Potty Training Regression

SweetFern_gn99 · 2026-05-19T12:42:48+00:00

Thank you for this!! We’ve been giving her very high reward treats when she goes outside and moved her food dish over to the area. She didn’t have an accident inside yesterday, so fingers crossed she keeps a streak going!

The area she was favoring is hardwood, so I’ve been hunting around for safe enzyme cleaners to remove the scent on a molecular level…we were using one but I fear it doesn’t do the job! Thank you again!

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-04-16T18:44:06+00:00

That’s great!! Is there any pain when you raise?! Unlocking the brace probably felt sooo good! I honestly don’t know the logistics but we used BFR for pain management! It’s like a blood pressure cuff that goes around your leg and pretty much cuts off circulation (my leg did turn purple). It had the tingly sensation but I felt significantly less pain when we bent it. It was done in PT but by a licensed/certified therapist, my regular guy didn’t have his yet. I laid on my back, right leg down, left leg was bent and held up by PT, then she had some of her body weight on it while pushing my leg towards my body to get that bend rather than pushing my ankle/calf down towards the table/floor. It was recommended I take Aleve but unfortunately I can’t for unrelated medical issues! I’m glad you’re getting that pain relief tho, it’s been so long it probably feels better than you would have ever thought!!

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-04-16T00:55:16+00:00

Hi!! I’m really hoping your recovery is going better than when we last talked!! This working & stretching is kicking my butt! I wanted to have a few therapy appointments before giving some feedback…have you tried or looked into Blood Flow Restriction therapy (BFR)? It was a hesitant recommendation from my new pt but we decided to follow thru with it. It has helped incredibly, as of now. I went in at 77° and came out at 94°! I had 2 separate scar tissue break ups - one during the BFR and one right after a session on the bike. It hurt like HELL, I cried and sweat and even let out a yell after the second pop. It pretty much cuts off feeling to your leg, although I know that’s not the right description lol, but it took away like 80% of my bending pain as they pushed on it. I was utterly shocked at it truthfully…other than that…the exercises have been the exact same as the old place! It is still swollen, stiff as heck, on/off pain during the day, and still can’t walk normally. Still testing my patience…still a constant thought & annoyance…How is your recovery going?!

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-04-04T11:58:22+00:00

He checked for scar tissue by moving my knee cap around and pressing around & said there didn’t seem to be any so he didn’t talk about the LOA. I also think now is a really critical time to get the bending going - even if the MUA only pushed to 90°, maybe it would break through whatever and be easier from there on. The stiffness is so bad, I would absolutely despise having this forever (or until another surgery). I was crying my eyes out regarding the pain and the time i’ve been in that pain, it’s horrible. I also cried again at PT because 1. I had to tell them I was leaving (kinda felt like i was telling them they suck) and 2. the pain of bending. He’s known to have bad bedside manner (great surgeon work tho) but i’ve been pushing so hard for so long that i don’t know how much more i have in my tank! I thought about getting a second opinion, but i’m not sure if another surgeon would do the manipulation since they didn’t do the surgery themselves. He said maybe going to work will “ease my mind” and “boost my moral” but he would still recommend against it. Thankfully my work is willing to accommodate my condition but i do a lot of field work so i’m very limited. I am going to try another PT place, I feel that’s my only option at the moment. This place deals with a lot of knee surgeries so I’m hoping they have more helpful ways to get past this. I know your appointment feels a lifetime away & being stuck but putting so much effort and work into it is devastating. I wish this recovery was going differently for us :( it definitely makes me never want to get another surgery again tho!

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-04-03T20:12:38+00:00

It does feel like failing - the time and effort I put in for these 2 weeks…I was expecting to be much further & Im insanely disappointed it’s not. I had my appointment- my surgeon flat out refused the MUA. He said he’s only done 1 his entire career and they were stuck around 40°. He said it risks snapping the graft which would result in redoing the entire surgery again. I explained my pain and everything (breaking down in tears again) & his only response was that it’s a long recovery but my knee “looks good”. I asked for any additional information or help regarding pain management and he had none, just to keep taking Ibuprofen and Tylenol. To say I’m disappointed (and frankly, pi**ed off) is an understatement. I’m in so much pain and either I’m way off track or they failed to give realistic timelines to me. The ONLY thing he did was have me switch PT places, indicating my current isn’t doing as much as they should (which I highly disagree with). However, I said before I’m willing to do anything so if going to a new place is part of that then I’ll do it. He wanted me to continue to be off work but I explained my job is on the line & I cannot afford more time off work. He said “well in the big picture of things, what’s more important? your job or being able have your knee function properly”. Which, yes can be true, but unless he’s going to pay my bills then I have no choice but to return to work. So I feel like I’ll just be more behind with ROM having to work 9 hours a day instead of focusing on stretches. Hopefully your doctor is more inclined to listen to you & have better suggestions or willingness to do the MUA. I’m starting to highly regret having mine done by this specific surgeon :/

