Saturday, January 10, 2009

Clearing the roof and where my tkr is now.

Yesterday I came home to a house with a foul odor and tried to find the source. Finally this morning, I realized it was coming from the bathroom and decided that the vents on top of the house must have snow over the top of them and be plugged. Hubby climbed up and started clearing it off, lots of snow, he even had to use the shovel handle to break through one of the vents. I decided a photo of him on the roof doing this was appropriate.


When I took the camera in, climbing over the snow he had shoveled in the front of the house. I decided to gab a shovel and clear the snow on the sidewalk, he was clearing the back of the house. All of a sudden this snow started filtering around me and then there was a plop on my head! Hubby had come across to the front and was clearing more snow off the roof and dumped it right on top me. I ended up with one more shovelful cascading down on me before he heard me shouting. I had snow in my coat hood, all down my back on inside of my coat. What a struggle to remove that coat and unload all the snow in the hood. When I got into the house, my shirt was white with snow on the back and I was very cold. I just snuggled up with a good movie and let hubs finish the shoveling, it was a much better thing to do. My exercise for the day ended up being a 3/4 mile walk to our mailbox about an hour later instead.

The seventh was the sixth month since my total knee replacement. Here is an update on the knee:
  1. Depending on the weather, there usually isn't a lot of pain except when I first ride my stationary bike or come down the stairs before I do some knee stretches or exercises.
  2. Sleeping is usually not a big problem. I sleep through most of the night (about 7 hours) with only one nature call. No more incontinence! That is usually a problem for quite a while after either tkr or thr. The Kegal exercises along with the exercises for improving hip muscle strength helped tremendously with this.
  3. I sleep on the side which I did not have knee replacement (I had thr on that side) most nights but can sleep comfortably on both sides. I do use a pillow for the knee when I sleep on the thr side. Not between my knees but beside me with the bottom leg straight and the tkn leg bent or straight. If I do not get sufficient sleep, I have more pain.
  4. I do my physical therapy exercises about 2-3 times a week, go to the gym about 2 -3 times a week, ride the stationary bike almost daily, rock in the rocking chair every day - several times a day (this is a great help), walk about a mile plus 2-3 times a week and swim at least once a week. I alternate these.
  5. My knee on the outer side is still numb or tingly, due to the nerve over the knee being cut during surgery. This is the case with everyone who had had tkr. The area is suppose to get smaller with time.
  6. I ice very seldom, only when I feel real tightness and have very little problem with swelling now.
  7. I continue to take 250 mg Vicodin at night prior to going to sleep.
  8. All of the above will vary from person to person.
  9. Watch my diet and take a good woman's vitamin. I like the GNC vitamin the best, also take calcium, potassium (keeps the Charley horses from torturing me), and a baby aspirin.
  10. I basically can do everything I want to do now and usually with little pain.
I hope this helps anyone has tkr. Everyone responds differently, but has some areas that are similar.

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