surgeries are challenging and come with recovery and issues to conquer, but in the end, knowing that a bad knee just will stay "The bad knee" UNLESS you get it replaced and move on, you just DO IT!

Both of my X-RAYS looked terrible prior to my surgery! No wonder I had such pain and TERRIBLE balance! Those issues are in the past now, and I am so grateful that I CAN move forward!

You will do great on your upcoming surgery! I will be praying for you to remain calm and strong and BRAVE.

Keep us posted on your progress, OK?

Thanks so much for your kind words. They mean a lot to me!