TKR 2nd knee done 10 weeks after first knee totally different

jth6578

junior member
Joined
Jun 13, 2022
Messages
90
Age
45
Country
United States United States
Gender
Female
I had my left knee replacement done a week ago today and 11 weeks ago I had my right knee done.
My right knee done August 29th the pain was awful and I had to go to rehab for about 10 days before they allowed me to go home.
I had my left knee done
November 7th 10 weeks apart. This time I took my pain pills and waited for them to kick in before going to the bathroom and was able to walk to the commode they put on the middle of the room. I even took couple extra steps before heading back to bed. After another nap I went to the bathroom the nurse had me walk to the bathroom this time. Was able to do with little pain. Everyone was shocked because of the pain I was in last time.
I stayed two nights in the hospital and was able to go home. My best friend picked me up from the hospital and my physical therapist was going meet me at my house to help and watch me go upstairs but he couldn’t make it so my bestie decided I should stay the night. Since she had my dog because she watch her until I can make a couple trips a day up and downstairs. I didn’t mind going to see my dog. The next I went home and my physical therapist watched me walk beautifully up stairs.
My doctor ordered me dynasplint for my left knee but my extension on left knee is great. The dynasplint has been helping my right knee great to I went from 20 to 10 in the 3 weeks of wearing it.
After surgery my extension for my left was 15 by Thursday it was at 5. My end was at 90 by Thursday 11/10 my left was at 103.
My right knee numbers were no where near that after that surgery. My current numbers for my right knee is extension is 8 my bend is at 120.
The definitely weren’t lying when they said no knee is the same. I told my doctor I was glad to had the harder first because I would beaten myself thinking what I did wrong this time of the first one was harder and this one was easy.
Thanks for listening if you read it all. More later.
 
Welcome back to recovery! I’m glad things are going so well.

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.

Just keep in mind all people are different, as are the approaches to this recovery and rehab. The key is, “Find what works for you.“ Your doctors, PTs and BoneSmart are available to help, but you are the final judge as to the recovery approach you choose.

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
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​
If you want to use something to help heal the incision,
BoneSmart recommends hypochlorous solution. Members in the US can purchase ACTIVE Antimicrobial Hydrogel through BoneSmart at a discount. Similar products should be available in the UK and other countries.​

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.
 
Welcome back! It's good to hear that this new knee is behaving much better than the old one did. Being prepared for the worse and not having that is a real blessing!
 
Whatever you do, try not and compare knees, I did the mistake of this in the early months reading back and checking every stage I was at ( 2 year's apart ) all it did was upset me, as my right knee which was operated last December did not heal as fast as my left, maybe I was too impatient, once I relaxed and let my right knee heal at its own pace and its still a working process ( I still have not mastered the stairs normally) the knee itself healed well, I have no pain whatsoever in either knee now and happily flat walking 90 minutes or more daily without even a twinge.
 
Yep, I had both knees done this year too, and completely different experiences. My right on March 30 was great--went home the next day, used a walker for a few days and was back doing my little part-time home health job by week 3. Only downside was that my left knee decided to start bothering me more and I figured since my deductible and out of pocket was met, I might as well do it. Did the left knee on August 31--OUCH!! Two nights in the hospital, nerve block never seemed to kick in and took 24 hours for anything to even start to touch the pain. Needed handles put around the toilet, used the walker a lot more. Fortunately now after 11 weeks, the two knees are starting to feel about the same--stiff, but not really painful.
 
Day 8: My Physical Therapist put me on schedule plan to get up so my exercises so my pain pills are kicked in and I can control swelling. She gave it to me yesterday but it was busy day with PT and my friend came over to hang outside the bathroom door in case I needed her.
Was going to start it today but my friend who watching my dog started drama and I ended getting my dog back so I couldn’t elevate my leg or exercises because I was dealing with her. I think in the long run we are getting snow didn’t want to walk in the snow but got pretty heated argument and stressful so I know that wasn’t good for my knee so soon as I could I ate and elevated my knee before I feed my dog her dinner and brought her out. It will probably be late night since I have homework to work on. Tomorrow i have PT going to do my schedule working figure where to schedule taking the dog out . Luckily the dog walker is coming in the morning so I should be able to feed her right before he comes. PT isn’t until 1 pm. I have phone calls to make in the morning. Tomorrow is new day. Only answering calls that need to answered tomorrow.
 
Day 10:yesterday I had PT he was concerned about my knee swelling considering the drama I was dealing with he understood. Since I had to go out today he had me rest my knee best I could yesterday other than getting up to take the dog out and get food And change ice.
Today I went out to take to Petco Clinic to get my dog rabies shot. I work there so it was good to see my coworkers and my boss. The good news my dog is acting better than before when was at my friend’s house. The vet at the clinic said it could be that she gets depressed when she away from to long because the last year have been really hard on both of us. I was away from her for 5 month in that time I lost my Mom so she is extremely attached to me now. I am hoping to take her to the vet in the next couple week.
I did pretTy good walking around and my knee didn’t hurt to bad and I was able to get the swelling down enough to wear jeans and wear my sneakers. Yesterday I wouldn’t been able to do that. i iced my knee soon as I got home. Swelling is getting under controlled. Tomorrow I have PT.
 
