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TKR Irish471's Recovery Thread

@FCBayern , yes, I do have the ice machine. It's been a necessary part of recovery. There are two things I wouldn't give up and the ice machine is one of them. My OS had me ice 24/7 for the first week, but then advised to only ice 3-4 times per day. Something to do with needing good blood flow to the knee for healing. I have fallen asleep with the ice machine going a time or two. And sometimes, I turn it back on in the wee hours. I didn't ice at all before bed last night which could explain the swelling I had today. I am hooked up to it right now, so hope tomorrow is better. There's one thing for sure, we learn a lot by trial and error throughout this adventure :thumb:
 
Morning @ Irish471 I am a bit ahead of you. Was 4 weeks on Thursday. I was exactly like you until this week. I would wake between 1.30 and 2.30 every morning and just couldn’t settle back to sleep. Not really in a lots of pain but not comfortable. To start with it stressed me then I decided it wasn’t a problem and accepted it. Would read a book, elevate and ice and see what happened. Sometimes I went back off sometimes I didn’t. The last week I have increased the amount of walking I’m doing and I don’t know whether it’s that or just further along and I have slept through 3 out of 4 nights. Very sore this morning but after an hour of elevation and ice it has settled without emergency pain killers. I think we are going to go through lots of phases and just have to embrace them.
It did make me laugh about your husband. Mine has huffed and puffed about the never ending ‘home ‘ jobs. He is out the house 12 hours a day for work and because I am part time have always done most things. Eye opener for hubby and kids but has made me realise that sharing is caring ️
 
Thanks, @catkin69 ! How much walking do you do? Right now I am just walking around the house, although, I would love to go outside and walk! I am just not sure how far or how long I would be able to tolerate it.
 
@Irish471 I started out walking 5 minutes round our little block and have gradually increased it each day. Yesterday I know now I did too much at just over a mile. I have set myself a goal that is probably not reachable but I needed something to motivate me. My physio advises me to go back to 2 crutches last week so all walks are with 2 crutches. It is making my gait better and I am not relying on them heavily! You would probably be surprised how much walking you are actually doing. Just time 2 minutes then walk back. Nothing nicer than being outside x
 
@Irish471 I just read your thread. I had RTK revision surgery on the same day as your surgery. I understand the lack of a good nights sleep, I’m looking forward to sleeping on my side again too. I still use my ice machine at night even though I hate being tethered to it. I think it really helps in keeping the swelling down. I’ve walked outside a couple of times but mostly I walk inside like you. I hope your hematoma is getting better. Seems as if you are having good results with your outpatient PT, so many people on here haven’t had great experiences with PT. Just take it easy, it gets easier as the weeks go by. Sometimes 1 step forward and 2 steps back, but most of the time it’s 2 forward with 1 back:yes!:
 
@Irish471 I’m eleven days behind you , mine was March 27.
Still have lots of pain, the swelling is better fortunately.
Encouraging to see your progress and feel there is light at the end of the tunnel.
 
@jboles , thank you! I iced before I fell asleep and when I woke up at 5:00 a.m. The swelling seems better :) I noticed your revision surgery was a mere year after your RTKR. You poor thing!!! That’s so soon after! Why was the revision needed?

Yes, the outpatient PT has been going well. Still no progress on the flexion, but at least they are sane enough to know that’s due to swelling. Gosh, when I think back to the experience with the home PT that came the first 2 weeks, I just shake my head. The things he wanted me to do at that stage were insane. Doing 3 sets of 10 single leg lifts and the same for short arc quads three times a day when you can barely stand to get to the bathroom and are bruised from hip to ankle?!?!? He was crazy! I am glad I didn’t do most of what he asked and gave him the boot at the suggestion if my surgeon. I hope my surgeon talks to him and sets him straight because he gets sent out to see all of his patients. Maybe the others just never complained like I did. Sheesh! I think the hematoma is getting better. I still have some areas that are yellowish, but for the most part, it looks SO much better and my movement is getting better, too.
@baker70, welcome to the club :loveshwr: I went through other knee surgeries before but was not prepared for the amount of pain that first week brought. Glad that’s becoming a distant memory. It takes a lot to make me cry. I can’t remember a time when I cried like that. Hang in there and elevate as much as you can!

