PKR It's a knees up - SuperSnappers recovery

[SuperSnapper]

@Clipless well I can definitely see mine and it's aching too! Seems to resent the ice pack being on it! Good grief! I suppose the surgeon did say he "flipped" it over and cleaned out the back, also he took some nerves out of the back of the knee cap so it wouldn't hurt there! My son in law was almost sick when Mr P told him that!
Hope you are going on OK. It's over a month since your surgery now. Has the time gone very slowly?

Just had lunch downstairs (celeriac and apple soup made by Mr P) and now tucked up in bed with my ice.
Simple things make me very happy at the moment.

 

[Legin]

If you smile at simple things you smile all day -ogres are v simple

Legin THR Sep 14

 

[Clipless]

I couldn't do a straight leg lift until 20 days post op. I started with bent leg raises. You'll get there!

 

[MotownGirl66]

Oh man - don't let your boredom being your undoing. You are so newly out of surgery that, right now, your knee is in charge and it requires rest, icing, and elevation. By the way, I never used crutches, and used the walker for maybe a few weeks or so.

 

[Clipless]

Yes, time seems to CRAWL but I need every minute for recovery. I am about 7 weeks post op now, past most of the early pain and walking carefully cane-free. I am concentrating on extension these past few days. I need zero or a few degrees minus.

Life's simple pleasures are the best!

 

[Josephine]

I'm going to ask you some questions and it would be very helpful if you would answer each one individually - numbered as I have done - in as much detail as you can then I'll come back as see where you are ....

1. what are your pain levels right now? (remember the 1-10 scale: 1 = no pain and 10 = the worst you can imagine. And don't compare this with the bone-on-bone pain you had before surgery!

) Also don't forget to include other forms of pain such as soreness, burning, stabbing, throbbing, aching, swelling and stiffness

2. what pain medications have you been prescribed, how much are you taking (in mg please) and how often?

3. how often are you icing your knee and for how long?

4. are you elevating your leg, how often and for how long?

5. What is your ROM - that's flexion (bend) and extension (straightness)

6. what is your activity level? What do you do in the way of housework, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc., and

7. what kind of PT exercises and exercises at home are you doing? How much and how often? (and detailed details would be appreciated, please! **Reps, sets and sessions** and all that)

** If you're not familiar with this, it goes like so:
1 lift of your leg = 1 rep (repetition)
5 reps and then a brief rest = 1 set
5 sets and finishing = 1 session.

 

[SuperSnapper]

Hi @Josephine

1. Pain level 1/2 right now occasionally gets to a 4/5 but not higher and never for long.

2 Tramadol 50 mg 2x per day , up to paracetamol 4000 mg per day can take another 2 Tramadol if I need them but haven't had to. I have a high pain threshold. Take them roughly 4 hourly at night, 6 hourly in day but forget. I have CKD so have depended heavily on ice which has helped.

3. For up to about 1 hr with gel packs most of the time I'm awake and through night with cryo cuff. Marvellous stuff!

4. Elevating nearly all the time I am in bed, or on sofa more so more or less all day! Sit at table for meals for about 10 mins max.

5. ROM is about 90 and extension almost flat , not quite, don't know exactly but not far off.

6. Haven't done any housework, shopping etc. Mr P has done it all! Use stairs about 2x per day and short walks to loo, shower, round house every couple of hours etc

7. Quad stretches, knee flat as I can get it x5 twice per day, straight leg lift 5 x twice per day, hanging leg for 2mins x2 per day, heel slides in bed x5 twice per day, heel slides when sitting x5 twice per day, standing up from bed arms crossed on chest 5 ,once per day. Physio told me to do 10 lunges. 10 squats, 10 leg held out to rear 10 x 3 per day but I haven't done them. I've been able to do straight leg lift from day 0 . Did lots of exercise to get ready which has really paid off. Seeing physio next week for check up.

Can I have an "I've been a good girl T shirt" please ?

 

[Josephine]

1. Pain level 1/2 right now occasionally gets to a 4/5 but not higher and never for long.

Okay

2 Tramadol 50 mg 2x per day , up to paracetamol 4000 mg per day can take another 2 Tramadol if I need them but haven't had to. I have a high pain threshold. Take them roughly 4 hourly at night, 6 hourly in day but forget. I have CKD so have depended heavily on ice which has helped.

Actually, you can take at least another 6 Tramadol! I took 100mg 4 times a day and occasionally I took extra - up to 11 a day (with GP's permission, I add!)

3. For up to about 1 hr with gel packs most of the time I'm awake and through night with cryo cuff. Marvellous stuff!
4. Elevating nearly all the time I am in bed, or on sofa more so more or less all day! Sit at table for meals for about 10 mins max.

Jolly good!

6. Haven't done any housework, shopping etc. Mr P has done it all! Use stairs about 2x per day and short walks to loo, shower, round house every couple of hours etc

Who's Mr P? Otherwise, excellent.

