Become an Insider

TKR CaliGirl's post op journey.

Hi @CaliGirl glad you are improving, I have just bought a nutri smoothy juicer so I can eat or drink lots of fruit so I hope the poop fairy comes to me each day as I have the same problem. I thought if I loose my appetite after my op I can at least make a smoothly with fruit and veg and kill too birds with one stone.

LTKR 11 May 2016
 
@CaliGirl hope your pain is good all day today
@Dawni I have to remember that I have frozen fruit in freezer for smoothie! Finally @CaliGirl poop fairy helped me out yesterday-I've been miserable. I was taking things to help but . . .the things we experience. I've read all the articles Bonesmart and it's so very helpful because unless you've experienced it for yourself it's hard for family and friends to understand!
 
I'm going to get back on the smoothies now my appetite has come back too, you can drink your fruit and veg, not too much kale yet though I think it interferes with blood clotting. I've also ordered some organic chicken bone broth, supposed to be very nutritious and full of collagen, calcium, glucosamine and minerals helpful for healing. When I'm back on my feet I'll try making my own in the slow cooker - much cheaper.
 
@Tabbycat You only have to worry about Kale for blood clotting if you are on warfarin(Coumadin). It won't effect any of the other meds including aspirin.
 
Thank you@newlybionic, I am on Xarelto, so I'll be ok, I love kale in a smoothie!
 
@newlybionic thank you for sharing that about kale I love kale and mangoes , my TKR is on Wednesday and I am having a lot of fresh fruit & Veg smoothies to help me go to the toilet before and after the operation as I always have this problem with anesthetic hoping this will help

LTKR 11 May 2016
 
Hi Gayna~ Just wanted to drop in and say I'm thinking of you and hoping your recovery is in a good place. Things are still challenging for me. For example, finding that good place in pain management. I'm taking my meds, elevating and icing around the clock. Still, I'm only doing about 20% of the prescribed PT exercises because of the pain it incurs. I am on my walker and moving about every hour and a half mainly for fear my lazy bladder might not wait for me to get to the restroom! She pulled that stunt on me early on. It was quite upsetting having to give myself a bird bath & change out of my gown & TEDS at 2am in the morning. So now I find my way to the bathroom whether I have to go or not- lol! Anyway, I'm thinking about you and hoping so much your discomfort is improving! Your partner in surgery, Suzie!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Last few days have been rough. In hospital I had a wonderful pain management protocol, and i was doing really well. Unfortunately, my insurance wouldn't cover either the Nucynta or the Dilaudid they were using for pain management in the hospital. I was released with only oxycodone for pain. After taking a couple of doses of it, I started feeling really nauseous, and my BP was very low (according to the home health nurse).

I stopped taking the oxycodone, and just tried to make do with Tylenol. Home pt came out and were very gentle with me, but pain totally flared up. By last night I was crying with the pain, so hubby told me to just take a dose of oxycodone. As it happens I had just eaten dinner, and the oxycodone didn't make me very sick - most of the other doses had been on an empty stomach. That's the good news. The bad, is that although it dialed down the pain, it didn't do anywhere near the job the Dilaudid did.

I talked to the PA today and just totally didn't feel heard. He was more concerned about the nausea than the pain, so told me to just take half, and we'll talk about it on Friday when I come in for my follow up. So I was asking for a stronger pain med, and get told to take half of an already ineffective dose. what? Any kind of PT - even gentle stuff, has come to a standstill, and I'm a recliner bound lump. Being less active is making me feel stiffer (meaning more painful) than when I was able to exercise.

The other concern is that one area of significant pain is my calf. I'm pretty sure it's just muscular pain from pt. If the pain persists they are going to arrange an ultrasound.

Vent over.
 
You do need effective pain relief. If the medication that eases your pain makes you vomit or feel nauseous, you need to ask for something to control that.
There are various anti-emetics that can help. Any sort of narcotic makes me vomit, but that was controlled by a regular dose of Zofran.

It should be possible to find a combination of pain medication and anti emetic that works for you. Don't feel that you have to tough it out with the pain.

