TKR Poptarts' Surgery on December 24, 2018<

poptarts

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I had a LTKR on 12/24/18 and a RTKR on 5/29/14. I'm doing pretty good. My knee is stiff and achy but i'm icing on a regular basis and reading a lot on BoneSmart and all the great tips.

The first five days I hardly ate; just no appetite or it would make me nausea if I tried.

I think I have post-surg depression. I lack a will to walk outside or do more. My support team consists of my two adult children who live at home. However, each child has their own issues, one is on the autism spectrum, and the other has severe depression. It is hard to continuously ask them for help but I do it but I know it is the right thing to do and i'm not being unreasonable.

Tomorrow I'm getting an in-home lymphatic massage that is supposed to help with reducing the swelling and it should just make me feel better overall.

One strange outcome of the surgery is that my left foot and toes are constantly cold. My other foot i fine. The ortho said this will pass.

Thanks for reading and sharing your stories with me!
 
Hi @poptarts and welcome. One of the advisors will be along soonish to give you a bunch of reading material. Please do yourself a favour and read it it's packed full of good sensible advice. At one week in I can't imagine having the will to walk outside or do anything much! You are deep in recovery and really what is called for is rest, ice, and elevation. I found I could not even read a light book and all I could watch on tv was reruns of antiques roadshow! Lol Funnily enough one of the side effects for me is really cold feet too! Since menopause (a long time ago) my feet have always been hot. For now I'm wearing my husband very thick warm socks. I expect it will go back to normal as I heal. Read the documents! How is your pain ?
 
Hi @poptarts. You shouldn't be worried about going outside, you should trying to get some rest. I know its hard worrying about the kids as well but they just might surprise you in your recovery. Just don't try to rush things.
Hope your recovery goes well.
 
Hi @poptarts

Just wanted to say hi and echo the other comments. I see that you’ve had your other knee replaced, so you know the drill.

I’m two weeks ahead of you and have had my other knee replaced, so I know the drill too.

Still, I needed/need reminders.

Please be gentle with yourself and your new knee. You’re in the darker days of recovery and there’s no need to do much beyond resting, icing, elevating, and medicating. Maybe some gentle stretching.

Take good care and I hope the massage feels great! I’ll look forward to hearing about it as I’ve been tempted to get a lymphatic massage to see if it helps reduce some of my swelling.
 
@poptarts, :welome:to Bonesmart. You have a newborn baby knee and needs to be treated as such. Walking outside should be last on your mind at this early time. I will leave you our recovery articles. Following these will help you to 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. Here is a week-by-week guide for Activity progression for TKRs


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 a 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 history before providing advice.
 
Many of us never took formal PT or did exercises. I am one of them. I had 11 knee surgeries, 2 of them kneecap removals and 1 tkr. Even after those I never took PT. But, I didn't just sit around and do nothing. I took care of myself, my house and yard as my knee allowed me to do. As I healed, I did more. But, my knee was always in control! This was enough therapy for me and would be for any tkr patient. All the awful pain of PT is so unnecessary.

All you have to do is use it in your daily living! Your knee knows how to rehab itself and doesn't need anyone telling it how. Just use it and it will come back like new! You have to be patient, though, it doesn't happen quickly! ADL,(activities of daily living), going to the bathroom, brushing your teeth and bathing, fixing a light meal, getting something to drink and or a snack, those kinds of things will be all the exercise your knee needs. If you just use it daily in your living, you can have a less painful recovery. We know what works, we've been there!
 
Hi @poptarts I am also another one who decided not to take extra PT and let my knee heal naturally, I do the execises the hospital passed on but try not to overdo it. Starting to do some physical exercise to take all they extra pounds I put on sitting about nothing to strenuous though.

Mind you fancy the massage and will be keen to see how things went

Billy
 
I think I have post-surg depression. I lack a will to walk outside or do more.
Be sure and read the article sisters left on Post Op Blues. This too shall pass!
 
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome, links to articles and sage advice! My massage was rescheduled for tomorrow. I will post how it went.
 
Hi @poptarts and welcome..........How is your pain ?
Not bad, 2s and 3s in the pain scale. I'm following the pain management recommendations on this site and keep track of my meds using an app. The app will send me a reminder when it is time to take my medications. It also reminds you of refills a few days prior or however you customize it.

Check out "pill reminder" in the itunes app store. Sorry, I do not know what it would be for android users.

Thanks for the warm welcome and comments Grandma Chris!
 
I made myself a spreadsheet before surgery and use it to track every single meed I put in me. Very useful as I can easily forget when I took my last dose of something, even now six weeks in!
 
Hi @poptarts. You shouldn't be worried about going outside, you should trying to get some rest. I know its hard worrying about the kids as well but they just might surprise you in your recovery. Just don't try to rush things.
Hope your recovery goes well.
Thank you for your helpful comments! Yes, they are helping in their own way.
 
Hi @poptarts Welcome to Recovery!

Hang out here with us.
Bonesmart has a wealth of advice, information and support.
We will offer helpful suggestions, :idea:

Cheer your accomplishments :happydance:

And send hugs when you are feeling down. :console2:

Best wishes!
 
May I get someone's opinion on my current medications?

Tylenol 1000 mg. 4x a day
Percocet 325 mg. (oxo-acetaminophen 10 mg./325 mg.), every 4 hours.

I alternate the Tylenol and Percocet so I'm taking something every few hours.

My scale pain level is 2-3.

Thank you!
 
I am going to tag @Josephine
our forum administrator and nurse director to address your concerns.
 
Since the Percocet also has acetaminophen you may be taking too much of that - the max recommended on here is 4000 mg per 24 hours.
 
Thank you so much for responding to my question, I will stop the Tylenol.
 
You need to take no more than 4,000 mg of acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) in any 24 hour period. If you are taking the Percocet every 4 hours so that means you're taking 1950mg of acetaminophen. Assuming you aren't also getting acetaminophen from other sources like cold, allergy or flu medications, you could take up to 2000mg of the Tylenol and be safe.

Are you finding that you have breakthrough pain during the 4 hour period between Percocet doses? If so, it would be a good idea to let your surgeon know that's the problem. Sometimes you have to jockey around a bit with pain medications to find the right mix to work for you at this early stage. There are other medications that can be taken for breakthrough pain that don't have the acetaminophen in them. Also, be sure you are icing your knee as much as possible. That can really help manage pain! You can keep ice on your knee as much as you like as long as you keep a towel between your leg and the ice source so as not to damage your skin.
 
Jamie, has given you good advice. If you stopped the tylenol are you having pain in between the Percoset?
 
@skigirl: Thank you for asking, yes some moderate to mild pain in between. I'm icing a lot. I will use the remainder 2000 mg. of tylenol that @Jamie recommends. Thank you! If it wasn't for all of you, I would be pretty isolated in this recovery. I very much appreciate it!
 

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