Here is my story.
Firstly priveldge and gratitude.
Priveldge because I live in Canberra which has had minimal COVID19 impacts and has an outstanding medical infrastructure. Also are close to all medical support and have s supportive and caring family.
Gracious for all those who have cared for me.
30th Jun was op date spent night in hospital before because I was first cab off the rank. Total of five nights in hospital two in ICU. Had some serious post op low blood pressure issues which needed care.
Also had a lot of fluid accumulate in calf muscles, as recovery progressed the pain from this was excruciating.
RTKR plus an Osgood Slatters bump removal from top of shin.
Had LTKR 2011.
Same OS used this time with ROSA assist.
Pain management was PCR with nerve block above knee, this lasted 4 days, and was very effective.
Oral 12 hour Lyrica and Targin, 6 hour, paracetamol and endone as required.
Since hospital at 4 weeks have used 70 endone am now not using Targin and on 6 hour cycle of ibuprofen.
Will stay with Lyrica for about another three weeks.
Pain management this TKR is much better than 2011.
Icing I use a powered AIRCAST cut the top off five fruit juice containers filled with water and frozen. Just drop one in a day!
I ice probably four times a day, always after exercise. Icing makes a huge difference.
I tòok the decision to have surgery in May because pain had become intolerable and recovery in winter is much easier, also because of COVID19 sod all else to do.
I am 70 and generally in good health, have occasional Afib which is monitored by a loop recorder and manage with Sotalol and a pacemaker. Yesterday I had a read out of monitored activity and there was no signs of any abnormality during the operation.
I suffered a serious ACL injury left knee in 1969 playing basketball and this has been the cause of both knee issues. Played basketball until I was 45 and did a lot of running.
My post op exercise are as per recommendactions of both hospital PT and our family PT. Nothing special just standard stuff you can Google search. The emphasis now is flexibility and ROM. Strength can come later. I had about 110 deg before op and at 4 weeks had 132 with the PT. I refuse to do anything with a pain above 6 and I am a sook!!
I exercise all the time. Now I do a 1000 step walk one day and the full suite of exercise the next. I focus on technique rather than quantity. Prefer to walk by myself as I am rather slow. Have got better lateral stability than I would have thought and stairs do not trouble me.
Have had no troubles getting to sleep just get the wake up in pain syndrome. Always. As time goes by I have been waking later, pain call this morning was about 4 and I popped 1/2 an endone and got back to sleep.
I imagine I will be managing this for months. With my first TKR I got the awful restless leg syndrome.
Fatigue is real with each day getting slightly better I expect to manage this for months.
Had a nice glass of wine with dinner last night and hope to be able to drive when the Targin is fully out of my system. My OS is quite adamant on the importance of delaying driving as long as possible, which is good.
The most important aspect of support has been my wife; without her my recovery would be diminished. My 5 year old granddaughter visits on the weekend and channels her magic powers to help recovery.
Firstly priveldge and gratitude.
Priveldge because I live in Canberra which has had minimal COVID19 impacts and has an outstanding medical infrastructure. Also are close to all medical support and have s supportive and caring family.
Gracious for all those who have cared for me.
30th Jun was op date spent night in hospital before because I was first cab off the rank. Total of five nights in hospital two in ICU. Had some serious post op low blood pressure issues which needed care.
Also had a lot of fluid accumulate in calf muscles, as recovery progressed the pain from this was excruciating.
RTKR plus an Osgood Slatters bump removal from top of shin.
Had LTKR 2011.
Same OS used this time with ROSA assist.
Pain management was PCR with nerve block above knee, this lasted 4 days, and was very effective.
Oral 12 hour Lyrica and Targin, 6 hour, paracetamol and endone as required.
Since hospital at 4 weeks have used 70 endone am now not using Targin and on 6 hour cycle of ibuprofen.
Will stay with Lyrica for about another three weeks.
Pain management this TKR is much better than 2011.
Icing I use a powered AIRCAST cut the top off five fruit juice containers filled with water and frozen. Just drop one in a day!
I ice probably four times a day, always after exercise. Icing makes a huge difference.
I tòok the decision to have surgery in May because pain had become intolerable and recovery in winter is much easier, also because of COVID19 sod all else to do.
I am 70 and generally in good health, have occasional Afib which is monitored by a loop recorder and manage with Sotalol and a pacemaker. Yesterday I had a read out of monitored activity and there was no signs of any abnormality during the operation.
I suffered a serious ACL injury left knee in 1969 playing basketball and this has been the cause of both knee issues. Played basketball until I was 45 and did a lot of running.
My post op exercise are as per recommendactions of both hospital PT and our family PT. Nothing special just standard stuff you can Google search. The emphasis now is flexibility and ROM. Strength can come later. I had about 110 deg before op and at 4 weeks had 132 with the PT. I refuse to do anything with a pain above 6 and I am a sook!!
I exercise all the time. Now I do a 1000 step walk one day and the full suite of exercise the next. I focus on technique rather than quantity. Prefer to walk by myself as I am rather slow. Have got better lateral stability than I would have thought and stairs do not trouble me.
Have had no troubles getting to sleep just get the wake up in pain syndrome. Always. As time goes by I have been waking later, pain call this morning was about 4 and I popped 1/2 an endone and got back to sleep.
I imagine I will be managing this for months. With my first TKR I got the awful restless leg syndrome.
Fatigue is real with each day getting slightly better I expect to manage this for months.
Had a nice glass of wine with dinner last night and hope to be able to drive when the Targin is fully out of my system. My OS is quite adamant on the importance of delaying driving as long as possible, which is good.
The most important aspect of support has been my wife; without her my recovery would be diminished. My 5 year old granddaughter visits on the weekend and channels her magic powers to help recovery.