👯‍♀️👯‍♀️Hips and Knees part 4 👯‍♀️👯‍♀️

It's such a personal journey, isn't it? Today, at the beginning of week three since my op, I needed to get to Superdrug, just a few minutes down the hill. Heady with freedom I fancied going to a café, three minutes from S'drug. Fuelled by sweet tea and chocolate brownie I wended my way through tourists/dogs etc to a bus stop another three minutes away and ended up in Wetherspoons, two minutes from home. Feel like I've had a holiday! 😂 Tomorrow will tell whether I've overdone it.

I shall watch The Turkish Detective then, Aveline, and do some knitting. No guilty feelings whatsoever!

The Turkish Detective is quite good. A bit of a change from American cop shows.

There is no point feeling guilty, time heals.

I am unsure what you will be watching on TV this week!

Thanks Charleygirl

I have in fact been doing that, watching the tennis, even some football 😯 and getting on with a craft project.

I won't feel guilty now 🙂

Callistemon and greenmossgiel tomorrow why do you not forget about the recent surgery, do no exercises and see how you feel having done what you wanted? I do advocate icing and elevation but watch TV or read a book? Swollen knees do not bend-fact.

Aveline, family have been really good, and I know I can always rely on them. I’m so glad to read that just walking for exercise seems to suffice rather than struggling through the agonising exercises given on a list by the hospital, though I did make a great effort! However, I do have a garden, so wandering around there will very likely do me more good.
I actually feel a bit better already, having read through all the thread, knowing that how and what I feel isn’t anything unusual. Thanks so much!

Charleygirl5

I exercised after my first knee replacement in 2012 and was in agony. Same for second knee replacement but I gave up early, like Aveline and we were both fine not having exercised. As said before, I could bend to 90 degrees and the rest came with time.

Thabpnks Charlrygirl

If one more well-meaning lovely friend or relative tells me to keep exercising 'through the pain' I shall probably scream 😯

Ah well, time for another go but I shall stop if it hurts.

Best wishes greenmossgiel, it's early days yet.

Be careful if the GP puts you back on codeine (constipation).
I wasn't allowed oramorph so had to rely on paracetamol which was fairly useless for the pain.

Greenmossgiel sorry to hear you're in such pain. It's good that you had the op but, obviously, the timings not great. Please don't overdo it. You've had a big op and your body needs to recover. Sleep can be a problem too and everything feels worse when you're tired and in pain. I know it's no comfort now but you really won't always feel like this. I hope your family is rallying round you both.

I exercised after my first knee replacement in 2012 and was in agony. Same for second knee replacement but I gave up early, like Aveline and we were both fine not having exercised. As said before, I could bend to 90 degrees and the rest came with time.

greenmossgiel

I am finding the exercises difficult but still persevering. Are you seeing a physiotherapist? Did the hospital give you a list?
Part of the problem is that the blood pressure tablets I'm on make my legs swell over the day and this makes bending the knee more difficult as the day progresses. First thing in the morning it's much better. Trying to get the tablets changed by the surgery is not easy. You'd think a GP could just return a phone call and say "Try these instead".

Take it step by step (literally). Perhaps walking to the shop just yet isn't to be recommended, in case you stumble.

greenmossgiel I was in a similar position when I had my left knee replaced in 2018. I gave up all exercises but I could bend to 90 degrees. I had to because I have a stairlift!

I was still in agony about 5 weeks down the line and my GP put me on Oramorph it did the trick, and within a couple of months post op I was almost pain-free.

Do you have a picker-upper? It will be your best friend. If you have a garden, I would go no further for exercise. It is not worth nearly killing yourself. Ice and elevation will help a lot.

Feel free to ask anything and good luck.

I'm so glad to have found this thread. I had a total knee replacement on 21 June. The operation went well and I had the staples out just over a week ago. My husband is really ill and I'm on my feet a lot. I have a cleaner once a week, which is a godsend.
The exercises I was given are so difficult and painful to do that I've more or less had to give up on them, apart from rotating my feet and ankles. Leg and foot are still very swollen, but that's to be expected. I did try to walk to local shop last week, using a stick, but realised that was a big mistake. The pain was awful by the time I got back.
Our house is small and there are no stairs, thankfully.
I was on Oramorph while in hospital and GP changed that to codeine which didn't help at all. He's put me back on the Oramorph which will be reviewed.
I just needed to come on the thread and say....."oh heck, it really does hurt, doesn't it!" Just to read others' comments and advice will give me a bit of hope. I'm glad I had the op, of course. It was bone on bone and just awful, but with DH being so ill, perhaps I should have just put up with it. I was on the waiting list for about a year before I saw the consultant then almost a year before the op was done. I couldn't wait any longer, I don't think.

I think it might have been me Notspaghetti. We are glad you found us. Always here to help.

My computer knows best and splits the word NotSpaghetti. My apologies. Good luck with your search.

Not Spaghetti it is a lot to wade through, ask and we will answer if possible. We're rarely stumped.

Thank you whoever it was that pointed me to this thread from the "new" one.

I've done some weeding (my neglected pots) and cooked dinner.
Dinner was very simple but it is progress 🙂

Mizuna that sounds ideal. My local small shops and a post box are 1/4 mile away. A breeze for many but almost impossible for me because I have to get home again!

That sounds good Mizuna. It's great to have plans and to look to the future. Meanwhile stay warm and dry today.

Thank you Charleygirl. I live slap bang in the town centre, opposite Domino's Pizza and Wetherspoons and with three cafés just a few paces away, so it was a good test to see how far I could walk. Today I will stay indoors because the rain has made the pavements slippery. I do try to be sensible but my head is full of energy and plans and I feel very well. 😁

Mizuna you have had major surgery. I am well aware some hospitals are treating it (wrongly) as minor but it takes 3 months to recover and the tiredness to disappear. That was excellent that you managed to get to a local cafe. That was beyond me for many weeks, mainly because of pain.

Relax and enjoy, you will soon be pain-free with a new working knee.

Sounds like you really need to move to sticks right now Callistemon1. No point in setting up more pain in your shoulders and arms. Could you experiment with them just inside the house and see how you get on? (You know my opinion of physios!)

After my new hip I managed around the house without sticks , but for longer walks I still needed a stick , the surgeon was dissapointed till he looked at my X-ray and admitted that it was my back was slowing me down ,
Seven years later i am now using a rolater but I think I would have been in a wheelchair if I hadn’t had my new hip

I think my Centre Court days are over