TKR JDinCT Recovery Thread

[JDinCT]

Good morning everyone! Hope everyone had a great and productive weekend!

I managed to do some normal activities on Saturday at the marina.... prepping the boat for summer. Involved LOTS of walking (~2 miles), up and down ladders throughout the day. It was great for the psyche to be able to do those "normal" things. I found it was about the same level of pain and discomfort as pre-op... to me this is a positive since things will only get better and I'm not quite 4 weeks post-op. I did elevate and ice throughout the day. Was also able to go out for my first dinner post-op.

Woke up Sunday with some added stiffness and soreness. Resumed my regular at-home PT once I was able to get things loosened up... PT actually made the knee happier. I'm up to 2 miles on the stationary bike now and am able to even get my heart rate up a little (~100 BPM).

Hope everyone has a great spring recovery day!

Here's a few fun pics from the weekend....

 

[Irish471]

That’s awesome!!! I have my first outside PT this morning. Hoping to get a good game plan/strategy in place so I can start making more progress. I have a hematoma around the incision that’s limiting my ROM. Really hoping for encouragement and positive results from PT. Happy Monday!

 

[Lindylee]

Up and down ladders already is amazing. You'll be turning cartwheels next Good for you, you're having a great recovery.

 

[JDinCT]

Hello everyone!

Today is 30 days post-op for me. It's been a roller coaster week....

Completed two weeks of outpatient PT... it has been challenging … but exactly what I want and need. They are more focused on getting you functional than anything. They measured my ROM on the first day I came in and haven't measured or even discussed ROM since then. I am fortunate (or perhaps unfortunate ) that they know me in this office from being a former patient with my lower back. The fortunate part is that they know my normal level of fitness, goals, etc. and have adjusted the PT protocol accordingly.

On a couple occasions I pushed a little too hard and was pretty sore at the next session. My therapist immediately adjusted the days exercises to compensate for the current condition. I am also getting TENS type therapy for swelling which does seem to help some.... it is ALWAYS the best part of the appointment at the end.

I woke up today and felt a glimmer of quad muscle strength. I can now contract the muscle and it actually responds and I can hold the contraction for as long as I want.... a glimmer of normalcy... and the PT paying off...

I have really struggled with quality sleep this week. Dull pain and zingers together waking me up every night between midnight and 2 AM. I tried additional meds, additional icing, continual icing, stretching (in middle of night), walking.... and all the above in various combinations. Finally reported this to my OS recovery nurse and she diagnosed it as a temporary form of neuropathy resulting from the surgery. She prescribed Gabapentin 300 mg at bedtime. I tried it for first time last night and could see some minor positive results… but I think I took at too late. Tonight I'm going to take it around 9 PM... about 1-2 hours before I usually fall asleep.

All-in-all, I still feel I'm making good progress… would like to solve the lack of sleep issue... but it too will come in time.

One other noteworthy event... I'm up to three miles in 11 minutes... with heart rate above 100 … on the stationary bike. I hope to increase that at least a mile a week per session in the near term.
Everyone have a great weekend... get out and do something FUN!

 

[Bionic]

@JDinCT
Have a great weekend yourself. The forecast is improving so I am hoping to get in a couple of walks.

 

[catkin69]

Morning @JDinCT I hope taking the Gabapentin earlier last night has helped and you managed a better sleep.
Otherwise your progress is brilliant.
I am working on increasing my walking distance and yesterday I managed a mile! I also had the best sleep.
I hope you have a great weekend.

 

[JDinCT]

@catkin69 @Bionic Thanks so much for the well wishes!

Just a quick update on the effectiveness of the Gabapentin.... I took the 300 mg around 8:30 pm.... it had me drowsy by 10 pm.... fell asleep and had good sound sleep until about 3:30 am.... had a short visit from the pain fairy but it was much less severe and much shorter.... after getting up and doing a few stretches... I was able to get back to a sound sleep within 30-45 minutes..... woke up today feeling very well rested!

Just in time to start my day with a few PT exercises...

 

[catkin69]

@JDinCT that’s good news it continues.
Reading that you started your day with exercises has made me realise I haven’t done any today, just a walk. Feeling like a rebel and I am not going to do any

 

[sistersinhim]

Walking is an exercise and it's the best one for a knee replacement.

