TKR 2nd knee, 2nd recovery

[Carol Anna]

@Sara61 i am sorry you are feeling so badly and having several things contributing to it. Even though my limp has improved, I am still dealing with hip and low back pain and I am 4 months out. I am thankful that I can usually sleep pretty good but I do make a few changes in position thru the night.


Just found out that my son also has Covid and this is second time for him. His sweet babies have had terrible colds with coughing and they could have Covid too.
Those of you that pray, will you keep my family in your prayers. I suspect there will be more of us that get Covid.
Have a great day!

Will certainly keep your family in my prayers. God Bless - Carol xxx

 

[Sara61]

Back from a very gentle PT session, had hoped for the cpm machine but amazingly my knee is too advanced for it. My ROM immediately measured at 125 so today's session was just sitting at an electric peddler which basically did most of the work for 20 minutes and only the last 7 minutes I had to peddler solo. It was quite relaxing. I'm to continue to use the two crutches for the time being as my walk is a bit wonky. For my homework, he has asked that I concentrate on walking lifting the knee slightly as I do it and to sit on a chair and do heel slides and gentle leg raises nothing more, I'm to go back on Thursday. ( Twice weekly) the knee I must admit felt less stuck afterwards, I'm now back home with a large bag of and treating myself to a well earned mince pie with a blob of Brandy Butter, feeling a bit more confident than the last couple of days, hopefully I don't pay the price later - although still finding it stiff, I assume this is the swelling as the bend doesn't come easy xx

 

[Susie-Q]

125 so soon, I do love the gentle PT you have there. So different from our maniacs over here in the US.

mince pie with a blob of Brandy Butter

This sounds delicious! I finished all the episodes of The British Baking Show/Bake Off so I now know what a mince pie is. Yum!!!

 

[Sara61]

Ouch. Thinking it might be a good idea to try taking Tramadol maybe just at night, as Paracetamol isn't quite taking the edge of the pain and no matter how hard I try - I can't find a pain free position I feel its gonna a be a very very long night PT felt so good at the time and no pain whilst I was there, it only waited till I got home and decided to try have a relaxing evening not!

As swelling is quite intense, I'm wearing my compression stocking on the operated leg to sleep tonight as I feel its helping.

I saw the doctor today whilst at PT and he said for me not to compare my two knees as the right knee has been the supportive knee for the last 2 years and required extensive surgery hence the recovery is going to be different ( despite, my thinking that the right knee was stronger prior to surgery this made no difference at all ) plus the fact that two years ago I had no issues with the Tramadol which helped enormously with the pain relief and recovery.
Wishing you all a pain free day / night xxx

 

[Jockette]

Stiffness/Tightness is a normal occurrence after this kind of major surgery. Your surgeon did major carpentry work and disturbed every millimeter of soft tissue in this area. You aren't tight because your muscle is underused and needs to be stretched and rehabbed. You're tight because your tissue is healing...and full healing takes a full year or more.

 

[Sara61]

@Jockette I know ... and I keep trying to remind myself of this fact, one tends to forget how painful a recovery is & how long it takes, my left knee is still healing & its already at 2 years - sadly patience for myself, isn't one of my virtues, all I'm thankful for right now is that we only have two knees

 

[Sks1997]

@Sara61 Even taking one tramadol, I would use whatever you are using for your bowels!
You don’t need that aggravation!

 

[Starsfan22]

Sounds like you are right where you should be at three weeks. Every week in my case has shown improvement, hope you expierence constant improvement. You are lucky the PT is gentle although 20 minutes of constant movement seems too much to me. Maybe 10 minutes? Sleep has been so much better for me this time around, knock on wood. Funny you should say your thankful we have only two knees. I said that too then had to have two more surgeries! We never know huh?

 

[Sara61]

@Sks1997 Not sure which is the lesser of two evils, one thing I'm certain of my knee ain't happy tonight, took a sos pill at 11pm and it still hasn't kicked in,
( now 02:23 am ) tried sleeping on my back, my side & nothing, so just going to stop fighting and hope day light comes quickly defo think this knee needs more time than the other, in a hour or so I can safely take another painkiller, till then I will try and keep my mind busy.

@Starsfan22 I Totally agree with you, 20 minutes for my 1st session was way too much, I'm actually surprised looking back that he did that, as tonight everything is screaming at me, knee, thigh & hip on Thursday I will make sure this won't happen again.

 

[Jockette]

Upon asking if I could start PT, he answered whatever for, your knee will heal fine on its own, no PT is needed, your day to day activities is all it needs but if you insist no problem

I think I would listen to your doctor, who said you don’t need formal PT. Your ROM is already amazing. Why deal with trial and error of PT and all this extra pain? It isn’t going to speed up your recovery, quite the opposite.

I would have given anything to have a doctor like yours, when I was in recovery. They are very few and far between. I hope if I do this again, I’ll have one that will agree with my not going to formal PT. Not that I need their approval, because I don’t plan to go anyway, but it will make life easier for me if they do.

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

@Sara61 , hopefully at this stage of the night you are finally getting some sleep- 20 minutes PT on a ‘baby‘ knee?? You are trying to run before you can walk and I get it, you know how it’s supposed to heal and really just want to give it a push in the right direction.
Slow down, learn from me when I tried to rush things and just ended up with a setback or when I tried to speed up a little bit with my walking and broke my toe……we are both card carrying members of the ODIC ! We should know better
Tonight is just a reminder from your knee to really really slow down. You need to cuddle up with Mali and ice, rest, medicate and elevate. Carlos has everything else under control, you job is to take the time to heal your ’baby’ knee. Remember we are always here when you need to just vent!

