Revision TKR Bruising 3 years out

[Xanaphia]

I do have a question. I get alot of calf pain after exercising and it hurts and is stiff first thing in the morning. Is this pretty normal? And can I put heat on my calf to maybe relax the muscle a bit? It's really painful. I can touch it and my daughter massages it for me so I know it's not DVT, but still very painful. I still can't take a bath because parts of my incision aren't fully healed shut yet, otherwise I would be soaking lol

 

[Celle]

How much exercising are you dong, that it gives you pain in your calves?
It's only just a month since your surgery. You really don't need to be doing lots of exercises, especially not so much that it hurts, anywhere.

Remember this, from the mantras,
"- if it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physiotherapist (PT) - to do it to you
- if your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again"

I suggest that you stop all formal exercises and just let the activities of daily life be your exercise. Walking to and from the bathroom and kitchen is exercise. Sitting down and getting up again is exercise. Preparing yourself a light meal is exercise.

 

[Xanaphia]

My exercise routine is like 20 heel slides, 20 straight leg lifts, 20 bridges (knees bent lifting your butt up off the floor), 20 mini squats, 20 leg lifts sitting in a chair, 20 foot slides sitting in a chair and 20 reps of 4 other exercises I don't know what they're called (leg straight on the floor sliding out then in, raising up on tip toes and going back down, etc.) Could be too much, I do the straight leg lifts because my quad muscles have atrophied so badly there's barely any muscle mass in my thigh which is weird because I worked out alot before my surgery. I'm going to tone it down a bit because the calf pain after exercising gets so bad that sometimes my percocet barely touches the pain and it's hard to walk. On those days my reliefe finally comes in the evening when my daughter is home and she massages all those sore muscles and they finally loosen up.

 

[Xanaphia]

Ohh and I have a kind of unrelated question lol. I was wondering how (if it's possible) to change the name of my thread. At this point it's a little misleading. Thanks to you womderful people and all your support and advice I haven't been scared beyond the first week of this journey. I have computer access but mainly use my phone to post. So I was just wondering if there's a way to change the title??

 

[Celle]

That is just too darn much exercise for a relatively new knee. Stop all of those exercises for at least a month. They simply aren't necessary and they will slow down your recovery if you keep on doing them.

I'm going to ask @Josephine to look at your list of exercises and give you her opinion, too.

All you need to do is a few Heel slides and how to do them . By a few, I mean no more than ten in 24 hours.
Please believe that it isn't exercise that will rehab your knee and bring back the ROM. It is time and reduction of swelling.
TKR: work “smarter” and not “harder”
Knee recovery - Lose the Work Ethic!!

Of course your quads have weakened - that's what normally happens - but they will gradually regain their strength as your leg recovers. It's far too early to be worrying about strengthening your muscles.

 

[Xanaphia]

Josephine, I don't have the "thread options" button on mine for some reason. I was wanting to change the name of my thread to Xanaphia's TKR Journey. Is there any way you can change it for me please?

 

[Xanaphia]

@Celle I imagine you're probably right. I re-read what I wrote and it IS a lot of exercise. I will take your advice and cut down on it. Thankfully my PT is working with me a lot better and listening to me as she should and my PT has been cut back to 2 days a week instead of 5

 

[Celle]

@Xanaphia, I've changed your thread title for you.

 

[Xanaphia]

@Celle

 

[Xanaphia]

I think I've reached another one of those curves in the road. My bad days far out weigh my good days right now and me and my leg have a love/hate relationship. I'm in pain if I exercise and I'm in pain if I don't and there's not a whole lot of difference between them. Every single morning when I wake up my leg is stiff and cramping and it's hard to walk, I have constant pain in my ankle now, that never goes away. I'm not sure what they did during surgery but the little round bone on the inside of my foot has hurt so bad since my surgery that nobody can touch it. I wish I could just sleep all this away. I am miserable 3 out of 4 days. The good days excite me because they're not very often. I'm being a Debbie downer this morning I guess but I'm frusterated and hurting and needed to vent..