Another trick (you may already know) is to always take something to eat, such as crackers, with your pain meds. Never take them on an empty stomach.
 
@Celle I do have Zofran, but that wasn't cutting it. I DIDN'T know not to take the pain meds on an empty stomach, and that was definitely a big part of the problem. When I took the oxycodone after having dinner it made a big difference. This morning I took a dose with a glass of milk and also had much less nausea.

Nausea issue mostly solved - I just wish it provided good pain control. Not nearly as effective as Dilaudid.
 
Make sure you are taking the medication by the clock and don't wait until you start to feel pain. Set an alarm to take one at night. Have a few crackers nearby so you can eat a few and take the meds. Once you are doing that you might find out it is working even better for you.
 
@CaliGirl
Your experience is beginning to mirror mine, I can relate to so much you have just said. I'm glad you have the nausea issue sorted a bit, my doctor in hospital said the exact same thing, so I got sent home with Paracetamol (Tylenol) alone. Hopeless for a period pain let alone this. I can tolerate Cocodamol which is paracetamol with a little bit of codeine but any more makes me sick whether I've eaten or not. Then pain relief is not good which equals less movement and more stiffness, who wants to cause themselves more pain? The hospital tried several anti emetics, none was successful. What can you do? I have postponed my next PT session until next week, I am just not up to it.
The other thing is worrying about all these various pains, how do we know what's 'normal'? Have you still got the calf pain? I know that would make me panic. I have had very sharp stabbing pain in my knee going down towards my foot, I don't know whether it's a nerve. I'm seeing the surgeon later on today, I'll ask him.
We just have to hang on to the fact that time is the only healer,and at least we are not alone.Thank God for this forum.
Sending hugs,
Love Tabby xxx
 
Dawni said:
I have just bought a nutri smoothy juicer
Click to expand...

Tabbycat said:
I'm going to get back on the smoothies now my appetite has come back too
Click to expand...

I have smoothie for lunch every day---blueberries, strawberries, banana, spinach, and yogurt. It helps keep the weight off and it lowers my cholesterol.

CaliGirl said:
I talked to the PA today and just totally didn't feel heard. He was more concerned about the nausea than the pain, so told me to just take half, and we'll talk about it on Friday when I come in for my follow up
Click to expand...
CaliGirl said:
As it happens I had just eaten dinner, and the oxycodone didn't make me very sick - most of the other doses had been on an empty stomach.
Click to expand...
I was on Oxycontin, and I had to take it on a full stomach----that helped a great deal.

I agree---you should not have to be in pain, nor should you have to deal with the nausea. There are meds that will help out---if you do not get what you need from your OS, talk with your GP to make sure that you are not feeling miserable.
 
@newlybionic I am taking all my meds by the clock. Before surgery I downloaded an app, and used it with my daily meds to get familiar with it. The first thing I did when I got home from the hospital was to program in all the meds and times and alarms. I wasn't feeling well, so I wasn't eating much at all, and so I was taking pretty much everything (especially my middle of the night dose of oxycodone) on an empty stomach, perpetuating the nausea. Thankfully, now I know, I take it with food or a glass of milk, and the nausea is SIGNIFICANTLY reduced.

I am thrilled to report that after resting, icing, and elevating for a few days, doing virtually no PT, and taking the Oxycodone at bedtime, I'm feeling MUCH better.

My calf pain is still there, but less, and really only when I flex my calf, so I'm almost positive it's muscle pain and not a clot. The calf pain the surgeon's office was taking seriously, and said if I wasn't improved today they'd arrange an ultrasound. At this point I don't think that's necessary.

@Tabbycat I'm getting electric shooting pains across my kneecap, but I've read that symptom in enough recovery threads to know it's totally normal. Icing with one of my home made ice packs takes care of that for me. Wow, those are so much colder than my ice therapy machine!

