TKR gzuckero's Recovery - '6 months in<

[KarriB]

Once upon a time I was one of those coaxing post surgical friends to shop, visit, go out to dinner etc. Never again! I know now just how exhausting recuperation is and have a new appreciation for the time needed to recover. I don't know if there's anything you can do for your friends except show them a you tube video of what a TKR surgery entails.

 

[Gigi32]

Hi @gzuckero - I had my 2nd TKR the same day as you, June 16th. My recovery with this one has been a little more challenging than my 1st one for some reason, but even with that I feel I am doing pretty well. I've been walking without any devices and driving since 2 1/2 weeks, had 110 flexion and 0 extension at my 2 week checkup and started riding a recumbent bike last week. I see my doctor on Friday so I'll see what my measurements are then but I think they have probably improved. Like you I struggle with sleep at night. This was also an issue the last time for at least the 1st 3 months. I started taking Benadryl 50 mg the past few nights and that seems to have helped me sleep a little more. I will tell you the more I do during the day, the more I hurt at night. I will also tell you that you are way to early in your recovery to consider going back to work. I know sometimes there are reasons that make it necessary, but if at all possible you need to see if there's any way you can give yourself more time to heal and allow your knee and muscles to strengthen. This is major surgery that requires a long time to recover from. It takes a lot of patience. You will eventually get there, but if you try to rush it you'll only hurt yourself and setback your progress. It was probably 6 months the last time before I felt normal again. I know you can't take that much time off, but 3 months would be preferable.

 

[tigwy11]

@gzuckero I think I could have written your post! I am 4 weeks and everything you say happens to me. The sleeping is the worst thing, or lack of. I am back at work and it is hard. I slept 4 hours last night. I have tried Tylenol pm, heating the back of the knee and lower back, a sliver of soap in my sock (someone said that worked), pillows, nothing seems to let me get more than 6 hours at the most. It's so frustrating!!!

 

[KarriB]

6 hours! That's fabulous! While I was recovering I couldn't piece together 2 hours. Consider anything more than 4 hours at a time a win.

 

[tigwy11]

6 hours! That's fabulous! While I was recovering I couldn't piece together 2 hours. Consider anything more than 4 hours at a time a win.

@KarriB ok , if that is good I will take it, but I sure don't feel rested lol. It's six but I do wake up and toss and turn but do go back to sleep.

 

[KarriB]

@tigwy11 youre just a month out of surgery, still very early into recovery, so being tired is a given. Your body is still working on healing and that takes a lot of energy. It was months before I felt rested and as if I didn't need to catch up on sleep. I went back to teaching part time at 3 months because I knew I didn't have the stamina to do whole days. I'd come home in the afternoons, ice, elevate and nap. There is a huge stamina drain that comes with a TKR and lasts for quite a while.

 

[momweb]

@gzuckero I have exactly the same nightime issues as you. My surgery was 6 days after you. I also am just beginning to wean myself off the narcotics during the day. I had the same pain on the outer thigh that came on suddenly and strong and every so often still does (just not as strong). I found my little wooden massage creature, you know the thing that massages without killing your fingers? And every night I massage deeply that muscle, the hamstring and calf muscle. I also have an issue with a Baker's cyst behind the knee. Then I apply moist heat to the back of my leg and Ice the top of my knee.

I sleep with a pillow below my calf so my knee and thigh are not on the pillow. I have 0 extension but I cannot lie with my leg straight. It is the only way I can get any sleep comfortably. If I turn on my side, the pillow comes with me between my knees, then back to the bottom of the bed when I go back to my back.

I still take full Dilaudid at 10PM along with Valium for the spasms before bed. If I have a difficult night, I might have to ice in the middle of the night. But I will admit, the last 2 nights I've noticed a change, I am sleeping longer, less icing and starting to get more comfortable.

I read your post with such interest. You could so be me. Funny, how many of us are so similar and yet so different. Good luck and keep us posted.
Sue

 

[Lovestoread]

Sleep issues are huge during recovery. Like you, I would never get more than 2-3 hours per night, and even that was broken up. Unfortunately, I've been suffering from severe insomnia for many, many years, so I was (and still am) used to it. It is hard to function on so little sleep, but hopefully that will improve soon. If you can nap during the day, do it! As for "helpful" friends and visitors, you really have to be honest with them and say you simply aren't up to it. Let them you you appreciate their offers, but right now, your main focus is on healing, not your social life.


Sent from my iPad using BoneSmart®

 

[PolarBear60]

My back bothered me about this time in recovery, too. I also consciously thought about my gait. My extension was a little more than 10 at five weeks. This week, it was zero, and I didn't work too hard in any specific way to achieve that. For the first few weeks, I slept better than before surgery, but I'm sleeping about the same now. I wake up every couple of hours, turn over, and (usually) go back to sleep. If I don't, I read for a little while until I am tired again. Sleep has bothered me periodically throughout my lift, but, mostly, I figure I will sleep when I'm tired. If I can't sleep, I either read or get up and do something until I can. I realize other people have serious sleep issues, and I don't want to minimize those, but I've found worrying about it seems to make it worse. Your mileage may vary.

