TKR ACK! OMG! TKR on May 29th

[1ELISEA]

Hi Elisea, when I couldn't sleep during the first couple of months I used to get up in the middle of the night and eat cornflakes. First time I got up I made toast but the smell woke my hubbie up and he asked me not to do it again. He asked every so politely so from then on it was cornflakes and camomile tea.

:th_heehee: Oh,yes, I understand the midnight snacks. And I am noticing a heightened awareness for food smells. My bro-in-law likes toast in the morning and as soon as I smell it I am right there wanting a piece for me.

 

[1ELISEA]

Pain meds are in and I have a few cogent minutes before they kick in. Seem to be fading fast.

Last night was better. I woke up almost every couple of hours, and every time I did I took a pain pill whether needed or not. Think it did a lot to keep the pain under control.

Now I am lying with my foot in the CPM machine. It seems to help with the early morning crankiness of my knee. I put it on gentle movements, not so much to increase ROM but more because it helps to get the morning stiffness out of the way.

Let me ask, how long did you use the CPM machine? For me, it's been about 10 days and I haven't yet achieved 90/0 ROM so I keep using it. But was there a certain point where you felt it was no longer necessary? Was that after a couple of weeks or longer?

Annnnnnnd pain pills kicking in; good sleeping to everyone for now.

 

[thethom]

1ELISEA;
Forget about the ROM for now. I had the exact same concern. In the Acute Rehab center in the hospital before going home, they pushed me extremely hard (to tears) on the ROM but all it did was increase swelling and caused ROM to degrade from 100 + down to 80. It WILL get better.
I am 27 days out now and am consistently getting 110L and 108 Right with Flexion at 0,0. Besides, I am told the max ROM for prosthetic knees is generally around 120. I really wish the hospital PT's would have been more honest about the real picture, i.e., if you overdo it you will pay dearly, not "if you don't get this ROM, the doc will go back in and fix it for you" :eek:
Best of Luck and patience, you will know when it's time you can start pushing harder, no pain ( or just to the edge of discomfort) , lots of gain IMHO. Hang in there

Thom aka "Spiderman"

Hi
Thanks for your support. I knew this was going to be hard, but OMG this is hard.

Fortunately, I am staying with family and they are taking good care of me. I am sure I could not do this on my own in my tri level home. I am still on my walker and except for using crutches to maneuver a few steps to get into the house, I have stayed on the walker.

I am finding that there is not enough ice in the USA to put on my knee; if stocking up on supplies, extra ice is a must. The polar ice machine is running almost 24/7 and even with a ice maker in the refrigerator door, we need more ice.

I only had surgery on Tuesday afternoon and I already feel I am behind everyone else that had surgery. Like flexion / extension should be at least 110/0. I am lucky to get it to bend enough to sit down. But the leg is hugely swollen so that doesn't help.

Well, time for my nap. I am not having problems sleeping at night like others have reported. I am having problems staying awake long enough to take a nap between sleep periods. :th_heehee:

 

[Morning Glory]

My doctor doesn't use them. At first I was disapponted but I seem to be doing fine without it. I wish I had kept a diary to compare the progress of one knee compared to the other. I know I had in home PT for 1 month with the first knee and when we were done I could bend at 100 but took awhile longer to get to 0 extension.

 

[adnil]

Have you tried Gel Pads. I bought 2 large ones and a sleeve for them to fit into. I have one in the freezer and one on my knee at all times. Saves on the ice and they mold nicely into your knee.

 

[Pumpkin]

Too early to worry about ROM, sounds like you are right on track. Rest, ice, elevate, and medicate is pretty much all you need to do for now. I am sure ROM will come when the swelling and angry stages pass.
I had a CPM in the hospital not at home, would have liked it for the early morning stiffness for a few weeks.

 

[Jacky48]

IELISEA, I'm so glad to finally find you post! I know what you mean by it being so hard to get up from a chair, I do think I'll need to add some pillows to my chairs at home! I really worked hard on my quads cause on mickey's side I was not pushing up enough to get myself up alone an I was really not liking the wedgie lift from the seat of my pants!:no2: Ugh.....

It seems like you're doing well, except for beating yourself up for wanting more so soon! You will get there, just cut yourself some slack! You are a very strong woman ask anyone are you kno who have yet to decide as you did to go for it and live a better life.

It was not an easy decision to make and you made it! So I wish you progressive success in your recovery!

 

[Pleinair5]

Hi Elisea,

So sorry to hear you were crying. It is tough and something we all experience. Getting on a schedule is a great idea, and write it down and check them off (I found I could not remember sometimes if I had taken them or not and that scared me). It does get better with time so that does not help right now it is something to hang onto. I found the sleep issue made it hard also, and it did get so much better in time. Hang in there, we are here for you!
Betsy

 

[PooShay]

Elisea. Remember not to compare your recovery with anyone else's!

 

[Janet2012]

Hi elisea, Thought I'd use one of my lucid moments to say hello and see how you are getting along. I hope you are resting. I've been sleeping preety well, so I have at least that. Tomorrow I start using the CPM machine. I was told he didn't use them other than in the hospital, but it seems to be called for. When I used one before, it was 3-4 weeks.

