TKR Jennszoo Staged TKR, working on running again

[sistersinhim]

Protein drinks before taking the meds is a help, too.

 

[Jennszoo]

Made it through Pt day 2. Young guy was my PT nad I was scared he would start cranking my knee, but he was just as gentle as my regular lady. I asked him to address the quad pain and he did some manual manipulation and found a bad knot of muscle in the front quad. He worked at it and it was so painful, but in this case, I wanted him in there breaking that up. It hurts more than the surgical stuff. After that, he put me on a machine where I had control of flexing and extending my knee. Without pushing too hard, I was at 4/80.

Still struggling with nausea (took a zofran today) and also constipation. No poop since Saturday. Boo!

And mostly sleeping. After a great sat/sun, falling backwards with pain and nausea and sleeping all the time was a bit of a buzz kill. But it is what it is.

 

[KarriB]

You're sleeping because your body is working hard to recover and heal from the surgery. It craves sleep. After the first month you won't sleep as much, but will still have a noticeable energy drain.

Have you tried Miralax for the constipation?

 

[mechellec]

Glad you are still doing well Jenn and glad you had a second pt appointment. I am like you in the no poop department too. Praying for a miralax miracle! This is the first day I haven't slept a lot and it was a better day. I haven't gone upstairs to sleep in my bed yet like you have but I'm going to try tonight and threaten my hubby not to move around too much. Keep doing great!


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[sistersinhim]

Just remember that when you are sleeping, your knee is healing more. That's a good thing! So, the more you sleep, the better for your knee. Great that you had another good therapist!

 

[Jennszoo]

I had a break down this am calling the nurse. This quad pain. A muscle knot. Whatever. None of the narcotics are touching it. It doesn't hurt when I'm still, but no matter where I am on the percoset/morphine/GABA cycle, the pain in the quad is like a 7-9 when I move. I tried topical cream. Nothing. I feel like if it weren't for this knot in my muscle, I could start cutting back on the pain meds bc the knee itself is doing fine. Just a little achy at the end of the 4 hrs of percoset, but responding well to icing.

But the quad. It has me in tears. Why isn't it responding to the pain meds? And I don't want more pain meds bc I'm in that nausea cycle with those. And trying to eat enough to keep up with 3 rotating narcotics is a losing battle.

In short, I'm hating life here at 1 week out.

 

[KarriB]

I really think the PT "working" on your quad is the culprit. In my opinion it's too early to have anyone massage your leg. All those tissues and muscles are trying to heal from surgery and massaging them just irrates all over again. It may have felt good at the time, but you're paying the price for it now. Keep ice on it until it settles down and don't let anyone play around with it for a while. I didn't let anyone touch my leg, literally, until I was a month or more post op.

 

[Jennszoo]

OS sent me for an ultrasound. I'm just frustrated bc it's been hurting so much, and not being affected by the pain meds one bit. If anything, it feels slightly better after PT but still painful. All the resting and icing isn't touching it. I guess we'll rule out dvt and try muscle relaxant next.

 

[sandi4213]

I do think that ice may be your best friend right now. Besides your knee, put it on the sore part of your quads as much as you can. Be sure to protect you skin with a cloth or towel and ice for at least an hour (the longer the better) at a time. Hopefully you will see some improvement soon.

 

[sistersinhim]

I was the only person that ever touched my leg. Please don't let PT do it. I'm glad you doc is sending you for an ultrasound. Let us know what you find out.

 

[mechellec]

Good luck and let us know. I hope your quad pain heals quickly.


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[Jennszoo]

No blood clot. Got a muscle relaxant. I hope it helps. The PT has been crazy gentle with my baby knee. I was kind of encouraging him to do some deep tissue work on the quad but alas it didn't work. I think the muscle relaxant is going to be the trick. Here's to getting over this hump and onto more healing, less whining.

 

[newlybionic]

It's hard finding the right combo of medications Post TKR. The muscle relaxer taken regularly should help with the pain. Continue to take the zofran around the clock. If you are having problems with the zofran you can ask for the scopolamine patch that you used in the hospital which gets changed every three days.

 

[KarriB]

Most do not feel the effects of PT until the next day or night. Massaging the tissue and muscle is irrating part of your body that's struggling to heal already. I wouldn't let them massage it again for a while. I did enjoy full leg massage at PT, but not until 3 months post op and had no after effects at all.

 

[Celle]

A lot of your tissues were handled and moved around during the surgery - not just the tissues in your knee. Your quads may also be in pain from the tourniquet that was used. Everything is probably upset and maybe a bit bruised. Treat your whole leg as gently as possible.

I hope that the muscle relaxers work. I'm glad you consulted your surgeon.

 

[sandi4213]

So glad it is not a blood clot. I hope the muscle relaxer helps soon and you can relax and get back to your recovery. Good luck.

 

[zakmick]

Oh Jenn you're not whining but venting. If you read through my thread I was up and down all over the place, tears one day smiles the next. And the thigh pain really got to me early last week, it had been building up to not even being able to touch it... mine was aggravated from tourniquet (deep bruising) but was also from some leg lifts I was doing. Had US to rule anything out too.
Initially thought I had a wound infection (thankfully clear) and then I caught a chest infection that went through the whole body, another set back.
Didn't think the pain would stop, was constantly thinking why did I do this?! But now it's okay... I have aches and pains maybe 50% of the day but usually the ice takes that pain away or I have mersyndol forte (codeine and paracetamol), if that doesn't work an oxycodene.
I am on my two slow release oxycodene still but Im starting to ween myself off this so going down in strength weekly.
Some days the recovery just plain sucks! And can be frustrating as hell! You know in your mind that that things will get better but it's also ok to give in to those negative demons once in awhile.
Can't stress enough setting an alarm to take your meds regularly and food?! Really I've been existing on fruit. Soup is good too and I have crackers with Vegemite (Aussie here)... I take fruit to bed with me too and snack on that during the night too. I'm loving the scales for a change.
Let others do things for you to, don't let the guilt get to you that you're not contributing around the house, I did and sent me to ODIC (over did it club) a few times. It's only a short time for you to be pampered and cared for, try and enjoy it. Your job at the moment is your knee.
Keep your chin up, but cry if you need to and swear often (helps get my aggression out) [emoji16]. You WILL get there x


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[Jennszoo]

Thanks! I think the muscle relaxant is working. I've been able to move the leg more without the shearing thigh pain last night and getting up hurts, but not so much that I'm wincing and gasping. Hoping anther day of those meds and I can finally put that mess behind me and focus on healing the actual knee! Nowhere to go today, so I'm hoping for a nice relaxing day at home. I cried so much yesterday. And my daughters (age 9/11) had so much bad attitude. I think they're picking up on my pain and their fathers worry about my pain. This house is an emotional mess!

 

[sandi4213]

So glad the muscle relaxer is helping. Resting today is a great idea and as you are able to relax, hopefully your kids will not be picking up on the stress so much and will settle down. If you haven't, it is a good idea to talk to them about the challenges you are facing and why you may cry or yell sometimes and that it doesn't have anything to do with them. I know that having my grandkids help with things like bringing me ice packs and filling my water cup helped them feel like they were helping me to get better and relieved some of their worry.

 

[sistersinhim]

Let your girls feel needed by you and get them involved in your recovery. That might help with the emotional stress. They probably want to help, but just don't know how. Get news that, that thigh is feeling better! You have really had a time with that.