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Revision TKR Bruising 3 years out

I'm so glad to hear everything is going much better this time. :) :yes!:
 
I am so sore and cranky today, I feel sorry for my family having to put up with me :( I have outpatient PT 3 days a week, but yesterday she handed me some papers with half my exercises on it and said I'm only allowed one day a week off, that I have to do the exercises at home the days I don't have PT. Are they trying to kill me? I've never had outpatient PT this aggressive before. I have to do this for a month. Thank God my doctor has me on some nice strong pain meds (Norco 10, morphine for PT days, Oxycontin for non PT days, a muscle relaxers, and Lyrica) otherwise I wouldn't be able to get thru this. I do enjoy it when the therapist stretches me out before and after the sessions tho, it hurts but feels so good at the same time. Weird I know, but she massages the back of my knee while she's doing it. However, she doesn't force my leg to bend or straighten like the last time I did PT, they let me do it and the rule is only bend it until it starts feeling tight and no further, dame with straightening. They don't want me pushing myself beyond mild discomfort which is nice. So she's aggressive only with the push to do exercises at home too, but doesn't do anything to cause pain. And it's not my knee that hurts, it's my muscles. Poor things haven't been worked in a while so hot baths every night to loosen sore muscles lol
 
Xanaphia said:
I am so sore and cranky today, I feel sorry for my family having to put up with me :( I have outpatient PT 3 days a week, but yesterday she handed me some papers with half my exercises on it and said I'm only allowed one day a week off, that I have to do the exercises at home the days I don't have PT. Are they trying to kill me? I've never had outpatient PT this aggressive before. I have to do this for a month.
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Xanaphia said:
However, she doesn't force my leg to bend or straighten like the last time I did PT, they let me do it and the rule is only bend it until it starts feeling tight and no further, dame with straightening. They don't want me pushing myself beyond mild discomfort which is nice. So she's aggressive only with the push to do exercises at home too, but doesn't do anything to cause pain.
Click to expand...
Sweetheart, you don't have to go to PT so much and you don't have to do all those exercises at home.
The fact that you are sore tells me that you have done too much at PT. Do you remember this, from the BoneSmart mantras?
- if it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physiotherapist (PT) - to do it to you. exercise only gently
- if your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again

Remember that this is your knee. You are the only one who has the right to say what will happen to it and you are the one who can decide how much exercise you will do. So, don't argue with your therapists. Just smile and nod, and only do as much exercise as you feel comfortable with.

I think we've told you this before - it's not exercise that will rehabilitate your knee. You don't have to do a lot of exercise. It's time and the reduction of swelling. It takes time for your knee to heal and time for the swelling to go away. Doing too much exercise will only irritate those tissues that are trying to heal. It will make them upset and inflamed, which could slow down your progress.

The main thing you can do to help your knee is spend lots of time resting, icing and elevating your leg. That will help the swelling to go down. As the swelling goes, your knee will gradually start to bend more, even if you do no exercise at all, apart from what you need to do for your daily living.
If you want to do any exercises, just a few of these are all you need:
Heel slides and how to do them properly
[URL='https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/extension-how-to-estimate-it-and-ways-to-improve-it.9529/']Extension: how to estimate it and ways to improve it[/URL]
[URL='https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/extension-how-to-estimate-it-and-ways-to-improve-it.9529/'][/URL]
I'll add these articles, to remind you as well:
TKR: work “smarter” and not “harder”
[URL='https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/life-in-the-slow-lane.9681/']Life in the slow lane[/URL]
[URL='https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/life-in-the-slow-lane.9681/'][URL='https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/tkrs-and-our-fast-food-society.6427/']TKRs and our fast food society
TKR: Ceasing aggressive physical therapy after surgery[/URL][/URL]
 
Let the knee be your guide. You may want to do some of the exercises each day or all of them with only a few repetitions. I remember my PT told me I should not be sore more than an hour or so after doing the exercises. If you're still feeling worse than you were before the next day, I'd think that's a sign to back off a bit.
 
@Celle wow, I just read the article.m about aggressive PT and I had no idea. Tha k you for sharing that, I'm going to take your advice and cut back on the PT and do nothing but rest the rest of the week. Monday she measured my ROM at 125/5 which is pretty good considering I'm not even a month out.
 
It's amazing the difference a good doctor makes. This is as swollen as it gets and I was on my feet most of the day yesterday. I had a lot of stuff I had to get done before the weekend and had to go get my prescription to refill my pain meds.. I love how different it feels. It doesn't change color either lol

[Bonesmart.org] Bruising 3 years out
 
Oh my, 125 is really good! Just try letting your knee bridge over a chair and ottoman (bench or other chair will work too) for extension. It actually felt good when I placed my heel on the ottoman while I sat in a chair. Just let gravity do its thing.

Your knee looks great!

Sent from my iPhone using broken link removed: https://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=75543
 
Wow, your knee looks fantastic! It's looking much better than mine! Your new OS is a really blessing! Enjoy your new baby!
 