I’m so sorry about your mom. :console2:

I‘m glad you got out and about and you’re handling your dog ok. She will help you get “natural PT” which, I’m my opinion, is the best kind, in the early months. Icing and elevating when you got home was the best thing to do. I’m sure it was nice to see your coworkers.
 
Stopping by to say :hi: and wish you a Happy Three Month Anniversary in regard to, Righty.
I see you are a little over three weeks post op from your Left TKR. I hope you're feeling stronger and steadier on your feet month by month.
I am sorry its been a rough year for you and your furry friend. Hopefully the memories of your precious mom bring a smile. :console2:
May your holiday season be all you want it to be!
@jth6578
 
:wave: Happy One Month Anniversary! It's been a month now since your LeftTKR. How are you doing?
We'd love to hear from you and hope your two new knees are beginning to work in unison and you're slowly getting back to all you love. Please share your progress as time allows and until then...All the best!
@jth6578
 
I went and saw to my postop appointment yesterday. My doctor is totally thrilled with my extension and flex for both knees. My left at 4 weeks is at 120 flex and 5 extension. My right knee 14 weeks out is 125 flex and 3 extension. My left knee has been lot easier this time than my right. I don’t back to see my OS until March but he said I can probably go back to work in 4-6 weeks. He said to call when I am ready and he will write a note for me with ever accommodations I need. I figured I can talk to my physical therapist to figure when I should go back.
I went to my back doctor to see how he wanted to see how my back was after the surgeries. He want to see my in month before I go back to work to help evaluate where I am for going back to work. So I see him January 4th. I figured I could possibly go back to work part time before my medical leave money runs out. My sleep schedule is so off I can’t to back to work.
Yesterday would of been my Mom’s birthday so one of my best friends and one of my other friend’s daughter went out to dinner and we came back to my apartment and had cake and my best friend paid for pedicures after we went back to my apartment and played Uno. I live on the second floor so it was a lot up and down stairs yesterday but I didn’t care until I laid down last night. My knee was killing me but it was okay by morning. My feet felt great. It was good day.
Tomorrow I start outpatient PT I am excited.
 
Wow, for only a month out you are doing really well. You might need to take a couple of days off to rest up from yesterday to keep your knee and body happy. I found if I took breaks for a few days in between active days that I did a whole lot better.
 
Sistersinhim I had my first outpatient PT today but I plan on relaxing tomorrow since I have nothing planned tomorrow.
 
That's a good idea. You might have some added pain and swelling from the PT you had today. If so, then your knee isn't ready for what you did and you need to slow it down some until it is healed enough to do it. Right now all it needs are gentle movements, ice and elevation.
 
I think I did a lot this week so by the time I had PT it was going sore either way. Tuesday was a lot and then I had doctor appointment in the morning plus I have a dog so I had to go up and down stairs at least twice on top of going up and down for my appointment. I didn’t have a day to relax until Friday.
After PT my friend came over in the evening and we played games at the kitchen table and I made dinner. So it has been busy week. My knee is finally feeling better last night and today.
When I laid down Thursday night my knee was throbbing so I made sure I iced it.
Tomorrow we are expecting snow so it will make fun taking the dog out.
Because of my back surgeries I have been walking with walker for two years now. My PT thinks it will take a while to walk with a cane and walk without anything.
My hips and lower back are weak so she is making them stronger along with my knees. I am working hard to at least walk with cane.
Another week and I should be able to go to the pool. My friend wants to join the y with me so we can use the pool. My PT thinks it will help with my confidence if I can walk in the water.
 
Another week and I should be able to go to the pool. My friend wants to join the y with me so we can use the pool. My PT thinks it will help with my confidence if I can walk in the water.
Be very, very careful walking in water. The water resistance is like using weights and it is easy to overdo. I found that out the hard way. I was about 10 weeks out when I went to the Y and walked to the lap swim, did one lap, and walked back out of the pool. It set me back with pain and swelling for at least 2 weeks. I waited a month after that and tried it again and it was OK. So, I suggest you start it very slowly the first time and see how your knee reacts.
 
I also had a bad experience with pool “therapy” at 4 weeks post op. My PT had me in the pool for 50 minutes, doing countless bending exercises, and walking forwards, sidewards and backwards. My balance was still off from the surgery and there were many people in the pool, so the water had a lot of movement. I was so scared. :yikes: I will never do that again. It took a long time to recover from.
 
The first couple times we probably going to go for free swim to see how I do. We probably won’t stay very long. I just want to see if I can walk without hold on to anything since I have been walking with a walker for 2 years now.
 
The first couple times we probably going to go for free swim to see how I do.
I hope this is the case for you.

The experience I described above was my first, and last ever, pool PT. I didn’t know any better and struggled to keep up with most of it. I now know it was an extremely aggressive session and I was way too early in recovery for it.
 
My friend is going with me. When I am ready we are going try a class but she is happy with just going to free swim to see how I am doing
 

BoneSmart #1 Best Blog

Staff online

  • Jaycey
    ADMINISTRATOR Staff member since February 2011

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
65,167
Messages
1,596,864
BoneSmarties
39,356
Latest member
JanieMarie
Recent bookmarks
0
Back
Top Bottom