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TKR Its been worse than childbirth! Did I make the right decision?

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@dtmbf
Thanks for the info and encouragement. The info on older knees makes sense to me. My knee swelling doesn't want to go away. I did always kinda had swollen looking knees before, though, from decades of bone on bone I guess. I should ask my OS how much ROM he was able to get in the operating room. I have an appt. Monday so I'm hoping he gives me more details. I have hardly spoken to him cause he's so busy, instead, the PA and his nurse and one of his 3 secy's get back to me. In recovery, he visited me but I was drugged out and he wasn't one to expand in details, except to say everything went well.

So glad to hear that you have healed and progressed nicely. There is hope, lol. At 123 ROM, can you bike? Its amazing that you can now walk without pain.

Good luck with your other knee.... I feel your pain :)
 
@kneegone - my swelling lasted for several months - it gradually decreased during that time but it was there. I iced every time I sat down and still do when I've been real active. I'm sure the swelling was making me slow to get my ROM back. Yes I can bike and do (at the gym), I can do stairs normally and just now can go up and down without holding onto the railing. I can do everything but run and my OS doesn't want me pounding on the knee and I'm OK with that. I can even kneel on my knee altho it feels weird - I'm still quite numb over a large area but I know that can take up to a year to go away and may never entirely be gone. I am a bit awkward getting up off the floor and really don't go down too often. That's mainly due to my not yet fixed knee. If I have something to hold onto I can get up without too much effort. No pain at all from my TKR knee when walking. It does get achy at times and it is semi stiff 1st thing in the morning. I think my recovery is a bit at a standstill cuz of my other knee acting up.

Ask your OS for a copy of your op report. By now it should be in his office record. That will give you the specifics of your hardware - kind and size - along with what he was able to get with flexion. Even if you don't understand anything else in the report you will have that. When I read my op report (my OS hands them out on the 1st office visit) I found out he had released my hamstring tendon, which then explained some of the pain I was having. And BTW if anyone hassles you and says they don't give them out, just tell them it's your medical record & you have a right to it. Or you can have your PCP request a copy of the Op Report and then give it to you.

If I need anything I call the office & talk to his secretary or PA - I never talk to my OS except at office visits - and then it is always an office visit with him and no one else. I really like my OS and have never had any issues with him or the care I have received. He's great on pain management, very low key, and very realistic. Nothing (not even me!) flusters him.

You'll get there - it just is harder and takes longer than most of us understood.
 
Thanks so much. Great advice @dtmbf I'm going to call the office right now and see if they can have the report ready for my visit on Monday. I'm kind of a detailed obsessed person. I had a very Valgus knee (knock knee) and OS did mention something about releasing something....lol I can't wait to be able to go down stairs without pain.
 
You'll get there. Like others have said you are early in the recovery process. You really have to think long term. There is the week by week phase which is, I'd say, for about the first 12 weeks and then the longer term which is month by month. at 12 weeks most of us feel pretty good, but not really recovered. I'd say I've taken strides (no pun intended) in the last month to the knee feeling very close to normal (or should I say better than normal).
 
Hello kneegone and dtmbf,

kneegone, I couldn't compare the ordeal to childbirth because I had two planned c-sectors with no labor, I had 9.8 and 9.2 pounders! But 10.6 lbs - :shocked:wow! I'm sure your beautiful baby was worth every ounce of that pain. Between that childbirth and the pain your are going through now makes you one brave lady!
I too was so disappointed, sad and weirdly envious to see so many others doing better than myself. The PT always told me to "stop comparing!" because everyone heals differently, but I always felt I was a physical therapy failure. The PT's always, in a team of 2, tried to manually break the scar tissue in my knee in ea. session. Such torture. One time I literally jumped off the table and another time I (accidentally )grabbed the crotch of the male PT which made him recoil in pain himself! Needless to say he stayed away from me from that point on. So hopefully you aren't being forced to bend your knee like that. All that pain I went through in PT was really for nothing because the hospital manipulation broke the scar tissue while I was put under. Never felt a thing! I asked my OS after the manipulation if he could hear something break and he said it sounded like Velcro ripping. Interesting! He said he got the knee to 130 in the OR but with all the swelling after the procedure reduced it to 110. I still would do it again in an instant. I know one gentleman in PT was having a manipulation done after a full year after surgery.