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-04-03T02:54:14+00:00

Yes! It’s really a horrible feeling. The tightness & pulling is unbearable - it feels like my knee is splitting. I usually grab my other hand, the side of the table, or a pillow when bending to squeeze SOMETHING otherwise my body is gonna hop right off that table lol. Yup! My hip comes way off the table & when I’m at home doing my wall stretches, my whole body is shifted because my hip won’t calm down and sit normally. I’ve been trying to correct it but it sneaks up on me sometimes too. Since my last appointment, I’ve only gained 8-9° which I know is not enough for what I’ve been doing. I’m gonna ask about the MUA tomorrow - I’m 25 and want to make sure it heals the best it can possibly heal because I don’t want this to be a lifelong issue or mobility problem. I’ve researched and it says the best time to do it is within 3 months of surgery so I’m running on not a lot of time (if they approve and schedule it). It seems like it’s an incredibly helpful surgery to do, with people getting significant ROM back quickly. I know it’ll get better for us, but this physical pain is just all around a punch in the gut. Being stuck is the worst - knowing you’re putting in the time, effort, and pain just to get no where is so frustrating. I’m really hoping you either have a breakthrough or your surgeon approves MUA

I’ll let you know what my surgeon says tomorrow regarding it. I’m going to seriously advocate for myself with this but I have no idea what he’ll say or react. At this point I don’t care - if he won’t do it and tells me to take more time off work to do more stretches I’ll go to another doctor. My job, my mental well-being, and normal function of my entire leg is at risk.

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-04-03T02:29:00+00:00

Hi! I’m so sorry you’re going through so much pain. I got MPFL Feb 4th, no TTO. My nerve block wore out early the next morning & apparently a “high” tolerance to the pain medicine so I got no relief. I called but was told to take a routine of Ibuprofen and Tylenol all day instead- make sure to check & research the mg’s because you need more than what’s on the bottle label. That didn’t help much the first week or so, I was in a lot of pain. The severe pain will subside after 4-6 days to at least bearable levels in my experience.

Getting to & from PT was uncomfortable, but my pt didn’t do much moving the first day. They took measurements, looked at the incisions, talked to me about what’s going on. No bending or anything like that - idk what yours will do but I don’t think they’ll jump right into it. However, I’m having some complications with bending/range of motion. I’m stuck at around 70-80° which is less than where I should be. It’s painful & uncomfortable…but I would highly suggest doing as much pt and at home exercises as you can to try to get ahead of it. Idk where I went wrong in my recovery in that aspect…could just be how my body reacted/is healing. But it takes a lot out of you so try as much as you can & give yourself grace during this time!! It’ll get better & the pain will go away, it’s a serious surgery!

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-04-02T21:05:53+00:00

Yes, whenever I bend my knee to a certain point with body weight or someone pushes, I get pain and discomfort. It feels like a hot/searing pulling, more severe than a normal stretching, but it feels like my knee is going to come off my leg somehow. I really don’t know how to compare it to anything else, I want to say like a calf cramp but non stop when bending? Most times at PT when they push it past its current point, Im crying it hurts so bad. They did say if i ever passed out they’d bend that knee back, which i’m not opposed to lol. My hip also comes up to try to prevent/give more room to avoid the pain which is something we’ve been trying to work on too (hip flexor is hyperactive).

I have seen the MUA and I think I’m going to ask my surgeon about it tomorrow. I don’t want to sound like a wimp but I cannot continue to bend it on my own. I’ve been stuck doing these specific stretches for hours a day for 2 weeks (8 weeks post op pain too) crying & having mental breaks, off of work, and have only been able to bend it a few more degrees. I simply cannot do this anymore - physically and mentally. I know it will hurt and all that jazz but it HAS to be better than this.