Hi @Xanaphia
I'm really glad you've decided to cut back the PT. :flwrysmile: Your knee will thank you for it.
Your scar is looking good. :)
 
What a terrific looking incision scar. My original scar is over two years old and is still raised and red. Kudos to your surgeon. Fantastic extension and range of motion, too. I hope my November revision surgery is as successful.


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No reason to keep going to PT with such a good ROM. All you need now is to just live your life. Congratulations!
 
You're doing great! So happy this surgeon did an amazing job & you're already recovering so well! What a blessing! :yes!:
 
Just an update as I havent posted in a while :) I have been going to outpatient PT 3 times a week for the past 6 weeks. The reason for my going is because the ligaments in the back of my leg got so contracted from not being used for so long that I cannot walk normally, and still cannot straighten it. I have days where yes PT does hurt but I have an absolutley wonderful physical therapist who I adore. When she stretches me out, oh my it feels so good I dont want her to stop. My ROM is sitting at 130/8 right now. They have me doing walking exercises that work on my gait, so basically Im learning how to walk normal again. Its actually kind of fun and causes me no pain at all.

Now, on to the doctor who caused this mess in the first place. Back in August I filed a complaint with the Texas State Medical Review Board online. I honestly wasn't expecting anything to come of it to be honest. However, I received a letter in the mail last week letting me know that because of the severity of my complaint my old doctor is now under investigation by the state, because of his treatment of me. I told them EVERYTHING, right down to the neglect in the hospital, the rude treatment of the nurses at the office, him taking off for 3 weeks leaving NO doctor or PA to care for me and the last visit I had with him where he blatantly lied to me telling me my xrays looked fine, my knee looked fine and the pain was all in my head and that I had gotten a 2nd opinion and was going to have to have a revision because the first surgery was botched.

Then Saturday I received another letter along with a waiver form. The letter was asking me to please sign the waiver form allowing them to use my complaint, progress and anything else they need for legal proceedings, so I'm not sure what exactly is going on right now, but I'm sure I'll know soon enough. The waiver did state that if I signed it I would no longer have confidentiality from the doctor would know who made the complaint, which I of course don't care about. I signed the waiver and mailed it back.

I then emailed the senior investigator and let her know that since my original complaint I had had the 2nd surgery on the 7th of Sept and that while Dr Toulson was in there he found that my kneecap had been dislocated and had been dislocated long enough it had began to heal where it was so he had to cut ligaments, etc to disconnect the kneecap from where it was and put it back where it belongs.

I also told them that I have been basically bed bound for 6 months now because if I'm up too long I'm in a lot of pain and that it is unknown at this time whether I will ever actually be able fully straighten my leg or even walk normal again. If they DO in fact find him guilty that means I have 100% grounds for a lawsuit for negligent malpractice and pain and suffering.

The money would be nice yes, but it will never take away the pain, and it will never give me back the months that I lost because of his negligence, but it would be a huge help to my family as we've lost our house, etc due to the horrendous medical bills we've had to pay as a result of all this.

Not to mention if he is found guilty he could lose his license which means he can NEVER hurt anyone ever again.

I do have to admit I feel sorry for him and his family because I know things like this really can mess their lives up. But the thing is, if the man had treated me with an ounce of compassion I never would have filed the complaint. Yet I still have compassion for him. I hope he's learned something from all of this. I know I have. I will be more careful choosing doctors and clinics, do more research before I just trust a doctor right off the bat.

Now that that's out of the way. Check this out - I took this picture today during the mini e-stem therapy... and I'm pleased at how well it looks :)

[Bonesmart.org] Bruising 3 years out
 
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Your incision looks great, sounds like you are doing well with your walking.
I have to give you a lot of credit for reporting to medical board and they are thoroughly looking into the matter. It would not surprise me if there are other complaints. :egypdance:
 
Your leg looks great, @Xanaphia .
I'm glad that your complaint is being taken seriously. It does sound as if you may not be the only person who has complained.
Try not to spend a lot of time going over what happened in the past. You can look forward to a much better future now.
 
I am so glad you have someone important who is investigating your complaint. These doctors need to be accountable for their actions. And girl, you are amazing to have the courage to go after yours! You are doing so well after this second, correct surgery! Your extension will come. It has taken me longer to get that, too, but is slowly coming around! Yours will, too!
 
I am so proud of you. You are protecting future patients from this man. I admire your compassion, but rest assured he has insurance that will more than pay any costs he incurs. We can only hope that he looses his license (I am not as kind as you). We put our lives in the hands of the surgeon, and to ask for a little compassion is not asking for much. I teach a class on medical legal/ ethics principles to med students, and one of the key points we try to pound into their heads is that patients who are treated with kindness, dignity and respect rarely sue, no matter what the outcome. It's when doctors loose the ability to empathize that they become most dangerous. You are doing a service to the profession.


Shelia
RTKR - 8/23/16
LTKR - 10/11/16
 
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