Beckadeez
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Revision TKR Hood1980’s Revision
- Thread starter Hood1980
- Start date
@Hood1980
If you lose your thread again, this article might help:
How can I find my threads and posts?
That article is in this section - lots of useful "How to . . . " articles there!
https://bonesmart.org/forum/view/how-to-use-this-forum.74/
If you lose your thread again, this article might help:
How can I find my threads and posts?
That article is in this section - lots of useful "How to . . . " articles there!
https://bonesmart.org/forum/view/how-to-use-this-forum.74/
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2013
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@Hood1980 You sound very similar to me. I have major pain med issues, to the point where my OS is so worried about my reactions after this surgery that he's come up with an alternate plan for me that hopefully does the trick. Tylenol does zip, zero, nada, nothing for me-I have to use Motrin for everyday pain relief.
I'm not a medical professional, but IMHO, don't do the MUA-especially this early. Some doctors have unreal expectations and put everyone in the same box. In reality, some people recover faster than others, some have more pain, some need pain relief longer than others, etc. Heck, recovery will vary from two knees on the same person; let alone vary from person to person. No one can force you into agreeing to an MUA; I think if it were me, I'd wait a year and see where I am at that point in time. I hear about doctors who push MUAs on patients if their ROM isn't at a certain point a few weeks after surgery! My advice is just keep doing what your knee leads you to do; rest when possible, elevate and ice, ice, ice! If your OS tries to push you into the MUA, tell him you'll think about it and let him know at your next scheduled app't, and so on, until a year has passed then see where you are.
I'm not a medical professional, but IMHO, don't do the MUA-especially this early. Some doctors have unreal expectations and put everyone in the same box. In reality, some people recover faster than others, some have more pain, some need pain relief longer than others, etc. Heck, recovery will vary from two knees on the same person; let alone vary from person to person. No one can force you into agreeing to an MUA; I think if it were me, I'd wait a year and see where I am at that point in time. I hear about doctors who push MUAs on patients if their ROM isn't at a certain point a few weeks after surgery! My advice is just keep doing what your knee leads you to do; rest when possible, elevate and ice, ice, ice! If your OS tries to push you into the MUA, tell him you'll think about it and let him know at your next scheduled app't, and so on, until a year has passed then see where you are.
mlwreader
senior
I can certainly attest to this - my lefty has been consistently more troublesome than my righty, although I love them both the same.
OP
OP
Hood1980
senior
OP
OP
Hood1980
senior
@lovetocookandsew Thank you for the advice. Learning to cope with pain has been a major part of this process for me. I have settled in to 600mg of Ibuprofen 2-3 times per day and a Dilaudid on those days I have done too much and really need it. On top of rest, elevate and ice a couple time per day and every night. I’ll be at 12 weeks this week.
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I don’t use the tap talk app. I use the internet via my phone and come to www.bonesmart.org
OP
OP
Hood1980
senior
An update...at my 8 week update my OS recommended an MUA to check my tight knee for scar tissue. If this didn’t work he may have to replace the joint with the more traditional type joint, removing my ACL & PCL. He thinks retaining these ligaments is contributing to the tightness in my knee. Which of course I didn’t want to hear and to have to start the process over again with no guarantees, it will work any better.
Two days later, on 2/22/18 I had the MUA. As far as the MUA goes, it really was not painful or any big set back. The OS was able to bend my knee back to over 140 and said there were wasn’t a lot of resistance and only a couple small pops of scar tissue. I only had some mild swelling for about a week after, but more likely due to the PT I had everyday for a week. It also gave me really tight hamstrings with a very tender and painful tendon on the back lateral side of my knee. Finally found a great PT that provided gentle massage and stretches to help me with my recovery. So thankful.
I continue to struggle to walk and have “strength, endurance, and proprioception deficits” as my physical therapy report to my OS states. I never knew walking would be so hard and have to be re-learned and take so long or I never would have done this! My 12 week follow up with the OS is Tuesday and am worried what he’ll say this time. Thanks for letting me vent my frustration. I’m so tired of people asking me what’s wrong with me that I can’t walk and telling me of people or their own stories of how at 12 weeks they were back to work and a normal life. [emoji22]
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Two days later, on 2/22/18 I had the MUA. As far as the MUA goes, it really was not painful or any big set back. The OS was able to bend my knee back to over 140 and said there were wasn’t a lot of resistance and only a couple small pops of scar tissue. I only had some mild swelling for about a week after, but more likely due to the PT I had everyday for a week. It also gave me really tight hamstrings with a very tender and painful tendon on the back lateral side of my knee. Finally found a great PT that provided gentle massage and stretches to help me with my recovery. So thankful.
I continue to struggle to walk and have “strength, endurance, and proprioception deficits” as my physical therapy report to my OS states. I never knew walking would be so hard and have to be re-learned and take so long or I never would have done this! My 12 week follow up with the OS is Tuesday and am worried what he’ll say this time. Thanks for letting me vent my frustration. I’m so tired of people asking me what’s wrong with me that I can’t walk and telling me of people or their own stories of how at 12 weeks they were back to work and a normal life. [emoji22]
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While many people are back to a much “more normal” life by 12 weeks, many are not. I certainly wasn’t. And I think way down the road of recovery many forget the details of actual times they did such and such. It is so frustrating when people tell us theses things.
