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TKR Conformis iTotal RTKR Recovery 3 Aug 15

Hi @Gojennygo .
Bottomshollow has altered your thread title for you. She didn't see your post before she did it. I hope you like what she has done. If not, it can be changed again for you. There's no need to put your surgery date in the thread title, because it appears in your signature at the bottom of every post you make. Also, we don't want a thread title that is too long.
 
Celle said:
Hi @Gojennygo .
Bottomshollow has altered your thread title for you. She didn't see your post before she did it. I hope you like what she has done. If not, it can be changed again for you. There's no need to put your surgery date in the thread title, because it appears in your signature at the bottom of every post you make. Also, we don't want a thread title that is too long.
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Hello Bottomshallow and Celle,

Thanks for helping me and explaining the rules. I prefer to see dates in titles, so as to easily see people who are at similar stages as myself.

Could you please change my title to:

Conformis iTotal TKR 1st Knee 8/3/15

Thank you
 
I modified your suggested title just a bit regarding the date. We don't use the number format you suggested because we have an international audience here on BoneSmart. In some areas of the world those numbers would read "March 8, 2015."
 
Hi @Gojennygo! Just found this site yesterday and your recovery thread was the first one I came across! The common theme between so many seems to be to have patience, take it slow, and those are my biggest fears! But I'm gaining courage from reading your story and several others! Thanks so much for sharing! And I think your incision is healing really nicely!
 
Hi @Tiasabita, welcome!

So glad you found this forum. It is a great place to gain knowledge, which helps to dispel those nagging fears we all deal with. These surgeries are complex, major life events and reading about other's experiences can be very reassuring.

I am glad you found my thread and that you like it. I see you are 53, me too! I try to put stuff in it that will explain what I'm going through, and I am guilty of venting, too! The people here are great, someone always chimes in with good advice and/or words of comfort.

Good luck to you and your knees!
 
Hi Friends,

I am almost 6 weeks post-op on RTKR. I experience terrible pain from even the slightest sideways motion, such as bumping my shoe on a table leg when standing up. However, I can walk, sit, lie down, etc. with normal, expected pains such as aching, tightness and soreness while bending and doing heel slides.

It wakes me up all night long whenever I shift or change position. I can lie on my back and lift my leg straight up with little to no pain. But, the slightest twist can cause shockingly sharp pain. Additionally, after I have been asleep about an hour or 2, I wake up and am in agony no matter what position I am in, and no matter which pain meds I have taken.

Any thoughts on why I have this and why it isn't improving? Is this normal?

Thanks for any ideas and advice
 
@Gojennygo - I have no answers for you, but I am looking forward to the answers you get. I'm 4 weeks post LTKR, doing well walking and on stairs, but also have significant pain with twisting of any sort. My most uncomfortable time is sleeping. I don't naturally sleep on my back, and any attempt to roll over during the night is met with tremendous pain. And them I'm wide awake once again. Anyone with explanations and suggestions?
 
hi @mla925 ,

Sorry to hear you are suffering with the same pain I am, but I am glad you chimed in. Maybe it is a normal part of the recovery process. You described the sleeping aspect perfectly for me, too. I have become afraid to fall asleep because I wake up in such bad pain, or I wake myself up by moving.

I hope someone can help us. This forum has so many great people participating, I bet we will get good input!
 
[Bonesmart.org] Conformis iTotal RTKR Recovery 3 Aug 15
@Gogjennygo, you may notice that I have merged your three recovery threads. We like to keep our members' recovery posts all in a single thread. That way it's easy for us to go back and read your history before responding to a question or concern. In addition, the thread becomes a journal of your recovery for those who come along later and want to read about you. So, please post in this thread from now on when you want to give an update or ask a question. If you have questions or concerns that need an immediate answer, please tag an admin, a mod, or other members or all three.

If you are having a problem locating your thread, here is a link with how to do it: How can I find my threads and posts?
 
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Try to remember that this is a LOOOOOOOOONG recovery, @Gojennygo. In another 6 weeks some of this will resolve itself, but its likely to be six months post op before you know that "normal" is going to happen.
 
Hi @Gojennygo and @mla925! I had the same difficulty with turning when sleeping which is why I slept on the couch since I came back home. I tried sleeping in my bed but getting into a comfortable position was near impossible. Even on the couch I would wake up several times during the night to reposition and take pain meds/ice my knee. Last night was the first night I actually slept through the night in my own bed so I can say that it will get better. Just have to give yourself time to heal. I do take a pain med and muscle relaxer at bedtime which helps settle my knee down.
 
