Revision TKR 3 years out - Injury?worked

[LFitz]

Sorry the pain got ahead of you and really hoping with them keeping you in one more night, that it helps get your pain under control and keeps its that way. When I came home from the hospital I set my phone alarm for every dose so I didn't miss any. Just a suggestion. Good luck with your recovery.

 

[Suz]

Hi and welcome to the recovery side of your brand new knee! I'm 6wks into my recovery and what really, really got me through those first few weeks is what our bonesmart nurse Josephine told you;

It won't if you don't let it! Keep on top of the pain meds, rest, elevating and icing and above all, don't do any exercises for at least 3 weeks! Also, IF you do them, there is no need to do them more than once a day.

I don't know how I would have survived those first two weeks without doing the above. A few times I let my pain get ahead of me and it was awful. After that I got smart and also set my cell phone up to alarm every 6hrs for my meds- even through the night. I took them whether I needed them or not. And I kept ice packs on my knee 24/7. Every time I went to the bathroom I came back to the recliner with a new ice pad. I couldn't believe how the ice calmed my pain.

Anyway, spend as much time as you can here with us at bonesmart. Post as often as you feel up to it. This is the place you can vent and be understood. The wonderful members of bonesmart will be here for you whether you're feeling up or feeling down!

 

[uva55]

I think it will be to your benefit to get the pain under control before you go home and find out the best way to control it once you are home...sleep is a challenge, visitors during the day and constant nurses checking in on me during night, why is there a need to draw blood at 3:00 a.m.?

I hope I'm still going home today by noon!

 

[Tabbycat]

Welcome to recovery and congrats on the new knee. I hope you will start feeling better soon and have a smooth recovery.
Love, Tabby

 

[HookEm613]

I think it will be to your benefit to get the pain under control before you go home and find out the best way to control it once you are home...sleep is a challenge, visitors during the day and constant nurses checking in on me during night, why is there a need to draw blood at 3:00 a.m.?

I hope I'm still going home today by noon!

You had your TKR on Monday too, if I remember right? I wanted to check on you!


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[HookEm613]

Welcome to recovery and congrats on the new knee. I hope you will start feeling better soon and have a smooth recovery.
Love, Tabby

Thanks Tabbycat!


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[HookEm613]

So I get to go home this morning. I was able to get a good amount of sleep and kept a little food down. I have no appetite, at all, though. Is that normal? I am forcing myself to eat a little, so I can take the pain meds. Speaking of pain, it's a little better. The doctor switched me to Tylenol 4, and that has better controlled the pain. I find it odd that the nurses make you wait until you "need it" for another dose, though. I will using an alarm at home, for sure. No need to wait for the pain to return, in my opinion.


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[LFitz]

Congrats on making it home, nothing like being in your own surroundings. The lack of appetite is very common for this recovery but really continue to try to eat something with those meds because, as you know, they wear on the belly. I lost 20 lbs during this (the one upside lol). Continued good healing thoughts sent your way.


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[uva55]

@HookEm613 I'm so glad you are home... I have been released but waiting for home health to be set up!!!

 

[HookEm613]

@HookEm613 I'm so glad you are home... I have been released but waiting for home health to be set up!!!

Haha sounds familiar! I had to wait a few extra hours for my walker.

Overall, I am doing pretty well. The pain is not too bad, and it feels good to get up and walk a bit. I have no energy, at all, but I think that is to be expected.

I'm going to take a nap now, and my mom will bring my daughter over when she wakes from her nap....definitely ready to see her! Poor girl was scared of the hospital.


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[sistersinhim]

Welcome home! And that's good news that the Tylenol 4 is working for you! You have many friends here to share your ups and downs. It'll be two weeks tomorrow for my new knee and I still have no energy. Be patient, you're gonna wanna sleep a lot!

 

[HookEm613]

It has been great since being home, but I miss having my daughter around. I still can't eat, so I think I will have someone pick up some protein shakes today. I want to make sure I am getting the protein I need to heal...they really stressed that as I was leaving the hospital. I start PT tomorrow, which is good, although I am a bit scared. My pain has been VERY well controlled, and I know PT will mess with that a bit. The location I am having PT is bad too, it's on the top floor of a medical building, and at the end of a long hallway. I always wondered why they chose the worst location possible, to house the PT clinic. After my last knee surgery, it took ten minutes for me to just get there (on crutches). Anyhow, I will update tomorrow after PT. Yikes!!


