TKR Hey Jude knee replacement

[Jaycey]

Is it normal to have persistent pain 11 days after surgery?

Totally normal! You have just had major surgery. Please reset your expectations for this recovery. Read the articles again about:
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?

You are only days into a process that can take one year or longer. Accept that you need to slow down and let that knee recover from all the trauma. Ice, elevate, medication and rest. And please don't push the exercises. You are not in training, you are healing.

 

[WFD]

But if you have a fever or there is discharge from your wound, contact your doctor right away.

I developed a fever after one of my surgeries and the immediate use of antibiotics killed it quickly before anything bad could happen.

 

[Hey Jude]

But if you have a fever or there is discharge from your wound, contact your doctor right away.

I developed a fever after one of my surgeries and the immediate use of antibiotics killed it quickly before anything bad could happen.

Thank you for this wisdom. The wound was clean on Wednesday when the dressing was changed and only been a tiny bit of leakage since. My husband checked my temperature just now and it is 36.6 C so that is good.

I will keep an eye on my temperature. Though we are about to have the UK’s hottest ever weather in the next couple of days so it will be hard to keep cool in any case!

 

[Hey Jude]

Is it normal to have persistent pain 11 days after surgery?

Totally normal! You have just had major surgery. Please reset your expectations for this recovery. Read the articles again about:
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?

You are only days into a process that can take one year or longer. Accept that you need to slow down and let that knee recover from all the trauma. Ice, elevate, medication and rest. And please don't push the exercises. You are not in training, you are healing.

That is reassuring. The GP made me worry more because he suggested there might be an infection if my pain is so unrelenting. He thought the pain should be reduced considerably by now. I’m seeing a nurse on Tuesday for the staples to be removed. I will seek her advice too.

 

[Jaycey]

The GP made me worry more because he suggested there might be an infection if my pain is so unrelenting.

Obviously your GP has never had TKR. Refer him to BoneSmart. Sounds like he needs a refresher course in joint replacement recovery!

 

[Samsrf]

@Hey Jude It is totally normal to have pain and the blues at this point. My first breakdown was about 12 days where I wish I had a mom around to take care of me. Time to put on the patience Hat! 11 days is a drop in the bucket- this is a very long and slow recovery. (at least it is longer and slower than I expected!!) Everything you are feeling is normal. I struggled with frustration and healing up to almost 3 months. I also split open my incision from too much bending around this time. I realized you are not only healing from the trauma of surgery, also the anesthesia and drugs put into the body. A big thing that helped me beside music & sleep was making sure I ate fresh vegetables every day. I noticed when I ate packages I felt not so good- but when I ate fresh and healthy my mood was better. I also moved my body- even just stretching in a chair, twists with upper body, stretching my arms, tightening my abs, reaching for my toes while seated and icing… this too shall pass, it DOES get better… hang in there!

 

[Hey Jude]

@Hey Jude It is totally normal to have pain and the blues at this point. My first breakdown was about 12 days where I wish I had a mom around to take care of me. Time to put on the patience Hat! 11 days is a drop in the bucket- this is a very long and slow recovery. (at least it is longer and slower than I expected!!) Everything you are feeling is normal. I struggled with frustration and healing up to almost 3 months. I also split open my incision from too much bending around this time. I realized you are not only healing from the trauma of surgery, also the anesthesia and drugs put into the body. A big thing that helped me beside music & sleep was making sure I ate fresh vegetables every day. I noticed when I ate packages I felt not so good- but when I ate fresh and healthy my mood was better. I also moved my body- even just stretching in a chair, twists with upper body, stretching my arms, tightening my abs, reaching for my toes while seated and icing… this too shall pass, it DOES get better… hang in there!

Thank you for your encouraging comments and sensible advice. Sorry to hear you went through a split of your wound. I hope it didn’t take too long to heal up again. I am having my staples out tomorrow and have my first physio appointment the day after. It does worry me how the unstapled wound will hold up to being stretched from bending.

 

[ChrisF]

11 days after surgery and I’m still in constant pain from my knee. Might this be just from the trauma of surgery or should I start worrying about infection?

I’m still taking codeine and paracetamol round the clock plus Gabapentin for nerve pain. Most of the pain is from the knee itself which has been warm ever since I came out of hospital. I also have pain running from my buttock to the arch of my foot which I guess is an inflamed sciatic nerve. The swelling and bruising were extensive but are just starting to subside. However the pain is just as bad. My GP was surprised and said I should be starting to reduce the Codeine by now.

I’m sure I’m not overdoing the rehab - I spend most of the day lying down with my leg fully elevated, I ice regularly, and only get up periodically to do the prescribed exercises. I have one or two short walks around my home or garden each day. That makes my knee feel ‘sore’ but that soon calms down. However the underlying pain from the knee still persists.

