TKR 19 Dec. 2014: santa brings me a new knee

[treypops]

Woke up this morning in tremendous pain. 10 out of 10. I took a perc and iced heavily and seemed to get things under control. I am going to supplement my pain pill with ibuprofen to see if that helps. I have home PT and then a funeral to attend this afternoon.

Question for a mod: why don't I have a TKR label next to my subject title of my recovery thread? Surely I've earned one.......

 

[sandbar525]

@treypops Sorry to hear about the pain level. Please make sure you are taking your pain meds on schedule (even through the night). It's so important to try to keep ahead of the pain. Glad you got out the ice. I pretty much iced continuously my first 3-4 weeks (as well as rested, elevated and medicated on schedule). With both PT and the funeral this afternoon, you will need to be especially kind to yourself for the rest of the day/evening. I wouldn't plan to do anything tomorrow except follow the BoneSmart mantras so you can recover from the activity of today. Please take care!

 

[lunula]

Oh No!!! So sorry about your pain! It is an art and a science getting pain under control, isn't it? Wish I knew the formula! But I sincerely hope it stays in check today.

You can actually tag a mod to get the TKR prefix on your thread - I was able to choose it from a drop-down when I started my recovery thread. Maybe @skigirl can help? Since I am using TapaTalk, I haven't figured out how to see which mods are currently online!


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[treypops]

Day 5....

I had therapy this morning and it went fairly well. I can do most everything she wants me to do, relatively pain free. My quads were very strong to begin with and they are already firing well. I achieved 92 degrees of flexion and my extension is at 8.

You read this stuff but it doesn't really click until you experience it. The key to pain management is truly swelling management. I am now taking one percocet every six hours and supplementing with aleve for breakthru discomfort. I am icing frequently and vigorously, elevating to almost absurd levels, and wearing a ted stocking, and my pain has been acceptable and I seem to be getting plenty of sleep. I had pain this morning due to being late with my medication and my leg falling off its perch during sleep.

I went to my grandmother's funeral today and was surely uncomfortable. Some aleve hopefully helped in minimizing swelling. It was a tough experience to be sure.

my bonesmart buddies, the mantras are really key to success.....rest, ice, elevate. You've gotta do compression too....it really helps with the swelling.

 

[jude2014]

@treypops I was so very sorry to read about the passing of your grandmother, my sympathies and prayers to you and your family.

I am pleased to read of your recovery and I celebrate with you the visit from the poo fairy!!! My knee was behaving perfectly in hospital but my discharge (excuse the pun) was going to be delayed if the fairy had not made an appearance!

Good luck with your progress and I will check in on you again next week. Merry Christmas! :santa gifts:

 

[Holly]

Hiya, you seem to be doing great with your recovery, hopefully you will be home soon and feeling more comfortable. Looking forward to following your recovery. Holly

 

[skigirl]

I agree that rest, icing and elevation are the keys to recovery the first two weeks or so. I think that 1000 mgs of Tylenol (not to exceed 3000 a day) will work better for your pain than ibuprophen---Tylenol is a 'booster" drug it will help the percoset to work better.

I put the prefix on your thread---we overlooked it, but yes, you do deserve it!!!

So sorry about your grandmother, I bet that funeral was tough physically as well as emotionally.

 

[Doing it my way]

@treypops I am so sorry about your grandmother. My sympathies to you and your family. I am sure that was a really long day. Hope today finds you doing well and in comfort.
Dianna

 

[treypops]

Day 6...

didn't do much of anything today but relax, elevate, compress and ice. The little bit of walking I did today was sans walker, including a trip down the driveway to the mailbox. It wouldn't be accurate to say I felt no pain, but compared to the OA pain im used to, this is nothing, and that's very exciting to think about.

so, in summation: six days out, walking unassisted with little pain. The things I do feel (stiffness, tightness, extreme fatigue) are things that I know will improve rapidly.

my leg is starting to bruise and it is just lovely. My daughter finds that particularly alarming. Im not having any issues sleeping at this time, which is a welcome surprise.

I know this an international (and multicultural) forum but I would still like to wish all bonesmarties a safe, healthy, and happy holiday.