 

[Tabbycat]

Hi Xanaphia,
You are not alone. I'm hitting bumps in the road too. I'm 9 days behind you and not able to do much yet. My knee is so stiff especially after a night on the recliner. I can't do the heel slides very well at all, and haven't been able to manage a leg raise yet. Then I get a bit less pain one day and the next I'm back to this deep intense ache. I'm only able to take OTC meds. I'm only able to nap as well, no real sleep. So I get everything you are saying. We'll be frustrated and hurting together.
Love Tabby xxx

 

[kneeper]

Ask your PT to show you a stretch for your calf. I have really tight muscles and I found doing one stretch in the morning and one before bed helped. I still try to remember to do them. I also never did more than 10 repetitions of any exercise and never more than 3 exercises in one session.

Are you able to take pain meds? You're really still pretty early out in the recovery process.

 

[Xanaphia]

@Tabbycat Thanks, it makes me feel better knowing I've got a recovery buddy Some days are just really rough because your family is there but they don't know how to help because they don't fully know what your going thru. It's gotta be hard on them too seeing me like this I think. My 11 year old is constantly worrying over me. @kneeper My doctor has me on 2 different pain meds (hydrocodone and percocet). The percocet is for PT and when the pain gets really bad otherwise I take the hydrocodone. I make sure to take pain meds when they're needed, but there are times when they just barely touch the pain. My PT suggested not icing it all night, she said that I may be over-icing it and it could be causing extra stiffness in the morning. I hadn't ever heard of that before but I suppose you can over do anything. I'm going to try using my heating pad in the mornings. Instead of just getting up, taking my meds and having my coffee I think I'll take my meds, put the heat pad on my calf and just lay in bed until the pain meds kick in, just to see if that makes the day a little easier. Part of my problem is I'm so stubborn. My husband says I need to just stay in bed and he's probably right but for someone like me it's hard to do. If I do stay in bed I feel so lazy because my husband works all day and then comes home and cooks dinner, takes care of the kids and any housework that needs to be done. That's usually my job lol so staying in bed depresses me. And getting up and not laying down at all during the day puts me in horrible pain so I'm miserable either way. I'll be glad when the healing process is done and I have my life back and can look back on this and be glad I did it. Right now I'm wishing I hadn't

 

[Celle]

The percocet is for PT and when the pain gets really bad otherwise I take the hydrocodone.

We advise not to take pain medications for PT. Doing so masks your pain while doing your exercises. Pain is a warning sign that you are doing too much, so if you mask that pain you are more likely to do too much. Ay PT that hurts is too much PT.

My PT suggested not icing it all night, she said that I may be over-icing it and it could be causing extra stiffness in the morning. I hadn't ever heard of that before but I suppose you can over do anything. I'm going to try using my heating pad in the mornings.

I don't think you're doing any harm by icing all night. I think the problem is too much daytime activity - and the cure is to cut your activity, including PT, right back.

It's OK to use the heating pad on your calf, but keep it well away from your knee. Applying heat to your knee will increase the blood flow, which can increase swelling.

Instead of just getting up, taking my meds and having my coffee I think I'll take my meds, put the heat pad on my calf and just lay in bed until the pain meds kick in, just to see if that makes the day a little easier. Part of my problem is I'm so stubborn. My husband says I need to just stay in bed and he's probably right but for someone like me it's hard to do. If I do stay in bed I feel so lazy because my husband works all day and then comes home and cooks dinner, takes care of the kids and any housework that needs to be done. That's usually my job lol so staying in bed depresses me.

That's a good plan. It should help.

Don't feel guilty about resting. That is your job right now. This is your time to take it easy and let other people look after you. You owe it to yourself and you owe it to your knee. You will be better able to look after your family if you take this time to allow your knee to heal properly.
Read this article - it might help: Nurturing mother: how to let go and accept help

 

[kneeper]

I would use a gel pack right up until I fell asleep. Then usually during part of the night it would fall off or warm up. Since I only slept a few hours at a crack at first, when I would wake up I'd get up and change out the gel pack. I figure the way that worked out it wasn't "constant" icing but a goodly amount.

You say you take the pain meds "when needed" but they don't touch the pain. I'm wondering if you're not taking them on a schedule. As you may remember reading here, when you let the pain take hold it is really hard to knock it back.

In the morning I would get up, have a little something to eat and take the pain meds. Lay around for a little while and then take my shower and get dressed. (Shorts and a tshirt). Lay around a little while and then do a few exercises and so on.

Remember you're only a month out. You still need to give the knee a rest--and let your body's energy be used on healing.

