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Revision TKR Failure of TKR

@ACDC Jen, you are spot on about knowing how to rate pain. I had horrific post-op pain, I mean screaming!! pain, the next day. And I had a 24 yr old RN who (I learned 2 days later) had never worked post-surgical before! and had apparently never had a #10 pain be anything worse than a fingernail broken too short!!! She had absolutely NO concept if the pain level I was trying to tell her I was in. All my other caregivers after her were wonderful, like I was at the Plaza Hotel, but I wouldn't let her back in my room the next day!!
 
It is very typical to have pain behind your knee. If you can, ice behind the knee as well as the front. Have you tried icing your leg through the night for the leg spasms?
 
KarriB said:
It is very typical to have pain behind your knee. If you can, ice behind the knee as well as the front.
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Hi Karri. Yes, I always ice both front, and back, actually wrapping around on that side as much as possible.

KarriB said:
Have you tried icing your leg through the night for the leg spasms?
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Actually, both times that it has happened recently have been while I was icing and trying to go to sleep. It was so painful, I pulled the ice off. I have iced at bedtime other times with no problem, though. I just wondered how common this is, if at all.
 
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It is common. If they continue you can let your OS know as he may be able to give you something for the spasms.
 
@LTKR4Xmas

I had spasms more with my left knee, two different ways. 1. I would be dreaming and I would suddenly snap awake, usually as part of the dream. Those did not last long, pain for maybe 5-10 seconds. 2. I would get random, streaking pain in my leg that would wake me out of a dead sleep. These could happen several times a night or while I was resting.

Whenever I had the second kind of pain, I would drink tonic water with quinine and it helped decrease the frequency of them.

I no longer get the jolting pains, but I sometimes get the startle reflex. Good luck getting to the bottom of this.

Jen
 
Well, it happened again last night, really badly, and I've decided the problem is my Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS). If only I could take a hot bath!!! My RLS has been very well controlled by medication for about 7 years, but apparently the ice at night just isn't going to work for me. I finally was able to get to sleep with a heating pad on my thighs.

Back before we found the right medication for me, I had always found a hot bath to help (found that in an RLS.Org newsletter!) for some reason not yet understood by the minds studying it. And there were times when I thought my legs felt cold and my RLS was worse, but I was never quite sure. I believe I can now call that a definite yes.
 
I'm glad the heating pad works for you. Keep it well away from your knee, though, won't you?
 
Because you're experiencing RLS now, so I wondered if you stopped the medication for it.
 
Oh, I see. No, I believe it was icing at night which was causing it. As I explained, "cold legs" seem to bring on more leg movement/jerking. That's why a warm bath or the heating pad help.
 
Does your knee quit feeling like numb skin over something hard eventually? Or does it regain normal feeling at some point? Is it due to the swelling?
 
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Josephine said:
Did you read my answers earlier?
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Yes, ma'am, I did. And it reflects that I gave it the Thumbs up (like). There were no questions, and none of the comments seemed to require response. Did I miss something?
 
Thanks, @KarriB. I'll go read that now.

Well, that reading was sure a roller-coaster ride of emotion!! Just as I was processing the information @Josephine provided about what happens when a nerve is cut and the very unlikely expectation that the nerve endings will heal properly and restore feeling to the area, then wallah!!! She comes back with the surprise ending that her knee had restored feeling after "only" 5 years!! Lol. I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad!!!

Thank you for the full report, Josephine, as well as Karri for posting it for me.
 
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I have a numb spot on the outside of both my knees. On the 18 week old knee the spot is a little smaller than it was to begin with. Neither numb spot bothers me much though. I really only notice it if I rub my hand across the area. If it goes away that will be great, but if not, I am okay with it. They can't help but cut some nerves with this surgery, and I will take a numb spot over the Arthritis pain I had any day. As for feeling something hard underneath, I don't. It just feels like my knee. Maybe you just need to give it a little time.
 
I have several numb spots on my 3 year old TKR leg. In the beginning the spots were all over my knee and it felt totally weird to shave my leg. Now the numb spot that's still there is the outside of my right calf. It feels different than did, so maybe it's coming back. I agree with Martha, a small price to pay. Most people who undergo major surgeries have numbness at some point.
 
Thanks for all of your responses about the numb spots gradually getting better in most cases, or at least to the point of not being bothersome. Good to hear.
 
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