Knee Replacement, Nine Months Out - What NOT To Do

RSKY · Jul 4, 2017

I was doing so well. Everybody who saw me said, "Oh, I thought you had your knee replaced". I was barely limping. Had no pain, no pills, no ice.

And I screwed up.

Oldest daughter gave me a Fitbit watch. The kind that counts your steps. I know they made it up to get me one so I would not overdo things. I was averaging between 8,000 and 14,000 steps a day with a high (don't tell anybody) of over 18,000 steps in one day.

So we bought this tree, a Star Magnolia. And I wanted to extend a flower bed on the north side of the yard down the wooden fence and put the tree there. And my daughter wants Zoysia grass in her yard. So I rented a sod cutter on a Monday and cut out thirty five pieces of the Zoysia sod, rolled them up and put them in a trailer. They were three to four feet long and heavy. Then took the cutter and the sod to the daughters house and cut out thirty five strips of her weeds, I mean grass, moved that to a low place in her yard, and placed the Zoysia sod in the cutouts. I was one tired puppy. That is work.

Tuesday, I crawled around on the ground installing irrigation pipes to the new flower bed. Then I hauled two trailer loads of dirt from a nursery to the bare sodless patch. I was constantly climbing up and down off my Kioti dumping a bucket full then shoveling and raking the dirt out. Planted the magnolia, dug up three rose bushes that were not doing well in the shade and moved them along with hosta to take their place. And about a dozen other plants.

I was one tired but happy puppy again. Getting stuff done.

Wednesday, I hauled two heaped up trailer loads of mulch to the north fence. Used the tractor to dump it, then off and on spreading it around.

Thursday, repeat of Wednesday. Two more loads of mulch to the south side of the yard, but the landscaping on the south fence is wider and I had to shovel the mulch out of the bucket to get it in place. I must have climbed up and down off that little Kioti thirty or forty times.

Thursday night, tired but happy, sitting on the couch watching TV with my wife. My leg was propped up on a footstool and I started to stand up to go get a drink and WHOOMMPP. Pain shot thru my knee and I could feel it instantly swell up double the size it was that morning. Two Naproxen Sodium didn't faze it and I had a painful sleepless night. I mainly stayed in the house off of it all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Spent the next week barely able to walk and finally called the doctor's office on Monday ten days after it swelled so bad. Talked to his nurse but she didn't seem too concerned. She asked me what I had been doing and when I told her she didn't exactly call me a dumbsas but strongly hinted that I had overdone it. She remarked twice that it took 18-24 months to recover and I was only "9 months" out. She had me come in to the Urgent Care doctor downstairs and he X-rayed the knee. Found nothing wrong except a lot of fluid. Asked me what I had been doing, strongly hinted that I was a dumbsas for overdoing it, which my wife agreed with him, and gave me a couple shots for inflammation.

The moral of this long unexciting story is that if you have a knee replacement, do not overdo things. You will regret it! I finally figured out that when I get on or off of my tractor I always lead with my left foot and I cannot do that anymore. I must lead with the right, then step up with the left foot which has the artificial knee.

I am watching the Fitbit and for a week when it hit 4000 steps I stopped what I was doing and went in the house and played games on the computer. Last week I upped it to 5000 steps with ice at least twice a day. I am watching how I get on the Kioti and using my right foot to push in on the clutch to start it. I am being very careful with what I do and how I do it. No more packing heavy stuff around, no more running after grandkids, nothing to stress the left knee at least until the end of the year.

I have learned my lesson.

Take heed if you are thinking of a replacement.

RSKY

boggen · Jul 4, 2017

well, i would say welcome to the party, but have yet to learn lesson. *doh*

go till ya, can not go no more, and drop to the floor. *been here done that*

rustyshakelford · Jul 4, 2017

Man you stay busy! I feel like sweating and taking a nap after reading your daily chores! Fitbits are the devil! I can look at the steps and sleep and see the days I work. Pretty useful but slow it down!

Brett

Sigarms · Jul 4, 2017

Hope your recovery goes well.

You were only doing what was in your nature. I'm not exactly certain what was going through your wife and daughters head when you were doing all of this, knowing darn well that you shouldn't be over doing it.

