TKR 09-11 Cheerbubble Thread

[beachy]

I have to agree with you about the eyes. I had major surgery in 2006 and I was blinded for a minute or so while recovering. I assumed it was the drugs. Thankfully, it was one time only.

This time with my tkr my vision is worse than before tkr. In 8 weeks my vision has worsened. And I noticed it early on. I have an eye appt on Dec 26. It may be coincidence or it could be the cataracts have "ripened".
My prescription reading glasses are fuzzy now.
I'll be curious to see what your eye doc says. Mine too!

 

[sistersinhim]

Mine eyesight worsened, too. I'm wondering if something about this surgery makes cataracts worse than they were before.

 

[Celle]

There's nothing about the surgery that would make cataracts, or eyesight, get worse.

 

[Jockette]

I don’t think it was cataracts that were affected in my case, but my vision definitely changed drastically over night and so did Shanari’s. Both of our reading vision got worse and my distance got clearer. Overnight, the day of surgery. I don’t think it was a coincidence, but no one had an answer, not that they looked very hard.

 

[Motherbone]

@Shanari That PT routine right after surgery sounds insane. I thought mine was a little aggressive, but your account takes first place in the PTHOS (PT Hall of Shame). I wonder what would have happened if you had fallen down those stairs. I can't wait to hear what your surgeon says when you describe what PT did with and to you.

@sistersinhim I really believe these surgeons have little to no idea of what PT is doing with the patients they send them. I am going to be sure to talk to mine about it when I see him in two weeks.

A head-smacking experience for sure!

 

[Shanari]

I don't have cataracts, I have had 20/15 vision in both eyes for about 12 years now post Lasek surgery. I finally, at age 55, started to need cheaters (reading glasses) when I read something that was low contrast or in low light, and they were very minimally corrective. +0.50 I believe.
What happened to me with my left (first) TKR was that my glasses which I used to sign paperwork upon admission to the hospital 'worked' the morning of admission, and that afternoon, when I was awake and with it enough to want to read a newspaper (they still exist out here in Nebraska), they were not helpful at all. Useless! I had to borrow my husband's which were +2.25 and those worked pretty well.
I have read about opioids affecting vision and the ability for the fine musculature in the eye to focus -- so while taking Dilaudid during early recovery, that made sense to me. I got off the dilaudid around week 5 or 6 post surgery, and waited for my eyes to improve/go back to their normal...never happened.
Going in for my 2nd TKR (right knee) last Friday, I was still using hubby's cheaters. Guess what? now they don't work. I have some +3.0 lenses that I bought for when I was making very intricate jewelry and artwork because they were easier to wear than to use the magnifying lens that many artists use, and the powerful lenses work pretty well - however even with my laptop in my lap as it is right now, I need to put on those glasses or crank my font size up to the point it destroys the page formatting.
No, @Celle, I don't think the knee bone is connected to the eye bone... but I *do* think something is affecting my vision that has happened related to surgery. Perhaps it's meds, perhaps it's stress upon the body, perhaps it's the wildest coincidence in the world. But in the intervening time since 1st TKR, I've asked around casually here where I live if other women experienced the same or similar degradation in their eyesight and got about a 40% positive response rate. Even a few people here on the forum have noticed a similar 'coincidence'. My field of work is in science and everything is connected, I just don't know how yet. It's been an interesting experience all the way through, though, and it's nice to know I'm not all alone, hallucinating vision changes.

 

[Shanari]

PS - you don't know me so I hope you read the above response as me being amused by life, not being argumentative or smart-assity, @Celle. I'm really not like that! I just wanted to explain where I was coming from. I'm just an easy-going fat old grammy who is wondering WTH happened with her eyes...

 

[Shanari]

Oh! I get my staples out tomorrow and I'm so glad - they are pinchy and somewhat painful this time. Feels like they are pulling. I'm also interested to see my scar, because the Mepilex bandage covering it is in a big bent C shape this time - the left leg is straight up and down. Interesting!!

 

[Celle]

I'm not bothered at all by what you wrote, @Shanari .

While there is no logical reason why your eyesight should have been affected, our bodies are complicated things and sometimes strange things happen with them.

I can't offer any explanation, but i don't doubt what happened to you.

 

[beachy]

@Celle .
I don't think the surgery made the cataracts worse either. I think it may be a coincidence that the cataracts may have gotten worse since the surgery.

 

[Jockette]

Shanari, I forgot that you took Dilaudid, so did I.

 

[SusieShoes]

I’ve heard the eye complaint often enough to wonder what might cause it, even though I never suffered any issue myself and know there’s no predictable connection. Our bodies are indeed complicated, especially so when medicines are involved. Mr. Shoes had vision problems when taking a medicine to prevent kidney stones; he stopped the med and his vision returned to normal.

Now I’m curious about your incision, too! And good riddance to those punchy staples.

 

[sistersinhim]

You will feel so much better when those staples are out!

 

[indieknee]

This is very interesting - i also had change in vision - I have recently been to my optician and had to have a stronger reading perscription. I felt my general vision had changed - I put it down to the pain meds. The only different thing he found was that my left eye was very slightly turning inwards. I can’t think that has anything to do with my TKR. I will be seeing my eye doc soon and i will ask him about things.

Take care - you’ll be glad to get rid of those staples.

 

[Shanari]

Good visit with the doc, I ratted out the PT they did to me the day after surgery and *someone* is getting a butt-chewing, that was not supposed to happen. Dr. apologized that they did that to me, I explained that I was vulnerable on my pain meds and not able to advocate for myself as well as I would normally have been able to.
Here is this scar, it's covered with glue and steri strips but I can see that it is curved. Feels SO much better than before with the pinchy metal pieces in there. Please ignore the thunder thighs - it is swollen, but mostly that's just me. Thick thighs save lives™ This incision is about 11" long, the one on the left leg was about 13" long but has shrunk some. This will shrink too. Not like I was wearing a lot of mini skirts... lol

 

[Shanari]

PS - just did a cursory Google search on Dilaudid and vision changes, it lists blurriness, double vision and dry eyes as relatively uncommon side effects that are 'transient'. Mine haven't been transient, but the search makes me think it's maybe not all that uncommon, either. Eye issues came up in every one of the top 7 links I looked at.

 

[traceys]

Same with my eyes! So upset about it as I had a pile of my photography books and mags to read and some client photos to go thru and cull and there are times I can’t make out a single word!

I mentioned it to my OS and he said he heard it a lot. He thinks it’s a combo of med side effects, reading /texting/screen time more than normal as I’m not doing other things and general fatigue due to fitful sleep. Made sense.

 

[Jockette]

I’m 21 months post op and my vision change with surgery never got better.

 

[Teecup]

Has anyone else had to exercise the day after surgery?

Yes, that's the norm with my OS and PT and why I backed off aggressive therapy on week 5 of my second knee. Didn't help me recover from my first 11 weeks earlier, why should it work for my second?

Walking in the pool worked best for me. My knees rebel against early, aggressive therapy. I talked to a lady in the pool yesterday that was a proponent of that and it somehow worked for her, but that's not what worked for me and many other Bonesmarties. Gotta do what works best for you.

 

[Shanari]

Well, I'm off the bigger drugs and very able to say "NO" or Hell NO now...lol. The way my last knee worked with PT was regular but gentle, and I liked it. It made me feel better but there was not a crazy focus on ROM.