One other question @jboles . What does ODIC stand for? I keep seeing it in older threads and am embarrased to say I can’t figure that one out :heehee:
 
@Irish471, ODIC? Lol! Please know that at some point in time you will become a member of the Over Did It Club (ODIC). Visiting occasionally is okay and to be expected. Just be sure you don’t do so too often or stay too long as you will be voted in as Life Long President!

It’s good to see that things are progressing well for you. As that hematoma continues to heal and swelling continues to go down, your progress will improve even more.
 
@Irish471 yes the ODIC (Over Did It Club). I’ve visited it quite often. Usually between weeks 3-4, about now in recovery. I don’t know about you, but I’m bored silly. So when that happens, I believe that I’m able to do more than I should, and I pay for it the next day with pain and swelling. Everyone does it, but like @NavyGunns said just try not to do it too often.
Why did I need a revision: I knew immediately after my RTK last year that something wasn’t “right “ with my knee. I did PT, I exercised on my own and finally at my 1 year follow up appointment my OS finally said let’s go back in and fix it. He showed me on the X-ray what he was going to do and I believe he’s got it right this time. Sorry, enough about me.
 
@NavyGunns and @jboles , thank you for solving that mystery acronym for me :rotfl:

@jboles , gosh what an ordeal! I can’t imagine going through that. You’re a real trooper! You’ve been in constant recovery-mode for two years. I so admire you :flwrysmile:
 
Irish471 said:
I’m at the end of the 3rd week.

This week, I have been having trouble sleeping. I take my meds around 7 p.m. and am climbing into bed at around 10:30ish. Then, I find myself waking up around 2:00 a.m. feeling uncomfortable. I have tried icing, taking some more tylenol, or popping another oxycodone but I am awake until it’s time for taking my morning meds at 7 a.m. Then I manage to fall back asleep and manage to stay asleep until 10:00 a.m. I don’t want this to become a habit for when I do need to go back to work. I am thinking of taking a Benadryl tonight to see if that helps me to sleep better. And icing for a bit before bed.
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Sleep is a challenge in the early weeks. I slept in installments. Usually awake for a couple of hours overnight and then back to bed. And then a mid morning nap. I had no problem getting onto a more regular sleep schedule by the time I went back to work.
I generally iced for about a 1/2 hour in bed right up until I was dozing off. I think it helped a bit.
 
I have a surgical incision question. For the first two weeks, I had a waterproof dressing on which was taken off at my first post op appointment. I have internal stitches and the incision was closed with glue. The OS assistant put steristrips on and said they would eventually fall off. The strips kept picking up lint from my pant leg on the occasional times I didn’t have the ace wrap on, so I ended up changing the steristrips. There are a few areas that still have scabs, so I want to keep those covered for when I go to outpatient PT. Is it okay to still use the steristrips? Or is it better to let things breathe and be exposed at this point?
 
I'd leave the steristrips off. They aren't necessary anyway. Let your wound breathe.
 
I have/had same type of incision and I also still have scabs. My OS says leave uncovered but not to put any lotion or anything on scar until scabs fall off on their own. It’s so tempting to help them along isn’t it?
 
@Irish471 … interesting about your incision... I too had internal dissolvable stitches with the outer incision closed by glue.... I only had two steri-strips and those were over the internal suture "pigtails" that protruded through the skin at the very top and bottom of the incision... my OS told me that I could shower the day I left the hospital which was 1.5 days post-op... but just not to let the shower stream impede directly on the incision nor take a bath.... my OS post-surgical team was of the opinion to let the incision breathe as much as possible.... that included no clothing over the incision until it was fully healed... eg .. no scabs... just a data point for your consideration...
 
The scabs are part of normal healing of most wounds. They're protection for the healing going on underneath them, so it's best to leave them alone until they fall off naturally.
 
Thanks, everyone! I am going to start letting things breathe with the incision. I just have it in my head that since I have an ouchie, I need something on it still :heehee:

Side note...On my way to PT, my surgical leg kind of lagged/got stuck on the stair and I ended up bending it a little further than it has bent since surgery. Ouch! A little manipulation without anesthesia! I don’t think I hurt anything, it startled me more than anything. Who knows...It might have been a good thing for my ROM??? We’ll see! Thank God I took a pain pill before we left.:scaredycat:
 
IT's OK to take a pain pill before PT, if that's when it's due, but do beware of taking pain relief so you can get through PT.

Remember that pain is a warning sign that you're doing too much for your knee.
If you mask that pain, you may ignore its warning and unwittingly do more than your knee is ready to do.
 
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