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Revision TKR Bruising 3 years out

I had the exact same stabbing pain you describe, though I hadn't slipped or anything like that. The surgeon was not overly concerned and it did ease up after a few days. You are doing the right thing to get it checked though.
Keep us posted.
Love, Tabby xxx
 
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I went to the er and they did an xray, the doctor was quite rude. (I'm starting to believe that's the norm for Texas) and he said everything looked fine. However I've still got very sharp pains in the bottom of my knee and it almost looks like I'm developing brushing of some kind around the bottom of my knee and all along my incision. I'm going to swallow my pride and call my doctors office in the morning *fingers crossed hopefully the nurses will be having a good day* and let them know and see if I can't get the doctor to check it out. It's probably nothing but I honestly don't see how doing a little too much exercise in one day can cause this much more pain plus bruising. It's been 5 days and I've layed around quite a bit.
 
At least your x ray was ok, but you must be anxious about the continuing pain. I would let your surgeon know about it. I'm sure others have had mishaps with their new knees. I inadvertently put my whole weight on mine getting off my bath bench on Saturday and the knee locked and felt like it would bend the wrong way. Silly me but it happened in an instant. Its been very painful to put weight on it since. Annoying too as I felt I was making progress. I'll mention it to the physio on Tuesday. We are still very early in recovery, there's lots of healing going on.
Best of luck
Love, Tabby xxx
 
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yeah, it's worth checking out since it's been a number of days. The problem with an xray (correct me if I'm wrong, Josephine) is that it doesn't really tell you anything about the soft tissue. The soft tissues seem to be supersensitive after the surgery. Many of us have strained or "tweaked" something in our early recovery.

I remember starting to feel confident taking the one step down into my living room with my walker. I was walking so well I wasn't focusing and went down wrong leg first. Yikes! MWA (manipulation without anesthesia):heehee:
Pain level from 2 up to 7. I had to really baby the knee for the next day or two. (Luckily for me that's all it took to get back to "normal"--or at least what passes for normal early in recovery. :wink:
 
Reassurance from one's own physician goes a long way in improving patient satisfaction. A savvy medical practice understands this and seeks to calm anxious patients instead of brushing them off. I hope all turns out to be fine with your new knee.
 
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I called yesterday morning and nobody bothered to call me back. I'm almost out of my pain meds and had to skip PT yesterday because I just can't do it right now. I slept with my leg elevated (I usually sleep on my side) and iced all night and it's feeling a little bit better this morning. I haven't been up a whole lot today, I'm kind of afraid to because I don't want the pain getting really bad again. My PT told me yesterday that I'm not healing as fast as normal which confused me because I'm only 6 weeks out and from what I've read the recovery takes months and the pain can last a very long time before it finally calms down.
 
Don't just call your OS. Call and schedule an appointment. Isn't there normally a six weeks post op exam? Call and schedule that appointment!

Ok, you read it correctly- initial recovery takes months and complete recovery takes a year or more. PT is saying stupid, uninformed nonsense to get in your head and frighten you. So, good job- you skipped one session. Why not skip all sessions for the next couple weeks and see how it goes? Looking back through your thread I see that you've been advised repeatedly to suspend PT and instead concentrate on rest, ice, elevation, and activities of daily living. You should be about done with home PT anyway. I suggest you call the home health company that sends the physical therapist and tell them you are suspending (or terminating) their services. Write a letter saying the same thing. They may argue -remember, they make $$$ from your sessions- but firmly tell them, "do not send PT to my home". If a therapist shows up at your porch do not open the door! You have the absolute legal right to refuse any and all medical services, which includes PT.

I didn't begin PT until 6 weeks after my RTKR. I recovered just fine, and my recovery has taken about as long as anyone else's. I had lots of discomfort for the first 12 weeks, with gradual improvement after that; in other words a very typical recovery.
 
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I have to agree with Clipless.You really must stop all PT and rest that leg more. And the fact that you are only 6 weeks out means one thing - you are slap bang in the middle of the 'angry tissue' phase so nothing is wrong except you are working the knee too hard and not medicating sufficiently.

Another thing - you cannot elevate your leg in bed if you are laying on your side. Sleep on your back and have your leg on pillows.
 
I slept on my back all night last night, probably the first time in a week and oh it felt so good this morning when I woke up. I had some stiffness but the pain had dropped. I've got an appointment towards the middle of June for my 6 week follow up. They do things strange here. I didn't see my doc for my first follow up for 4 weeks and then they said to come back in 6 weeks. Now I'm having problems getting them to refill my pain meds (I have 2 doses left and have been asking them for 2 days) nurse told me today that she would ask the doctor tomorrow. I really hate the way they do things here. Yes, your right, I am almost done with PT I have like 2 more weeks and then no more. I got the visits down to 2 a week and we only do the exercises I'm willing to do. I'm more careful on the stairs now cuz the twisting really hurt and the doctors office didn't care about that at all. Never again will I let this doctor operate on me. I hate that I let a doctor I trusted do this only to find myself dealing with it alone afterwards. I'm so tired of the "go to the er" speal.
 
Xanaphia, your surgeon has a duty to see you if you have a problem (such as a fall or near-fall) in the intervening time between your regular appointments. That is is legal duty. He is responsible for your care.
It doesn't matter if your appointment is not due yet. He should keep some time slots for emergency appointments.

