Surgery in 10 days

Hopeless

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Soooo,, Aug 29 is my right TKR date. It has been a long year. I originally had a date of March 2, but fell on Jan 28 and shattered my right ankle. Emergency surgery next day. Recovery was about 2 X longer than what I expected, and I have permanently, 2, 2-inch long screws, a long metal plate, and about a dozen or so metal pins holding the plate to my tibia. and I have been told by numerous medical people it was much worse than a TKR. Any thoughts on that??

So my biggest fear is Infection in the new knee. and a lifetime of prophylactic antibiotics as they increase the risk of C. diff ???

I plan to go to a rehab facility since my home is just too tiny for a 2nd person here.

Also they say I "must" wear the calf pumps for 2 weeks post op even though insurance won't pay for them. Thoughts?
 
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Thats do weird
Im in New Zealand. I was discharged on day 3 without a calf pump in sight! Did have one on the day of surgery otherwise it was get up and get walking!
Maybe you are not expected to walk?
Re needing 2 people post op. My husband went to work so I was home alone. It was fine. Of course you never know how you will be post op until the time comes (a rehab facility sounds a little scary to me!)
 
Also they say I "must" wear the calf pumps for 2 weeks post op even though insurance won't pay for them. Thoughts?
Do you have a history of blood clots or a genetic pre disposition to blood clots? Otherwise I would question using calf pumps once you are up and walking around.
I have been told by numerous medical people it was much worse than a TKR. Any thoughts on that??
I am going to assume none of these medical people have actually had an ankle repair or a TKR, pay them no attention. Every surgery is different it is a waste of time to compare.

Many of our members have gone home alone after TKR.
Home alone: Patients Living Alone Can Safely Recover at Home after TJA
Living alone - will I be able to manage after a TKR?

So my biggest fear is Infection in the new knee. and a lifetime of prophylactic antibiotics as they increase the risk of C. diff ???
Both are highly unlikely. Talk to your OS about your concerns, and be sure everyone coming into your room washes their hands.
 
Thats do weird
Im in New Zealand. I was discharged on day 3 without a calf pump in sight! Did have one on the day of surgery otherwise it was get up and get walking!
Maybe you are not expected to walk?
Re needing 2 people post op. My husband went to work so I was home alone. It was fine. Of course you never know how you will be post op until the time comes (a rehab facility sounds a little scary to me!)
I am expected to "walk" same day of surgery,,,, PT begins Day 0 so they say .
The nurse said we cant force you to wear the pumps but Dr says wear them 20 hours a day
I had to go to rehab for a month after ankle triple fracture-- I was non-weight bearing for ,,,, about 12 weeks. It was brutal, but I survived.
 
The nurse said we cant force you to wear the pumps but Dr says wear them 20 hours a day
Please check with your surgeon. This doesn't sound right to me. Surely you need to be walking at regular times during the day.
 
Thanks for your input. My "plan" of course depends on how my body reacts to the surgery,,, so current "plan" is a 3-day stay in hospital, then to rehab for 4-7 days, then home. I told my doc if I started doing jumping jacks in the hospital, then I will just go straight home (joking of course).
 
Talk to your doctor about the ankle pumps and let him know they are not covered by your insurance. I think they often have a one size fits all protocol but are willing to modify that for an individual case. I only had them in the hospital and I was just in overnight.

In the first weeks I found my doctor would modify his protocol if it wasn’t necessary in my case.

As you were told, “they can’t force you” in any aspect, and not just about the ankle pumps.

Also keep that in mind when it comes to PT. Don’t let them overwork you or cause you additional pain in any way. They can’t force you do do everything the PT tells you to.
Saying no to therapy, am I allowed to:
https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/saying-no-to-therapy-am-i-allowed-to.36688/
 
Unless the ankle issue prevents you from moving your ankles, I can't see why (other than an abundance of caution or some history of blood clots) they would require you to wear special ankle pumps after you're home. Most of us were told to move our feet in what are sometimes called ankle or foot pumps and to walk around to prevent blood clots.

They do get us up and standing and walking a bit the day of the surgery. They don't expect you to walk far.
I think I was able to walk from the bed to the door but everyone is different. It was slow going but the knee felt so strong and stable I was kind of excited to try.
 
Good comments!