Heck, my wife won't even let me unload the trailer by myself anymore because of my shoulder.

mapper · Jul 4, 2017

My wife is coming up on her one year anniversary of her knee replacement. Her knee is doing well but after suffering from slight paralysis in her mouth and neck last fall she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disease that destroys the neurotransmitters between nerve endings and muscles.
Sometimes you wonder if life isn't sometimes one big cosmic joke. Oh well we deal with it and move on.

WM75Guy · Jul 4, 2017

It does take a while to recover, almost 3 years since I had my left knee done. Now I call my left knee the good knee. The right knee was getting pretty bad lately but is not bone on bone like the left was. My wife got me some Capzasin cream at the store and it really helps both knees. At first it was daily application and now only occasionally.

The first time you use it there will be a burning or hot sensation for several days but after that it doesn't burn when I apply it. Just don't get it on your hands and rub your eyes. It is basically pepper spray in an ointment that overloads the pain receptors where they don't work but not to the point where you can't feel pain if you overdo it. Has cut down on the Advil for sure.

Bird · Jul 5, 2017

I never did as much as you've been doing, RSKY, so I didn't have any set backs with my right knee replacement. It did take a long time to really recover, but it was a walk in the park compared to the shoulder replacement I had a little over 2 months ago. I feel like I'm doing almost nothing, but my wife and physical therapist keep telling me I shouldn't be doing as much as I am.

rox · Jul 5, 2017

Oh WOW RSKY, oh WOW! Thanks for the advice.
I hope this ends well for you.

bigtiller · Jul 5, 2017

Thanks RSKY, that's the kind of information the doctors don't tell us until after surgery.

RSKY · Jul 5, 2017

That was not a normal week even before my knee went bad. The point I'm trying to make is that even when the pain goes away and you start back with your normal activities it takes 18-24 months to fully recover. I expect I have set myself back at least three months by my over eagerness to get out and do things.

I was very stupid to ignore the small warning signs my knee was giving me.

I had been refusing to take anything for pain because I didn't want to mask the knee having problems. And I didn't take anything until that Thursday night. I could FEEL the knee swelling.

RSKY

ultrarunner · Jul 6, 2017

I've seen similar at the hospital and very extreme with pain meds..

We had a contractor that could barely make his way in... Doc told him he is not young and his joints have had a lot of hard usage... lots of pain.

Doc gave him pain meds and two days later he came in nice and straight and looked 20 years younger... said the Doc worked a miracle and his wife was overjoyed...

Last thing the Doc said is plenty of rest so the body can heal now that the pain has been addressed.

A few days later the guy comes in a wheel chair unable to walk... he put off a concrete job and was feeling so good decided to knock it out.

The body is amazing but often cannot be rushed.

spitter · Jul 6, 2017

Had both knees replaced 6 years ago in the winter I was climbing into work truck and slipped on ice on running board and fell and hyper extended knee . I knew I was in trouble cause when I landed I heard a loud crack and coulden't bend knee for a month or so. Tried to hide it the best I could {no body wants a crippled carpenter] eventually it got better but swells up under to much climbing of ladders and scaffolds. Finally went to knee doctor had xrays and said you kneed a revision . I said what is that .He said knee is louse in bone and has to be redone . He said if you do your kind of work your knees ain't gona last.So much for replacement knees being as good as knew.

Turbys_1700 · Jul 6, 2017

A friend of mine that I bowl with has had both knees replaced. The first one he did not do very well. The second one much better. He is doing fine now but with his first knee replacement he didn't follow the therapy regimen as he should for fear of Oxy addiction per prescription. He realizes now that was a mistake. His advise to me was to take the meds and follow the rehab regimen to a T. Don't deviate one bit.

I have a hip replacement scheduled for August and then following that recovery a knee in 2-3 months. I know lots of folks my age and older that have had successful knee and hip replacements but they all followed the therapy guidelines. The ones that had more issues deviated from those guidelines. I guess it is just human nature to "overdo it" when we feel better. I hope I don't succumb to that temptation after the replacements.

I don't know how I will get along but all I can do is follow what I am told and try not to overdo it. That's the plan anyway.

RSKY · Jul 6, 2017

The doctor that did my replacement requires you to go to a "Boot Camp" or he will not perform the surgery. At the boot camp you are told some commonsense things, make sure you can get in your bathroom using a walker, and a lot of other information you would not think about. They stressed taking a walker and getting out of your car and going into your house to the bedroom you will be sleeping in, then to the bathroom. Said that one thing had cut the falls when first going home to nearly zero.

