TKR Recovering in Canada

[SnowHare]

@Lindylee : I do want to get off the Dilaudid (Hydromorphone). I'm starting tonight with none. I want to be able to drive, so I can get out and about and doing things without always having to rely on my DH for a ride. I'm feeling rather infantilized now.

How are you doing?

 

[Zommom]

I love your coat! My style for sure. Sounds like your progressing slowly but surely.

 

[Lindylee]

I'm doing ok thanks Snowhare, still some niggly aches and pains and swelling, but not too bad. We usually go dancing a couple of times a week and I managed my first dance this week, taking it slowly, and it felt great to be getting back to normal. The knee actually felt better whilst I was dancing, which was quite a surprise to me. I was a little nervous to begin with so it gave the confidence a boost for sure.

 

[SnowHare]

@Lindylee : What kind of dancing do you do? I can't dance yet. I do Scottish Country dance, which entails a lot of whirling around madly, so not doing this anytime soon.

Sorry to take awhile to respond. I've been distracted with gazing out the window in the wonder that I can finally walk outside, without total fear of landing butt over teakettle from the ice.

 

[SnowHare]

I am to see the surgeon on Thursday. I know he will not be thrilled with my extension.

I'm having an up and down time. Mostly, I'm feeling good, except I realize how incredibly weak my muscles are. Just to add to this, the tendonosis in my ankle has resumed with a vengeance. I have been overly tempted to avoid exercise. I am so tired, and if I do much of anything, I tend to crash around 9:30 at night. Thank goodness I have been able to sleep reasonably well, only awakening a few times in the night. I've been waiting months for a good night's sleep.

One hour of light housework about does me in, although I can now prepare supper without stiffening up in pain. My adult children are delightful. After years of either offering me marijuana for pain, or nagging me to go to the green (medical marijuana) clinic, one just ordered me some marijuana oil. It worked on my arthritic thumb. Not sure if I'm quite up to trying it on my knee.

I weaned off the Dilaudid. The GP gave me so many extras, so I guess I'm sending them off for disposal. My knee is running a bit hotter, and it has a lovely pale mauve blush.

I'm trying to walk down the stairs forwards, as opposed to the sideways step I've used for the past few years. Neither knee is happy with this, but they have to learn.

 

[Lindylee]

It is very much an up and down recovery, so don't be too hard on yourself. I can come downstairs normally, but it's really only easy if I have something either side to hold on to and depends on the height of the step. Yesterday I climbed up and down too many whilst out, some that were quite steep and had to result to putting the new knee down first each time as I could feel it swelling. Fatigue still hits too. I was shattered when we got home and in bed not much after 9.30. Good to know you're sleeping better. It helps, doesn't it?

We do ballroom and Latin dancing so can start off with slower dances and build up gradually. I think it will be a while before I'm back to jiving! I couldn't even consider Scottish country dancing before the op let alone after. We used to do some barn dancing at one time, but had to give that up.

 

[SnowHare]

I saw my surgeon. He is, overall, pleased with my progress. I don't have to see him until January. It's weird. When the physiotherapist had me on the exam table, lying down, or sitting up, my extension was 10 - 15. The surgeon put my leg on his lap and gave a gentle push, and my leg almost went straight. He now recommends the flutter board AND flippers in the pool.

I guess the muscles just go into protection mode, whenever I try to do a straight leg.

After having weeks of progress, last night, the muscles on the outside of my calf/knee/thigh decided to hurt like hell. I had to crawl up the stairs on all fours. I took 2 T3s, which did nothing, so I had to carefully get myself downstairs to find the special salve. It worked for about half of the night.

The elastic band feeling around my knee is slowly letting up, so I'm guessing that it's maybe muscles waking up, as the pain is where I have the last bit of numbness.

 

[FCBayern]

I weaned off the Dilaudid. The GP gave me so many extras, so I guess I'm sending them off for disposal. My knee is running a bit hotter, and it has a lovely pale mauve blush.

Personally I hoarding my left over pain meds, I know I'll over do it some time in the future and really appreciate them at that time.

 

[Lindylee]

Maybe the improvement in extension was against a softer surface? It sounds as if things are heading in the right direction overall for you. I hope last night wasn't a repeat of the previous one. I still have a tight feeling in a band just above my knee from time to time. I'm assuming it's the soft tissues adjusting to the new knee. We'll get there in the end. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm only a third of the way through this recovery.