So I have met with 3 different surgeons before deciding which one. It was hard because none of the surgeons really tell you much of anything, they ask a couple questions and the nurses and assistants do every other thing you need, and educate you and answer all the questions and you fill out long forms. Maybe that is different than other states or countries?? IDK. Soooo, 2 of the "surgeons" never mentioned wearing calf pumps, and the one I picked did. Coincidence? It was the nurses who told me right then and there, they are not covered by insurance. $195 out of pocket. And literature states "no insurance will pay for them" I asked immediately "why do I need them if Medicare wont pay?" No good answer. To prevent clots in high risk patients. ( I guess I am elderly and obese, going by the numbers game, so that makes me high risk?) I did not wear calf pumps with the ankle fracture, but I had a boot on for over 4 months. No history of clots. If I am doing all the pages of PT, and walking every hour or 2, as they state in the book they gave me to read, I dont know how I would ever get a clot!

I DO have a new question: brownish looking spots on my shin that sort of look like bruises but are not bruises, my ankle sugeon called them iron deposits. Sometimes I can barely see them and sometimes they look very visible. He was not worried about them and didnt reccommend anything except cortisone cream which did not help. The surgeon who is doing my TKR looked at them and said nothing. And at the time I wasnt thinking about them....soooo has anybody had these? Do they every go away, should I be concerned? because nobody else seems concerned... ???
 
Hi!
That’s a beautiful Nurse Cat you have there.
What are calf pumps?
Perhaps they are to ensure your recent ankle repair keeps healing correctly?
Good Luck with your surgery!
PS To the group as well as Hopeful:
Is 66 really elderly? I thought women past 40 were all what the French call “women of a certain age” until at least 80? Oui?
 
From my educational packet, calf pumps
 

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I DO have a new question: brownish looking spots on my shin that sort of look like bruises but are not bruises, my ankle surgeon called them iron deposits. Sometimes I can barely see them and sometimes they look very visible. He was not worried about them and didnt reccommend anything except cortisone cream which did not help. The surgeon who is doing my TKR looked at them and said nothing. And at the time I wasn't thinking about them....soooo has anybody had these? Do they every go away, should I be concerned? because nobody else seems concerned... ???
I had those brown marks after each of my knee replacements. My surgeon said they are iron deposits left over from the bruising I had, and they would eventually go away.

They did go away, but it took some time.
There's no need to worry about them.
 
The other thing many surgeons prescribe to prevent blood clots is aspirin or some other blood thinning medication.
 
I am on the 8th day since my TKR surgery. I had the pump thingies on my ankles at the hospital. Or was it on my ankles and calves? I don't recall. It felt kind of nice, I thought. Anyway, when I was released to go home all I had to wear was the compression hose. My surgeon prescribed a baby aspirin twice a day as a blood thinner, and physical therapy encourages me to move around quite a bit.

Physical Therapy had me walk 120 feet two hours after I awakened from surgery, using a plain metal walker but no other assistance. The following day I had to walk 150 feet twice (total 300 feet). That sounds tough but really it isn't as bad as it sounds. The knee didn't hurt because of pain medication, so stamina was really the only limiting factor. Since I am in the "feeble, sedentary, fat old lady" category they had someone closely following me rolling a chair, in case I suddenly had to sit down. But I didn't.
 
Just a follow-up to the calf pumps -- nurse said recommended, not required. You can get similar ones on Amazon for $60, but I think I will skip them altogether.
 
So just 2 more days, and Im nervous as heck. Also NO nsaids for 6 days now, I can tell a big difference in swelling and pain. So TKR 8AM On Thursday. Every little scratch I get scares me! found one on my ankle put ointment and a bandaid on it. I hope this is NOT what causes infections! Am I paranoid!??? Had my cats claws trimmed a week ago, so not accidental scratch from him. Dont think I will sleep much until after Thursday ...
 
I remember well the last couple of days before my revision-I had kangaroos jumping like crazy! I kept as busy as possible so as to keep my mind occupied, which helped. Before I knew it, I was at the hospital for the surgery, then in recovery in a flash. I'll be thinking of you on Thursday, and will watch for your recovery thread when you're ready to post. Good luck!
 
Every little scratch I get scares me! found one on my ankle put ointment and a bandaid on it. I hope this is NOT what causes infections! Am I paranoid!??? Had my cats claws trimmed a week ago, so not accidental scratch from him. Dont think I will sleep much until after Thursday ...
Thousands of people get little scratches without developing an infection in their knee replacement. The chances of an infection happening are really incredibly small.
 
I understand your jumpy feelings. I too just trimmed my cat's claws to prevent any scratches and I worry about things that might postpone my surgery. Fortunately you're almost there!
 
I understand your jumpy feelings. I too just trimmed my cat's claws to prevent any scratches and I worry about things that might postpone my surgery. Fortunately you're almost there!
You are almost there too! I notice how careless I am when cutting up food, washing dishes, etc. Its like I'm walking on eggshells now LoL LoL !!
 

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