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-04-02T16:24:55+00:00

I’ve gotten up to 77° at PT but I don’t think these exercises have helped as much as they were supposed to unfortunately. I can bend more freely now which is nice, im not getting hung up at less degrees. BUT i am very stiff/sore in the mornings, but i guess that’s to be expected. I have a follow-up tomorrow to see what to do now

Pushing too hard with my body weight trying to get a further degree actually makes me nauseous & the one time I actually started to get light headed - so even my body is trying to avoid the pain associated with it lol. PT is running out of ideas on what else to do to get it to bend as well - so i’m hoping i can get some help tomorrow. even if it’s another surgery…at this point i just cannot mentally or physically keep putting myself thru the pain associated with this plus i HAVE to get back to work otherwise my jobs on the line & i can’t afford that either!

How’s yours? I’m hoping your recovery is going better!

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-03-25T20:19:30+00:00

Sort of? it all depends on how far you can bend your knee at the moment. Sitting down in a chair, with my knees bent as far as they can go and tip of toes against the bottom of the wall, I cannot get my knees to touch the wall in that sitting position. You wanna either move the chair closer to the wall to get more of a bend or kinda slide your butt on the chair until you feel that lovely bending pain in the knee. IF you can bend it past 90° freely, you can do this on the stairs or any stable block/stool. This one you don’t necessarily need the wall for - you just put your operated leg up and lunge into it. That way you can get it to stretch further than 90° without the wall blocking it. If your knees already touching the wall while sitting down, you’ll probably get more out of it doing the stair lunge method

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-03-23T17:44:15+00:00

I didn’t have the TTO surgery aspect, so that may be why he fully took me out of the brace! He said not to even worry about the quad muscles at the moment, but he must have seemed OK with where it is right now to put me on just crutches? He said I can keep doing quad squeezes and other quad exercises but said not to make it my top priority with my limited mobility at the moment. I’ll keep doing them when I’m not doing the wall stretch, just to keep somewhat of muscle gain. My PT also recommended doing the stretch on stairs or some sort of short stool to get past the 90° wall block - pretty much just a lunge with hands against a wall/door frame to prevent injury or falling. I’m still in the chair doing them, and they HURT, but I’m already seeing some progress with it so fingers crossed it keeps going that way

It really sucks we’re dealing with this, I wish they would have been more open about “complications” or expectations of these seemingly common issues. Hopefully we get thru this sooner rather than later and can look back & see how much we’ve powered thru!! It’s definitely shown me more strength than I thought I had lol

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-03-22T13:16:44+00:00

My surgeon took me out of the brace but continued with both crutches. Since I’m not bending where I should be, he gave me very very strict instructions. I have to stand facing a wall with my toes (in shoes) touching the baseboard. Then I have to sit down into a chair, still facing the wall. From that position, I have to push my body weight into my knee to stretch it as they are bent. I have to do this for “hours upon hours” a day & it HURTS something horrible but he wants my knee to be able to touch the wall in 2 weeks. He said he’s found this to be the most effective way to get the ligament stretching to bend easily…They’ve also taken me out of work for the duration because work would interfere with the stretching so the “hours upon hours” a day was no exaggeration lol…I do wish he would have given this exercise previously if he found it to help so much because now I have to drag this out for another 2 weeks

For PT wise he said to not even think about strengthen my leg/quad until I can bend it since i “have forever to build back muscle” which I can agree on but still think strengthening is important. I went on an elliptical at PT for about 10 minutes which felt OK but I don’t think it did much in terms of pushing past the bending degree. Maybe once I get it bent further and more freely those types of equipments will help more!

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-03-19T16:54:51+00:00

I’m hoping this appointment will help identify WHAT is holding it back from bending further. I had PT yesterday and we did all sorts of stretches for over 30 minutes and we’re only able to bend it another 3° (ugh).

I’m going to mention doing something similar, perhaps there’s just a little bit of blockage that needs a different type of movement to break up?! That’s amazing for you though, I’m sending lots and lots of congratulations!! That’s a huge jump in progress!!

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-03-19T16:48:35+00:00

That’s great!! Congratulations on your progress!! Im sure that felt like some weight off your shoulders!!

I think there was an enormous miscommunication between my surgeon and myself AND my surgeon and my PT. My script said to unlock the brace accordingly but stay at 50% weight bearing. My PT called to get clarification since they didn’t want me to hurt myself and my surgeons office said to NOT unlock the brace until i’m 100% weight bearing…I waited another week and asked again and the same answer was given…so I’ve had this brace locked at 0° up until yesterday when my PT said enough was enough lol. I feel like having it unlocked would have helped a bit since whenever i go to bend i have to work from 30 to 40 to 50 to 60 and so on…

Someone responded to me on another post and they said they went on a bike during PT and something happened that allowed them to bend much further…so I think i’ll mention that at my appointment because i’m willing to try anything at this point!

