FIFTEEN WEEKS POST TKR - GETTING SOME SLEEP

I am happy to report that I am finally getting some sleep - the medication has been helping a lot.  Not every night, but most nights I am getting at least 6 hours of sleep. I would prefer 7 1/2  so I am taking the meds a bit earlier each night.  The medication I am taking is called Gabapentin.  I still have tender and sensitive incisions, but the sharper nerve spikes have diminished and I am not waking after I am asleep - at least not due to the healing incisions.

I am still leaving work a bit early to do my PT every day.  It really helps to do this - I feel so much stronger and more flexible each week.  I am able to get up and walk around enough at work that I experience much less stiffness, also my walking has improved a lot, hardly any "hitch" in my gait.

I spent several hours on my feet at an event this weekend and rode 10 miles on my bike the next day. I was tired and sore each day, but I think I need to push myself in order to build my strength back.  Besides - before the new knees I could not have stood and walked as much as I did!  I could, however, put many more miles in on the bike - so I have more work to do. I am 10 days away from 4 months post-op.  I think I am still doing really well. Yay.

TRIED FULL TIME AND BACKED OFF

My plan was always to build up my work hours back to full time by 12 weeks - and I did.  Now I am backing off.  Only by one hour a day, but this is why:  I leave for work at 7:15 am and get home around 5:15 pm.  I am the "chief cook and bottle washer" as they used to say - so by the time I get home I am straight into  the kitchen getting dinner together, then cleaning up then I am too tired to do a real PT work out.

I tried full time for over a week and found not only was I tired at work all day, I felt like my knees were getting stiffer as the week went on.  I am lucky that my manager was totally behind me reducing back my hours to keep the healing process going forward.  I have had 2 days of a better work out and time on the bike - so I hope this is a good move.

I have a good friend who is a neurologist - I mentioned this issue of incision tenderness and sleeplessness to her, not in hopes of a diagnosis but because we both, as many older women I know, have issues with getting good sleep.  Anyway...she immediately suggested I contact my doc about a prescription which helps with nerve pain and has the side effect of drowsiness.  Started it last night and it didn't make me sleepy.  But I will keep trying it for a while and report the name of the drug if it seems helpful with this particular set of issues (in case there is someone else experiencing them.)

One more piece of news is that I rode a bike OUTSIDE last weekend!  A short ride - a few miles - but I felt it in my quads just above the knees. Even the little rises were a challenge after a stationary bike for 3 months!  The weather is supposed to be great this coming weekend so I am very excited to go out again.  I even wore my bike shorts and let the world see my scars!

So that's the story week 13.