Bilateral PKR A hiker's new knees

Ready2HikeAgain

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I am 52 (almost) with severe osteoarthritis in both knees. I have slowly been having more pain and losing quality of life over the last two years especially. Well, there was no turning back this morning. Surgery was at 9 am today Feb 19. I was finished and in recovery by 1 pm. Here is my story for everyone to follow.

I planned my surgery about 5 months in advance. I work in a leadership position and had to work around projects we had going on. I was able to then also take that time to consider my health insurance and flex spending to maximize those benefits for this surgery.

Living conditions: Married living with my hubby of 30 years. He will be my caregiver for the first week and my daughter in law the second. We live in a two-story single family home with only a half bath on the first floor. I set up a recovery room in my large carpeted first floor craft room. Toilet 1/2 bath is right next door to it. Plan is to traverse the 14 steps to take a shower twice a week in our master bath.

Recovery aids: Lift recliner purchased with Flex Spending card and doctors script, cold therapy machine for icing also purchased with flex spending, walker, cane, dressing stick, leg lift.

Food/Necessities: I made some meals in advanced, but generally Just bought a bunch of quick things for my hubby to make over the next three weeks. I stocked up on necessities like toilet paper, laundry detergent, personal items like my favorite soaps etc.

I will note each day as I progress in this thread. Feel free to reach out with questions. Thanks for all your support. This forum is fabulous.
 
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Day 01 - Surgery Day: surgery took 3 1/2 hours. I received several meds prior to surgery and a nerve block in each leg, as well. In recovery was thankful for the nerve block. It really helped my transition and waking up without a severe amount of pain. I will be staying two nights in the hospital- -going home on day 3. Both legs are fully wrapped in ace bandage. My night nurse said those will come off Friday morning and they will help me shower. Yay!

I have not been able to eat much, as the breathing tube really made my throat swell and sore, But not really hungry anyway. Am able to drink water and eat ice chips.

Saw PT for only a short bit because my legs were still a bit numb from the block. I was asked to pump my feet, lift my legs the best I can and squeeze my thighs every hour.

Around 4 o’clock today I had to use the restroom I knew they would have to get me up out of the bed. Used the bedside latrine and with help was able to get my legs off the bed and push from the bed onto a walker. Wow! That hurt. But pushed through and was able to take a few steps and get on and off the latrine. Did this again at 9 pm. Now that the block has fully wore off, I am feeling the full force of the pain now.

Pain until around 4 pm was not bad - approx. a 4. Once the block wore off pain fluxes between a 5 and an 8. The night nurse is awesome and has a wonderful bedside manner. She stated how important it is to stay in top of the meds and did a great job explaining what she can give me. Using my phone to set alarms now that I am getting sleepy. Nurse explained that tonight and tomorrow will be the worst and will peak for pain, but that every day will get better from there. I will give an update tomorrow. Night all. Feel free to reach out with questions or comments. ❤
 
Thanks for posting your update - I’m following shortly behind you with bilateral on Mar 16. Like you, I’ve been planning this for months. I appreciate you updating on what all you are going thru- I know everyone is different but I figure the more I have an idea of what to expect the better. I hope you heal well & quickly.
 
I'm glad your surgery was successful and you seem to be doing well.

I've shortened your thread title. We know it's your recovery thread, because of the forum it's in, and we know you had bilateral PKRs, because of the thread prefix.
 
Thanks for posting your update - I’m following shortly behind you with bilateral on Mar 16. Like you, I’ve been planning this for months.”

@pamsknees I wish you luck! You will do fine. It‘s going to suck for a bit, but so worth it. I know the planning is my way of controlling something that I am unsure of, but it also helps in the long run to be prepared for different scenarios. I am like that on vacation as well. :)

‘this is my first surgery like this since I was a child. I broke my arm just above the joint when I was in the second grade. They had to put me out and rebrake it to set the bone. I hope this part is a distant memory soon. :) I will follow you to see how you are doing. Feel free to reach out.
 
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Hi and Welcome to Recovery!


I will leave you our Recovery Guidelines. Each article is short but very informative. Following these guidelines will help you have a less painful recovery.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​

3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you​
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​


4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these

5. At week 4 and after you should follow this

6. Access to these pages on the website

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
 
Welcome to the other side @Ready2HikeAgain! Glad things are moving along. Hang in there! This week things are going much better for me. So just keep in mind that the discomfort won’t be forever.

You got this! :flwrysmile: Prayers for a good recovery!
 
Glad things are coming along with no complications. I don't have any words of wisdom other than take your meds on schedule. They are so important to keep you as comfortable as possible, which helps you physically and mentally.

I'm now walking around my neighborhood with trekking poles when the weather permits. What a pleasure!
 
Hi there!!

Us active types tend to be the worst at recovery, because we believe that "hard work conquers all", and "no pain, no gain".
In this game, that's a load of codswallop. Unfortunately there are still some physiotherapists who believe that unless you get your maximum knee bend (ROM) in 6 weeks, then your knee will set like concrete and never move again. So they think its great fun to force your knees to a point of agony. Then your knee swells up again, the pain returns, because its damaged again.