I took a percocet at night until just last week. My knee was not happy in any position for long. I have a little mountain of body pillow, couple of regular pillows, and a soft blanket that I would roll my knee over and up on. Then knee wanted me on my back. And back and forth all night. My IT band burned like fire at night, too. Sleep was fitful and interrupted, as yours is. With time, all got better. Now using Tylenol PM and sleep is getting much easier. Frustrated me no end, and it was tough. At just over 9 weeks, I can say it does get better. The pain from sideways movement was a problem too. I have three large dogs and if one of them bumped against my foot while I was in my recliner, I would make a loud and unhappy noise which brought a concerned family member to check on me. It hurt so much! That seems to be gone now as well. Hang in there.
 
Looking good. That's a nice series of pictures that seem pretty typical for your place in recovery. They should be very helpful for other people who are wondering if what they're seeing on their knee and leg is normal. Isn't it nice to have the leg straight?
 
Hi @Gojennygo It's amazing how your right leg is so much straighter after your TKR! Do you know whether your OS had to do any sort of "extra" work, e.g., bone contouring or muscle/tendon manipulation? It's just hard to imagine that replacing the knee straightened it that much. Looks wonderful!
 
Hi Kathi @SDkate

I chose my doctor because of his expertise with custom knees, which are built to fit the patient and retain as much bone as possible. I had done research on Conformis knees and being bowlegged beforehand and when I met with him, we discussed my bowleggedness. It is amazing to me how much straighter my leg is now! The precision on the Conformis system reassured me immensely. My father was bowlegged and had 3 TKR's and a hip replaced, and he ended up with one leg shorter than the other, but that was years ago. I was scared of that happening to me, but like I said, my doctor assured me that measurements now are very precise and that would not occur.

He did not do anything "extra" to straighten my leg, except the detailed prep involved with the Conformis system knees. You have a cat scan done to get accurate meaasurements and your knee AND the tools and cutting jigs are made just for you, to fit you and minimize bone loss. It is an amazing technology.

There is an article on either here or somehwere else online about how many people become either knock-kneed or bowlegged due to their advanced arthritis. In my case, my deformity worsened over time.
 
I think that if you sleep with a pillow between your legs it will help prevent any jerks in the night. I am a side sleeper and slept on my side in my own bed from day 2 onward.

The lateral movement is probably hitting a spot that is not healed right now. If it still has pain at 3 months, they you would be more concerned. Also there is a ligament on the side which might be tender and need some rest.
 
Gojennygo said:
I am almost 6 weeks post-op on RTKR. I experience terrible pain from even the slightest sideways motion, such as bumping my shoe on a table leg when standing up. However, I can walk, sit, lie down, etc. with normal, expected pains such as aching, tightness and soreness while bending and doing heel slides.

It wakes me up all night long whenever I shift or change position. I can lie on my back and lift my leg straight up with little to no pain. But, the slightest twist can cause shockingly sharp pain. Additionally, after I have been asleep about an hour or 2, I wake up and am in agony no matter what position I am in, and no matter which pain meds I have taken.
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It is normal to experience more pain from twisting or sideways motions rather than the straight on movements from your knee. Those movements engage more of the ligaments, tendons and muscles that were rousted all about during surgery and they are still healing and adjusting to the new knee. It is important to properly medicate for this pain. Can you tell me what you're taking and how often? You should be on some type of schedule at this point in your recovery. If you're waking up after 2 hours and hurting, then you are undermedicating for your pain. Remember you're just 6 weeks out from surgery....that's early in this process!
 
bdink21 said:
I tried sleeping in my bed but getting into a comfortable position was near impossible.
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I had the same issue---it was not that I was in horrible pain---it was more that I could not get comfortable.

I also concur with Jamie---those two ligaments that are on the sides of the knee , as well as all of the tendons, are now getting used to all of the movement by the knee---as the swelling subsides and the ROM increases, those pains will be there for a short time, but they also will subside, too.

Six weeks remove from a TKR or a BTKR seems like a long enough time, but, in the reality of things, you are still very early in recovery---months and months and months. Some (the exception) may take upwards to a year to recover---I took about eight months or so.
 
[Bonesmart.org] Conformis iTotal RTKR Recovery 3 Aug 15
[Bonesmart.org] Conformis iTotal RTKR Recovery 3 Aug 15
Hello All,

I have a weird thing in/on my incision. I have assumed it was just a deeper scab thus far, but now I am suspecting that it is something else. Maybe a stitch? It doesn't hurt. I have searched in here and online, and have been thinking it is minor or it will resolve on it's own, but wondered if any of you had thoughts.

My doctor is about 2 hours from where I reside, so not an easy thing to pop in and see him. I had been planning on showing him when I had my second TKR done, but since it is postponed, I am wondering if I should continue to ignore it, or mention it to him.

One last thing, I took a bath for the first time last night, to celebrate my 6 week mark. Should I avoid the tub while this thing is present?

Thank you for any thoughts, sweet dreams everyone!
(Sorry of my picture is gross!!)
 
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