TKR 11/11/2014 - my recovery journal

[LaxMom]

The power of suggestion is mighty! I wrote my earlier reply, got extremely tired, and took a 2 hour nap!

 

[tiredwife]

@sandbar525 and @LaxMom what have you two done to me? I never nap! However, this afternoon I napped!

 

[LaxMom]

@tiredwife - I think it is catchy! LOL! Feels good though, right?

 

[tiredwife]

@LaxMom Yes, but now I will be up to 1 am. I am not a napper!

 

[LaxMom]

@tiredwife - I hope you were not up all night. I think part of why I need to nap is because I cannot sleep through the night. At some point, I get too uncomfortable.

 

[tiredwife]

@LaxMom I was up to about 2 am. It wouldn't have been so bad, but the nap was so late in the afternoon!

 

[tiredwife]

@sandbar525 how are you doing? Hope all is good with you!

 

[sandbar525]

Week 5: Well, slow and steady goes the recovery! Really having to call on patience now. ROM is slowly improving, 118/0 so quite pleased. Still dealing with swelling and knee is still warm to the touch (actually gets quite warm after a lot of activity). Pain is still present and am still taking Tramadol/Tylenol every 6 hours with Norco in the evening. Sleep is erratic. Sleeping a lot round the clock but sleeping in bed at night is a little more problematic because knee seems to "act up" more then and it is hard to get comfortable. As you can see, all in all a pretty standard recovery report! I did go out to lunch with my sisters on Saturday. Felt grand to get out but sitting for so long in the restaurant caused some discomfort, even with propping my leg up on another chair (very similar outing review as my knee-twin @LaxMom ). That's about it for this week. Best wishes to my fellow Bonesmarties, be you pre-op or post-op. Hugs all around!

 

[tiredwife]

@sandbar525 Your ROM is great! The pain and stiffness will lessen, it just takes time. Hubby is getting about 6 hours sleep a night, but some of that is because of the overtime he has to get up really early in the morning. By 7 pm he is sleepy. It will get there, sleep and that dull ache above the knee seems to be the things that take the longest to get back to normal.

 

[Legin]

Points to bald head

 

[sandbar525]

@tiredwife You're exactly right about the location of the main pain...it is the area just above and to the outside of the knee that is giving me the most pain. That is also where the most swelling occurs. Guess patience is the only answer for that. @Legin ...it does look rather like a bald head!

 

[tiredwife]

@sandbar525 Hubby didn't have very much swelling. He was lucky.

 

[Legin]

What

 

[tiredwife]

@Legin you pointed at your bald head above.

 

[Legin]

Did i oh must be magmetic north

 

[hbacres]

@sandbar525 That area you described on your knee is pretty sore for me too.. it is one of the areas that I massage a lot... there and the top portion of my scar, where it is over my quad. I think the area on the outside, top right is the IT band which has always been a trouble spot for me.. you might try massaging it to try to get it to loosen up a bit... just an idea.

 

[sandbar525]

@hbacres Thanks. I do try to massage that area to soften it up and it works for a while but then it is back to being hard like a baseball (but the size of a softball). I guess we will just have to wait it out. The knee will heal on it's own timetable!

 

[Legin]

At least its not size of.baseball bat

Legin THR Sep 14

 

[Minnie's knees]

@sandbar525 good 5 week report. Great ROM and the rest seems to be typical for most of us. Sleep when you can. You are still early in your recovery. Patience is the hardest part of the TKR recovery.

 

[RedRider]

Hi @sandbar525, glad to see you're doing well.

I had to shift into patience mode myself after a couple weeks of marked improvement. Things have slowed down now and the healing process is back to its regular pace. Like you, swelling is a challenge and the heat my knee gives off could warm my living room .