You will read again and again on here that gentle exercise, getting on with the normal activities of life (as you are able) and patience are the way to success.

Enjoy your journey, its great here at the end of the tunnel.
 
Hi there, @Ready2HikeAgain
Your title name caught my eye since I'm a hiker. I could have called myself "waiting to hike again" for much of the first year, because I had some problems. I'm doing great now though (16 months post op), and doing hikes that are considered quite hard/long even for good knees. I've posted my progress towards that, with some pics, in my thread if you want to check it out. I like comments!
Good luck in your recovery. Be patient.
 
Day 02; first full day after surgery. Still at the hospital. Was a fairly rough night staying in front of the pain. Nursing staff was wonderful and did their best, but I got very little sleep due to intense pain. My blood pressure runs low anyway, so add all the blood loss and trauma, it was really really low. Lots of IV fluids to help stabilize the blood pressure, which then made me have to go to the bathroom a lot. This added to my pain by having to climb in and out of bed and onto the portable commode. On Celebrex once a day, percocet every four hours and occasions of morphine. Finally off IV fluids around 5 pm as my blood pressure stabilized.

I was finally apple to eat pancakes and a large bowl of fresh fruit in the morning. I seem to be past the raw throat stage and am hungry again. Was also able to eat a good deal of lunch and dinner. Drinking lots of water.

Occupational therapy came and talked to me about home set up. Makes me think there’s a lot of people that don’t do any pre-planning. It was hard to get across to them that I had everything that I already needed at home. They kept asking if I had a walker and such. They kept talking and showing me how I would get out of bed at home and I had to keep telling them that I would be sleeping in a lift recliner. lol.

Did a morning round of PT: sitting heal slides, marching legs, bending the knees and flattening the knee while laying in bed. Also took 20 steps. Afternoon PT with a short but painful walk in the hall. They keep trying to get me to sit in a chair to eat. nope. Not going to happen. I don’t even do that at home. :) Some of the stretches have actually started to feel good. I can’t wait to get these ace bandages off tomorrow morning so I can use my cold therapy machine.

In quite a bit of pain so dr came by and ordered two rounds of Toradol. It has really helped.

i took several one hour naps, but generally had a hard time staying Awake.

I am super nervous about going home tomorrow. I am worried about pain Management and also about getting to the bathroom on time. Lol. I know at some point next week I am going to have to traverse the stairs to reach our full bath for a shower. Hubby is staying with me through next Wednesday and then my daughter in law is coming to help for several days.
 
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Sounds like you’re doing pretty good. Keep focusing on the future. I’ll be three weeks on Monday. You’ll be thrilled to have it behind you.
Hang in there!!
 
I am super nervous about going home tomorrow
I was the same but it was good to get home and the pain was manageable as long as I set a schedule and took the meds according to that and did not skip any. After 2 days in I skipped a dose because I am such a tough guy and that was a mistake. I took the oxy for 8 days and then tapered off.

I too worried about the bathroom but I was able to make it with the walker really well right off the bat. It was easier than in the hospital for some reason even though the leg was stuffer the first couple days. Good luck!
 
I hope home will be a comfort to you when you get there. A lot of us worried about going home, but I think most of us found it lovely to be in our own beds . . . or, in your case, recliner . . . with our best blankets and well brewed coffee or tea and familiar sounds and so on.
 
Both times I worried about going home, mainly because I got used to the hospital serving me meals of unlimited choices whenever I wanted... just kidding! But seriously I was nervous to go home, I think there's something comforting about having "professionals" around to help us. I too, was worried about getting to the bathroom on time, I learned to just go and try every so often and then it wasn't an emergency and I didn't have to rush.
 
Ready2hikeagain thanks for your story and updates. As I will be in this same situation in the next few months this gives me a much better perspective as to what I will be facing. I hope that as each day passes that you feel better than the last.
 
The concern about making it to the bathroom is one of my biggest fears too - I had prolapse surgery 5 years ago so I’m not as able to wait as I was in the past
 
2 things I learned the (very) hard way I'll know better for my right knee TKR:

The nerve blocks are very DECEPTIVE. I basicaly melted down to a sobbing, whimpering mess at home on day 3 after the nerve blocks wore off and at home with only 4 OxyCodones of the lowest dose left. And at-home PT coming that day for 1st session. Get and Take the meds. The first week was horrible. Just elevate, ice and control pain best you can, then wallow in it, cry and know it will get better (very slowly).

Beside commode was best thing ever, especially at night, even though it hurt my pride so much to have hubby empty in morning. Used for a full week. Meds made me go all night. When you are sleepy and sore/hurting, leg feels like molten lead full of pain, it is very hard to get to bathroom safely, even with walker. Even now, 25 days out, I'm very wobbly in the middle of the night, sore and half asleep, when I have to go.

I was hungry in the hospital, then threw everything up (even a small serving of raisin bran). One nurse gave me saltines, which helped some, then finally Zofran, which really did the trick.

Hoping you recover fast.
 
Hi!
Which cold machine did you get?
Are your partials medials or laterals or... ?
Congratulations on your new knees.
 

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