Dtmbf you have great advice and I wish I had known you earlier since we are both almost 6 months out. My knee also feels odd and the feeling on one side is just now coming back. It always gave me the heebie jeebies to shave a numb knee. I still have some pain mostly at night - really more of a achy feeling though. The only meds I take are take are Naproxen.
I have a Zimmer knee and my OS told me all the advances to this brand were made a couple years earlier and he didn't expect any major changes for another 10 years. The only thing I was really worried about pre op and now post op was infection. They all put the fear of God into me with all the warnings they gave! It is worrisome that we should never fall (I'm such a klutz!) avoid urinary and dental infections, etc. etc.
Are you having a 6 month check up soon?
So sorry about your right knee pain and could you wait until you are a year out before the 2nd knee replacement? I could never understand how people can have 2 knees done at the same time!

I wish you both a speedy and continuing recovery.
 

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Hello Kneegone - I'm sure by now you realize that you're with like-minded people here.

My recovery hasn't been easy either. At 6 weeks I was still on the same pain med regime that I was on in hospital and my flexion was 65-70 degrees and plateaued, I had a manipulation under anesthesia (the sound was described to me as a cross between velcro and bubblewrap). I had an extremely valgus knee which meant my lower quads had been allowed to atrophy for decades. After the TKR the pain was intense and unrelenting - because of the valgus deformity, the new (straight) configuration meant that the ligament on one side was stretched tight all the time and the other side that was stretched out was now a bit loose, not giving good support.

I'm now ~12 weeks post TKR and ~4weeks post MUA. My flexion 110, extension 5 and I can ride an exercise bike but I'm still very weak. I can't go up even small steps and two sets of 10 leg raises kicks my butt. I just renewed my Targin (Oxycontin) prescription but it will probably be my last one, I don't need that much anymore. I'll switch to Tramadol with Paracetamol (Tylenol) because I still get horribly achey at night and when I overdo things.

One thing is for sure, knee replacements are hard work. You'll be all right now that you have a support network here to bounce your ideas and thoughts off of. It's amazing, we're all so different, heal at different times, perceive pain differently but in the end we're bound together by this life altering experience.
 
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Thanks @dovemck, and @susanc and everyone! Now, I'm worried, I need a MUA. How did you know you needed one? because you ROM wasn't improving? I was able to get a copy of my dr. OP records and it doesn't say how much ROM I was able to get in surgery. I am 4 weeks out. My last measurement was about 100 degrees and I have a dr. appt in two days. I question my P/T about MUA, and she said I shouldn't even think about that right now. It seems pretty early that you guys got MUA. My insurance is changing end of year and I'm nervous I won't be covered next year with the same Dr.
I'm also on the same pain meds I left from hospital, although I'm stretching it to every 5 hours or so and supplementing with Tylenol. I do my exercises when I feel like it and try to push it to point of discomfort, not pain. I get P/T 3x week. How do I know if I'm getting scar tissue and need to "break" it?
 
@Celle Thanks for the articles. Hoping I don't need a MUA! sounds like more paint to me. I'm confused about the massage to break up scar tissue. Do you or anyone know how to do this? My P/T has given me 2 massages, but its short just a general massage, which doesn't really do anything for me.
 
I don't know anything about the massage and I'm not convinced it is necessary However, I'll ask @Pumpkln, who knows more about such things than I do.
 
I'm no Doctor, but 100 at 4 weeks sounds pretty average to me. Some may even be impressed by this number. That's my 2 cents. - Joni
 
100 degress at 4 weeks is great, ROM continues to increase for a year or more. Swelling is what is keeping your ROM at 100 degrees. Lymphatic massage can help with your swelling. A MUA this early is going to irritate your healing tissues.
Here is more information about ROM ROM (range of motion) information
 
dtmbf said:
my swelling lasted for several months
Click to expand...
My swelling took quite some time to subside---I had a limp for a tad over five months!

Pumpkln said:
100 degrees at 4 weeks is great, ROM continues to increase for a year or more.
Click to expand...
:iagree:ROM gain is not instantaneous. It can indeed take upwards to a year---perhaps longer---to regain.
 
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@kneegone - oh dear, I hope I'm not ejected from this site for making you worry needlessly! I wish I had read the links and sublinks @Celle sent you on the myths of MUA and pain medicine dependence. I probably wouldn't have done it. It's way too early for you to worry about anything except getting better one day at a time and staying positive. I met many others in and out of PT that had knee replacements (young and old) and they never had a MUA except for one man who had it done a full year after his operation and told me "he was his own worst enemy" not following the PT's or doctors advice during his recovery. I had it done because the PA and OS recommended it since I showed no improvement for a very long period of time. It set me back a week or longer, and my PT (who didn't know I had scheduled it) said I would have to start all over again (in a sense). So, please don't think you need this. It was just my experience. As far as the pain killers, I did the wrong thing and reduced the amount I was taking too quickly in a span of a couple weeks. I felt flu-like symptoms for a few days and then I didn't feel myself for another week. I guess I was ignorant in not researching better and not telling my doctor and another thing was that I may have been pushed too hard in PT. Toward the end of PT they changed their approach and had me exercise much less to relieve swelling. But here I am almost six months out and I've already been on a plane trip a month ago to see my new grandbaby, swim 4 days per week and no longer have that debilitating pain pre-surgery that we all suffered. As each day goes by you'll get better and there will finally be a time when your knee isn't ruling your life. I really, really didn't believe anybody before that things will turn around for the best but now I do! Patience is the key along with lots of ice!
:flwrysmile:
 
