TKR Back to needing fellow Bonesmarties input.

[Disney Mom]

Thanks! Need to get the toes done again. Got peddicure right before surgery. Good luck to you too.

 

[Murphy2013]

Thanks! Need to get the toes done again. Got peddicure right before surgery. Good luck to you too.

Hi Disney Mom , your toes look so good compared to moi. I tried the Plastic wrap last night over Cbd balm and it worked great.
The nerves around the knee were completely fooled into not being irritated by the sheets and bedding.
I need to look into ice machine. It looks like a very worthwhile pain solution. What is your schedule for using it that works best?
I am about to switch Pt places next week and hope for better care.
How is your knee treating you so far this weekend?

 

[Disney Mom]

Murphy2013 your toes look great and if you did them yourself then they look even better. No way can I do my own toes. Might as well dip my foot in a bucket of paint...haha. I've never heard of the plastic wrap over balm thing. Glad it worked for you. The ice machine is awesome. We change out the frozen water bottles twice a day...or sometimes just once and then later I just use another ice pack if I'm done for the day. I dont really have an ice schedule. I always ice after exercises or pt. I ice normally 4 times a day or so...whenever I feel like I've been up and doing a lot. With my hip pain I've also been sitting on the jce as well so twice as long icing it seems. I feel like i am going nowhere with bending. I'm concerned this is as good as it will get. It just stops after so far. It is just so tight and stiff. Been a tough weekend. Our youngest daughter and last kid at home moved into an apartment today. She is my Disney buddy and I dont even know how many trips we have taken together. Anyway...it has been a rough day to a degree with all the kids gone. I helped get her kitchen organized and spent a lot of time on my feet but took a break and came home and iced so that helped.

Die you ever get your foam wedge? Did you like it? Hope your new pt place works out.

 

[Murphy2013]

Murphy2013 your toes look great and if you did them yourself then they look even better. No way can I do my own toes. Might as well dip my foot in a bucket of paint...haha. I've never heard of the plastic wrap over balm thing. Glad it worked for you. The ice machine is awesome. We change out the frozen water bottles twice a day...or sometimes just once and then later I just use another ice pack if I'm done for the day. I dont really have an ice schedule. I always ice after exercises or pt. I ice normally 4 times a day or so...whenever I feel like I've been up and doing a lot. With my hip pain I've also been sitting on the jce as well so twice as long icing it seems. I feel like i am going nowhere with bending. I'm concerned this is as good as it will get. It just stops after so far. It is just so tight and stiff. Been a tough weekend. Our youngest daughter and last kid at home moved into an apartment today. She is my Disney buddy and I dont even know how many trips we have taken together. Anyway...it has been a rough day to a degree with all the kids gone. I helped get her kitchen organized and spent a lot of time on my feet but took a break and came home and iced so that helped.

Die you ever get your foam wedge? Did you like it? Hope your new pt place works out.

Oh my gosh we are an exact match. My knee is so tight and stiff and it acts like it has has no Pt, no heel slides, no anything. When I walk outside I still use the walker because this little toad knee will go along but wants to act all cramped up.
My Lounge Doctor wedge comes next week but in meantime I have other wedge. I am so sorry you are having a whammy weekend.
How much change can we take. One dang underperforming knee is enough.
Is your hip feeling any better?

 

[Disney Mom]

Murphy2013 are you trying to exercise every day? When i do the bending and stretching exercises, my stiffness loosens up for a short period afterwards. It doesn't last long as the stranglehold takes over again..haha. I went to a chiropractor last week who adjusted me some which I think helped for a couple of days. He had a knee injury some time back and had a few knee surgeries to repair it and had to use the dreaded cpm machine for hours a day...poor guy. Anyway, he developed very similar hip and thigh pain that i am having so i felt comfortable that he knew what he was doing. The pain in my hio eased some right afterwards for a couple of days but is hurting more today. I see him again on Tuesday. I feel like several of the stretching and bending exercises for my knee really pull on that area of my butt. Soon want to stop and have knee suffer but don't want to aggravate hip more.

Maybe you should get some walking sticks. They might be a good alternative to the walker and also help establish an even gait while walking? Just a suggestion.

I asked the chiropractor if he would ever use the cpm machine again and he said no. I honsetly.dont think I would either as I am positive that aggravated my hip a lot.

Hope your stiffness gets better. Try a little stretching and see if that helps maybe.