Is it normal to have persistent pain 11 days after surgery? It is really starting to get me down and get me anxious.

Im only now starting to reduce the Codeine and my TKR was 21st June! I’d say your GP hasnt had a knee replacement and I don’t think it’s helpful to worry you at this stage. My knee is also still hot, I’m sure that’s the healing process - you will get more reassurance from someone a lot more qualified than I am but I hope this helps a bit. I’m still not sleeping but it’s because of the sciatic discomfort that I’m still suffering with and not pain. I’m not too worried about doing the prescribed exercises yet - I’m concentrating more on stretching my leg muscles and walking as normally as possible (mostly around the house still) take care x

 

[Hey Jude]

11 days after surgery and I’m still in constant pain from my knee. Might this be just from the trauma of surgery or should I start worrying about infection?

I’m still taking codeine and paracetamol round the clock plus Gabapentin for nerve pain. Most of the pain is from the knee itself which has been warm ever since I came out of hospital. I also have pain running from my buttock to the arch of my foot which I guess is an inflamed sciatic nerve. The swelling and bruising were extensive but are just starting to subside. However the pain is just as bad. My GP was surprised and said I should be starting to reduce the Codeine by now.

I’m sure I’m not overdoing the rehab - I spend most of the day lying down with my leg fully elevated, I ice regularly, and only get up periodically to do the prescribed exercises. I have one or two short walks around my home or garden each day. That makes my knee feel ‘sore’ but that soon calms down. However the underlying pain from the knee still persists.

Is it normal to have persistent pain 11 days after surgery? It is really starting to get me down and get me anxious.

Im only now starting to reduce the Codeine and my TKR was 21st June! I’d say your GP hasnt had a knee replacement and I don’t think it’s helpful to worry you at this stage. My knee is also still hot, I’m sure that’s the healing process - you will get more reassurance from someone a lot more qualified than I am but I hope this helps a bit. I’m still not sleeping but it’s because of the sciatic discomfort that I’m still suffering with and not pain. I’m not too worried about doing the prescribed exercises yet - I’m concentrating more on stretching my leg muscles and walking as normally as possible (mostly around the house still) take care x

Thank you for sharing your experiences. The pain still woke me up in the night but has been much better today thankfully. I hope you get some relief from your sciatic discomfort. I am now back on Gabapentin (for nerve pain) which may be why I’m feeling a bit better. You take care too x

 

[CricketHip]

Heat and slight redness can be the inflammatory response of your body, responding to your recent surgery.
That's where the frequent icing can come in and be so helpful.

My colleague @Layla messaged me that you were interested in trying Manual Lymphatic Drainage? ( MLD) It can be so helpful. It's not a one and done type of thing, but if you stay consistent with it, it's very helpful.
Not only for moving swelling (edema) , it helps move the proteins and metabolic wastes from the surgical site.
When the lymph system gets stuck or backed up, it sometimes requires some gentle manual drainage techniques.

I think you noticed the simple techniques on another members page but will leave them here for you, also.
Yes, just for you! Please don't hesitate to tag me or ask about anything that is confusing.

I will say this: It's even better to seek out a therapist that is certified in MLD... there's so much more to be done than what I have listed here.
What I came up with here is the steps that helped me the most during my recoveries.

Laying with a pillow under your knee is not a good idea. It should be like this, similar but different!

https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/elevation-the-dos-and-donts.7602/

****
Breathing exercises to aid Lymphatic Drainage of surgical area

Take deep breaths.. deep, as in breathing in to a count of 3 or 4, whatever is best for you. hold it for another count of 3-4, then blow out completely, still using the count that's comfortable for you. A series of at least 6 of these could help get your excess swelling to move. To ensure you are taking proper deep breaths, place your hand on your naval and watch while taking in your breath, if doing this properly you should see your hand move up.

Then, as you slowly breath out, to the same count of either 3, 4 or 5 gently press down and slightly upwards with the palm of your hand.
Do this whenever you feel up to it during the day or night. The more supine that you can get in the recliner or bed, the more effective this can be.. you have lymph nodes located in your groin and sitting up too much can cause a restriction of the lymph flow.

You can, after the breathing, place your hands lightly on your upper thigh, right where the crease is in your groin and lightly stroke upwards towards your naval.
I did this quite a bit post op and while it takes a while for the body to wake up and respond, it will and it will help get the swelling moving.
The reason this can help is because many of our lymph nodes are located in our abdomen. Our breathing combined with moderate pressure over our naval can help to "prime" our lymph system.
****

 

[kneeper]

I'm glad the gabapentin is helping. You will probably have your staples out by the time you read this. An important milestone!
But it is still early days, so some pain is normal. I was on stronger pain meds than you and like most people had quite a bit of pain in the early weeks. It is important to take the meds on schedule rather than waiting for it to "get bad." Once it has a hold on you it's a bit harder to knock back.
And many of us wind up with back or other pain in the early days too. Things seem to get temporarily thrown off kilter.
Hang in there and let us know how things are going.

