my knee, version 2.0

[Catrin]

Sundial, it is great to hear that your recovery seems to be going so well! Congratulations, and good luck!

[jessmarimba]

Sounds like everything is going great! Congratulations! You'll be back to way better than normal in no time with that progress!

[malkin]

Happy new knee!
(say it fast and it will make you smile.)

[Karma007]

Happy to hear it's going so well! As a potential candidate myself someday, I love success stories!

[OakLeaf]

Wow! I'm so impressed it's going so smoothly for you! I have only my mom to compare, and she is extremely motivated and compliant, was in great shape before the surgery, but she had quite a bit of pain nevertheless. Hope your recovery continues to be just as great.

[sundial]

Thank you everyone. Your words are soothing and encouraging as I travel down this new path. When I was preparing mentally for the surgery I compared it to training for Mt. Everest. According to experiences of other knee patients, I knew there would be hurdles to overcome and s l o w progress. When I entered recovery, the only goal I had was to walk 8 feet in my first walk with assistance. What a pleasant surprise to learn that I could go further than my hospital room and hallway. I don't necessarily set goals per se. Rather, I just go with what feels natural and I listen to my gut feeling. Today after my PT I came home and decided to vacuum the house. Then after that I wanted to climb on my bike that is sitting on the trainer and I did so. I pedaled a half stroke forward and a half stroke backward slowly and did it for a few reps and then got off. Next, I climbed 16 stairs normally, albeit slowly. While trying to pedal the bike and walking the stairs, the only sensation I had was the feeling of tightness above my knee. I feel so very fortunate that is my only chief complaint. My mother had a TKA 7 years ago and she still experiences swelling, pain and limited range of motion in her knee. She is very motivated to go through a revision since I did so well with my knee.

Oakleaf, I came across a discussion board on hips and knees and a patient presented the same symptoms that my mother has and it turns out that her body was sensitive to the metal used in the prosthesis. Once the patient had it revised, her symptoms went away. Perhaps our mothers are experiencing the same problem? There is a prosthesis now available that is made with hypoallergenic metal. I will ask my OS about it when mother makes her appointment to see him.

Tofu, when researching area hospitals or surgical clinics that do TKA's, look for one that offers a knee camp. With the knee camp I learned that the staff is trained specifically to work with hip and knee patients and will offer a service that makes pain management a priority as well as the physical/occupational therapy. My knee camp also encouraged us to dress in street clothes and the floor catered only to hip/knee patients as they were very proactive about minimizing infection. (In surgery, they wore the space suits which can cut the infection rate to 0%.)We all attended PT together twice a day along with our designated "coach" who sat across from us to keep us encouraged. The staff worked 2 12 hour shifts so that you saw the same techs, nurses and PT's. The average length of stay is 4 days pending lab results. My doc made rounds every morning and I was able to communicate to him any problems or discomfort I was feeling. This system is in sharp contrast to other med/surge floors in which you may or may not get adequate pain control, meds, PT, etc. I remember having only one bad night in the hospital and it was when I had to wait 15 minutes before getting assistance to go to the bathroom.

[sundial]

My knee, 12 days post op