 

[Murphy2013]

Murphy2013 are you trying to exercise every day? When i do the bending and stretching exercises, my stiffness loosens up for a short period afterwards. It doesn't last long as the stranglehold takes over again..haha. I went to a chiropractor last week who adjusted me some which I think helped for a couple of days. He had a knee injury some time back and had a few knee surgeries to repair it and had to use the dreaded cpm machine for hours a day...poor guy. Anyway, he developed very similar hip and thigh pain that i am having so i felt comfortable that he knew what he was doing. The pain in my hio eased some right afterwards for a couple of days but is hurting more today. I see him again on Tuesday. I feel like several of the stretching and bending exercises for my knee really pull on that area of my butt. Soon want to stop and have knee suffer but don't want to aggravate hip more.

Maybe you should get some walking sticks. They might be a good alternative to the walker and also help establish an even gait while walking? Just a suggestion.

I asked the chiropractor if he would ever use the cpm machine again and he said no. I honsetly.dont think I would either as I am positive that aggravated my hip a lot.

Hope your stiffness gets better. Try a little stretching and see if that helps maybe.

Great idea1 I have walking sticks downstairs and will start in the house first. I am walking ok and doing daily tasks ok. But come 5 in afternoon I have a different story. Every morning I wake up thinking the knee might want to bend a little easier when I have coffee but same ol same ol. It’s like week one all over again. When I do my pt exercise program every day, it is looser, but like you, not for long.

 

[Rockgirl4]

I am one of the ones who was barely getting by at 8 weeks post-op due to what some would consider an unusual amount of pain. I was still taking 1 Percocet (oxycodone) every 6 hours at 8 wks, along with a prescription anti-inflammatory. I had what my surgeon called an "acute inflammatory response" to the TKR surgery, and pain meds barely helped the first 3 weeks. I just wanted to die some days.

There really is no rhyme or reason as to why some of us hurt or swell/inflame more than others, but pain is so frustrating when it lingers for weeks. I CAN say that weeks 7-8 were better than 5-6, and weeks 9-10 were even better than weeks 7-8. It DOES get better even if slowly. PT does create a lot of that pain if we're pushed too much, which is why so many surgeons have either stopped prescribing it after TKR or (like mine) said to never let a PT force my knee to bend or straighten, for any reason. It only causes rebound swelling/inflammation which equates to PAIN! All of which slows down recovery and sets one up for chronic inflammation.

I hope you see an improvement in your pain soon, and I remember what it was like to wake up feeling one way, then by 4 PM was feeling another. The stiffness can last for months, so please know time is on your side, and you're not being lazy or wimpy. Hugs!!

 

[Disney Mom]

Every morning I wake up thinking the knee might want to bend a little easier when I have coffee but same ol same ol

Haha...your knee doesn't respond to coffee huh? Go figure. Hope the walking sticks help. My daughter in law asked me to make face masks for grandkids going back to school...3 of them and also a 3 yr old that will want them to because everyone else has them. Started doing that this afternoon and evening and sitting at table and sewing was fun for a few min until my lower leg and knee started getting heavier and heavier. I got up and iced several times. Have to make several so I guess will just take my time. Gives me something to do anyway. PT tomorrow.

 

[Disney Mom]

Hey Murphy2013...how are you doing? Just checking in to see how things are going. I'm plugging along but really suffering from pain in my buttock and sciatica type pain. Pretty debilitating. Hope you are doing well and walking better. Did the walking sticks help?

 

[Murphy2013]

Hey Murphy2013...how are you doing? Just checking in to see how things are going. I'm plugging along but really suffering from pain in my buttock and sciatica type pain. Pretty debilitating. Hope you are doing well and walking better. Did the walking sticks help?

Hi Disney Mom, I am walking around in house without walker most of the time. Doing better outside with walking now. I read your comments and darn but I cannot sit long anywhere in house. At night we bring dinner upstairs for a camp out on bed with iPad Pro watching Netflix. The later in the day it is the pickier my knee is for position it will be happy in.
I decided to temporarily pause pt after a complete 10 out of 10 pain meltdown with the young male pt guy who told me I was not giving it up enough for him. Like I was screeching , digging into the leather with my fingernails and praying the rosary out loud and that was not enough!!!so I just decided to do the Bonesmart thing and go moderate with exercises. You sound like your flexion is going real well and I am so happy for you.

 

[Jockette]

digging into the leather with my fingernails

I did this at one week post op when my PT pushed my knee way too far. The result of grabbing the table too hard was Acute tendinitis in my shoulder, which was a 10 on the pain scale and the Dilaudid I was taking didn’t touch it! (I had to have an X-ray done a few days after that PT session to find out why I had excruciating pain in my shoulder) One week post op!!