 

[SnowHare]

@FCBayern :
Yesterday was a washout. I got next to nothing done and ended up crashing in the afternoon. I actually had a decent night's sleep, which is a rarity, and the soft tissue pains of yesterday have receded or moved onto a different area.

I think I'm getting a bit of a mental slump from not getting enough sleep the never-ending pain and what seems to be a feeling of making no progress. I also had a very emotionally upsetting fight with my mother - she's 95 - so I'm feeling physically beaten up.

Off to do some reading whilst I DeskCycle to keep the joint mobile.

 

[Lindylee]

 

[SnowHare]

I'm still not sleeping well, and I'm beginning to feel my mental acuity is suffering. I wake up several times in the night in a lot of pain. I'm applying CBD oil, which is my fallback solution, because T3s do diddly squat. I talked to my GP about the use of the CBD oil and she was fine with it and was happy it was working for me.

I at one step forward and 1/3 a step back, which is a bit of an improvement from half a step back. Throughout the day, one muscle, or one area of my leg hurts like merry hell. Then it stops, and another one decides to hurt. One particularly annoying pain is on the side of my leg sort adjacent to the scar from the drain. It feels like someone stabbing me with a very dull knife.

I know my exercising is not going well, as in I'm not consistent, and that is a problem I need to sort out myself.

Going for a walk is not enjoyable, as I have to keep watching my feet on the uneven sidewalks, and I'm still pretty wobbly. However, I'm looking forward to cycling.

I've ordered stability wheels for my bicycle, because I was none to stable before the operation, and I'm sure I'm a whole lot worse now. Stability wheels are like training wheels for adults. My husband does his neighbourhood inspection ride every morning, and I plan to join him for part of the ride. He's very concerned about my safety. I plan to start small, with short rides around the block.

On a more cheerful note, I've lost 6 pounds already. Just eating less food overall and eating more lentils. Weight off means less pain.

 

[sistersinhim]

He now recommends the flutter board AND flippers in the pool.

I found that flippers really hurt my knee afterwards. It's too much for a new knee.

I know my exercising is not going well, as in I'm not consistent, and that is a problem

You are probably doing way too much. Pain is normally an indication of just that. Listen to your knee. If it hurts after doing something that night or the next day, then your knee isn't ready for it. Stop doing it and wait a couple of weeks to try it again. Let your knee be your boss.

 

[Celle]

You are probably doing way too much. Pain is normally an indication of just that. Listen to your knee. If it hurts after doing something that night or the next day, then your knee isn't ready for it. Stop doing it and wait a couple of weeks to try it again. Let your knee be your boss.

I agree.
At 4+ months since surgery, you should not have more pain than can be dealt with by Tylenol.

You don't need to keep exercising your knee. All it needs now is the normal activities of your daily living.

 

[Lindylee]

Sorry to hear you're still having problems with sleep,and pain.That's miserable. I hope things settle down soon.

 

[DLR]

@SnowHare I know you said Tylenol 3 are not effective but have you tried 1000 mg Tylenol ( 2 extra strength Tylenol) every 6 hours? That is the standard Josephine recommended to me first time around and it works.
That plus backing off a bit might help bring things under control. Pain often is cyclic and sounds like you need to break the cycle.

 

[SnowHare]

I did try my bike today. That did not go well. I'm not accustomed to training wheels. My DH said I should have a steering wheel on the bike. It will take some getting used to. I managed about one block. My knee doesn't quite make the bend - almost.

Whatever I do has to be completed in the morning, or I just get tuckered out. I just finished preparing supper, so now it's nap time.

My most comfortable position, where I don't hurt, is sitting in a straight chair, with my legs bent on a footstool. Of course when I stand up, my knees protest, but that's a given.

@Celle : I'm not so much as exercising my knee, but my quads and assorted other leg muscles - functional exercises. I lost a lot of muscle mass last summer, when I had to stay off my feet for a few months. I'm pretty tottery. My un-operated leg is actually much weaker than my new knee leg, which has tendonosis in the ankle.

@DLR : I take T3s, max dosage, which doesn't do much. T3s are prescription here. I am very resistant to medications. I take what is considered toxic amounts of anti-depressants, and my liver function is perfect. I'm not going on Dilaudid, as it made my brain weird.