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[sistersinhim]

I don't think you should be going out at all. Your knee is only 3 days old! Why didn't they schedule at home PT for the first month or so? Right now, all you need to do is the follow the mantra and not do anything to hurt your knee. That includes PT. Just walking around the house is plenty to be doing with the few heel slides and leg lifts that are described here. Please consider canceling your PT sessions at least for a few weeks. Your soft tissues have to heal, not become even more inflamed.

 

[lovetocookandsew]

Outpatient PT at 3 days?!!!! You just had major surgery and should be at home healing, resting, icing and elevating! Period. (Heck-at 3 days I was still in the hospital) All you need to do right now is walking to the restroom, kitchen, etc. I'd cancel the PT app't and work on healing. If you decide at a later date to go to PT, then do it at about a month post-op, although you can decide to skip it altogether. It's your body, your knee and YOUR decision. If you really feel a need for PT right now, message your OS and ask him why he expects a three day old knee to go to outpatient PT rather than in-home PT. If he won't okay in-home, then skip it. Do some minimal walking around the house to go to the bathroom, get a drink from the kitchen, etc. Do a few heel slides here and there if you feel the need; other than that rest, elevate and !!!!

 

[HookEm613]

Oh wow, I had no idea!! I thought it was like this for everyone! I think tomorrow is just an evaluation, so I will go and then make a decision for scheduling my first real appointment at that point. I had the PT come the two times at the hospital, but all we did was walking around, lifting the leg and heal slides. Honestly, I couldn't so much other than walk around. Ugh, My PT cop pay is $50 a pop too, at three times a week. I am going to have to compromise and go two times a week, for now. I can't swing $150 a week for 6 weeks.


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[lovetocookandsew]

Another reason to skip it-you don't need it and it's too expensive. Go read Josephine's threads about recovery without PT-you'll save a ton of money and have a much better recovery.

 

[sistersinhim]

And much less pain! There is no good reason to have any therapy now or for at least a month. Please be careful. PT will only aggravate your all ready aggravated knee.

 

[Gigi32]

@HookEm613 -you can't seriously be considering going to outpatient PT so soon? My surgeon insists on complete bed rest the first week except to go to the bathroom. The rest of the time it's ice and elevating and the only exercises I did was heel slides and leg lifts. I never did any formal outpatient PT, just exercises the therapist in my surgeon's office gave me on my own. I sure wouldn't have gone if it cost me $50 a pop. I would skip it this week and give your knee time to rest or you risk major swelling and pain. You can always start next week , see what they suggest and then do them on your own. Many people on here have done that with good outcomes and done just fine. I did with both of mine, was walking unassisted by 10 days and driving by 2 weeks.

 

[Celle]

The location I am having PT is bad too, it's on the top floor of a medical building, and at the end of a long hallway. I always wondered why they chose the worst location possible, to house the PT clinic. After my last knee surgery, it took ten minutes for me to just get there (on crutches). Anyhow, I will update tomorrow after PT. Yikes!!

It's much too early to be going to out patient PT. Your knee and your body aren't ready for it yet.
I think you should cancel it for at least two weeks. Your knee won't suffer because of that. It will appreciate the rest, so that it can start to heal.

What your knee needs now is rest, ice, elevation and very gentle treatment. Just walk to and from the bathroom, and do a few, gentle Heel slides and how to do them

 

[HookEm613]

Well, I went to PT and was pleasantly surprised. For one, there was no co-pay, so that was obviously a great thing to find out lol. Secondly, my therapist was all about working on swelling and pain management for the first few weeks, and working on ROM after that, when the swelling goes down. He talked in length about how PT can do more harm than good if a patient is pushed too hard after joint replacement, and that its ok to be uncomfortable, but a patient should never be in pain as a result of it. He also told me over and over again that I can't over do it. He said it's not like the gym where you always want to push yourself, and that doing that is one of the fastest ways to slow your recovery down. He gave me a long lecture on that, after learning I coached for so long haha. Today we just worked on starting to bend the knee, and it felt ok...nothing painful at all. He was very careful to not let it get that far. We also worked on my steps, starting to retrain the brain to go heal-to-toe. He said it won't happen for a few weeks because of my ROM, but it is similar to muscle memory in that it will be easier to do as time goes by. Then he just showed me the best way to elevate and ice, and that was it. He doesn't want me walking any more than from the couch to the bathroom, or couch to the kitchen. He said anything more at this point is doing way too much. So, it was a pretty good experience. I think he is a good therapist, so I am going to continue going and if I feel it becomes too much, I will postpone it.


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