 

[Disney Mom]

Murphy2013....glad to hear the walking is better. Did you end up liking the elevation pillow you ordered? Pt can really stink sometimes. Good for you to take a break. It may be just what you needed. I started trying to bend my knee by standing at bottom of stair and putting knee on first step and bending forward. This has been way easier for me to do rather than that weird on my belly thing and tying something around my ankle and pulling over my shoulder. Today I went to a pain management place and they decided to give me steroid shots in lower back in hopes of helping my hip...butt...pain that radiates down my leg to my foot. So far it hasn't helped. They said it can take a few days so we will see. I'm afraid that it won't help at all and they will say..wrong spot..let's do it again. Ugh. They offer to sedate you when they do it but couldn't do that til next week and can't eat for 8 hours before and have to have someone drive you. This way I did it and drove myself home. Wasn't great but tolerable and didn't take long. Please pray it works. I need some relief from hurting all the time when sitting etc. This is worse than the knee pain. Are you watching anything good on netflix? My husband and I like to find a series then binge watch it! Most recently we watched Reign and Le Medici. They were good if you like that sort of thing. Also watched all of Game of Thrones which we had never seen. Think that was on Prime though

 

[Murphy2013]

Thank you for your posts. When I read about your pain I just about want to scream out my window how unfair it is. I did do the MUA last Thursday 9/3/20 but no miracles yet. Have a better Pt this time and we plan to go very slow. I had a two year fight with chronic pain after my spinal cord surgery oct 2017. It was so challenging and the weird part is your brain’s first thought in the am is pain avoidance which just feeds the amplification of the pain. There is no good place to be at times for relief. I threw the kitchen sink at it and found the weirdest hacks worked. Wide K-tape, tens units, heating pads cold packs. It’s weird but with my knee center stage, my back pain is there, but very minor because I have not given it any respect.

 

[Disney Mom]

Murphy2013...I didn't know you were having a mua. Was your bending not very good? Hope things get better for you. I have been wondering how you are. Maybe with having that done things will improve. I finished pt last week. Been doing ok. Knee still sore of course as well as leg. I find it painful to walk a lot. Not terrible but still not back to normal but know normal won't happen for a while.

 

[Murphy2013]

Hi Disney Mom, my bending before the MUA was not great and we were stalled in Pt progress.
Really making progress with new pt who is married to my 2nd cousin’s son. She is on my side and I have confidence in her approach and her emotional investment.
I am so embarrassed that I let myself be intimidated into a badddddd abusive pt relationship because I thought...well who the heck knows what I thought.

The one really good part since the MUA is that my knee when walking has a sort of freedom in the middle of the knee not to “hitch up” in the middle of the step.
I walked to the mailbox today with a cane for the first time instead of a walker.
This is a huge mental leap and is a small victory I will treasure.

 

[Disney Mom]

Murphy2013...don't be embarrassed by being intimidated by your pt....i think most of us are like that because they are the professional and we are just the patient right? Most of us feel like that including myself. Glad you are doing so much better. Sounds like walking with a cane and not having the troubles you had are awesome news! It doesn't sound at all like a small victory but a large one....congrats!!! Are you able.to sleep on your side at all? I am so sick of laying on my back but even with a pillow between my knees it just doesn't work for me on my side. My leg does better when it is straight out. When I bend it at all and then roll over on my back and straighten it....wow...it hurts a lot and I'm sorry I ever tried it.

 

[kneeper]

Congrats on progressing to the cane!

 

[WhenImOld]

Wow! Popped in to see how you were doing and, holy cow, you had an MUA? I'm so glad to hear you're walking to the mailbox with the cane. That's a huge improvement

 

[Murphy2013]

Wow! Popped in to see how you were doing and, holy cow, you had an MUA? I'm so glad to hear you're walking to the mailbox with the cane. That's a huge improvement

Hi WhenimOld! Yes I had an mua and maybe just maybe I will see a group of small improvements over time. I tried to go in pool before mua and my dang knee just locked up in extension when it got underwater. Pool was too cold for the knee and I had to grab the rail and pull myself out. That was fun in the scale of indignities. Now I feel like I can at least start by going in hot hydrotherapy jacuzzi to move the knee first. Have to time it right so no kids around tomorrow.

 

[WhenImOld]

Hi WhenimOld! Yes I had an mua and maybe just maybe I will see a group of small improvements over time. I tried to go in pool before mua and my dang knee just locked up in extension when it got underwater. Pool was too cold for the knee and I had to grab the rail and pull myself out. That was fun in the scale of indignities. Now I feel like I can at least start by going in hot hydrotherapy jacuzzi to move the knee first. Have to time it right so no kids around tomorrow.

I can only imagine! I'm so sorry! I started using the hot tub on it nightly As soon as my OS have me the all clear. It gets things loosened up and I sit with the jets on any sore, tight spots.
Keep us posted!