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TKR Here I am with my new left knee

Sorry to hear about the pain meds in the hospital. I was given a morphine pump so I didn't have to call a nurse. How are you doing?
 
Now that you are home, I hope your swelling diminishes quickly. Ice and elevate! I also don't add salt to any of my food, as my ankles used to swell if I had too much sodium. Don't know if this swelling has any connection to that kind of swelling, but figured it couldn't hurt. Also drink lots of water. I have not had any trouble with swelling, and not sure which of these things is working. So I just do them all! Rest, my knee buddy. And keep us posted. Oh, and make that hour up a day done in 5 to 10 minute increments. Try to move around once per hour or so. Helps a lot with the stiffness.
 
Just finished my first home PT. Really liked the guy/kid. He was very knowledgeable and put my mind at ease right away. I expressed my concerns to him, and told him everything I have experienced to this point and about the recent swelling issue. FIRST: He said the knee looks great, and he has seen much worse swelling in previous patients, and he thinks the OS's nurse was being overly precautious. SECOND: He thinks I'm doing great at this point, and he doesn't want me to get hung up on numbers. I think he said my bend was 80 % ?? He kind of has the mind set that I see in this Forum... Keep working, ice, elevate, rest and it will happen.
 
Take your Meds on schedule even if you are not in pain. Set an alarm on your phone as a reminder. This was advice from my mom. She is a retired nurse and also a new knee recipient.


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A week ago, right about now, I was in recovery. It's been one heck of a week. My second Home PT was tough yesterday. I wasn't able to do leg lifts yet, but she said it was probably too early for that. She had me do 12 heel slides, and then " helped" me do 5 more. I felt I was giving it 100% but not over doing it, but I was ready to tell her to stop if I had to. In general, daily tasks are slowly getting easier. Finally had my first BM. Nuff Said !
Found myself going back to look at other Post-Op Threads to see where people are at after first week. I think it has helped a little, knowing that a lot of whats happening to me happens to everybody.
 
All good firsts for the week!


Jean

LTKR (Stryker Triathlon): 21 April 2015
Right Knee Arthroscopy: 25 July 2006
Left Knee Arthroscopy: 10 February 2005
 
You are doing well. Keep up the good work of not working too hard. And be extra nice to yourself.
 
Don't feel I had a good day today. Nothing seemed to go well after therapy. still very stiff, although numbers improved a little, but all kinds of new pains ! Also... Life continues to happen in the midst of all this.....Ugh
 
Therapy takes it out of you. Doesn't help when life rears its head and intrudes. Hope tomorrow is sunnier for you.
 
@cpd599 -
A little late, but welcome to the forum! I'm just about a week and a day ahead of you, and I was having kind of a tough day today. I read your thread and it actually made me smile, as I (and I know everyone who has gone before you) can SOOOO relate to what you're going through!! I especially liked your "ugh".. :yes: There are so many ups and downs through out this journey - it's often referred to as a roller coaster... haha! Kind of sounds like I'm an expert when I read that line back to myself; ... far from it! But I've absolutely learned that much! I have spent many, many hours myself going back and reading other folks posts.. it's a GREAT way to wile away the time.. And it really does make you feel better, not only because you get the sense that what you're experiencing is probably pretty normal, but also there are SO many great people here to empathize, commiserate, support, educate, help, and encourage. I've found this forum to be more help than anything else I could be doing (besides icing, elevating and taking meds on time... :heehee:)

Probably the best advice I can give you - that I learned the hard way - is try not to over do it.. I guess we all do it at some point, but take the PT slow and easy. In my case, I was given exercises on a piece of paper (pre-op) and was told to start doing them FIVE TIMES A DAY once I got home after surgery. Well, my surgery was out patient on a Monday.. I finally got to start doing them on Wednesday. I only did 3 sets. Did 4 sets the next day, trying to "work up to 5", could only do 3 the next. I hurt, was frustrated, broke down in tears, lamented in this forum and was promptly told I was doing to much and I needed to "take it easy".. I thought I was "taking it easy" for the amount of time I was lying in bed!!! hahaha! Paid for my eager willingness to do what I was told by the physical therapist.. but learned a valuable lesson with great support from this forum.. But what a comfort it was to hear that it was OK to relax and take things at an easier pace..