 

[Hey Jude]

I have two new concerns!

(1) Vision - Yesterday evening I couldn’t see clearly. I wear reading glasses but I‘ve never had anything like this before. I’ve checked my meds and note that Gabapentin can cause blurry vision. My sight seems better today but it worries me whether the medication is damaging my eyesight. On the plus side the constant intense gnawing pain that I’d previously been suffering has vanished. So I presume that Gabapentin is successfully treating my nerve pain. Does anyone know what Gabapentin does to your vision?

2). Wound - staples taken out this afternoon. Nurse was happy that my wound had healed. But on close inspection it still looks raw in places to me. I attach a photo. Should I cover it? Should I go back and request steri-strips? Plus I have my first physio appointment tomorrow morning and I don’t want the wound to break open through putting it under stress from bending it. Advice gratefully received.

 

[sistersinhim]

I see where you have some open places and think you do need some steri-strips. If you go to PT, don't stress that incision. I think you should be very gentle with it until it is totally closed up. It would be OK to skip PT until then. Ask your nurse about covering it. When my staples were removed, some of my skin had grown over some of them so I had bleeding and some sores. She covered my whole wound, but my situation was different from yours.

 

[Claire56]

FWIW I'm pretty sure you can get "steri strips" at the drug store. May be worth the piece of mind and I doubt they would do any harm.

 

[Hey Jude]

I see where you have some open places and think you do need some steri-strips. If you go to PT, don't stress that incision. I think you should be very gentle with it until it is totally closed up. It would be OK to skip PT until then. Ask your nurse about covering it. When my staples were removed, some of my skin had grown over some of them so I had bleeding and some sores. She covered my whole wound, but my situation was different from yours.

Thank you for this very prompt advice. I have covered the length of the wound so it is protected overnight. The physio appointment is at the hospital where I had the surgery so I’ll see if there is someone there who can steri-strip it for me. I propose a chat with the physio rather than doing any bending.

 

[Hey Jude]

FWIW I'm pretty sure you can get "steri strips" at the drug store. May be worth the piece of mind and I doubt they would do any harm.

Good thinking. I’ve ordered some on Amazon and they will be arriving tomorrow (just in case I can’t get a nurse appointment).

 

[Hey Jude]

@Hey Jude It is totally normal to have pain and the blues at this point. My first breakdown was about 12 days where I wish I had a mom around to take care of me. Time to put on the patience Hat! 11 days is a drop in the bucket- this is a very long and slow recovery. (at least it is longer and slower than I expected!!) Everything you are feeling is normal. I struggled with frustration and healing up to almost 3 months. I also split open my incision from too much bending around this time. I realized you are not only healing from the trauma of surgery, also the anesthesia and drugs put into the body. A big thing that helped me beside music & sleep was making sure I ate fresh vegetables every day. I noticed when I ate packages I felt not so good- but when I ate fresh and healthy my mood was better. I also moved my body- even just stretching in a chair, twists with upper body, stretching my arms, tightening my abs, reaching for my toes while seated and icing… this too shall pass, it DOES get better… hang in there!

Hope you don’t mind me asking, but how was your wound treated when the incision split open? And how long did it take to heal? Could you bend your knee while it was healing? My staples were removed today but I can see the wound has open gaps. Tomorrow I’m hoping to get it steri-stripped.

(I had an awful experience a few years ago when I had a deep gash on my face which the hospital didn’t stitch. All the medics told me it would heal on its own in a week. It actually took 2 months to heal and then I had to wait another 2 years before I could have scar revision surgery because it looked and felt a mess. I really don’t want to go through all that again.).

You can probably tell that I’m feeling rather despondent tonight

 

[badkneesnyc]

The Nurse Practitioner I saw recently did suggest that it ought to be prescribed alongside Codeine as it is such a common problem.

They prescribed Miralax for me, and I ate prunes and drank lots of water.

 

[Vinpetrol]

My doc told me no problem to be on the Dihydrocodine 3-4 weeks out of hospital if I needed it . I had weaned myself down to paracetamol after a week but he told me that the pain would come and go and to use the Dihydrocodine as I needed it

 

[Newbai]

Should I cover it? Should I go back and request steri-strips?

For my two previous knee surgeries, they put glue on the incision after staples were removed.