 

[Irish471]

Sleep has been an issue for me in the past week. I am usually up around 2 a.m. feeling uncomfortable. I take a Lyrica (not sure if the dosage...pill bottle is in kitchen) before bed in addition to 10mg oxycodone. On various nights, I have tried using some ice, an oxycodone, and last night, I tried taking some tylenol. All of those things didn’t seem to help much. Once I take my next Lyrica and oxycodone at 7am, I am able to fall back asleep until about 10a.m. This is not a habit that I want to fall into especially because I will probably be going back to work in 2-3 more weeks. I would like to take something else to help me stay asleep but I am worried about how other meds might interact with everything else I already take. Maybe I will try the stretching

 

[JDinCT]

@Irish471 Sounds like you are trying about the same things that I did with sleep deprivation.... so far the Gabapentin is working for me... even if/when I do wake up due to pain or just being uncomfortable, I am now able to fall back into a quality sleep very quickly. FYI, I have not taken any Oxy for about the last 1.5 weeks... only relying on two Tylenol 650mg three times a day for pain.... I am now also off the Meloxican for inflammation... best of luck with the sleep issue.... IMO it's one of the worst parts of this recovery...

 

[Bionic]

This sleep deprivation is a real problem. I am sure we would heal much better if we could get it under control.
I did take 2 paracetamol (tylenol) last night but they don't seem to do anything.
Husband came in to see if I wanted anything and I told him to hit me over the head with a mallet
I will never know if it would have worked as he didn't do it

 

[Irish471]

@Bionic , I’ve made that request, too!

@JDinCT , I am okay with taking just tylenol throught the day, but I find I still need the oxycodone at night. I am cutting back from 10mg to 5mg this week and have my fingers crossed that will suffice. Tylenol never really was my pain reliever of choice. I really loved my Motrin and hope I can go back to taking it. The pharmacy just refilled my Meloxicam. Not sure why, but I will keep taking it since there must be a reason they refilled it. I think you have had one of the best recoveries! I can’t wait to be more active and drive and get back to a normal routine. Soon

 

[FCBayern]

@Irish471 Ibuprofen (Motrin) was always much more effective for me than Tylenol before my TKR. Tylenol seemed to do nothing for the arthritis pain, but post surgery I'm finding that Tylenol is very effective in managing my pain. Originally they had me on both Tylenol and Ibuprofen but I've stopped the Ibuprofen and haven't noticed any difference, the Tylenol really seems to be doing the trick except of course when I join the ODIC.

 

[Celle]

It's well known that Tylenol doesn't do much for pre-op bone on bone arthritic pain. In fact, none of the pain relievers work well at that stage.
However, after knee replacement, Tylenol usually works well, if taken in the correct dosage. That is 1,000 mg six-hourly, to a safe daily total of 4,000 mg.

The US FDA recommends a safe daily total of 3,000 mg. That's because they fear that people will not take into account the Tylenol (Acetaminophen) in any other medications they're taking, such as cold cures.
However, as long as you check that there is none in any other medications it is safe to take up to 4,000 mg of Tylenol in 24 hours.

 

[JDinCT]

@Irish471 That's interesting about your Meloxicam.... my script was for 30 days with no refills.... and I just finished it up last Friday. So far I have not seen any adverse effects (swelling) from discontinuing it.

I'm sure your activity level will increase as your knee allows... everyone is different ... I have tended to "push" my PT likely more than most... for me this has worked... but bottom line is that I listen to my body and knee so I stay within my own limits as well … I am blessed that my recovery has been mostly positive...

 

[catkin69]

I took meloxicam pre-op so have just continued with it! I have cut down from 15mg to 7.5 mg but was just a bit worried about stopping in case the swelling increased. I might give it a go as it would be lovely to stop having to pop pills!

 

[JDinCT]

@catkin69 My script was for 15mg as well.... so far so good without it for me...

 

[Bionic]

The thing about the tablets for pain relief is that until we cut down we don't know how well we can do without them.

 

[catkin69]

That is true @Bionic but I guess its easy to go back on them. I think I will stop at the weekend!