 

[Xanaphia]

@kneeper Yes, I believe you are right. I haven't been taking the pain meds on any type of schedule and am probably having what my mother calls "breakthrough pain". I'm afraid to take it so often because after a while I feel so groggy and fuzzy, and I'm afraid that I'll run out and my doctors office won't refill them. My doctor is friendly. However the nurses, mainly the head nurse that acts as his assistant, aren't very nice or understanding at all. I learned this the hard way while he was out of the office for the first 3 weeks after my surgery. I went to the ER 3 times because of severe pain and nausea and dizziness. I literally got through the first 3 weeks alone. If it weren't for my husband I probably would have lost it altogether.

So I don't hold much trust in my doctors office. A lot of my problem also is I'm too stubborn for my own good and I allow others to make me feel bad. My youngest son got angry at me the other day and yelled at me saying that I don't do anything, don't cook, don't clean, just lay around and it really made me feel horrible and since then I haven't relaxed at all.

I know, I need to be in bed, and my body is definitely angry at me because I have increased pain in my knee. My husband finally got on to me today and told me that I need to be in bed, and he's been so sweet and attentive. I wish I could smack the stubbornness out of myself

 

[Tabbycat]

Hi Xanaphia
Pain control seems to be so important in making a good start to recovery from this surgery, so I'm sorry you are having problems, and that your doctor's office is not supportive, though I don't see how they can refuse you medication. I'm only on Cocodamol (paracetamol and codeine), but I set my alarm clock to take it every 5 hours. I know how severe pain can cause nausea too, that's horrible.

It can't be easy to cope when your son gets cross with you, you might appear lazy to him, but in reality your body is working extremely hard to heal the injury sustained by the surgery. Is he old enough to understand? As you know from experience stress can and does make pain worse, you will heal better if you listen to your husband and allow yourself to be looked after, relax and let nature heal.
Love Tabby xxx

 

[Josephine]

I haven't been taking the pain meds on any type of schedule and am probably having what my mother calls "breakthrough pain".

Pain is pain. I don't agree with parcelling it out like that. You need to take your meds as prescribed for several weeks. If it helps, remember that I took mine for 4 full months!

I'm afraid to take it so often because after a while I feel so groggy and fuzzy, and I'm afraid that I'll run out and my doctors office won't refill them.

If your doctor should cut you off, you could always approach your PCP. Many other members have and found them to be very accommodating.

My husband finally got on to me today and told me that I need to be in bed

Actually he's wrong. You are 8 weeks out and should be getting back to a normal mode of living. I don't mean normal housekeeping etc., but just normal activity. You should read your recovery articles again which are in post #3

But WHY have you got increased pain in your knees? My guess is that you are still doing exercises, yes? Go back and refer to my advice in this post which is still applicable.

 

[kneeper]

At 8 weeks you can do a lot of normal things but need to pace yourself. Don't try to do everything in one day.

 

[Xanaphia]

Actually he's wrong. You are 8 weeks out

I wish it was 8 weeks lol. I'll actually be 5 weeks on Tuesday I don't think he meant stay in bed constantly, I think he's trying to remind me that I need to rest it more and give it time to heal. Lately I haven't been relaxing at all, I've been doing housework, going places and spending the rest of the day sitting up. No ice, no rest, probably not really good just yet because it swells and hurts like crazy.

My guess is that you are still doing exercises, yes?

You caught me. Yes, I'm still doing exercises. I'm afraid not to because if I don't do at least the heel slides my knee gets very stiff. I don't have my CPM machine anymore which bums me because it really helped with the pain and bending/extending, but the doctor only prescribed it for 3 weeks.

I wanted to try a TENS unit for the pain (my husband bought me an icy hot smart relief TENS therapy unit) but it says on the box not to use with any implanted metallic devices so I'm not sure if that means using it for pain after TKR is a bad idea?

I cannot go to my PCP for pain meds, none of the regular doctors offices around here prescribe stuff like percocet and right now until the pain calms down, that's what I need. I tried just taking tylenol and was in so much pain I cried. The percocet is the only thing that calms the pain down to a tolerable level unfortunately. One of my friends suggested maybe it's infected, but I've checked it and the incision looks fine, there's no drainage, no redness and I'm not running a fever. I just get very sharp pains in my knee and behind my knee when bending or straightening it. It's very frusterating. This waking up in pain every morning with my leg cramping is getting old and I look forward to the day when it finally calms down. Still in the stage where I'm wishing I hadn't done this. I want my life back and right now I'm not living, I'm just here