TKR How Painful Will My Upcoming MUA Be?<
- Thread starter KellyBob
- Start date
tigz
graduate
It's nothing compared to the TKR. Check out the link in my sig to my profile. The muscles in my thigh were very very sore for a couple of days from their lack of use, was worn than the joint pain for me. The relief of being able to bend easier and further outweighed any pain I had!
Hope it goes well!
Hope it goes well!
IAPILOT
junior member
KellyBob
new member
The MUA one week ago was not that bad.
I had a nerve block and 5 mg percocet every 4 hours for the night I was in the hospital. OS said it was not as difficult to break the adhesions as he was expecting. 130 was achieved in the OR with OS pushing, 120 with 'gravity' as they referred to it. They said that was an excellent outcome, basically the best outcome they could have hoped for.
I was 80 before the MUA and with PT I am now at 105 on my own, 112 with PT giving me some help. I am very happy I had it and I'd like to say it should not be dreaded.
That being said, I just posted to Spex10's post that I am concerned that Spex10 said they don't even need pain meds at this point! I still have a ton of fluid in my knee and a significant amount of pain. I'm anywhere from 6-8/10 when pain meds wear off. Cannot walk dog for 20 minutes without pain. I have my follow up on Monday where I will be asking if this level of pain 2 months out from surgery and a week out from the MUA is typical. It's concerning to me that I still have this much pain.
I literally fantasize about the doctor aspirating the fluid from my knee because I feel like my knee would clear up in a nanosecond and I'd be good to go. I get that they won't do that due to the horror show of an infection but I have this terrible nagging feeling that my knee is just not going to rid itself of this fluid on its own. I come here and read that it can take 6 months to a year and that encourages me that I just need to wait it out, but still, I worry that my post op went so poorly that I'm going to have some big issues (story for another day!)
If it was a question of the knee swelling at night after a long day of standing, I wouldn't be so worried. But every single internal pocket of my knee is filled with fluid and obviously this is painful and its been this way since the day after my surgery. The external swelling is much much better and the scar is minimal. The knee looks great, actually. But in reality, my knee just still feels freaking terrible every minute of the day.
I had a nerve block and 5 mg percocet every 4 hours for the night I was in the hospital. OS said it was not as difficult to break the adhesions as he was expecting. 130 was achieved in the OR with OS pushing, 120 with 'gravity' as they referred to it. They said that was an excellent outcome, basically the best outcome they could have hoped for.
I was 80 before the MUA and with PT I am now at 105 on my own, 112 with PT giving me some help. I am very happy I had it and I'd like to say it should not be dreaded.
That being said, I just posted to Spex10's post that I am concerned that Spex10 said they don't even need pain meds at this point! I still have a ton of fluid in my knee and a significant amount of pain. I'm anywhere from 6-8/10 when pain meds wear off. Cannot walk dog for 20 minutes without pain. I have my follow up on Monday where I will be asking if this level of pain 2 months out from surgery and a week out from the MUA is typical. It's concerning to me that I still have this much pain.
I literally fantasize about the doctor aspirating the fluid from my knee because I feel like my knee would clear up in a nanosecond and I'd be good to go. I get that they won't do that due to the horror show of an infection but I have this terrible nagging feeling that my knee is just not going to rid itself of this fluid on its own. I come here and read that it can take 6 months to a year and that encourages me that I just need to wait it out, but still, I worry that my post op went so poorly that I'm going to have some big issues (story for another day!)
If it was a question of the knee swelling at night after a long day of standing, I wouldn't be so worried. But every single internal pocket of my knee is filled with fluid and obviously this is painful and its been this way since the day after my surgery. The external swelling is much much better and the scar is minimal. The knee looks great, actually. But in reality, my knee just still feels freaking terrible every minute of the day.
Spex10
post-grad
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That sounds very depressing @KellyBob. It should drain in time though. I measure my knee with a measuring tape to see exactly how the swelling comes and goes.
Re the pain issue. Its such a subjective matter. I'm sitting here typing this and pain level is 0. It'll go up when I stand up then I'll sort of get used to it. Hey, I'm Scottish I expect pain!!
Re the pain issue. Its such a subjective matter. I'm sitting here typing this and pain level is 0. It'll go up when I stand up then I'll sort of get used to it. Hey, I'm Scottish I expect pain!!
Josephine
NURSE DIRECTOR EMERITA
Kelly, you cannot possible know that. What you have is just generalised swelling which is perfectly normal
Of course it will. And if by this you are thinking 'aspiration' then forget it. This is not pockets of fluid, it's dispersed in and around the muscles and fat. There is no free fluid to be aspirated.
Your surgery is only 11 weeks and your MUA is a mere 10 days out! Of course you have pain! Take your pain meds!
