Bilateral TKR Calamity on the other side!

[VancouverUSAgal]

He apparently did not take my pain seriously and was more concerned of me misusing my narcotic pain meds.

That's so frustrating. I know the doctors are under pressure to make sure patients aren't mis-using narcotic pain pills, but some doctors seem to forget that there's a reason for taking pain meds and they're needed so long as the person is having pain.

As you know, I'm still awaiting surgery and my primary care doc just upped my prescription from 5mg Vicodin to the 10mg Hydrocodone or Norco. He just suggested that I try to keep it to 3x/day if I could. He said this would be better also because it has less Tylenol in it which is not good with the other stuff I'm on. I'll have to see how I do for the next few days. The Vicodin never made me sleepy or dizzy or anything but I'll have to make sure this stuff doesn't before I drive.

Anyway, sorry to go off on the tangent about myself, but I totally understand your anger at your surgeon and wish all doctors could make judgments based on the individual patient and their situation rather than some arbitrary guidelines put about by the drug enforcement folks. It's difficult enough to be in pain and asking for help and then to add an unsympathetic doc on top of it is just too much!

I was on Morphine at one point and gave it up principally because it was such a hassle. I had to go in person each month to the doctors office and sign for the written prescription and then pick it up from the pharmacy myself and show ID and sign for it each time.

I wish you relief from your pain and hope it gets much better in the next few weeks. Keep in touch.

 

[calamity]

Thanks Linda,​

​

I hope this dosage of pain meds work for you and can get you to your surgery date more comfortable.​

 

[calamity]

It's been a long time since I've posted here. I just realized just how long it has been! It seemed that it took so much energy, I kept putting it off. I'm now 7 1/2 months out from having BTKR done. I'm doing very well and am amazed that I can stand and walk without all the pain that I had before surgery. Grocery shopping was a dreaded ordeal! Now, I it's no problem at all. I still have some pain with stairs and getting up and down from chairs (depending the height of the chair and if it has arms). There's no more achiness at night, thank goodness!

My physical therapist gave me exercises to continue after I finished 8 weeks of therapy in November. I still do them, my knees are a lot stiffer if I don't keep up a regular schedule with them. I still don't have the endurance that I used to, (need to get back on my elliptical) and have gained about 10 pounds over the winter.

I had a set back at the end of December when I slipped on the bottom step and landed on both knees. OUCH!, thankfully there was no damage to either replacement, but had soft tissue injury. It took me backwards, which was very frustrating a good month to six weeks. I had been put on Neurontin by my GP about a month before (to help me get off of the narcotics)....I realized after being on the Neurontin and it actually helping the pain, that I had been having nerve pain. The nerve pain intensified after my fall. It finally has settled down, just a little burning and prickly feeling once in a while.

I did realize a limitation recently that I hadn't thought of. A couple of weeks ago I road in the back seat of a friends car for about 45 minutes which seemed like forever. There wasn't room to stretch my legs and boy did my knees hurt. I couldn't wait to get out of the car. Then just a few days after that I went to see a movie in a theater, not much leg room there either. My knees were hurting before the movie even started, I took some Tylenol and toughed through it. Good thing it was a good movie!

It feels good to have my life back again. A lot of people have asked me if I regretted have both knees done at once....it's a really hard question. I don't believe in regrets so I don't, but I would never tell someone that they should have bilateral done. That has to be a personal decision. I still get upset when someone who hasn't had it done, but knows someone...tells me that's the only way to go! I had a really difficult time, to this day I'm not sure if I would have been better off doing them one at a time. I'll never know that. I'm glad I had them done, they had to be done...but maybe not at the same time. I saw a lady at the chiropractor's office yesterday. She was only three weeks out from having one knee replaced. At three weeks, the only place I went to was physical therapy and that was exhausting. I was as prepared as I could possibly have been (thanks to this site), but knowing it was going to be painful and a long recuperation is one thing, going through it is another.

Prayer and realizing each day how for I had come, is how I got through each day. Sometimes, each hour. I still remind myself that in the hospital, I just wanted to bend my knees....each day, little by little they bent, more and more. Now I have great ROM and extension, it wasn't easy, but I'm very thankful.

I had a lady at church ask me a couple of weeks ago how many weeks I was laid up.....She was shocked when I told her it was months not weeks. Gave her this website to look up as she's looking at needing both knees done.

Spring is finally here and I'm looking forward to getting out into my flower beds (that were terribly neglected last year) and enjoying the sun!


My very best to all!

 

[VancouverUSAgal]

So good to hear from you and get an update. I know you'll be enjoying working in the garden - Enjoy!

 

[I'm so ready]

Glad to hear you are doing well. all knee surgery takes a long time recovering. I don't ever want to fall. Wish we had good soil for a nice garden. The dogs would dig it up. I am looking forward to warmer weather and the pool water to warm up. Hope it's not too cold next month swimming or just walking in pool. Don't know it I can even swim. You all take care.