u/haunted_starship

I've been trying to figure this out via google and various AIs, but no luck.

I had a long road to my two TKRs (both just completed this year). A lot of limitations due to pain led to me being first a "homebody" and then eventually mostly housebound. I called it just a reaction to pain, but it grew into more than that - I got actually scared to go out after a while. It's not agoraphobia or anything like that. It's more like I fell out of touch with the world and have a lot of anxiety about getting back into it.

One of the things I've been allowing to hold me back, now that I've got both knees squared away, is a fear of infection. I live in Massachusetts, and in a moderately rural area. There are tons of mosquitoes, ticks, bees, wasps, etc.

I want to go outside more - I want to go out a LOT! But when I think about getting bitten or stung by something, or getting a scrape on a trail, etc, I get crazy-afraid of infection.

Would appreciate it if anyone could help talk me down. I'm allergic to mosquito bites, I get a big, red, crazy-itchy welt every time I'm bitten, and inevitably I scratch and end up with a scab. How dangerous is this, really, post-TKR? Do I really need to worry about every little scrape or bite? Do any of YOU worry about this? I think I can get my head right if I can see how comparatively nuts I am! 😄

I can use Deep Woods Off pretty successfully to avoid getting bitten, but that comes with its own worries (about DEET safety mostly) and gets pretty involved because I have to spray myself down, then go out, then come in and shower all the spray off, etc. And then I'm in for the day.

How do you guys face the world with infection such a big deal? Or am I making it a much bigger deal than it is?

Hi, all! I'm new to this franchise and just starting out in Grand Bazaar. I love it, and most things are pretty intuitive, but one thing is confusing me -

I've completed two quests that should reward Bazaar gear - tents - but the tents don't seem to show up when I click 'redecorate". They're also not in my bag and not in the mail.

The quests are the one for the fashion shop and the one for LLoyd's ore shop.

Is there something extra that I'm supposed to do to get the tents? I can see all the signboards I won for quests but not these two tents. And one of them looks really cute so I want it! :D

Thanks in advance!

Hi all! I just finished the current EA story. I didn't play Subnautica 1 in early access, so I'm not really sure what to expect from this one.

I had many, many....MANY hours in the first Subnautica. In this one I have about 60. So I guess my first question is, how much story do we think is left? Did I just finish the prologue and there's a lot more to come, or did I just finish the story and all that's left is an epilogue? Something in between?

The first game felt really rich, and deep in more ways than one. Do we think SN2 will stay at around 450-500 meters? Or can we expect some really deep biomes like the lava area in SN1? At just this depth I'm not even sure I'd need a submarine for anything, and I'm really hoping we get a new version of something like that, but I'm dying to know where we would need it.

I've really enjoyed what I've seen so far, I'm just hoping this game will have a lot more to it. Right now it just feels like a much smaller and more limited game than SN1, so I was wondering what SN1 early access was like. Did it start small like this and then just build up to what it is after multiple updates?

Hi all! Back at exactly 3 weeks post-RTKR with a question.

When I did my left knee in March, my quad felt like it had a tight, wide band around it just above the knee; it didn't hurt or impact flexion, and it eventually just got better.

I don't have that this time around; instead, I have a lengthwise tension in my quad - but weirdly, it's ONLY in bed. I have 110-120 flexion all day long, but the second I get in bed and try to bend the leg, it's like a length of the muscle from knee to pelvis seizes up. It's not pain, just VERY tight, and doesn't allow much flexion at all.

First, has anybody else had this happen? It's so bizarre that it happens only in bed. Then in the morning the second I swing my legs over the side, it's back to normal.

Second, if you've had anything similar, have you tried muscle relaxants for it? Did they work? My surgeon's PA sent in a scrip for methocarbamol (Robaxin) and I'm starting it tonight before bed. The only real issue this is causing is that the tightness wakes me up every time I change position, and I'm already a restless sleeper as it is.

Thanks in advance!

I've got a very wonky-looking base because there are pieces of the original slap-dash base that I just can't manage to delete. I know that's a known bug, and I've read that the best way to deal with it is to use the refund base option.

If I do that - first, how much can the "refund" container (that looks like a beacon) hold? My base has a bunch of floor lockers, a vehicle fabricator, a modification station, NOA, processor, fabricator, scanner, plus 4-5 rooms with windows.

Second - will the refund end up refunding ALL my bases, or can I pick which one?

Third - how long will the "refund" cache stay there? It mentions it's temporary?