Not sure about you, but going from active, non-stop, doing what needs to get done as part of a normal routine to lying around in bed the majority of the day is tough to adapt to - I think that adds to the frustration. I found it helps to take the time also to think about all the GOOD things in your life. Sometimes when we're so busy, it's easy to lose sight of things like that..

Anyway, hope you've gotten you pain meds worked out and that tomorrow is a better day for you. We're all pulling for you!!! :yes!:
 
Just a little, gentle exercise is all you need right now, @cpd599 . At the moment, your main job is to rest, elevate, ice and take your pain meds by the clock. Keep taking the stuff to combat constipation too, because those pain meds can continue to bung you up.

Don't worry about trying to satisfy your therapist with the exercises - do what you can, a few at a time, only about once a day. My own surgeon recommends no formal PT at all for the first month and all his patients do very well. He says, correctly, that your knee needs to be well on the road to healing before you stress it with exercise.

It's too early to worry about the numbers. My latest TKR wouldn't bend at all for the first 5 days and yet I now have an easy ROM of over 120.
 
I'm having the opposite reaction to the pain meds. I break a sweat just going to the bathroom lol. I asked the home PT not to give me numbers just tell me if I was doing ok.
 
Thanks for all the support. That was my mini breakdown day, I think ! My PT comes 3 times a week, and does a good job. The only exersize she really pushes is the foot slide. I do 10 where I slide as far as I can, then hold for 3 seconds. Then I do 5 where she pushes an extra inch or so. It hurts, but not unbearable. I was at 79-80 today, and she said that's great for 10 days out. She also said, and I have noticed, this is the only exersize she really pushes me on because she thinks it is most important. Her group works with my OS regularly and she stated He wants to see his patients at 90 Degrees by 4 weeks. This seems realistic if I continue to improve. Is this realistic ?
Do Dr's put these type of guidelines on PT or is it a "goal" to reach ? Hope to see the Dr next week when staples come out and ask.
Thanks @Braunzie. I'm gonna check your post op next, LOL
 
It's a realistic goal. I'm not sure she needs to push on your knee for you to achieve it, but if she's pushing to discomfort and not pain, it should be fine.

My doctor was more concerned about extension rather than flexion, but that may have been my specific case. He probably saw that I had a good flexion for the point I was at in recovery, but I wasn't quite getting full extension. I told my PT, and she worked with me on it for two days, I was on the right track.
 
Yes, it's a realistic goal and it sounds as if you will get there.

Some PTs do get obsessed with the numbers. I guess it's one way of demonstrating that their ministrations are effective. Unfortunately sometimes that obsession affects their patients too, which causes unnecessary worry.
 
@cpd599. Your doing great. We all have been on the sea saw. I never asked for numbers. I just wanted to know if I was doing ok. :good-bad:
 
@Pescara, So your a little further along (8 weeks) ? How is everything with you ? Does all of this sound familiar ? Which "hump" did you finally get over, and when, that was most significant for you ? Anybody can feel free to throw their 2 cents in on that one.
 
@cpd599 - Hey there! hahaha.. we all have 'mini meltdowns' and some MAJOR! :heehee: But we all seem to recover, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, and move on.

I'm with the others. Your goal seems very reasonable. I don't consider myself to be on the front end of the bell curve with flexion, and I hit 99 at 2.5 weeks. I sense more of a concern, like @PolarBear60 with my extension, when I go to the PT office - which is 10 right now.. Need to work on that one, I know.. But it will all come in time, I'm sure.

There are so many "little humps" that you discover you conquer along the way. It actually helps when people ask the question, because then those ahead of you can think back and realize how many things we can do now that we couldn't at some point post-op. For me.. Just being able to get out of bed by myself, being able to prop my own leg up to elevate, sit up or lie down in bed, adjusting pillows by myself, get my own ice for the ice machine, use a crutch instead of the walker, having confidence to go up and downstairs unattended, increased endurance walking around the house, unload the dishwasher!, do the dishes!!, (hahaha!! I'm sure that's really exciting to hear!), cook a small meal for myself! Just being comfortable being by myself for hours during the day and knowing I can do what I need to do.. Making incremental progress with my PT exercises. Cutting down on meds, stretching time between doses and not feeling the pain that I used to... Just got finished walking around my yard with my crutches (with my husband too), which is a first since surgery. WOW!!! See? I told you it makes us feel better!! I'm rockin'!!!!!! :happydance: Thanks for asking!!!! :yay:
(I must be having a good day!! )
hahaha! :loll:
 
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