Your exercises - my comments in bold
for a start, you're not ever two weeks out so should be doing NO exercises at all until week three then when you do them, these are the ones to do

Sessions twice days - do them once a day
quad stretches, knee flat as I can get it x5 - okay
straight leg lift 5 - no need, you can do them
hanging leg for 2mins - absolutely not! Much too early to be doing this at all. Maybe in week three, just put your heel on a stool and let gravity do it. Start off with one per hour for about 30 seconds and building.
heel slides in bed x5 and heel slides when sitting x5 - read this Heel slides
standing up from bed arms crossed on chest 5 once per day - that sounds like a nonsense exercise to me because you do this every time you get up from your chair. That's quite enough.

Physio told me to do 10 lunges. 10 squats, 10 leg held out to rear 10 x 3 per day but I haven't done them - I'm very pleased to hear it. They are very punishing on a knee so don't ever do them
I've been able to do straight leg lift from day 0 - good, then you don't need to do them any more

Can I have an "I've been a good girl T shirt" please?

You can if you follow my instructions! I'll be back to see how you are doing!

 

[kneeper]

This is your time to pamper yourself. Do you have any books or movies to watch to keep you from overdoing?

 

[Ellejay]

Hi @SuperSnapper, I thought I'd pop over here to chat before your thread gets too far down on p2.
I'm sure that t shirt is all yours, you seem to be doing marvellously. I though Mr Ellejay was good, he will take over the bread making (in a machine I hastily add) but soup! That's above the call of duty, I think Mr P needs a t shirt too.
I am also a shocking chilly bean, I used to sit with ice on my knee but huddled up in all sorts, just as you describe,but the ice is so worth it. I'm sitting here waiting for my cryo cuff to be refilled, it's shift changeover time so they are all a bit busy, but it can't wait for that ice on my knee.

 

[SuperSnapper]

Oh the nights are a bit scratchy! Does anyone else get "toothache" knee in the afternoon and evening? Like a low level toothachey gnaw? I find it really difficult to cope with. The painkillers help but it's hard to relax into sleep. I suppose it's all part of the knitting elves work.
Thing is, my knee wants to move , it wants to move more each day and honest it does it all on its own. It does its own bends in the night, i am reading and it's doing quad stretches when I didn't tell it too! I wake up and it's doing heel slides all on its own. It's driving me nuts!
My knee is IN CHARGE! Do you think the surgeon might have fitted me with a robotic knee that he's working from his room at the hospital, grinning devilishly while he puts it through its paces? Now there's an idea, a bit like "The Wrong Trousers" only with replaced joints.

Apart from restless knee syndrome RKS and the knitting elves, I'm doing OK.

 

[Legin]

Hey up snaperoooooo. I get hip hello I'm here ache all the time esp in bed. also your nerves are refinding them selves hence the non.controlled bit. Sometimes my leg jumps around like a amnesic river dancer. Nerves are fuuny things if its got a message and can't get through to destination it finds another nerve route but like the trains message gets there late

Legin THR Sep 14

 

[SuperSnapper]

@Legin I never thought it might be nerves. I think you might be correct. Makes sense to me so the Knee really is in control! The numb area on the outside of my knee is getting smaller too o the nerves are waking up there and making it ache. Funny things knees and hips eh?

Hope you are doing better today?

 

[Legin]

Aye knee isn't ust a hold up on traveling of messages through nerves. Nerves and the brain are funny. Most of.my foot is.numb. An annoying side effect is my brain some times forgets its there as no meesages going to brain. So spacial thingy is wrong hence I hit things with foot. Heck clouted it off drs doorway. Anyway yours will sort itself @SuperSnapper

Legin THR Sep 14

 

[SuperSnapper]

Sorry to hear about your nerve problems @Legin . Hope you begin to see some improvement.

 

[Legin]

Hey its ok I have been told it can.take up to a year. But only 60% chance of full recovery. Just means adapting as best I can. A silly foot wont beat me. For example have to work on thigh muscles as they have to.work more. I have a 1100ft hill that I WILL climb again. But thanks for the.concern snaperoooooooo

Legin THR Sep 14

 

[SuperSnapper]

@Shellbell just wondered how you are? Saw your knee photos - your scar is looking very good. Posting mine tomorrow i think.

Hope things are going well with you at this stage.

 

[referee54]

Haven't done any housework, shopping etc. Mr P has done it all! Use stairs about 2x per day and short walks to loo, shower, round house every couple of hours etc

Excellet! Keep away from this housework for a while---what does not get done can wait a while. Concentrate on healing and recovering.

Does anyone else get "toothache" knee in the afternoon and evening? Like a low level toothachey gnaw? I find it really difficult to cope with. The painkillers help but it's hard to relax into sleep.

This, unfortunately, is pretty much par for the course and I had it, too---it was not that I was in a great deal of pain, but, rather, that I could not really get comfortable.

Have you tried to ice and elevate a little bit while sleeping? That may help things out.

 

[SuperSnapper]

@referee54 thanks for the reply. At least I know the toothache feeling is normal. Yup, tried icing and elevating all night and it does help but it's still there. I expect when it eases off, I'll know I'm making progress. Don't get it in the morning at all and am more or less pain free until about 3pm every afternoon when it starts again. Still it could all be so much worse. I've been pretty lucky really. Only 13 days out and I'm doing ok.

 

[Legin]

You are doing grand snaperooooo

Legin THR Sep 14