And finally, will the stuff in my lockers be refunded too, or do I need to empty them out somehow first?

Thanks in advance!

Checking in on day 17 post-RTKR to say things are going well! (55f, for reference - was bone-on-bone in both knees).

After a rough two days at the start, when it seemed the Journavx hadn't kicked in yet, I haven't had much pain. I've been off oxy for a couple of days, most of my swelling is gone (not all though), and I've been probably 50/50 getting around with and without a cane for the past 3 days or so.

My flexion is 115 and extension is 0, pretty much a perfect match for my OTHER TKR, which I did in March. It's been a bit weird having that leg be my "good" leg now, but it's been a trooper while my new "bad" leg is recovering. My incision is mostly sealed - one tiny scab left at top and one at bottom.

Two days ago I got outside for the first time (it wasn't the knee keeping me inside, it was the mosquitos!) and, accompanied by friends and covered in a thick layer of Deep Woods Off, I walked .95 miles!! Down to my local park, then all the way around the big loop that circles the soccer fields, and back home. I had to sit a few minutes on benches here and there, but not too long. I was on my feet for about an hour.

Today, I headed out by myself and did .75 miles. Because I was alone, I stayed closer to home, just down TO the park but not into it, and then up and down my neighbor's long driveway several times. It gave me a chance to be on uneven terrain (their driveway is paved, but was last smoothed out sometime in the 1800's I think :D) and to be on my own in the world. Got to listen to a lot of birds, and a lot of chittering squirrels, and a few things I don't want to think too hard about darting through the underbrush.

I REALLY want to get back to life again, and I'm starting to feel like I'm on my way.

Some things I am looking forward to:

• Swimming & pool exercise (after my doc clears me on July 8 hopefully)
• Driving (same - this was a right-TKR so I can't drive until cleared)
• Walking the dog - she weighs 80 lbs and goes FAST so I'll need to be a lot more steady on my feet first
• Mowing the lawn - my last big knee injury, which made me really consider TKR for the first time, happened last summer while mowing. It was part of my household contribution, and I like holding up my end of things, so it'll be good to get back to it again

There's a lot of other stuff - trips, mainly - but I'll hold off on fantasizing about those for a while. Gotta walk before I can.... tour? :D

Many thanks to all the people who have given me advice and encouragement through this journey! I'll definitely be sticking around to pay it forward wherever I can.

Today I'm one week out from my second TKR, and just got the inner bandage off - yay!

Things are going great, had a rough couple of days at the start but now my meds are on track and I haven't had much breakthrough pain at all.

I have two questions for those who've also finished their 2nd knee:

1. How long do I need to keep elevating in bed at night? When did you stop bothering?
2. What about wearing your compression socks/devices at night? How long before you stopped?

I don't have a lot of swelling left, but there's still some. I'm just finding it very cumbersome to have a bunch of pillows in bed with me at night, and even just the wedge pillow alone is annoying. My compression at night is done with rechargable calf sleeve things that compress and release all night - they're very noisy, but not as annoying as the plethora of pillows 😃

I'm not doing a ton of elevating during the day now, but periodically throughout I'll use the wedge pillow in my recliner to get some elevation. Honestly - I feel like I'm at the point where mentally and emotionally I'm ready to be DONE and move on with my life. I have no medical restrictions left (except "don't get in the pool till after 6 weeks"), and I'll probably come off the cane within the next week or two. I really just want to get back to normal, and I worry I may be jumping the gun if I get rid of the pillows and compression at night.

Thoughts & experiences welcome!

Just sharing this because I see a lot of people are now contemplating their 2nd knee surgery, and I've just had one, so... 😄

This has been such a different experience from my first knee. That one was such a breeze - I was doing all the things, right out of the gate, had great extension and flexion, almost no pain. I was very pleasantly surprised. I felt the limitations, but they were related more to a lack of strength and stability than to any pain.

And as much as I tried to be realistic this time around, I was ... really completely unprepared.

The pain on Day 0, Day 1, and part of Day 2 felt immense. Manageable - there was never a point where I felt like crying, or where I couldn't sleep or felt like I couldn't take it. But my entire leg felt raw and mangled. There was a ton of pain in my quad and hamstring. I was quite aware that someone had taken my knee apart and put it back together again with different parts. On the first knee I was at 110 flexion, 0 extension from the very beginning and the flexion got even better very quickly. On this one, I could get 90 flexion and maybe 5 extension on day 0, and I felt the stretching and pulling in different places. (On the first knee I mostly felt it in the area of my actual knee. On this one, I feel it there, but also all over my quad and hamstring and IT band and just everything.)

