A Quiet Friday

I'm having a quiet Friday. Oh hell...the whole week has been quiet and I'm getting bored. I feel like another trip and then I think about going anywhere in this heat and a trip doesn't sound appealing. Is it August yet? The summer months have passed quickly this year. Another two months and the temperatures here will become comfortable again. We are finally getting some rain and that makes the temps drop a little and the humidity rise. I don't know which is worse.

I need to find something to do. I have plenty I could be doing but for some reason I have not the desire. That's what is missing and I don't know why. Maybe it's the heat that makes me sofa bound and glued to the television. Since the knee replacement I have become a couch potato. This is the most TV I have ever viewed in my lifetime. I'm expecting that to change as my leg recovers fully. I still wonder if that day will ever arrive. Time and patience.


Carrie is with her dad this weekend and as usual I miss her being around. I think I get more lazy when I don't have her to care for.

And this from a forum that I visit on knee replacements:
Hi Vikki, I had bilateral TKR on 12/31/08. I am now 7 months post op. I was miserable for the first 3-4 months. I also experienced depression and horrible insomnia. Thngs will get better. I started to turn the corner at the six month mark. The pain
will eventually start to lessen. The stiffness is stil there but getting a bit better. You will start to have more good days than bad. Hnag in there. It was a very humbling experience. It was the hardest thing I ever had to endure. I thought I was mentally and physically prepared. I wasn'y. I cried every night in the hospital for 3 1/2 weeks. Went back to work
mid April and started to feel better. I was in PT 3 times a week for 4 months. Never missed a session. I still have to ride a staionary bike for 30-40 minutes every morning to loosen them up. They are very high maintenance but hopefully worth it. I have been reading that it takes 12-18 months to fully heal
. I am 49. Good luck !!
When I read posts that reiterate how much time it takes to recover I let myself relax and not worry so much about my tkr and my progress. I am not at the 6 month mark quite yet and it might take longer for me as everyone seems to be different in their recovery.
I can say this. I'm so happy that I only had one knee that needed repaired!

La La La Laaaaaaaaaaaa

I feel like a different person. I no longer become anxious when I go from a sitting position to a standing position. I no longer break out in cold sweat at the thought of putting my right foot down to take a step. I would cringe and curse at the thought of having to get up to get something that I forgot to gather before I sat down. The phone would ring across the room and I would just look at it as I got up and hobbled painfully over to answer it at which time it would quit ringing and I would miss the call. Thankfully I have caller ID so it wasn't a problem calling back. I knew I wouldn't make it each time.

Now I can leap to my feet and move immediately. I owe this to a pair of sandals and the internet and a sister that complained about the same symptoms I was having.

My heel still is not painful. Any longer that is. I just don't go barefoot and I'm fine. I hate to keep harping on this but after hurting for the past 3 months, I'm ecstatic about this. We take so much for granted till something goes awry then we realize just how good we had it. As long as we can move around pain free, we take that as a given. Not so I'm afraid. At least for me it wasn't so.

I'm going to take a few ibuprofen and sit down to stretch the quads. I'm still aiming for continual extension!

Clipped

Carrie at the laptop.

Today Carrie got clipped. Her mother has been doing her hair. Usually I get that honor. I wash and then detangle it. I think daughter had enough of the wash and detangle in the past couple of days so she cut off a bunch of Carrie's hair. It doesn't look short here but if you look at her pictures from last week, her hair was down to her hips. This is quite the change but I think she looks fine. You can see where she got too much sun on her forehead and nose and she peeled. I should have been watching her more closely and putting the sun block on her more often. She didn't complain about the sun burn. She is such a pleasant little person. When she came by here today she thanked me for taking her on vacation. I told her we would do it again soon.

I'm still wearing sandals. No bare feet for me and I have no heel pain. How great is that? I have muscle pain in the quads but it's not a pain that makes you want to scream. I can live with that.

This blog spot site is weird tonight. It's almost impossible to upload a picture. It is taking three times as long as usual to get a picture on here. Ah, the last two just uploaded. I'm done!

After all This Time!

I didn't do a clinical knee report yesterday. It has been 5 months and 3 weeks since the surgery. I should have. Changes are noted and it's a change that is not related to the TKA. The pain I was having is not related to the TKA. What a revelation!

I'm so amazed. I have no pain this morning. Yesterday the back of my heel was tender and sensitive to pressure but no excruciating pain when I stood up after sitting for a while.

This morning I got out of bed and gingerly sat my right foot on the floor and stood up. No pain! It doesn't even feel tender or sensitive. My thick soled sandals were beside the bed and I immediately put them on before I took a step.

The pain is gone simply because I am not going bare foot. Just two days of wearing shoes all the time and the improvement is immense. I'm so excited. The worst pain I've had since surgery was in the heel. The quads and hamstrings do get a little painful from exercising but it is not a debilitating pain. The heel pain was debilitating.
I tried to wear a "boot" to bed last night to keep my foot in dorsal flexion but after an hour it was too uncomfortable. I may be able to bypass wearing it if I do the exercises and never go barefoot. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to stand up and not have to anticipate the pain from those first steps and for this I'm grateful.

I'm up early and I swallowed a oxycondone about 20 minutes ago. I'm going to sit on the floor and add weights to my knee. I haven't exercised it for extension for a week now and I notice
I don't have full extension and I'm limping again. I know that I will have some muscle soreness from doing this. Hopefully the heel pain won't return.

Not wearing shoes has been a lifelong habit of mine. Normally I walk inside and immediately deposit my shoes by the door. Changing this habit didn't take long. I actually have fear that jolts me when I realize I'm up and walking without shoes. I find those sandals and have them on my feet before I take more then 5 steps. It's amazing how pain can change old habits. I'm still amazed that just changing this one thing has caused pain free walking After All This Time.
I'm off to do stretches and cause more pain. This will be a good pain; an understandable pain.