TKR Happy Camper

OldGoat

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TKR this morning. Prepped at 5:30, surgery at 7:30, in recovery around 9:30 am, home by 1 pm. Very satisfied so far. In pre-op took oral percocet and a anti-inflammatory pill given by nurse, General anesthesia by IV, and nerve blocker injection by anesthesiologist. The next thing I remember was waking up in a big recliner in recovery. Doc stopped by, Nurse made sure I could walk up and down the hall with a walker and was also able to urinate, then she gave me discharge instructions and I was on the way home.

No pain so far (maybe a 2 level at the most), no constipation, no nausea and actually had long nap in bed (on my back). Starving! Eating all day. So a really good first day.

Even with that, I am going to keep up with the pain meds (including the percocet) because I hope not to get ambushed when the nerve blocker wears off probably tomorrow (Great advice from Mangiamom!)
I am praying today's experience was a sign of good things to come for this new knee. Will update late. Thanks for the support!

Should I post this in "Knee Recovery Forum" ?
 
Last edited:
@OldGoat I moved your first post op post to a recovery thread for you.

Sounds like you are doing very well. Early days - take the proven slow and steady approach.

I'll leave your recovery guideline here for you:
Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary

2. Control discomfort:
rest
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​

3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you​
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​

4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these

5. At week 4 and after you should follow this Activity progression for TKRs

6. Access these pages on the website

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.
 
Congratulations on your nice new shiny knee. It's very smart to stay on top of any possible pain without waiting for extreme pain to set in.
 
Sounds like you are doing great. And you have a great, positive attitude. Find out what works best for you. For me, it was outpatient PT 4 days post op for each knee. At 7 weeks when I finished PT, my bend was 130. Keep up the good work.
 
Welcome to the other side @OldGoat! May your first day be an indicator of a fairly pain free recovery. Do take some time to read the materials Jaycey noted. And do keep up with the meds for a few days at least until you can assess how your knee is going to respond. I would caution you not to overdo when not experiencing pain - they did a lot of construction in there and it does need time to heal before you start giving it a major workout.
 
Welcome to the recovery side and your brand new shiny super custom after-market knee! Hope your recovery goes smoothly.
 
Congrats on your surgery from one Old Goat to another. Surface or Subs?
 
@CT-Mike
Too many years on FF & DDGs which greatly contributed to my knees going South. Does the CT stand for Crypto by any chance? I was an EW

Day 3 Recovery Update. I think the nerve blocker wore off as predicted. Constant elevation and icing (Beluga ice therapy machine $180 on Amazon). Pain in knee is still about a 2 but has become a lot stiffer. Doesn't look like swelling but feels like it is internally. ROM yesterday was about 90 - 05, but decreased to about 80 - 10 this morning. Increased pain in my quads right above the knee and to the outside. I suspect that is due to the tourniquet and it does feel like a deep bruise. Massage is helping.

My first home PT is today so keeping my fingers crossed I get a good one. Already have my questions ready for him when he walks in the door to make sure we are on the same page (Bonesmart way).
 
Your ROM numbers are going to fluctuate, due to variations of swelling, so don’t worry about them, especially this early.

Yes, talk with your PT about how you want things to go.

Regaining our ROM is more about Time than repetitions of a list of exercises.

Time to recover.
Time for pain and swelling to settle.
Time to heal.

Our range of motion is right there all
along just waiting for that to happen so it can show itself.

In the general run of things, it doesn't need to be fought for, worked hard for or worried about. It will happen. Normal activity is the key to success.
 
@CT-Mike
Too many years on FF & DDGs which greatly contributed to my knees going South. Does the CT stand for Crypto by any chance? I was an EW

No, it stands for Connecticut where I spent most of my career on subs - was a Nuke Electronics Tech. We carried the CTs around a bunch though depending on where we were and what we were doing.
 
Your ROM numbers are going to fluctuate, due to variations of swelling, so don’t worry about them, especially this early.

Agree, just using it as a reference. I believe it will be a big improvement over before surgery eventually. No rush, not going dancing until next year

The PT is a good one. Basic exercises and stretching with orders to stop if I have to grit my teeth during any of them. No mention of ROM from PT but was talking all recovery. Home PT assigned 3X's a week for 4 weeks. So far so good. Thanks to everyone.
 
Congratulations Old Goat! So glad to hear you are off to a fantastic start toward recovery! I too am a Navy vet, 1985-1998, Intelligence Specialist 1st Class :yes:. Looking forward to your continued updates.
 
Congrats on the new knee!
 
@OldGoat, @CT-Mike, @Mangiamom, Thank you for your service! :yay: Sounds like you are on the right path for you Old Goat, just make sure to listen to your body, and if it complains, back down a little and re-assess.
 
Day 6 Update.

I feel hesitant about posting my updates after reading that so many are having difficulties with their recovery. But honestly, I have little to no knee pain (unless I step wrong & get a zinger). Just a tightness due to swelling. The main thing I realized this morning is that I no longer have that "bone-on-bone" pain when I walk. My OS used glue with a 10x4 bandaid cover over the cut so it does not look that bad either. Sometimes I wonder if he even did the surgery

Overall fatigue has been a factor most likely due to the meds. Getting plenty of rest, elevation, and ice. Cutback on the Oxy pain med from every 4 hours a day to twice a day and replaced with naproxen. Hopefully done all together with the Oxy by Tuesday (Sorry Billy Mays). First post-op with OS this Thursday.

Have noticed a new minor pain on outside & bottom of foot which I think is an adjustment to my new (correct) gait.

Hopefully this positive trend continues but as much as I am optimist, I am still realist. Prayers to all those going through adverse reactions and hopefully they can quickly be resolved. Thanks to all.
 
We’re glad that things are going well for you!

The fatigue is normal, and while it could be from the meds, it’s more likely the energy drain of your body trying to heal from this major onslaught called joint replacement surgery.
 
Day 6 Update.
I feel hesitant about posting my updates after reading that so many are having difficulties with their recovery.
It's just as important for people to hear about good recoveries as it is the problematic ones. Even people that aren't having as smooth a recovery as you are will cheer on your success @OldGoat. Really happy to hear things are going well for you.
 
I feel hesitant about posting my updates after reading that so many are having difficulties with their recovery. But honestly, I have little to no knee pain (unless I step wrong & get a zinger). Just a tightness due to swelling. The main thing I realized this morning is that I no longer have that "bone-on-bone" pain when I walk.
Don't feel hesitant about reporting good recovery progress.
We need reports like yours to encourage people and let them know that recovery isn't all terrible.

Isn't it great to be rid of that horrible bone-on-bone pain? The surgical pain will fade gradually, while the bone-on-bone pain would have only continued to get worse if you hadn't had the surgery.

Overall fatigue has been a factor most likely due to the meds.
Most of your fatigue is because almost all your energy is going towards healing your knee and there isn't much left for anything else. This article explains:
Energy drain for TKRs
 
Delighted to hear you are doing so well. Even good recoveries offer lessons for us all, as well as hope. Share on @OldGoat!
 
Can well relate to your update post. I have had a good recovery and if I was to somehow measure a, sum of the Pain and effort, it would always be greatest for the associated muscle structure recovery, quads, hip flexure, calf and hamstrings.
We have a focus on the knee and it is easy to forget that this was the cause of muscle issues that you manage as best you can over many years.
At 7 month my overall muscle recovery is still a works in progress!
ROM concerns me not a jot!!
 

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