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Here in Australia if you have <90 degrees ROM and have showed no gain in 2-3 weeks, they like to get an MUA around the 6 week mark. With a ROM at 100 they probably wouldn't mention it to you.

I read in another thread somewhere (sorry, very hard to look around and research on my tablet device) I read there's been a recent report saying younger people are more susceptible to adhesions than older folk who heal slower, have more lax muscles and looser skin. For instance my mother-in-law had her knee done at 89 and was off drugs, taking stairs and long walks by this stage of her recovery. Heal slower and you heal faster in the long run.

I talk about my MUA experience in my thread (link in my signature) - remember I had a difficult case going in to surgery, what I can tell you is that I had a lot of swelling along with adhesions. The description of a hose filled with water is hard to bend felt accurate but there was something else, it felt like my 'hose' was filled with sand. Parts of my knee, although swollen, were hard as a rock, not squishy. A physio trying GENTLY to mobilize it simply couldn't do it. I was cemented into place.

Three important things about an MUA, it does put you back a bit because of the new trauma to the muscles. In my case 2 - 2 1/2 weeks. Second, I have never had muscular pain as intense as that in my life. If I didn't have and didn't take my pain meds - I just couldn't imagine how I could have coped. Third - when you carefully work through the intense post-MUA physical therapy regime and balance that with Rest, Ice and Elevation, the results make it all worthwhile.
 
wow, that all sounds intense.... @dovemck, yes, I read that about older people healing faster too. Maybe I should waited another 10 years, lol. right now, my knee is swollen again, (not that it went down) and it seems like I'm starting over again with the ROM. The improvements are so slight and slow and it seems everyday, you start over. Don't worry, @susanc, I appreciate your feedback and experience. I guess I'm just impatient and not used to this. Somedays, it seems like it's never going to end, the lack of improvement and the pain. I'm really holding on to the wisdom and experience of the others who have gone thru it and hope that I can get there too.
 
Hi @kneebegone

You are very early in your recovery. WTG on your post to the man on the other thread. You supported me beautifully. Thank you xx "he wants his head lookin" is a bit of a rude phrase they use over here when a man makes a daft or bad decision.

I'll pop by later. I'm about to eat. I feel sick as I left it too long between meals and no snacks xxx

I need to have a chat about what's going on with you. I've had a bad recovery and ended up with a revision that's seems to have worked.

You need to wait longer x

Love Nana moon 27 xxx
 
Hi everyone. I'm at almost 8 weeks and finally I see some improvement, slightly less swollen and a little more ROM. My home PT stopped two weeks ago and I went on a cruise for a week (Preplanned months prior to surgery) with my niece in law. I really needed a change of scenery, even if I couldn't participate in any of the activities.

So I was forced to walk more last week and came back home a little stronger. I'm able to manage shallow steps up while pulling myself at the same time, which felt amazing. I'm still on pain meds, but now down to 2 or 4mgs of Dilaudin and tylenol (about 1000 mgs/day). My stamina is still pretty low, I get exhausted making breakfast.

I'm trying to sign up for outpatient P/T but many places seemed booked these two weeks because of Txgiving. I looked up some p/t videos and am trying to do them at home. Alot of my ROM improvement is definitely tied to the fact that my swelling has gone down, albeit still there. I still ice as often as I can. From where I was, where it seemed so hopeless and strenuous and unending, my current state feels so much better, although I'm no where near "normal".

I haven't gotten my ROM measured but I think I must be about 100. I'm kinda nervous of my follow up appt in two weeks, because my doctor indicated that if I don't improve, he's considering MUA, which I really don't want.

I also have health insurance issues where it is being converted to a HMO plan and after Dec. 31, and my doctor or hospital will not be covered, so this is also putting pressure on me to get possible procedures done before that date.....

Anyway, I want to thank all of you who put up with my rants and concerns and feel indebted to all of you who took the time to type a few words of encouragement and advice. You all have been my salvation at times of loneliness and helplessness. I am grateful to this forum and all of your kindness.
 
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