@caz7 @debbraw I have a tendency to put medical issues behind me, but if I recall correctly, I just pushed myself to do the stairs. We have a two story home and sleeping on the first floor was not an option. My husband would want to walk behind me when I was going up and in front of me when I was going down, but it really was not necessary. My biggest accomplishment came much later when I could finally do stairs without holding to the handrail, which is necessary when carrying a laundry basket or anything basically.

@caz7 Have you spoken to your doctor about the amount of pain you are in? I hope so, and if not you really should, to make sure it is not something that is unacceptable. I was in a lot of pain for about 6 weeks and my doctor was seeing me regularly during that time, monitoring it. When the pain finally lifted, quite dramatically, we were both very relieved.

Squats will always be difficult for me, I only have 115° in my left leg. I just found out this week that I have 125° in my right leg which really surprised me. That means that the flex continued to improve a number of years after the TKR! I actually lost some flex in my left knee, I am wondering if I now have some scar tissue there interfering. I am having some PT for hip bursitis so I asked him to measure while I was there. The therapist said that having 0° when you straighten is actually more important though because if you don't have that your knee is more apt to buckle.

Getting up from sitting was also difficult, especially in the bathroom, but we have counters very close to the toilet in our bathroom and also in the first floor bathroom so that was a huge help. I did use a frame around the toilet for a while to assist in getting up.

Since this was my second TKR I got very prepared before it, doing a lot of exercises to strengthen the surrounding muscles. Just do what you can do. You should be able to do a little bit more every couple of days. Try to not stress, this will get better and you will be doing almost everything that a person with no TKRs can do.

You will get through this, try to not get discouraged.
JK