I guess I'm lucky. I've had no friends or visitors (all my friends live hundreds of miles away or more). My husband, on the other hand, stopped doing the bare essentials pretty quickly after I got home. I found a way to scoop the litter boxes, load the dishwasher, and do the laundry in short stints (after telling him if he wanted his laundry done, he'd have to bring it downstairs, which he did do). Everything else? It waited. I know you'll find a way to get that stuff to balance out, but make sure you look out for you first for a little while more.

 

[kmann]

@tigwy11 ...I would not do heat on the knee, not even the back of the knee, heat increases swelling, especially as early as you are in recovery!

@gzuckero ... I am exactly one week ahead of you I too have had problems with the extension, although I am at 2 degrees right now. Just do as many hamstring stretches as you can it will really help. And if you're sitting around, put something underneath your ankle as much as you can, to help straighten that leg. As far as going from sitting to standing, and then taking off to walking, I just really noticed yesterday so right at 6 weeks that it's a little better, and Im able to take off a little faster, don't have to wait so long. It will come, its slow, good luck

 

[momweb]

@tigwy11 just to clarify the heat...it was recommended by my physical therapist because of the muscle spasms. I have no swelling so that may be why he suggested it. Run it by your PT or doctor to be sure.

 

[referee54]

Good luck!! 2 years + post knee replacements and I don't even think of them most of the time (sometimes they click a little, but not when I need them, like yesterday hiking 3.5 miles in the Santa Monica mountains! DOn't tell my back surgeon!)

I can tell you this---my BTKR recovery was much longer than I would have liked it to be and much longer than I was prepared for---part of it was my own doing, as I went back to the classroom at eight weeks, and that slowed everything down immensely.

That being stated, though, it has been almost eight years since my BTKR, and I rarely thinno of them---I can go for days without thinking of my knees.

ON Monday, I cycled for 45 miles, and I am working more at the farm now than ever before---and, if I hurt, is muscular and my knees never give me any issues--"normal" is great!

Getting sleep sorted is a real problem. I remember getting so frustrated with not getting comfortable at night, feeling I had found the answer but only lasted an hour of two.

I also had sleep issues that were very frustrating---I tired teas, I tried Benadryl, I tried Tylenol PM---I tried melatonin.

I would fall asleep for a while and then wake up---and be up for hours.

I would wander around the house like a modern-day Diogenes, but instead of looking for one honest many, I was looking for one good night's sleep.

I finally gave in and let my OS give me a prescription for Ambien. I took it for ten nights only, and that re-established my sleep pattern

 

[KarriB]

Tylenol PM is/was a life saver for me. I didn't take Tylenol except at night, but still I'd be up every few hours. I dreaded bed, but didn't have a recliner and forced myself to get in bed every night.

 

[referee54]

I dreaded bed,

I also came to dread bedtime---when it became night-time, iI became anxious. Sleep issues loomed...

 

[MidwestTKR]

When I was about 6 weeks post-op to about 10 1/2 weeks post op, I had soooo much trouble sleeping and would get soooooo frustrated. I could not get comfortable and tossed and turned like crazy. I wound up most nights, getting up for several hours going downstairs and watching TV until I finally felt really tired I remember feeling so sad that I'd never feel normal again and never be able to sleep and worrying about how I was going to be ready to go back to work. But thankfully, it started getting better!!!! Now, since going back to work, I am taking 2 Advil pm to help me sleep. I still have trouble at times, falling asleep at a reasonable time for getting up in the am, but it is much better than before. I think I had the most difficulty when I was weaning off the pain meds. I have not had to take them in approx a month or more. What you are going through is NORMAL!! It will get better!

 

[tigwy11]

@kmann i really don't have much swelling. Am trying the heat on the back of the leg on hamstrings. Tonight, gonna try sleeping in my own bed. Gotta try the Benadryl.....

 

[MGS]

Thank goodness for Bonesmart!! I'm now 6 weeks post op, have a 105 deg. bend, good extension and strength (yes I know I'm lucky!), think my cellulitis has cleared up although my knee is still hot and sore with some redness, and pain has increased on both sides. Feel generally run down with no energy, and sleeplessness is driving me CRAZY. It's now 02.55 am in the U.K. and I feel like crying - there, I've said it - no more 'stiff upper lip' for me! Find it so reassuring that others have experienced the same symptoms. The only other person I can compare myself to is a very fit 82 year old friend who had a TKR, sailed through recovery, within 10 weeks rejoined her Walking Club and is going from strength to strength, how's that for a role model! Anyway, seeing my Consultant next week and seems like I'll just have to keep on hanging in there.

 

[KarriB]

Have you tried Tylenol PM or Advil PM along with regular pain meds? I took one or two with my pain meds just at night and when I woke.

 

[tigwy11]

6 weeks tomorrow for me. I have good ROM but extension is still not quite the same as other knee. I still have stiffness and soreness especially after work and in the morning. So I think we are doing ok. I am finally sleeping with help from Tylenol PM and Trazadone. I wish I would be like that 82 year old at10 weeks!

 

[MGS]

I do admire you for returning to work so early in your recovery, thank goodness you're finally able to sleep. I'm retired, so at least I can rest during the day. Maybe I'll discuss my sleeping problems with my General Practitioner, though U.K. GP's are notoriously reluctant to dispense sleeping pills, still, you never know. Sorry for moaning, it strikes me I may have too much time on my hands and have started dwelling too much on my ills! Happy 6 week anniversary to both of us.