Last night I took the oxycodone, but was still having the electric pain, so I asked for an ice pack. Fell asleep in my recliner with the ice pack on my knee (over a towel). I woke up when hubby took the ice pack off, saying "No, leave it, it's my friend!" He was concerned that since it was so much colder and I'd fallen asleep that I would get frostbite. I lifted up the towel and showed him my leg wasn't even pink, and that it was heavenly, so he left me to it. I was rather surprised to see ice chips on the towel (the top part where the ice pack was on the towel, not the side against my skin) when I took it off.

With the help of the oxy, I was able to have a pretty comfortable nights sleep in bed, even able to sleep on my side for a bit :yes!:. Tonight I'm going to try taking half an oxycodone at 8:30, and the other half at 2:30 am (with food). Last night I took a whole one at 8:30, and nothing since. Middle of the night a conveniently available half an oxycodone would have been welcome, but was too much effort since I hadn't planned ahead. A whole one would definitely have been too much (it makes me soooo stoned! :heehee:).

Today's agenda: my first post op shower.:spin:

Thanks everyone for the support and understanding through this roller-coaster ride that is recovery.
 
So good to hear from you Gayna! So sorry you 'hit the wall' where the pain took over. It's an awful place and one I don't intend to return to!

I was given 15mgs of oxycodone every 3hrs in the hospital and still needed a break through dose of ultram about the 2nd hr after taking the oxy. I get my discharge orders and find a prescription for only 2.5mgs to 5mgs of oxy every SIX HOURS. Needless to say my first few days at home were unbelievably difficult.

My home nurse called the surgeons office and told them my pain level was 8+ and she felt I needed an increase in the oxy. They didn't call her back. The next morning, out of my mind in pain, I called and left a message. I told whoever that what my surgeon's PA sent me home with was NOT managing my pain. And in a nice 'sort' of way, I demanded they increase my oxy so that I could get on with my recovery. A few minutes later the nurse called me back and said I could take 10mgs every 6hrs which has helped immensely.

The first thing that happened for me was SLEEP! Nice dream filled naps! I wasn't doped to a non-responsive place either- if the phone rang or someone stopped by, I woke up pretty quick. I had also dealt with low oxygen rates while in the hospital and the first few days at home but my sister told me to make deep breathing apart of my exercise routine.

For the past 2 days I have slept so much! And my pain level is down to about a 4!

I'm not sure what your dose of oxy is but there is a magic number that will manage 'your' pain. I keep a pack of cheese or peanut butter crackers close by to take with mine. I'm sitting here right now after 30 minutes of light PT and at least 5 laps back and forth to the restroom so far today and I barely feel knee discomfort presently! Now if I miss my next dose I can assure you that will change.

I'm about to get up again and I'll feel that tight whoosh of pain with the first few steps- but it lessens as I continue to walk. I'm so relieved that the pain monster has loosened it's grip on me!

The mantras of bonesmart.org truly do work!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@Suz I'm glad you've got your pain under control, and have found what's working for you.

My Oxycodone is 15 mg. Given my pain levels most of the time, I do think cutting it in half is the answer for me. As hubby said, after taking the first half, I can always take the second half if I'm not feeling better after 45 minutes.

Besides the combo of abruptly stopping the pain meds entirely because of nausea and starting pt, my pain levels have been AMAZINGLY good. I really am fine most of the time on just Tylenol. I do have pain at night, and now I know how to manage the oxy, I'm much more comfortable. I really don't feel like I need it round the clock though. I was able to walk back and forth to the bathroom, shower, stand and brush my teeth, and get dressed, and I haven't even taken Tylenol this morning. I'm not being stoic or anything, I'm just doing amazingly well.

I noticed this morning for the first time, for instance, that when I sit in my recliner my knee is fine with my feet on the floor and my leg bent. Even yesterday it was a race to see how fast I could get the leg rest up, because my knee wasn't bending enough to be comfortable and it hurts to have my leg dangle.

So today's accomplishments: first post op shower, and ability to sit in a chair like a normal person (at least for a little while).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Corganics CBD
Active Antimicrobial Hydrogel

Staff online

Members online

Total: 584 (members: 2, guests: 582)

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom