Total Knee Replacement

Indeed pompa - my OH has been a gem in spite of having his own health problems. I value the hand-holding in the middle of the night as well as the practical things.

I'm another recipient of knee replacements - 16 months apart. It's great to be out of pain and the biggest downside is not really being able to kneel as it feels like kneeling on stones. My second knee op wasn't without trauma - after a couple of days I went into a coma and had to be transferred from the private hospital (NHS job) to the main hospital where they thought I'd had a stroke. Fortunately that wasn't the case and a litre of saline drip brought me back from the brink! Turns out it was hyponatremia- my surgeon & anaesthetist had never come across it before and my GP referred to the incident as a 'perfect storm' - a combination of water tablets/operation trauma/personal circumstances. It frightened my son and daughter but didn't make my husband swerve from his decision to end our 40 year marriage. You can imagine how he must have been crossing his fingers for an alternative outcome!

NP, this highlights on of the problems with private care, great when things go well, but if the xxxx hits the fan, the NHS have to pick up the pieces as few private hospital have any intensive care. This is certainly true of the private hospital where I had my hip and recently my knee done. Excellent care, very comfortable, great food, everything you would expect from a private hospital (again paid for by the NHS for me) but had anything serious happened, it would have been 30 minutes at least to get to the local NHS hospital. Having said that, I would always op for the private hospital if it is offered.

OK, now I am really bored, bored, bored, bored - get the picture?

Mobile enough to get around the house, but not able to stand very long in my workshop to do any significant boat or plane building. Not up to much in the garden, have managed the odd DIY job but I have gutters to clear and that means ladders. Fed up watching TV and reading.

Not much action here since MNers went, can't even find anything to buy on Ebay.

Any Ideas -- by the way did I say I'm bored ?

Are you bored? Try baking a cake or planning an expotition to the North Pole with piglet!
Write an essay, eg compare the merits of GN against those of MN.

Build a replica pyramid of Khufu in the back garden

Are there things that you can pursue online?

Doing the Christmas shopping and organising an arts festival - these are the things that have kept me sane over the last week! - or relatively so. Both can be done on the laptop and on the phone and it helps to take my mind off the ouch factor.

Learn to knit? Devise a pub quiz? Make a photo book online for Christmas presents? (I've been doing that too) Join the limerick thread and wow us all with your wit? Write a blog for gransnet?

I know how difficult it is when your habitual activities involve being active and you cannot do them. But it does sound as though you are making tremendous progress.

Have you ever tried getting planning permission for a pyramid ???

Last cake I made went out for the birds - they died !

Essay how I hated essays at school.

Who's this piglet guy ?

Can you sit at the kitchen table? Spread it with newspaper, get one of these kits and do some DIY on a scale that means you don't have to stand at the workbench.

My medical predecessor Imhotep managed to get permission for the step pyramid, so I can't imagine its that difficult.
Have you never read your Winnie the Pooh books?
Who's piglet indeed.

(Goes off shaking head sadly, muttering men!)

Started Xmas shopping online this morning.

I manage our U3A web site, right up to date now.

Pub quiz, now that I like , I could bank one for our village wine group. Have we ever tried to get a quiz going as a thread, not sure how it would work, but it would be interesting to try.

Knitting, i was doing that a couple of weeks ago, well sort of, French knitting some string fenders for my model boat.

I did look at the limerick thread, didn't quite understand how it worked, will try again.

Blogs, never really understood what blogs were all about.

Thanks for the ideas.

Hi Pompa. Don't know if you enjoy online jigsaws, but when my husband was sick recently he logged on to TheJigsawPuzzles.com to keep his mind of his pain. Hope you will feel better soon

Hi littleFlo, thanks for the jigsaw link, I like the look of that.

Try Only Connect online - there are connecting walls to solve.

You sound just like DH pompa He is very limited in what he can do because of his chemo. He's always been into practical things but hasn't got the stamina to do anything that means standing up for long. He's rebuilt the computer several times but he's got bored with that now and he hates 90% of what's on TV. I can't offer you much inspiration because I'm not finding much for him at the moment

Duolingo? You can do that in short bursts. I am bored and my little paltry-by-comparison accident only happened on Friday. I keep going to do exciting things - poison in the loft to feed the rats - and realising I can't. DBH harassed as he's not home much and I do almost everything, he has got out of the habit. He's cooking and I fear if I ask him again to fetch logs in before it gets dark, he may get a little irritated!

Only connect online -- great - thanks for that one

Brain currently going into meltdown watching Only Connect

pompa - whats U3A all about then? I know what it stands for but ....... By the way, how's your knee doing?

I had a knee replacement 4 months ago. My knee is still hurting, especially when I stand up and sit down. It was fine till the physio put me through some more exercises and gave me them to do. That was abour 7 weeks ago. She then have me some easier exercises which I have been doing for 3 weeks but it is no better. has anyone else had the same problem and did it get better please?

Nanspansy, Check out their website and then search for your local U3A

www.u3a.org.uk/

Suey, my Physio warned me before the op that it could take 6 months for the pain and swelling to subside. But, she also said that it was one of the most successful op in the long term. So hang in there, it will get better.
When I read the target points on the internet I am way behind on the range of movement for my knee, will talk to physio tomorrow about it. I can walk about 1.5 miles (with a stop at the coffee shop) and manage to climb stairs in a more normal manner (still one step at a time coming down)
Hope the physio will ok me driving this week, I drive an auto, so my left leg is not used.

Suey - I am sorry that you are still having pain. My neighbour said that it was a full year before she really felt the benefit of her knee op so please do hang on in there - she says now it was the best thing she ever did, so please take heart.

I also think it is important not to see it as a competition with others who have had similar surgery. We all progress at our own different rates and can only do what we can do. I have been getting upset because a local farmer was traipsing his fields a month after his hip op, and I am mainly shuffling round the house still - my family keep saying it is not a competition and I need to value the small bits of progress that I am able to make. I have had a setback but will pick up eventually - and comparisons are just not helpful.

I know what you mean about pain - I had thought that would be behind me by now and get fed up when it continues - and even new pains in new places arrive. But we have to hang on to every little bit of progress and try and stay positive.

Knee surgery is very successful and everyone I know who has had it has been surprised how long the pain went on but also has been very happy in the longer term.

I had my knee replacement in September of last year. At first, although I had much reduced mobility to start with, I wasn`t too bothered, because the pain had at last gone. But now, although mobility has improved, my other knee seems to have decided it needs treatment as well, which I`m reluctant to undergo again, and the knee that was operated on has started to give me some pain now. I can just about drag myself, very slowly, up the stairs, and, very carefully, down again, but only on the odd times that hubby leaves the stairlift the wrong way round so I can`t bring it down. I manage in the house, but don`t yet have the confidence to go anywhere outside the house without my walking stick.

Just realised I`ve posted on here before, in a similar vein, getting forgetful as well!