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TKR In between staged 1 month replacement both knees

I live in a rural area also and have deer roaming through the yard every day. We also have raccoons, possums, and foxes. In the spring I normally have at least 4 bird houses with babies. It will be a while before I can go out and check them out for more babies after the spring broods. I love the country and I love God's critters! But, you can keep the coyotes up there! I also am a cat rescuer and don't need any of those killers around them!

Miralax works good for me, too. It took a few days for it to start working, but now it's doing a good job along with stool softeners morning and night. Also, eating raw mixed nuts helps, if you tummy can stand them at this point.
 
I learned the hard way that you should never skip your pain meds! Good luck on you recovery.
 
@tpellerin, a few weeks ago when I was having a hard time sleeping I would take a Tylenol PM in the evening and that one 500mg caplet in addition to my other pain meds gave me a 6hr sleep. On several occasions. Just make sure if you decide to try this that tylenol is compatible with your other meds.

I also live in a rural mountain area. The nearest stop light is actually 30 miles from our farm! A few weeks ago I was standing on the deck, looking up into our back pasture. All of a sudden there waddles a big beautiful black mama bear with 3 little cubs marching in a line behind her. I gasped with excitement. It was an awesome sight, one I've never seen here before as we have Great Pyrenees guarding our livestock. As much as I would have loved going up and playing with them- I know better! I watch deer grazing up through there all of the time! Haven't sighted a coyote yet but definitely hear that eery celebratory squealing on occasion bragging their kill. I hate that!

Hope you're able to get ahead of your pain. You're just a little over a week post-op so make sure you're staying on schedule with those pain meds. It's awful playing catch up if you don't keep it in your system consistently. I'm at 7.5wks now and don't need to be on schedule any longer. It won't be long and you'll be needing them less but for now- I'd say you need them consistently.
 
Thanks Suz,
Left knee coming up in 2 weeks and 3 days (which seems beyond insane at this point). Pre-op Tuesday.....I hope that I man-up and get the thing done.
Going to town tonight, going to have an IPA on a deck overlooking the bay if all goes well.

Ted
 
At day 11, this am, I gathered my recycling and trash (lord!), "jumped" into the truck and drove to the transfer station.....and.. wait for this... a recycling bag had opened and shed its load over a mile of wooded back road, meaning I had to turn around and get in and out of my truck a bunch of times. This has never happened to me pre op but Murphy's Law can't be avoided I guess.
Anyhow, I am devoting the rest of my am to ice/elevation, (and I shoulda listened to my support staff(wife) and known better.
 
What an adventure, NOT!
Wise to ice, elevate, and rest your knee the rest of the day.
Hope you feel better,
 
I had surgery on the 13th, I am very independent grab the bull by the horn kind of person, and I can't even imagine getting in a truck and driving anywhere!!! Be carefull, you are doing too much, too early in your recovery and your knee is not going to be happy about it, and it's going to let you know just unhappy it is!!
 
@tpellerin Ted, what a NIGHTMARE! I think a, 'NO IT DIDN'T' incident like that happens to recovering knee replacement folks more than not! And like you, there is NO WAY I could have driven off to go find someone to come back and help me- lol. I have to tell you- you had me in stitches with:
tpellerin said:
I gathered my recycling and trash (lord!), "jumped" into the truck and drove to the transfer station.....and.. wait for this...
Click to expand...
HAHA!!
tpellerin said:
Left knee coming up in 2 weeks and 3 days (which seems beyond insane at this point). Pre-op Tuesday.....I hope that I man-up and get the thing done.
Click to expand...

GULP! I wish you had a little more recovery time before your next replacement but trust you feel you can handle it! We'll try to keep you supported and entertained around here as best as you can handle us! I'm at 8wks this coming Monday & think I could handle another now but NO WAY before today!

And in closing- I would say you have definitely earned an IPA this evening- lol!
 
Well, I'm 16 days since LTKR and 12 days before RTKR and doc's PA says no more pain pills other than tylenol (or they won't work as well for knee 2) thus sleep isn't going too well....got metal staples out though and can shower tomorrow!
I did walk 1/2 mile without the cane (well, I had it in case)..
I still can only do isometrics because it turns out that my doc is sorta old school and cuts and stitches a bit of the quad on a TKR and he worries about stitches coming apart before week 3, so sort of in a holding pattern.
 
Sorry you aren't getting good rest @tpellerin. If you are only taking Tylenol this soon out from your RTKR I imagine it would be difficult to sleep. How's the swelling going? If it were me I would work hard on controlling that by not over doing it because that's what caused the most recovery pain for me. With the limited pain meds you've been left with it's going to be really important you elevate and ice, in my humble opinion! And if sleep really gets to be a challenge, Tylenol PM helps me. Some say it leaves them groggy in the morning but I look at that as the opportunity to rest & recover more mid-morning.

Those simple little Bonesmart mantra's have helped me in my recovery more than anything!
 
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@tpellerin it's terrible when you can't get the sleep you need. It sounds kind of too soon to take you off the pain meds already, and with two knees, I saw my doctor yesterday and he wanted to cut back on the Oxy, he put me on Norco 5/325, I have never been on this med before, not sure how well it will work but at this point I have more of a discomfort than pain. You should try to call your OS and see if there is something a little stronger than Tylenol that you can take.

Like @Suz said, elevate and ice as much as you can, I ice ever moment that I'm sitting or laying down, even through the night I change the ice packs, it really help, not only with pain but the swelling.

I hope you feel better soon!!
 
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Ice and elevate to help with that pain. My dr wanted me off everything 2 weeks before surgery but I was only taking Aleve and hadn't just had surgery. Seems as though things are moving along nicely for you, but as others have said Tylenol pm is helpful if you're allowed Tylenol at this point.
 
Go gently, ice and elevate and nap whenever you can. Hang in there 'til knee #2. :console2:
 
Gently makes sense...I walked .8 miles today without the cane and oops, that was too far. PT says you can't really overdo, it just swells if you do, but he's telling me to try to push it before the next TKR in 11 days to get the new one as good as possible.
What a difference between morning and evening when you're post-op. All of us arthritis types have had that dinural difference, but with swelling, the new knee is a whole other level.
Thanks for the meds advice.
Ted
 
Welcome to the ODIC! Where ever you walk you have to get back.

I think letting it heal instead of pushing the TKR will help. When you have the other done this one will have to take the brunt of the work load. TKRs are not like a sport injury that you have to rehab, it really is about letting the bone and tissues heal. Then you won't have tons for pain to deal with either.

I was not allowed to bend my TKR for a month and kept it elevated with very little walking, so the swelling went down completely and when they said to start bending it there was some stiffness, but it still bent with very little pain.
 
tpellerin said:
. PT says you can't really overdo, it just swells if you do,
Click to expand...
Say what? Sounds like a definition of overdoing. Well, you won't hurt the implant but you'll sure pay for it. Setting yourself up for swelling is no way to gain ROM.
but he's telling me to try to push it before the next TKR in 11 days to get the new one as good as possible.d
Click to expand...
I'd disagree with that.
 
So my hip on the TKR side is throbbing now.....it's got to be muscle related, and I'm one week away from TKR # 2. I've never had hip pain and it hurts. Maybe due to a 1.25 mile walk today w/o the cane?
 
@tpellerin 1.25 miles, I think you over did it, and probably your hip is not the only thing that is going to hurt and swell, I hope you elevated and iced your knee, make sure you take meds!!!

I really hope I'm wrong.
 
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