TKR It's The HoneyB's Knees

[pacosmom]

@HoneyB thats a bummer about all the meds, sorry to hear it! I’m doing as well as can be expected lol still hanging onto the hope swelling goes away & I’ll be able to bend my knee one day! I’ve been seeing a chiro in addition to PT and it’s helped some I think. One thing they turned me onto is EFAC pain relief cream. Love it, works wonderfully. I’ve been able to use it a few times a day instead of any Advil, Tylenol, etc.- for the most part. Not sure with your history if you can use it, but maybe something to look into. You can get it on Amazon I saw. It’s spendy, but you don’t need a lot at once & well worth it to not be taking pills all day!

 

[HoneyB]

My RTKR ROM was measured at physical therapy today for the first time in 3 weeks: 0 – 105 at 6 weeks post-op. That’s almost exactly where I was with my LTKR at 6 weeks post-op. The difference is that I was stressed out about that number with my LTKR. When my therapist asked today if I wanted to try to bend my right knee a little more, I said, “No. I’m not worried about it. 105 is fine.”

I added a new weight machine to my repertoire today. I used the standing hip adduction/abduction machine to strengthen my inner thigh muscles (adduction) and hip muscles (abduction). Neither of these caused any knee pain.

 

[sistersinhim]

Great going, HoneyB!

 

[HoneyB]

I’ll be 7 weeks post-op for my RTKR tomorrow. That means my ears have been ringing loudly for 7 weeks due to pain meds (first Percocet, and then Tramadol) and it’s just about driven me nuts at times. I keep the TV on all the time to drown out the sound. Yesterday I cut my pain meds back from Tramadol 50mg + one XS Tylenol three times per day to Tramadol 25mg + 2 XS Tylenol three times per day. The ringing in my ears isn’t quite as loud, but I feel like I’ve taken a step backward in stiffness and pain, plus I feel a little blue (I’m guessing due to the loss of some of the antidepressant properties of Tramadol). The pain isn’t bad, just continuous. I’ll probably cut the Tramadol out completely by the end of this week. I went through this same series of events with my LTKR. I’m hoping that things will settle back down in a few days like it did the last time around. Blah.

In other news, with the BoneSmart app on my iPhone, I can read the forums, but there's no "Reply" button so I can't post from my phone. Is anyone else having that problem?

 

[Celle]

The BoneSmart app really doesn't work very well at the moment. There are several things the app can't do.
The technicians are aware, but it may be a while before it's fixed.

It's better to use your web browser to take you to BoneSmart.

 

[Niftyknee]

I can reply to the whole thread but not individual posts is that what you mean about the app?

 

[Jockette]

I always come to Bonesmart via the internet on my phone.

 

[HoneyB]

@Niftyknee - I can't reply to anything or even post on my own thread via my phone. I could in the past, but haven't been able to for the past week or so.

 

[sistersinhim]

Can you go on Bonesmart.org/forums and post? That's what I use for my tab, phone and laptop.

 

[Celle]

If your phone has a web browser,us it to go to https://bonesmart.org/forum/
That's BoneSmart's main forum page.
You should be able to access everything from there.

 

[HoneyB]

@Celle & @sistersinhim - Even when I go to the forum via the web browser on my phone, all I can do is read. There are no buttons for "reply" or "like" or anything else. It works fine from my laptop. When I'm sleepless in bed, I'll just have to be content to read and not respond for now. I'll just lurk.

 

[HoneyB]

I’m at 7 weeks post-op with my RTKR. Today at the beginning of physical therapy, my ROM was 0 – 105 on my own. With a little tug, I was at 0 – 110. After I’d competed all of my exercises on the various weight machines with the exercise therapist, my physical therapist (massage magician) massaged my leg for several minutes as we chatted about my progress, and without causing me pain could bend my knee to 115 degrees. I’ve been working on strengthening my quads and he said my quads were tight. He spent the next several minutes massaging and gently stretching my quads. (Some of y’all will need to cover your eyes now.) He was able to bend my knee to 118 degrees pretty easily after that and pushed it on to 120 degrees. I was on “high alert” for pain during this so I could say “STOP!”. I did feel discomfort, but no real pain. Still, I’m not even close to doing that on my own so all it showed was that my knee is capable of bending that far, which I never doubted. He told me that we’ll now pay more attention to stretching my quads and gave me a gentle exercise to do. I’m supposed to lie on my back on my bed and let my right leg hang down and dangle beside the bed, and gently pull it back from the hip – stretching the quad instead of bending the knee.

The place where I have felt the most pain and tightness in my right knee from day one post-op is the lower, inner quadrant. Strangely, I felt absolutely no pain in that area while my physical therapist massaged and bent my knee. I sure wish I could learn to work the same magic on my leg as he does.

 

[sistersinhim]

- Even when I go to the forum via the web browser on my phone, all I can do is read. There are no buttons for "reply" or "like" or anything else.

Are you going all the down to the bottom of the page just like you do on the laptop? I just checked my phone, and the reply is at the bottom of the page, but you have to go all the way down to it. I hope this helps. My next post I'll do from my phone.

 

[sistersinhim]

it sounds like you're doing really well, even with weights! Your PT obviously knows what he's doing. Most people are harmed this early in recovery by using weights. It obviously comes down to having a good therapist and a patient that knows when to stop!

ps: this is from my phone.

 

[SusieShoes]

I’m glad your adventures in PT caused you no pain or added swelling. On the plus side, you know your knee has good ROM (and more to come) just waiting for when you get your own muscles up to the job of bending it. The forcing accomplishes nothing more than that, so no need to do it again. Except the massages. Definitely get more of those massages!

 

[Jockette]

I am always here on my iPhone.

 

[HoneyB]

I updated my phone's iOS last night and can now reply, post, etc. from my phone when I use the web browser to access bonesmart. Yay! The app still doesn't work.

 

[sistersinhim]

Great that you found the solution!

 

[kneeper]

Sounds like massage and stretches are really helping those muscles loosen up.

 

[HoneyB]

I've completely stopped my prescription pain meds (Tramadol) now. On this first day without it, I had only mild pain and felt just a little increase in stiffness so I hope I'll be ok now with OTC pain relievers and ice. I can't take 4000mg of Tylenol daily because it makes my ears ring. I can't take the daily dosage of ibuprofen because it makes my legs swell a lot and quickly. Today I tried alternating between Tylenol and Ibuprofen every six hours. I hope that's ok. My knee felt SO MUCH BETTER with the ibuprofen. I know it can cause problems if taken long term, but I'm so jealous of people who can take the recommended daily dosage. I'm hoping that by alternating between the two I'll avoid both the ear ringing and the swelling.

On a bright note, I had a fun day today. I went with my daughter this morning to take my 3-year-old granddaughter to a birthday party at a friend's home. The party was outside and I stood for over an hour. My knee did ok.

Later this afternoon, my granddaughter came to sleepover at my house while her parents went to an event. My husband and I played with her all afternoon, took her out for a kiddie dinner and ice cream, and I got to lie in bed with her singing old Girl Scout campfire songs (I was a Girl Scout troop leader for 12 years) and whispering bedtime stories until she fell asleep. As I'm snuggled here beside her, my almost 8-week-old knee feels pretty good after such a busy day.