 

[patriciad]

@Sara61 - it’s so horrible lying awake in discomfort, desperate to sleep but just can’t and I am sorry you are experiencing this. Your Rom is excellent as mine was before my first outpatient PT. I had a setback that took me 3 weeks to recover from and I never returned on the advice of my OS when he brought me in for a check after the aggressive PT session. I’ve done really well without PT on this 2nd knee. Take it very easy and baby the knee for a few days. Are you taking Tramadol plus Tylenol (Paracetamol) together? I found that the best combination to manage my pain. I also used the Tylenol pm if I had a few nights of not sleeping. You’ve done this before and so at least you do know what the positive end result of recovery looks like. Keep thinking of that and you’ll be there before you know it. Sending wishes for a better night and day tomorrow.

 

[Sara61]

@Eire1 Unfortunately very little sleep I eventually resorted and took another painkiller at about 3:30 am but it too did little. For some reason with this replacement I'm being my own worst enemy, I know aggressive PT ( not that it seemed aggressive at the time) is counterproductive, but I suppose I just needed to wake up & learn from my own mistakes and remember not to compare the two knees but it was a high price to pay, pain level was on a steady 8/9 all night, so much so I spent half the night scouring the Internet trying to find a fast fix. As I have been lying on my back these last 3 weeks my heel is sore, elevation is not agreeing with this knee so I need to try and find a happy position in bed as sleep is so important.
But today is another day and albeit feeling a tad low. ( lack of sleep) I know this too shall pass, as you said I need to stop trying to run before I can walk x

Part of me wants myself to push ahead, so that I can reclaim my space, as my husband will only take his Mother back to her home once I'm able to withstand the 7 hour car journey to the North, till then I'm pretty much stuck with her and it ain't easy, I fully understand now why her daughter had, had enough, and although I do not agree with her actions I can sympathise, but at 84 yrs she isn't going to change her ways, best solution for all of us is private home assistance.

Anyway a better day to all of us in the ODIC xx

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

@Sara61 , it breaks my heart to see how much pain you had and the exhaustion you have to be feeling right now, I am sending a big long virtual hug.
Now for some honest talk- you are probably pushing yourself so hard so you can handle the 7 hour journey to return your MIL to her home. This isn’t going to happen for a while as you still need to recover- instead I would suggest you stay at home while your husband takes her back- have someone stay with you during that time. You just can’t handle it at the moment.
Having someone in your home while you are recovering isn’t easy, it also makes it hard on Carlos as instead of just concentrating on helping you to heal, he also has to care for his mother who I am sure has her own way of doing things and her own routine.
You are so stressed by everything at the moment that even small things seem huge. Regarding your heel is it on the pillow or off the pillow when you elevate your leg? Some people find it easier to elevate the leg with the heel not supported by the pillow, you just have it barely off the pillow. Make sure you are supporting the leg nearly from the hip, that way there is less pressure on your heel. I always went for elevation that went from nearly my hip down the entire leg with the heel almost off the pillows, it worked for me, it might work for you.
Another big virtual hug and I hope today will be a better day for you.
You can tell me to mind my own business, I won’t get offended!

 

[Sara61]

@Eire1 Thanks for the uplifting pep talk, and yes, you've hit the nail on the head so to speak, it is stressful having her here, then If I complain I'm the big bad wolf. Tiredness, irritability and pain make an awful cocktail of emotions, I'm usually a nice person and very tolerant, but at the moment it just seems to exhausting and overwhelming.
Better days ahead and a big hug to you for caring it means an awful lot to me - Thank you xxx

 

[patriciad]

@Eire1 suggestion of elevating and supporting your leg from the hip down is excellent. I used to have two pillows sort of cradle the whole leg and they also helped with the drag of the ice machine hose. Stress is not helpful for recovery and sounds like your MIL situation has become very stressful and coupled with lack of sleep its natural you would feel down and overwhelmed.
If she can’t return until you are fit enough to do the car journey to accompany her back you will be in a sorry state. I feel for you. Are you able to catch up on sleep by napping through the day? Rest is rest. At an 8/9 all night you need more pain relief but I appreciate that could be a challenge to obtain.
Maybe one of our moderators could suggest something to help? So sorry you are having a rough time of it.

 

[DEL2022Jan-23]

@Sara61 It is clear to people who are currently going through what you are going through that the situation is not ideal and in fact debilitating to your recovery. You aren’t trying to be the big bad wolf, you are trying to heal. Talk to him when you are at your least emotional ( I turn into a big blubber ball during important conversations) Explain how difficult it is for both of you currently and together come up with a solution that works for you both.
Of course I care- who else understands my lunacy?
Tell Mali I said hi!

 

[2chains]

@Sara61 have you tried the trick where they wrap the leg in cling wrap? It is supposed to help with night pain. I believe there is a link on the forum to the youtube video but of course I can't find it.

Also was wondering what a SOS pill is?

 

[Sara61]

@2chains I use a compression stockings on my leg- this gives the same effect as the saran wrap- the SOS pill is basically, a pill I've been given for emergencies but its pretty useless, it's just another type of tylenol. Tomorrow I will re-discuss my medication with my doctors as being in pain is counterproductive x

 

[Susie-Q]

I'm so sorry you are dealing with all of this.....I'm not going to tell you about what you should do, you already know, plus everyone else has given great advice. Sending positive thoughts. I agree with your MIL adding to your stress, sadly.....