 

[Angel1978]

SonnysWife

 

[skigirl]

The bruising is par for the course---your leg has been sawed, hacked, pounded on and metal and plastic parts added----major surgery. The bruising will fade and it sounds like you are doing great. The fatigue helps keep you from doing anything crazy right now. one hour up equals three hours resting right now.

 

[icep707]

Sounds like a very successful first week with the knee. Have you heard of Tramadol ? Its non narcotic but needs a prescription. Its one of the favorites around here along with tylenol, for me celebrex was added with excellant results. Ask your surgeon. The ole energy drain , yeah.. you cant prepare for it. My first solo trip to the bathroom felt like a 15 round fight with Mike Tyson. ill never forget the energy drain and the lack of sleep. As you mentioned you read about it but until you go through it .... Also you must wake up at odd hours to take your meds, around the clock !! Also be aware of over doing it. It gets tricky because you may feel well enough to do more but remember the trauma your knee sustained. Let it heal !! You will have time later to go to gym and train , but heal first. Keep up the great work , Iceman

 

[lunula]

Glad to hear you're still progressing so well. Merry Christmas! [emoji1]


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[treypops]

Day 7 (Christmas day).....

All in all, today wasn't a bad day at all. All of my family came here so I didn't have to get out and travel, but they visited at different times so we were entertaining all day. I spent most of the day sitting in a recliner, although today is also easily the most ive walked on the knee or otherwise exerted energy since my surgery.

Pain was kept under control..no problems there. When the last guest left this afternoon I crashed for about three hours.

@icep707 I havent really heard of that but will ask my doctor. I have my follow up with him monday morning.

I spent several hours this evening on the cpm, set at 100 flex and -5 extension. It was uncomfortable at first but loosened up and felt fine eventually.

I was able to enjoy Christmas with my children, which was one of my biggest fears around the timing of my surgery. That makes me very happy. I hope everyome else similarly had a great holiday. I have in-home PT tomorrow and will let everyone know how it goes.

 

[Angel1978]

Good luck.


SonnysWife

 

[kneeper]

You're doing great. Like you said, keeping up the ice and elevation really helps.

 

[treypops]

Day 8 (wow, the days are really starting to roll by!)....

I had in-home PT today and my therapist is very happy with me. I am lucky in a sense that my doctor is not a huge fan of pushing in therapy, and my therapist is the one that works with my doctor the most (for the last 20 years) so we are doing exercise that makes sense without pushing too hard. Anyway, she is very happy with where we are. She told me today that I am one of the best cases she's worked with. I am already at 5-degree extension (and at zero passively), and I have a comfortable ROM of 95 degrees, but can push beyond 100. I'm able to do all of the exercises, although the knee bends and straight leg lefts are the most difficult.

My therapist massaged the knee and moved around the knee cap today and she said that felt really as good as well. I felt no pain as she did it, which she said was surprising to her as well.

I have been up and walking around in the house all day. I've been sitting in my trusty recliner for most of the day with ice applied. My appetite is totally back. My incision looks really good- no tenderness, no redness, no leaking. My numbness is going away more and more each day. Now, I can actually feel the coldness of ice on the top of my knee - I hadn't been able to do that to this point.

Today was one of those days that I felt so good I wanted to get out and do something, but thanks to bonesmart, I've learned that lesson the easy way. As a result, I will hopefully have a good day tomorrow, too.

I have been sleeping well. Got tons of sleep last night and a really good nap this afternoon. All in all, I'd say I'm doing well, and I haven't had a point yet where I've hated my doctor, or regretted having the surgery. That day may yet come, but for now, it's been a positive adventure. I hope some of the January Jackpots coming up can take some level of confidence from my recovery thus far....things can go well, and I hope they do for everyone.

 

[kaw205]

Hi @treypops ,
I'm scheduled for a ltkr on Jan 20th and hope I do as well as you. What kind of meds are you taking for pain?

 

[Angel1978]

The therapist here in ky does more talking lol. That's why I go to pt on Monday.


SonnysWife

 

[treypops]

@kaw205 Currently I am taking Percocet 4 times a day (11 AM, 5PM, 11 PM, 5 AM) and not missing a dose. If I have any breakthrough pain, I will take a couple of Tylenol. I am also taking coated aspirin - 325 mg - twice daily as a coagulant. That's it...and I'm finding that the Percocet is doing the job pretty well, although I'd love to get off of it altogether, but I'm not going to do anything crazy yet.