But I'm on Day 3 now. At the end of Day 2, I felt a significant improvement in pain level. I'm not quite sure how to describe it - a lot of places that had been very painful and raw-feeling suddenly felt a bit numbed/deadened. I'm not sure if this is healing, or if the Journavx just took a couple days to kick in - but it's great. Pushing flexion no longer hurts, it just pulls and feels tight. I can push through it without a lot of ow. Day 3 feels more like my previous recovery, and I'm feeling really good about that.

PT still hurts. PT is probably going to hurt pretty badly for a WHILE. But I'm being good about it, doing my 10 reps of everything 3 times a day. I was able to get a full rotation on my deskcycle yesterday, and today I've been doing 5 minutes of slow, easy pedaling with zero resistance with each batch of PT. My flexion is around 115 today, and extension is 0.

And walking is SUCH a breeze. Walking felt pretty good right away, honestly - but it's gotten rapidly better. I still need the walker, and might for a few more days, but I'm moving faster on it, and the walking makes me feel better. That part of each step that used to give me a grinding ache is completely gone - it's just a smooth flow through the step. The only thing I lack is the strength to control the step at the balance shift, it wants to fully extend every random number of steps and I don't have the strength to stop it. So I'm having some random wobbles, but mostly stable.

I'm back in hell - second knee replacement yesterday, so I'm staring at 6 weeks of boredom, pain, and intermittent physical therapy. Realistically 3-4 weeks until I'm able to walk with anything like ease.

Please help me feed my Boox reader with new and interesting stuff? I'm already starting to miss WORK, that's how bored I get staring at the walls.

No Darcy Coates, T. Kingfisher, or Stephen King - I'm all full up on those and have read most of them already. My only requirement is that it has an e-book version but here's some general preferences:

• Favorite tropes tend to be cave horror, expedition-into-unknown horror, haunted/weird houses, underwater or otherwise oceanic horror, arctic/antarctic horror, cosmic horror - and spooky/creepy/paranormal stuff in general.
• Most of the frequently-recced stuff I've already read - Buffalo Hunter Hunter, The Fisherman, Our Share of Night, Diavola, House of Leaves, Episode Thirteen, those two Mira Grant underwater creature feature novels I can't remember the name of, all of Thomas Olde Heuvelt and Michelle Paver, Coffin Moon, and more Adam Nevill than I need.
• NOT a fan of body horror, animal harm, or torture porn. I'd actually enjoy getting out of my comfort zone, but those are probably going to be unpleasant for me.

Thanks in advance to anyone not too annoyed with rec requests to answer 😄 ❤️

Edit: Wow, thank you all, so many great recommendations! I'm finding myself too tired/drugged to answer everybody, but there's a LOT in here that is now on my e-reader and ready to go. Including a bunch of stuff I've had for a while and just didn't get around to - like The Elementals and some Michael Rutger that I picked up for my last surgery recovery and haven't started yet. You're all fantastic, this is so helpful.

Thanks also for the well-wishes! This recovery is a lot harder than the first one, but at least I'll be able to keep myself pretty distracted now!

Hi! Just home now after 2nd knee surgery, RTKR. My LTKR was March 12 and recovery was great, so I have high hopes for this one. Same surgeon, same surgical center, same meds, same me ... fingers crossed!

So far there's a little more pain than last time, but still manageable. It took longer for the spinal block to wear off, too. Well, not completely off, but off enough that I could ambulate. When they sent me to the bathroom I could still only barely sense my toes. Very weird to tell my body to move, and see it move, but not FEEL any of it. It was like remote controlling somebody else's body with my brain. It was about an hour drive home though, and by the time I got here I could ambulate pretty well with the walker.

Now I have sensation and a little strength back, and I'm resting and icing and elevating, all the good stuff. Can't really feel the ice at all through the bandages, though. I'm hungry, a bit, but the idea of eating just feels like a lot of work I don't have the energy for.

For pain relief I have it all on board right now - Journavx, oxy, tylenol, celebrex. Pain about a 3/10. Mostly just a dull ache. The top of the incision feels a bit more sharp when I bend, but that's surface stuff - underneath I still can't feel much. I can straighten out all the way, and I can bend a little past 90 - but I'm pretty sure it's the 10 miles of ace bandage I'm swaddled in that's preventing me from bending any further.

Sorry, rambling. I am SUPER high. Wish me luck! 😃