He does not allow the therapist to start intensive rehab right after surgery. He says to 'heal first, rehab later'.

My old knee was bone on bone and I was taking two Naproxen Sodium when I got up every morning. If not I couldn't function. Even though I gripe about it I WAS not taking any pain meds for a couple months or so before I screwed up. In other words the new knee is working. I just need to use my head and not overdo things and LET IT HEAL.

Take care.

RSKY

dmccarty · Jul 6, 2017

mapper said:
....
Sometimes you wonder if life isn't sometimes one big cosmic joke. Oh well we deal with it and move on.

Yep, one just has to deal with it but it sure gets tiresome sometimes....

Later,
dan

Teachu2 · Jul 6, 2017

My knee doctor knows me well - he's been taking care of my knees for 35 years now. He gave me a strongly-worded piece of advice regarding the unicompartmental replacement he had one of the kid doctors do on my right knee 18 months ago: Avoid impacts to the knee (running and jumping) and NO SHOVELING - EVER. I've modified my approach to many tasks, and still make accommodations by using creative methods instead of brute force. I also have a shoulder that has no cartilage left - I can pull with it, but pushing is a no-no.

The unicompartmental replacement heals quicker than the total knee replacement does, but it was still a full year before it healed and I completely adjusted to it. I did lots of range-of-motion exercises to prevent adhesions, starting on day two, but with minimal resistance.

This was my fifth surgery on the right knee, not my first rodeo. I developed an intolerance to Aleve, and had lots of fluid retention in both legs until we discontinued it. If I overdo it, a cold pack and a couple TylenolPM will give me a restful night. I was bone on bone and six degrees bowlegged on my right leg due to the inside half being worn while the outside half was perfect - hence the unicompartmental replacement. It's doing great now, and I added a step on the tractor to make getting on easier. This getting older stuff sucks - but it beats dying young.

dmccarty · Jul 6, 2017

It seems to me that the good news in all of this is that you FELT like you could do this work and you were ABLE to do that work. :thumbsup:

That one should NOT have done the work is a different story. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Pretty danged amazing that one could do that much work after having the leg cut in half and a metal knee installed. :shocked:

I have been using a Fitbit for a few years now. Work gives us a nickel for every 5,000 steps up to a maximum of 15,000 steps a day. Woo HOO! I am getting rich! :laughing::laughing::laughing: The nickel might not sound like much but the first year it added up to around $100. Last year I had a bit more than $100, which I did not spend, and I figure by the end of the year I will have $200-300.

My goal is 10,000 steps a day which is about 5 miles. I get that many steps almost all of the time and only infrequently go below 10,000 steps. Every day I do at least 5,000 steps and most weeks I have a 20,000+ day. I am trying to get a 15,000 step day in once or twice a week along with the 20,000 step day but that is really hard to do time wise.

I have lost weight since doing this and the walking really helps one's fitness. We have an exercise bike that I don't use much anymore because of the Fitbit but every once in awhile I will ride the bike. What surprised me is that I was able to ride the bike as if I had been using it regularly. :shocked: My expectation was that my leg muscles would have not been able to handle the exercise bike but the walking kept me in shape for the bike. Running and biking are just BORING. Can't stand it. At least with the exercise bike I can watch TV or read. Walking I like to do and I am pretty consistent. :thumbsup:

One of my jobs has me wearing 30ish pounds of gear, standing and walking in the sun for 6-8 hours in the heat and humidity with no sit down breaks on some days. This used to wear me out even when I was going to the gym where I would do weights and cardio. Walking has kept me in better shape than the gym and I think it is because I walk 10,000+ steps a day, every day, vs going to the gym once or twice a week....

Later,
Dan

RSKY · Jul 6, 2017

Ice is my friend!!

RSKY

Thomas · Jul 6, 2017

Were not as young as we use to be

gotta take it easy.

hawkeye08 · Jul 6, 2017

My Dad had knee replacement a few years ago, he was in great shape before surgery and was doing well after... for some reason they gave him some muscle relaxer pills at some point (perhaps to help sleep?) and then he had troubles peeing. He was ready to go home right away, but was transferred to nursing home until he could pee normally again. I don't recall how long they kept giving him muscle relaxers but he finally figured it out.. it still took a few days after stopping them before he was back to normal.

He is 87 this year and has had some health scares, but keeps in great shape. He walks and works out.