TKR Elliott52's Recovery Thread

elliott52

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Surgery was done with no problems. I had a spinal with pro-phenol. Limited pain, just a dull ache. After all feeling came back, I kept waiting for the really bad pain. I was given a regiment of pain killer, but no major pain. At bedtime I was given dilauda just to circumvent any nighttime pain. I didn’t sleep well, just couldn’t get comfortable. Still no major pain. I walked after surgery and came home yesterday. Slept all night without pain meds. Up and walking with walker, resting, elevating leg, icing , and taking scheduled hydrocodone. I have absolutely been amazed at the level of pain I’ve had. I start PT Monday.
 
Congrats on your new knee! I'll leave you our Recovery Guidelines. Each one is short, but helpful, and will guide you in your 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
the BoneSmart view on exercise
BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy

5. At week 4 and after you should follow this Activity progression for TKRs

6. Access these pages on the website
Oral And Intravenous Pain Medications
Wound Closure

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.
 
Please pay attention to the guidelines about PT. It can help but it is your knee and you do not have to undergo pain. You can say no. My PT was nice and gentle and when he got firm I grabbed the goniometer and smacked his hand gently.. no.... My OS never insisted on PT. My insurance did.. All my OS wanted was for me to tuck my foot increasingly more under a firm chair and to put my foot on an ottoman and let the knee straighten and relax. Both while watching soap operas of course.
 
Hello @elliott52 - and :welome: and welcome to recovery.

I've moved your recovery post from the pre-op area and started a recovery thread for you. Please post updates about your progress on this thread from now on.
 
I had my first PT session today. My therapist worked gently with me I was able to do all the exercises with minimal pain. I took a pain pill before I went, which made it so much better. I can now take a shower, cannot wash incision, but run warm water over it. I am to War the Ted hose more as my ankle is swollen really bad. Overall, this has been nothing like I thought as far as pain, and I feel blessed. Ice is my new friend.
 
I’m amazed your doing so well, it seems like you are keeping under the pain, and that is SO important. As you know from reading, watch the amount of PT. Keep fighting the good fight
 
I have been amazed also. No pain meds during the night, sleep all night, walking with walker w/o pain. I do my exercises, but stop when my body’s aids enough. Rest, elevate and Ice, Ice, Ice. I do have a constant dull ache, which is nothing compared to the pain I had before surgery. I use Ice and it does the trick.
 
So glad to hear that you're doing well! I hope you continue to progress each day! I'll be headed to surgery next Tuesday and I'm looking forward to being on the mend with you!
 
My therapist worked gently with me I was able to do all the exercises with minimal pain. I took a pain pill before I went, which made it so much better.
You're doing well, but please don't take a pain pill especially so you can get through PT.
Try to schedule your pain management regime so that your PT session is covered, though. If you're taking pain medication 4-hourly, time your schedule so that PT comes somewhere in the middle of those 4 hours.

Pain is a warning sign that you're doing too much for your knee. If you mask that pain, you may unwittingly do more than your knee is ready for, and potentially could slow down your recovery.

At this very early stage of your recovery, your knee is starting to heal. It needs more time to heal before you stress it with exercises. Right now, just walking around your house is all the exercise your knee needs. It's quite OK to leave more formal exercises until later in recovery.

It's not exercising that gets you your ROM (Range of Motion) - it's time. Time to recover, time for swelling and pain to settle, and time to heal. Your ROM is there right from the start, just waiting for all that to happen, so it can show itself.

There's no need to rush to get ROM, because it can continue to improve for a year, or even much longer, after a knee replacement. There isn't any deadline you have to meet:
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
 
I found this out yesterday.. I had some constant pain and needed all the rest time I could get. As far as pain management it was my morning scheduled dose which occurred prior to PT. I return to PT on Thursday and my app’t is late afternoon so I will be pain pill free.
 
PT day. I feel physically exhausted yesterday and today. Pain is minimal and mostly achey muscles. I’ve had one day of the blues out of nowhere. I know I’m still fresh in recovery (day 8), but am so glad I had this done. The pain I have had is nothing compared to before surgery.
 
Luvcats, I will keep you in my thoughts. I was scared because of the horrible stories I had heard. Yes, I had some pain, but for me it was nothing like before surgery. Also, I had put surgery off until I couldn’t do so anymore. I made my mind up that this is it, I’m tired of hurting, and I just pulled my big girl panties up and went for it. Do everything that is suggested on here, especially elevate, ice, rest, and take meds as prescribed. Ice will become your best friend. Don’t push PT , do what your body tells you to do. I’m only 9 days out, but every day gets better. Thanks for giving me support and I will check on you. What is your surgery date?
 
Ok ya’ll, I need help. As I’ve posted, I have written about the minimal pain I had after TKR. That was until Tuesday night. I woke up with pain radiating from my hip, down the outside of my leg , to the knee. I am having lateral ligament pain, and nothing stops it. Elevation, ice, test and pain meds had not helped. Ice seems to trigger the worse pain. Please help me.
 
What did you do that was different? Your baby knee is only two weeks old. Any new activities will bring on new pain. New pains, unfortunately, are normal for the first few months. Cut back on your activities and rest and elevate as much as you can. This is an up and down recovery and can be quite frustrating. Try to relax and not worry. We will help you as much as we can.
 
Are you keeping under the pain? Taking the pain meds on time?? The first week is a horror show, I’m sorry about your pain. Icing should feel good
 
My OS had to straighten the bow in my leg, shortening the stretched out ligament during surgery. This is where my pain comes from. My PT started me walking with a cane because I would throw my leg out with the walker. I’m more conscience about how I walk using a cane. Heel, toe, up, heel, toe, up and slow & steady. My gait has been off for so long that I tried to keep walking this way. I did put heat on my thigh which has helped, then I ice. Doing much better this afternoon. I just wasn’t prepared for this, but will get past this. Lateral collateral ligament pain.
 
I had severe IT band and other muscle pain that did not respond to pain meds. The cause seemed to be my terrible method of walking post-surgery with my cane. I was sent back to my walker for a couple of weeks so I would go more slowly and correct my gait. My OT also used kinesiology tape to help support my leg in places where the muscles were screaming. That combined with rest and ice as well as heat on my IT band finally improved everything. Like you, I was prepared for my knee to hurt, but not for all of the peripheral issues.
 
@elliott52 I had my RTKR 3 days before you. LTKR was December 10, 2018. For about the first week, I thought, “wow, this is going much better than the first one did”. About then, the nerve block and whatever all else they gave me completely wore off, and the Mack Truck showed up. That same pain, originating in the hip, down the outside of my leg to the knee. But it didn’t stop there, it went right on down to my foot. The sole of my foot felt cold, even though it wasn’t, and I had a “footache”, that drove me crazy, and nothing seemed to touch any of it. That whole scenario lasted for about a week, and finally has begun to let up a bit.

The knee is the most complex and nerve-rich joint in the body. When you consider the catastrophic damage done to it during replacement, it is truly amazing that it ever heals. But it does. During the process however, there are a wide variety of aches, pains, ouches and zings that can show up, and some of them tend to hang around for awhile. When you were released from the hospital, you were most likely given a list of danger signals to watch out for. If none of those show up, you are probably OK, and going through one the many possible “rough spots” so native to this journey. It will get better, slowly at first, but steadily improving.

It is a strongly encouraging thing for me to now be able to walk on my strong and pain-free Left leg, which 6 months ago was just like my Right one is now. This too shall pass. Take it a day at a time, and hang in there.
 

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