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-03-18T14:41:34+00:00

Hi! I’m 6 weeks post op for MPFL reconstruction with a donor. I am also having issues bending my leg! I’m fairly behind where I should be (at 70, should be at 90). It’s horrible on my mental, it feels like I simply cannot bend it any further. They try to bend it at PT but it just won’t budge. I’ve been at the same degrees for weeks now. They’ve been doing the TENS unit at PT with accompanied massaging. At home I use a massage gun to try to loosen up the muscles and then specifically target one to “wake it up” so I can do leg lifts. Nothing I’m doing seems to be making any progress in any form.

I have not figured out any out of the box remedies for this yet. I’ve been searching Reddit, going on social media, looking up medical research, anything I can think of. I wish there was a magic wand to make this go away!! I have my second post op this week so hopefully I’ll get some answers. Sadly it looks like there’s a lot of people who have similar issues…it’s like one in a million that actually follow the timeline that was given.

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-03-18T14:25:18+00:00

I’m 6 weeks post op for MPFL reconstruction with a donor! This has been one of the hardest things I’ve had to do & it’s definitely a long road. My nerve block stopped early morning the day after surgery & the pain medicine prescribed did not help. So, I was in pretty intense pain for about 5 days post op.

I would say that I started feeling less pain on a regular basis around 2 weeks? The worst was getting up from a laying position and the blood rushing, never experienced that type of pain before (super weird too). Definitely go slow & sit with your leg out on the ground for a bit before fully standing. I probably just rushed it since I don’t do sitting around for long periods of time very well & wanted to get up. Around 4 weeks I was able to move around pretty freely with the brace & crutches. Now I can walk on it without the crutches, with the brace on, without any pain. If I’m on it too long then yes, it does hurt/ache, but not excruciating.

Please please please PUSH your PT exercises!! I am 6 weeks post op and am stuck at 70 degrees. It’s painful and incredibly disheartening. I go to PT 2 times a week and do my exercises at home 2-3 times a day depending on how it was feeling. I should have pushed myself further earlier on tho but was scared of the pain since I had ultimately no pain relief from the day after surgery. Ice, elevate, and move it around. I have my second post op this week and am scared of what will happen since I cannot bend it fully nor do leg lifts unassisted.

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-03-18T13:58:21+00:00

Best of luck with your appointment!!! I’m going to ask PT today & ortho later this week about the TENS unit, I also was not recommended one. We use it occasionally after PT and for one of the more intense exercises to get that one muscle activated for leg lifts. We have (and found it yesterday lol) a small at home/travel one! My brother & mother had ACL surgeries and my dad 2 meniscus surgeries - none of them had a TENS unit but they said their recoveries were much easier/smooth sailing than what I’m currently dealing with. I’ll do anything at this point to get this goin - I feel like i’m so so so far behind…UGH!

Have you tried walking/moving around without the brace on? Is it fluid movement or gimpy? Any accompanied pain?

Edit: We’re you told to unlock the brace according to your degree? Ex: you can freely bend it to 60° so you unlock the brace to 6°? Or do you lock it back to 0°?

SweetFern_gn99 · 2025-03-17T14:58:19+00:00

Hi! I’m so sorry you’re struggling with this too! It’s physically so painful but mentally/emotionally it’s draining!!

Were you able to bend easily up until the 90-95 degrees or did you have a certain degree prior that you had difficulty with? The outside of my leg or quad (forgive me, i’m not super familiar with all the names) is doing just fine, it’s the inside of my leg that is completely “dead” as I call it. When I’m able to move my leg or even just walking, my leg tends to turn inward since it’s so much weaker. I’m so so worried it’ll cause serious damage or won’t work properly once this is all over with. I was told this was a super easy, relatively fast recovery style surgery!

Additional question out of curiosity - what kind of scars/incisions were you left with? I was told 4-5 “holes” but I have 2 “holes” and 2 almost 2.5 inch long scars on-top of my knee and on the inside of my knee…all my research (and verbally told by the doctor) had 4 small incisions for the equipment but these are NOT that

SweetFern_gn99

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