Become an Insider

10 Days Post Op.....so far, so good

Status
Not open for further replies.
Day 8 - yesterday was not a good day but I adjusted my meds (basically increased them from where I had cut them) and got my first decent nights sleep. I woke up a lot but always able to go right back to sleep and best of all, no vivid bad dreams. I ditched this wedge pillow I was using in the recliner and just raised the recliner all the way up and leaned it all the way back.

PT this morning so I will update with my progress from PT. Hoping for a better day than the last 2
 
So glad you got some rest, I feel it's critical for healing. I've decided to start out on the sofa after surgery, just to keep my Saint Bernard from jumping up on the bed while I'm recovering.
 
PT was good this morning. They didn't even measure my ROM but did work with my flexion. I'm right at 90 degrees, five or take a couple of degrees. They said that regardless of where I am, they don't want me going past 90 degrees until the staples come out. Did some leg raises and didn't feel any pain. (These were incredibly painful when I tried them on Sat so I didn't do them Sat and have not tried again until today) Did a few mini squats and a few very low step ups. No pain with any of this. We'll see how I feel later. I will let my swelling/pain levels guide my rehab. I'm not going to do anything that's painful at the time and if something causes swelling/pain/loss of ROM later then I will back off.

They changed my bandage, so I got a look at the incision. Looks pretty good.

[Bonesmart.org] 10 Days Post Op.....so far, so good
 
Good to hear that your adjustments in meds may be helping you be more comfortable during the day and sleep at night. That's what we hope for when we suggest a set schedule with a prescribed dose each time. Your body has the medication it needs available at all times. Your incision looks great too!
 
Glad you're more comfortable. An afternoon crash and need to lie down was normal for me even with good pain control.
 
kneeper said:
Glad you're more comfortable. An afternoon crash and need to lie down was normal for me even with good pain control.
Click to expand...

I've been having afternoon crashes but haven't been able to nap. Today I got a glorious [emoji42]
 
MBrown, just checked in to see your story since this time I'm the wakeful one! I kept a written journal, too, but also one here. It's likely I'll need the right knee done in a year or so I suspect, so I wanted the chance to review what happened later too. Since I'm normally pretty organized, I figure a paper record might be accessible later whereas an online one might vanish if I forgot my password or something like that? So, I copied my notes here too, fir saving manually... my paper records are very precise too, just in case...
 
@mbrown

It sounds to my inexpert ears that you are doing great! I can empathize with the sleep though! I've been an insomniac since my early teens and the only thing that has worked consistently was Ambien. I don't take it any longer though. I take hydroxyzine, Tylenol pm, sometimes Trazadone, and Pecocet. Not all at once, but some variation. In my early recovery, I would have very vivid dreams and I would wake with a start. They've diminished for the most part now.

Anyway, keep in keepin' on! It sounds like you have a great attitude and are very realistic about your recovery. :)

Jen
 
@ACDCJen you obviously missed me telling UACats that I told my wife on day 4 that I saw no reason why I couldn't be back at work in 2 weeks. [emoji51]
 
Day 8 - PM update- with the last surgery I had (probably 18 months ago) had a lot of swelling. The swelling resulted in some nerves getting impinged which resulted in the most pain I've ever felt and my left quad to quit firing for about 2 months (5.5cm lost in muscle). Ended up trying Lyrica, 2 Predisone packs but didn't get it resolved until I got 3 epidural nerve blocks in about 30 days.

Well, the last few days have been "ok"......haven't lost any ROM but everything just felt a little harder. Felt like the quad wasn't firing like it was a few days ago. And then I felt the nerve pain start to rear its ugly head. Nowhere near the intensity of last time, but the same pain coming from the same places.

Long story shorter......first idea was to go get another epidural nerve block but discovered that I can't do that until I am off of the blood thinners. So, doc prescribed a Predisone dose pack and a muscle relaxer called Tizanidine (Zanaflex). Muscle relaxers have never seemed to help me much but this one completely knocked me out for about 2 hours and completely knocked out the nerve pain. Praying that this and the predisone will ramp down the nerve pain that I could feel coming on.

Also felt like the quad was firing again, unlike the last few days when I've not been able to put a lot of weight on it.
 
Nerve pain has got to be the worst. I remember all the years of my dad with diabetic nerve pain. Glad the meds are working.
 
Anyone else had experience with Tizanidine (zanaflex) that I mentioned above? Woke up this morning and still feel really good. I'm really pleasantly surprised that one muscle relaxer and one day of a 6 day steroid dose pack would knock out the nerve pain so quickly. Hoping it will continue to keep it tamped down. I literally went from the worst I've felt since the surgery to the best I've felt since the surgery in about 2 hours. Went from putting almost all of my weight on the walker to barely needing the walker. Tells me that the pain I've had for the last several days is more nerve and less TKR

I'm thrilled that it's better but also a little concerned because I thought this was going to be resolved with the TKR. The joint was trashed, so it was definitely coming but still frustrating because nobody has really been able to pinpoint the cause of the nerve pain and it's still there. Just logically thinking, something is getting impinged as a result of the swelling.

Any thoughts or ideas?
 
I think it's the steroids. When I've taken steroids I feel no pain whatsoever, even when I was given them for a skin rash, my joints never felt better. Just be careful because you may feel the result of overdoing it when you're done with the 6 day pack.
 
That makes sense and I don't necessarily disagree but I didn't start the dose pack until about 5:00, so I took 3 cortisone tablets. Then about an hour later I took the muscle relaxer. It made me feel like I was attached to my bed but before it knocked me out I could feel everything in my knee loosen. The top of my knee had felt like it was being pulled in and I could feel it all loosen. And when I woke up a couple of hours later, everything was working again.

It felt like the muscle relaxer caused it all. I'm not sure 3 pills into a 6 day dose pack would have that much of an effect that fast
 
I'm sure the muscle relaxer zonked you out. They can have that effect, so maybe it was the combo of the two. I know I could walk for miles on steroids and not feel any pain.
 
Actually the steroids can work that fast. It's a normal reaction for someone taking a run of steroids to feel fabulous while under their effect. Be prepared for that to change when you're off them, though. They are a really powerful medication and not something you want to take a lot of. But while you're on them, you can feel exactly as you are feeling.
 
@Jamie hopefully they will knock the swelling down either in my back or knee that was causing the nerve pain. I think the pain I was feeling a few days ago was 80/20 nerve pain/TKR pain. My pain was very manageable before that started to kick in. Today was my best day yet. Tried not to overdo it but walked around just a little bit with no walker. I have therapy in the am so I will make sure and not overdo it there.
 
Sounds like a great plan.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Active Antimicrobial Hydrogel

Members online

Total: 2,485 (members: 1, guests: 2,484)

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom