TKR Update

Benay

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Some pain, walking seems to help, lots of meds. Loved it in the hospital going to be more difficult at home. Husband super helpful but 24 hour attention was soothing.
 
Welcome home!:happydance:

I will leave you our Recovery Guidelines. Each article is short but very informative. Following these guidelines will help you have a less painful recovery.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. At week 4 and after you should follow this
6. Access to these pages on the website

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?

Energy drain for TKRs

Elevation is the key

Ice to control pain and swelling

Heel slides and how to do them properly

Chart representation of TKR recovery

Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
 
Congratulations @julieskan on getting through your surgery and going home! I’m scheduled for 7 am on Monday and wish it was already over. One more day to get things done and then my knee will take control of my life for awhile.
 
Congratulations @julieskan on getting through your surgery and going home! I’m scheduled for 7 am on Monday and wish it was already over. One more day to get things done and then my knee will take control of my life for awhile.

It'll be over really quickly @Rather I'll be thinking of you.
 
Every day feeling a little better. Taking pain meds on schedule, 10 degrees off straight leg (swelling at the back of the knee), 90 degrees the other one (can't think the name right now, is it flexation?). Can navigate stairs and confidently walk. Had PT home yesterday. Not a fan of all the exercises but will take your advice and not push to the point of extra swelling. The pain drip (dragging round the bag and ball) comes out tomorrow will give me more freedom. So far not as bad as imagined but early days yet and trying to temper the overconfidence. Best thing so far is the leg lifter, makes in and out of bed a breeze!
 
Welcome to the other side! Someone will be along soon to give you your reading assignments. Keep up the icing and elevating, it really does help with pain and swelling. I had a pain ball also-it worked like a charm but I agree, dragging it around is a bit of a pain, but better than feeling the actual pain. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
 
@juliescan, :welome: to Bonesmart. We are all experienced knee replacement recovery. You are right that you shouldn't exercise to cause pain and extra swelling. That sets you back. Icing and elevating is a wonderful swelling and pain reliever.

The following are our basic guidelines and should help get you started. As you read more on other members recovery threads, you’ll get a better perspective of what to expect and what not to do, especially regarding PT.
 
@julieskan you will notice that I have merged your two threads together as we prefer that members in recovery only have one thread.

This is for three reasons:
1. if you keep starting new threads, you miss the posts others have left you in the old threads
2. it often ends up that information is unnecessarily repeated
3. it's best if we can keep all your recovery story in one place so it's easily accessed if we need to advise you.

Please keep all your questions and updates on this thread. If you would like a new thread title just give a shout.
 
@julieskan make sure you keep up with the pain meds particularly when the pain drip runs out. I wasn't too bad as long as the drip lasted but felt like someone hit my knee with a 2 x 4 when it ran out, that's when the real pain began. :shocked:
 
Congratulations @julieskan on getting through your surgery and going home! I’m scheduled for 7 am on Monday and wish it was already over. One more day to get things done and then my knee will take control of my life for awhile.

@Rather hope it went well. We're close in timing so our recoveries might parellel. I'm pleased to be on the post op side because easier to deal with the really rather than the anticipation.
 
Does anyone have advice for the best working scar cream once my bandage is off? OS suggests straight Vitamin E.
 
You don't really need to put anything on it, because left to itself, the scar will fade to a silvery line, as time passes. If your skin is dry, an moisturiser will work.
Active Skin Repair is good - you can see details by clicking on the box at the top of the page.
 
I used Active Skin Repair early on and then when the scabs had all come off I've been using Bio Oil ever since.
 
I'm using oxycodone 5 ml every 3-4 hours (but never more than 40 ml in a day)to stay ahead of the pain. It's the morning of the 5th day home from the hospital. Surgeon gave me 40 and said call thru if I needed more. My husband is getting concerned I'm taking too many and it may become a problem. My understanding was for the first two weeks it was important to keep the pain at bay. I've also got naproxen and Tylenol but not sure they're effective. Any advice?
 
Take your pain medication as prescribed, around the clock. It is important to stay ahead of the pain at this point. You will not become addicted and if you need more medication please ask for it. When you start forgetting doses (usually the midday dose) it's a sign you are weaning off your medication.

Tylenol is a very good pain killer. But in the early days of recovery it is really not enough. I would avoid Naproxen. There are all kinds of nasty side effects to anti-inflammatory drugs.

Are you icing and elevating regularly throughout the day?
 
Surgeon said every 6 hours Tylenol, Naproxen 1 per day, Oxy 5ml as needed (don't exceed 40 mls daily) muscle relaxant as needed. A cocktail.
 
Icing most all of the day except when up, minimal elevation tends to be uncomfortable. Bought lounge doctor surgeon said it was a no no, too high.
 

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