I can remember a specific time I had quite a lot of swelling after an outing at 5 weeks, because it was Easter. Without that specific holiday I probably wouldn’t have a time frame. I don’t remember when that much swelling stopped, either after a bit of overdoing, or just in general.
While I will never forget how difficult this recovery is, already some details are fading, like when I accomplished certain milestones.
Look how much work your knee has had in these last 12 weeks. It has more to recover from. Maybe theirs was more “routine”, if there is such a thing.
I’m glad you found a PT who does a nice massage and good stretches. I would love to have had that at 4-5 months post op. My leg was so tight then. And I do remember that time frame because it was after I’d hurt myself at a friend’s house last July.
But I didn’t have the best PT experience and was afraid to trust anyone to touch my leg. It took several long months before my whole leg relaxed but it did with time.
Hang out here with us more often and vent all you want. Even if we are not having the exact experience of someone else, we understand what you’re going through and we care. Hopefully we all here will be a louder voice in your head than those you see in person who tell you things that discourage you.
I can remember a specific time I had quite a lot of swelling after an outing at 5 weeks, because it was Easter. Without that specific holiday I probably wouldn’t have a time frame. I don’t remember when that much swelling stopped, either after a bit of overdoing, or just in general.
While I will never forget how difficult this recovery is, already some details are fading, like when I accomplished certain milestones.
Look how much work your knee has had in these last 12 weeks. It has more to recover from. Maybe theirs was more “routine”, if there is such a thing.
I’m glad you found a PT who does a nice massage and good stretches. I would love to have had that at 4-5 months post op. My leg was so tight then. And I do remember that time frame because it was after I’d hurt myself at a friend’s house last July.
But I didn’t have the best PT experience and was afraid to trust anyone to touch my leg. It took several long months before my whole leg relaxed but it did with time.
Hang out here with us more often and vent all you want. Even if we are not having the exact experience of someone else, we understand what you’re going through and we care. Hopefully we all here will be a louder voice in your head than those you see in person who tell you things that discourage you.
OP
OP
Hood1980
senior
Thank you @Jockette! You made my day! I see you are my “neighbor” as you are in Delaware and I am in Maryland. [emoji6] Just trying to do my best every day without being frustrated and depressed. The constant struggle is both physically and mentally exhausting and of course it isn’t happening in a vacuum. Life goes on, other crises occur, especially dealing with elderly parents and I have just have to take a sideline seat.
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Exactly!
It is hard to relearn your walk. I developed lots of compensation that took a bit for my PT to analyze. I had some weak muscles and others that were ok and walking "normal" felt weird. But it did improve over time. But I really had to focus.
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This is where I think PT is most helpful. Not in making us do things our knees aren't ready for early on, but in re-learning a proper walk, how to once again navigate stairs properly, how to strengthen our muscles that have become weak over time, etc.
I think you have a rather impatient surgeon and that's been the cause of much of your worry.I continue to struggle to walk and have “strength, endurance, and proprioception deficits” as my physical therapy report to my OS states. I never knew walking would be so hard and have to be re-learned and take so long or I never would have done this! My 12 week follow up with the OS is Tuesday and am worried what he’ll say this time. Thanks for letting me vent my frustration. I’m so tired of people asking me what’s wrong with me that I can’t walk and telling me of people or their own stories of how at 12 weeks they were back to work and a normal life.
I wish I could remind him, as well as you, that complete recovery takes a full year. That means you're not quite a quarter of the way there. Don't let your surgeon's impatience worry you at all.
Your knee knows what it is doing. There's plenty of time for it to continue to improve. Where it is now is not where it is going to end up. It's still a work in progress, not the finished article.
The people who expect you to be fully recovered often have not had a TKR themselves, and the stories they tell are mostly hearsay. If they have had a TKR, they have forgotten how long it takes to recover - that's a bit like forgetting the pain of childbirth when you hold your new baby in your arms.
Most of us have heard the stories about a friend of a friend's great aunt, who leapt off the theatre table, danced down the corridor, and was climbing mountains a week later. That's how we all wish it could be but, unfortunately it's a myth. While there are a few - very few - who do have speedy recoveries, most of us struggle and fret, run out of patience, and wish it could be easier. If you can hang in there, the end result is rewarding.
My friend, Will, boasts that he went back to work 2 weeks after a TKR. He genuinely believes now that he had no problems and no complications - he isn't trying deliberately to deceive anyone.
The truth of it is this:
- Although he did go back to work so early, he did it in a wheelchair.
- His wife helped him get up, washed and dressed, and she drove him to and from work.
- He stopped taking pain medications, saying they were "for Sissies".
- Consequently, he was in pain and grumpy all day.
- His colleagues wished he had stayed at home.
- He rested in bed all the time, except when at work.
- His wife waited on him, hand and foot.
- By the time he was really recovered, his wife was a worn-out wreck.
He thinks he had a fast, uncomplicated recovery, and that's what he tells people.
She got an orange sports car for her birthday. Fair payment, I think.