If you are still having severe pain, even after stopping PT and spending lots of time resting, icing and elevating, ask your husband to call for an appointment for you. He may have more success with the unhelpful nurses at your surgeon's clinic.

Will your regular doctor (PCP/GP ) help at all with pain medications, if your husband phones and says what a problem you are having contacting your surgeon?
 
They finally called me with a prescription for more pain meds 4 days after I called them, gave me something much much less effective than the percocet, I guess they're trying to "wean" me off the pain meds idk. I'm doing better. I have bad days and end up having to double up on my pain meds. I'm getting around better. I took your advice and have been forcing myself to stay off of it when it starts to hurt, elevate and ice all night long. I have alot of stiffness in the mornings but it goes away for the most part a few hours after I wake up. My leg is very achy most of the time but I'm starting to get used to it. I really wish they would let me put heat on parts of it because I think it would feel good but the doctor said no heat for any reason
 
I'm just curious but is it normal to still have a lot of pain 7 weeks out? Me and my daughter went to the gym last night and I just did the exercise bike. While I was cycling my knee popped and today its hurting more and the bottom of my femur (I think that's where the pain is, just above my knee) is hurting. Is it normal for it to pop or did I damage something? Also once in a while I get pains where the bottom of my incision is. Its not red or anything and the pain comes and goes but its very irritating. I still cannot walk well with a cane so I still use my walker. My neighbor who had this done said I should be in a lot less pain and walking fine by now. Is this true? I'm so aggravated st this whole thing. I'm sorry for complaining but I feel trapped in my own body and can't even see my doctor because they don't care and I don't have a GP
 
Forget your nosy neighbor. I was still using my walker off and on through 8 weeks post op. It's okay, and so are you. The exercise bike is a good idea, but at this stage of your recovery you should only pedal for a few minutes, slowly, and with zero resistance. If anything hurts back off.

Why don't you call around and find yourself a regular doctor? Mine is an Internist.
 
7 weeks is nothing in terms of recovery. Sure you can do more than you used to, but it takes a good 12 weeks to approach normal activity--and even then you are still recovering.
It sounds like you just joined the ODIC (overdid it club) with the amount of biking you did.
 
I'm 12 weeks out and I still have pain it's not all the time thankfully but it sure lets me know when I've been on it too long. I can't get a rotation on the exercise bike yet. But having followed this mantra of ice and elevate have at least gotten me some wonderful daily living back. I also have popping sounds and movement but have learned these aren't damage but normal knee sounds from a knee that is just not secure enough yet because my ligaments are still strengthening. It does sometimes leave it tender though. Wishing you well and continued improvement.


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I think my recovery honestly would be a little smoother if I actually had a decent doctors office. I honestly had no idea how nasty the nurses could be to their patients because this is the same doctor that did my arthroscopy in 2014 and I didn't have these problems. But now... If I call them because my pain meds aren't working or even if I have a question the nurses are very rude to me. Tomorrow I'm going to call and demand an appointment earlier than the 20th and I'm seriously thinking about making an appointment with my pain management doctor. It might take me a week to get in but at least he is kind and understanding. The last two days I've experienced new calf swelling and extra swelling around my knee, and today my knee has been very warm to the touch. Probably on my feet too much. I stayed in bed almost all day today with ice. Its hard for me to stay in bed because I'm used to doing the cooking and cleaning and I've done not much of either for almost 8 weeks and I'm starting to feel like a burden on my family even tho they are being very understanding. Yesterday evening in was up a lot, sitting in a hard chair for almost 3 hours and then walking around a football field afterwards. My daughter graduated from high school yesterday. I'm so proud of her :) but boy am I feeling it today
 
Congratulations to your daughter! My youngest son graduated on Thursday. Yes, graduation day is long but wonderful. As I sat in the stadium I stretched my right leg occasionally to avoid getting stiff. I am also very proud of my graduate!

It sounds like you are feeling much better.
 
Congratulations to you and your daughter. Her for graduating and you being able to be there to witness this once in a lifetime event. [emoji310] [emoji310] it will get better. Everyday I am thankful that I am not at day 1 after surgery. Stay on that positive side. Rest when you need to and ice up.i feel really bad for you but if the nurses are messy stop calling them. You need a refill have the pharmacy call, or see your regular doctor. I know mine will write me a prescription for my pain. As well as resources to get better service.

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Congrats on your daughters graduation, I bet you are a very proud mom. Sometimes we just have to do what we have to do and being there for your daughter was one of those. But for the next couple of days I hope you take time to rest. It's really hard to step back and let others do for us, especially when we are so used to doing for others, but let go and let your family continue to help you. I know for me my hubby has done all the cooking and cleaning (bless his heart the cleaning isn't my standard of cleaning :heehee:) but he's keeping the dust bunnies at bay so yay him! Yesterday I actually made homemade turkey soup and standing in that one spot for the time it took to cut up veggies and debone the turkey was long enough and back to the recliner to ice and elevate. Baby steps.

I would definitely call my pain management doctor if you aren't getting anywhere with the nurses at your surgeons office. I think that is horrible the way they are treating you. They should be ready to assist you with any question, concern or pain management question you have. So sorry you are going through that.
 
Your knee will need a couple of days of TLC after that outing. Lots of ice, elevation and gentle movement. No housework.
 
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