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Revision TKR Instability Question

Wow Rah, hope this time around goes much better. I just finished my second knee replacement and in reading one of your previous texts you asked if it was painful just standing which brought back my first TKR. I couldn’t even stand long enough to brush my teeth for the first 3 weeks with my first left leg replacement, or sit with my leg on or off the ground. With the latest one I can stand fairly comfortably and sit with foot on floor with very little discomfort. 7 months out left leg is great. Point being , you can not compare your symptoms with others at an equivalent length of time and expect to have same characteristics. Every TKR seems to come with its own symptoms and time table. Hopefully this latest revision will give you a less painful quicker recovery road than previously.
 
report:
ok - so it's one week and a day. Sore and a decent amount of swelling - as expected... not too bad. Today I tried doing a little bit more and I guess I did go leg over leg on the stairs ... we're talking 5-6 stairs! Anyway - I'm wearing compressing stockings since I got my brace and dressing off yesterday - noticed a tiny spot of blood on the stocking ... took it off and there was a few drops of blood coming from the lower part of my incision. Guess I pulled on it too much... it stopped as soon as it started. Just plain red blood - no smell, no puss etc. I called my home health care folks anyway since they told me "we're always here, you can always call..." AND my OS office is hard to get in touch with. They told me what I expected - if it's just a little blood, red in color and not smelling blah blah... that it's ok. Call my OS if anything ugly starts to happen. LOL!
Anyway -- it seems ok now. I have a PT person coming out later. We are doing VERY little. He told me I need to heal and the best way to heal is to rest, keep elevated, ice for 20 minutes with 40 minutes or more in between.

The leg is sore and hurts but - not too bad. I mean - you have to expect some pain after a major surgery. I'm just eager to get up and do stuff!!!!! I'm not sure how it's going to be yet...it's too soon to tell.

rah
 
You can ice longer than 20 minutes, just be sure you have a towel between you and the ice to protect your skin. I iced for an hour at a time and went to bed with an ice pack on.

Here’s a refresher of our Recovery Guidelines:

Each article is short but very informative. Following these guidelines will help you have a less painful recovery.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.​
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. At week 4 and after you should follow this
6. Access to these pages on the website

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?

Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key

Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly

Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
 
Thanks so much @Jockette.

Yeah - one week and I'm at the frustration point already. I needed this refresher. I guess this is the same for revision surgery as initial TKR.

rah
 
One week and at the frustration point already! :console2:

You know the drill, this isn’t your first time through this. It’ll get better, you can do this! (You don’t really have a choice now.)

I’m sure it seems much longer than one week when you had problems with the original surgery that didn’t resolve, so it all blends together. I pray this revision will resolve those issues.
 
rah2435 said:
Today I tried doing a little bit more and I guess I did go leg over leg on the stairs ... we're talking 5-6 stairs!
Click to expand...
That was pretty ambitious for so early in recovery - and probably a bit too much for your new knee.

This first month, you need very little exercise - just enough to keep the knee moving a little. Your knee needs a gentle time this early, so it can start healing.

Try not to think of resting as "lying around, doing nothing." Instead, think of it as working hard, to give your knee the best possible chance of healing well.
In other words, when you are icing and elevating and watching TV, you are not 'lazing around' - you are "engaging in a carefully considered, proactively designed, heuristically programmed, dynamically structured recovery programme".
 
Celle said:
"engaging in a carefully considered, proactively designed, heuristically programmed, dynamically structured recovery programme".
Click to expand...
I love this!!!!

Now - can anyone tell me why - this is my revised knee - although it now feels tighter and I suppose less lax ... still feels like It's a rubber ball when I stand on it? My other knee doesn't feel like this at all? Not pain - like not solid.. bouncy?

thanks
rah
 
@Josephine I had my dressing removed on Monday and Saturday my incision site started to look like this...kind of like a first degree burn. Mr. Anxiety here is freaking. I called the stay-at-home nurse and they are looking at it. It itches and burns. Me wonders if I should have sat on the outside deck with this unconverted the other day (was only like 30 minutes??)

whatcha think?


thanks
rah
 
Last edited:
rah, I've no idea! It looks like it's a reaction to the adhesive dressings they used on you.
 

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indeed - a reaction to the dressing. UGH!!!! kind of like a first degree burn. Had nurse out to look at it. I was told to use Neosporin or bacitracin on it - but NOT on the incision, of course.
weird - it forms the exact rectangle of the gummy **** they had there for a week plus.

...oh well
rah
 
I had a similar reaction to kinesiology tape, when I taped my knee, shortly before my one year check up, and my rash didn’t show up until about 36 hours after I took the tape off. You could clearly see where the tape had been. My rash lasted for about 2 weeks!
 
rah2435 said:
Had nurse out to look at it. I was told to use Neosporin or bacitracin on it - but NOT on the incision, of course.
Click to expand...
I disagree with the nurse. It' an allergic reaction, not an infection, so the use of antibiotic creams is unnecessary and unwise. It would be much better to use an antihistamine cream or 0.5% hydrocortisone cream.

The over-use of antibiotics "just in case" is one of the main reasons why we now have a proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
 
I hear ya but - I tried benadryl cream on it and it didn't do much of anything. She did tell me to take benadryl orally though. hmmmm....

rah
 
STATUS:
Well - I see my OS tomorrow. supposed to get staples out. This is going slow! I can hardly put my weight on this knee, using crutches to get around. Can Just about make it to 90. Straightening it is also tough- not sure where I am at.
The rash from the adhesive is really getting in my way. It itches and burns. Ugh!
My wife wants me to take a 4+ car ride with her this weekend - I can hardly get to the bathroom!

I think the worst problem, and I know I've had this before, is staying positive. I try but - it seems like everything is just going wrong. I can't believe I got a rash from the adhesive!!!!

Trying to walk around a little with crutches but ... it's harder especially since I developed this rash. I stopped putting that anti-biotic creme on it @Celle - I don't see where it is going to help either. taking oxycodone 5mg every four hours with acetaminophen. But - it's not so much pain as swelling and weakness - and now itching and burning. Why did I do this again???? Oh yeah - the knee was unstable. lol!

any positive feedback is welcome!!!

rah
 
I don’t think you’re near ready for a 4+ car ride.

Does icing help relieve the itching/burning?

I’m so sorry you’ve had these complications.
 
I agree with Jockette, there's no way you are ready for that long a car ride, that would really leave you hurting. This is a long recovery and the hardest part is finding the patience to deal with that. I found the pain dropped off quite a bit towards the end of the third week so hopefully you're within a few days of that. Hand in there, I think we all ask ourselves "why did I do this!" in the early days of recovery. I'm now really glad I did it.
 
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