TKR BCS Anna's Recovery

BCSAnna

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Apr 28, 2019
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Location
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Hello Everyone:wave:

Well, I have reached the other side!

My brand new Zimmer Pensona was delivered at noon yesterday, and I named her Penelope. I was up and walking last night went to sleep at 10 pm and woke up at 6am! My pain is under control. So, so far so good.

Anna:flwrysmile:


.
 
That is a great start!

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
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.
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.
 
So glad to hear all went well! I hope you and Penelope continue to get along and have a healthy recovery :flwrysmile:

~Cynthia
 
Pleased you're done. Will watch your thread and progress!
 
Welcome to the other side :wave: so glad everything is going well so far.

Welcome Penelope hopefully you will be a well behaved little knee :).
 
@Jockette

Yes, my recovery is off to a great start.
My medical team is quit impressed. The night of my surgery, one of my nurses came in for a foot check: feeling; pushing strength; and leg lifts. My nurse was amazed that I could lift my surgical leg as high as I did and told me, " I have never had a patient do such a high lift right after surgery!" So I was quit pleased at my progress.

@Cynof4

Penelop is doing great. My two PT had me walk, with my walker, down the hall and back. My room is at the end of the hallway and I walked up and back with my walker. My PTs told me I was doing great. So tomorrow, I go to the gym and practice going up and down three steps, which is the number of steps going into and out of my home. My hubby took a picture of our entry way to show my PTs what our steps look like.

@Benay,

So far, my recovery has been much better than I thought. My only issue is if I sit too long in the recliner, Penelope starts to stiffen up. This baby knee likes to be up ad moving.

@newpartial ,

So far, Penelope has been behaving like the perfect baby knee. At night she is tucked in with a soothing ice machine blanket which helps her sleep through the night. I am pain free and hope I stay that way!

Thank you all for following my recovery thread.. My diner has just been delivered and Dining Service surprised me by sending up two chocolate brownies instead of the one I ordered. I am not complaining as the brownies are to "die die for!" Yummy!"

Anna:flwrysmile:
 
Happy to hear you are comfy and relaxed and taking super good care of baby Penelope!
 
Take your time, one hour at a time sending good thoughts from Ohio USA
 
I'm glad to hear you're on your way! It sounds like you're doing great. Keep it up and, remember, you never want to become a member of the ODIC! :ice::elevate::sleeep:
 
@Benay

Oh, I could never ignore my cats. They are both Siamese and "talk" up a blue streak!:meow::meow:

@winemama and @RAD and @lovetocookandsew

Thank you all for your well wishes. They are much appreciated.


Today is day 3 of receiving my new baby knee.

I have already passed, with flying colors, four of the five criteria for being discharged from Penn Medicine.

I have already mastered getting in bed; getting out of bed; getting to the bathroom and toilet; walking the length of the hallway with my walker. Today, I will go to PT to master the final one...going up and down three steps. If I can do that, I am out of here and on my way home to coastal Delaware!:driver::yes!:


Anna:flwrysmile:
 
My surgeon just stopped in to follow up on me. He told me,"Compared to his other patients on the orthopedic floor, "I am his star player!" When my husband remarked that I am mentally tough. My surgeon, with his great sense of humor said. "Oh, she is doing so great because we didn"t replace knee, we just put a bandage on it!":rotfl:



Anna:flwrysmile:
 
It will be so good to be back in your own house! You are doing great, but be careful to not overdo. That is so easy to do. Be sure and read your recovery articles and go by them. They were created with many, many years of experience by many joint replacement patients.
 
Congrats! Hope to hear Penelope is treating you well!
 
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That's wonderful. Hope you continue on this path, so far it's been a really smooth one!
 
Hello All:) :-) (:

@sistersinhim

Not to worry, I read and reread the recovery guidelines and did a lot of yellow highlighting before I even left home for the hospital. The PT at the hospital was very gentle and offered a wheel chair ride to the hospital gym today because she didn't want me walking that far. When I saw the distance, I was very grateful for the wheelchair assistanc9e.:praying:

@Benay and @RAD

With a three hour drive home from Penn Medicine in Philadelphia to coastal Delaware, Penelope started to get a little cranky about 45 minutes from home. However, once at home, we quickly got her set up on the cold therapy machine and elevated her on the Lounge Doctor and she is once again the new happy baby knee.:curtsey:

And, boy is it good to be back home in my own bed. And not to have a parade of medical people coming in and out of my room all day long!:) :-) (:

Anna:flwrysmile:
 

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