8 weeks post TKR issues

Whenever you start doing more, things change unfortunately….. keep icing and exercising hopefully that and time will help you get through this rough patch …. We all have our own recovery story so read a lot , try new things use what works let go the rest ….. be patient and kind to yourself tkr recovery is a long process …..

Thank you for your encouragement.
I just worried that something tore inside my knee.

All sounds normal to me. I'm at four and a half months post surgery. I finally feel so much better! This is a very difficult surgery to go through. You should also be going to go physical therapy. That helped me tremendously. Don't worry, everybody has a different recovery. Check in with your surgical team. That's helped me by contacting my PA. Hang in there and don't give up!!

Thank you for that. Appreciate the encouragement. I am doing PT but basically it’s only doing the excercises the doctor gave me to do at home which I do. This is what our health care plan covers. I think I will look into another private PT clinic at my own cost to see if they can offer more help 😊

I think going to Physical Therepy is super important. I hope you are able to go.
Good luck.

I am 7 1.2 notes out and I still get sore if I do to much. My numbness on the outside of my knee didn't go away until almost 6 months. If I overdo it I still get sore and stiff. When I wake up in the morning I am always stiff however I do sleep through the night. It will get better. You're only 8 weeks out so try and be patient and show yourself some grace. It will all fall in place but I get it's not an easy thing to be patience.

Cindy

Thanks Cindy appreciate the encouragement. It is hard because I was told by my knee clinic at 6 weeks I would be off pain medication and walking without aid but I am still using a walker and needing pain medication😞

We're all different and heal at different speeds. I was off my walker at about 3-4 weeks and off my pain meds at 9 days due to being really backed up and having to do a bowel prep. After that it was Tylenol and muscle relaxers even though some pain meds might have been nice. I wasn't told lots of things...kneeling is difficult, getting off the floor takes time, how bad it would hurt etc...PT was the most helpful. Sometimes I feel like my knee feels worse than it had with the soreness and stiffness but I am also very active (sometimes almost 10,000 steps), I mow my grass that is almost 2 miles after done along with everything else. I'm probably overdoing. PT told me 6 months to a year and I'm thinking a year for me I hope.

I would not back down telling your doctor if your pain doesn’t get better, especially if you feel you tore something. 6 months out I tore my one hamstring tendon and didn’t even know it. I had pain for months on the outside, lower portion of my knee whenever I walked and my doctor said it was probably tendinitis and we’ll see how it goes. Then one day I noticed this concave area and bruising, red blotches in that area. I waited a month to say something and when I showed my PT, he sent me to my orthopedist. My orthopedist said it was only the second time he’d seen it in 20 years of practice! Lucky me -lol. He said there was nothing to do about it because we have three other hamstrings and the tendon is probably curled up behind my knee. My point is, I feel like I wasn’t assertive enough when I was having the pain when walking. Not sure what he would have done, but I wonder.
That said, TKR recovery is a long process and I am 4 months out from my second knee. Recovery is a marathon not a sprint. Keep moving!

I had a very rough time with TKR but the two things that really helped me were outside PT and frequent icing. I had my surgery two years ago and every now and then, I feel like I have *done something* to my knee and I have knee weakness and pain. When that happens, I take Advil, along with Extra Strength Tylenol and ice it. I think that the ice really helps! You should tell your surgeon that you would like to have an MRI on your knee just to make sure that you haven’t injured it. Also, if your insurance will cover it, maybe you should go back to PT for at least 8-10 sessions and get their take on it. I know how discouraging it can be to have gone through such a rough surgery and still have some pain. My OS did tell me that it takes a full two years for the knee to recover. Sending my best wishes to you for complete healing. MaryAnn in MA