 

[1ELISEA]

Hi elisea, Thought I'd use one of my lucid moments to say hello and see how you are getting along. I hope you are resting. I've been sleeping preety well, so I have at least that. Tomorrow I start using the CPM machine. I was told he didn't use them other than in the hospital, but it seems to be called for. When I used one before, it was 3-4 weeks.

Well, hello Janet. I know how precious those lucid moments are so I am honored you used one to check on me. :biggrin:

I have tried more than once to write an intelligent sentence or comment on a post of two on this forum but wind up with a short brief, "good for you" and then I am wiped out. That's it, no more and that would take 20 minutes.

So I am happy to report I spent the entire day napping. I began by feeling guilty that I wasn't up and out practicing stairs. Then concerned I would be up all night from sleeping all day.

Then, thought, eh, my body needs some rest and down time. So that was pretty much the day.

Napping, interspersed with bouts of healing. So I did do something today! I healed.

The CPM has been good for me in the morning. If I don't want to go for the ROM record, I set the machine at a gentle up and down, nothing too stressful. It helps to limber up the joints and get the stiffness out.

Anyway, some day I hope to use it to get more ROM, but am taking the advise from those on this forum not to worry about ROM right now.

 

[Jamie]

Elisea....your ROM is in there. It's just hidden by the swelling right now. That's why you should not worry about it one bit. Only concentrate on getting swelling down with ice, elevation (toes above the nose count; time in the CPM doesn't count as elevation....unless, of course your leg is on the bed and your body on the floor:hysterical: --- a little humor for you!). Keep taking those pain meds on a set schedule....keep a written record so that you know when you need the next dose.

If you want to, you can take half a dose of pain meds in half the time. For example if you are prescribed 2 pills every 3 hours, you could take 1 pill every 1 1/2 hours all through the day and night. For some people, this does a better job of keeping a steady amount of pain relief medication in your system all the time.

 

[Campervan]

Hi Elisea, I find the stiff kinks come out with gentle stretching exercises and my exercycle. It took me a while to be able to all the way round, but now I'm pushing up the tension as pain allows and riding for longer.

 

[kneeper]

Napping, interspersed with bouts of healing. So I did do something today! I healed.

Exactly!

The CPM has been good for me in the morning. If I don't want to go for the ROM record, I set the machine at a gentle up and down, nothing too stressful. It helps to limber up the joints and get the stiffness out.

If it feels better, use it. I think I had my cpm for 2 weeks. I thought it helped loosen me up a bit too. But I was glad to see it go out the door too. :wink1:

 

[1ELISEA]

I am using the CPM in the morning to loosen the joint up with a combination of ice and heat. What has surprised me is the pain I still have on the inside knee .... joint line area for lack of a better term. Hoping that will go away with time and PT as the muscles strengthen.

It's just that I was expecting the pain to be gone gone gone by now and this doesn't feel like healing pain but leftover old pain, if that makes sense.

Am I naive to think it should be gone? Or what is the purpose of the surgery? To relieve some pain?

 

[1ELISEA]

Also, how long before you were walking, even short steps, without an aid?
I am still using a walker and am a bit concerned to leave it more than a step or two away. Is that normal after two weeks?

I know, whatever is normal for you is the answer, but I mean should I be trying to walk without walker or crutches?

How long before you felt confident enough to start taking steps worrying about the knee?

 

[kneeper]

I used the walker for several weeks before I moved on to the cane. And then I had a few weeks with the cane. You want to be sure you are really stable before you lose the aides.
You will likely have pains all over the place for a while. Remember they moved your leg around, sawed on you etc.

 

[bottomshollow]

Elisea, usually at some point--in the kitchen the most likely place, you will just move from where you are to another area and not use the walker.
And in your house there is usually something you could reach out to to steady yourself if necessary, so you'll decide that the walker is really annoying and that you can get around in the house 'cause there'll always be something you can reach out for. Then you'll be through with the walker for good.

At this point, you might want a cane for outdoor walking for a while--just to make you feel more stable and comfortable.

I went from the walker to just walking on my own. I had a cane, but couldn't for the life of me figure out which hand to use it in since both legs had been done--so I just didn't bother with it. However, my balance was pretty good and I felt confident walking on my own. If I hadn't, I would have used something. I used my walker at the hospital for 5 days, at rehab for 6 days, and at home for a week. That was it for me---but not everyone is ready that early in recovery.

It'll come---there is no times frame for it---just when you're ready and you know you're ready.

Take care, keep us posted, we care.

 

[referee54]

When you consider what was surgically done to your knee joint (it ain't pretty!) you can then understand why you are still have post-surgical pain due to the knee healing. Your body is still healing from some tremendous surgical trauma and will hurt for some time to come.

I also agree that you will simply go from one place to another in the kitchen and then realize what you mindlessly did!

I went from a walker to crutches to crutches used like two canes to a cane---at about six-seven weeks, I tossed the cane away.

 

[Morning Glory]

I told my therapist today that I've been starting to take a few steps away from my walker thinking she'd be pleased with me. But since I still have pain in my knee when I walk she wasn't all that happy with me. And I was trying not to lean on the walker, again thinking I was doing good, shows what I know. So, I'm about the same distance out from surgery as you and I still need the walker.