TKR JLP's Recovery<

[JLP]

OS does not seem to support icing. I only had ice one time in the hospital. I have several ice bags that I have been using. Thanks for all the encouragement. This has really been a down day for me.

 

[Celle]

Hi @JLP
I guess you found out the hard way that it's best to keep taking your pain meds strictly by the clock. You poor thing!
We tell people that it's no fun playing catch-up with those meds and now you can confirm that.
It really was too soon to start cutting back the meds. Wait a while and then start cutting back when you find you are forgetting to take a dose.

I do hope you soon start to feel better. I agree that you should probably give PT a miss today and let your leg settle down again. You could even stop the heel slides and the leg lifts until you feel more comfortable.

Feel better soon!

 

[Timetolive]

Good morning. I am sorry you woke up in such pain. Do try to stay ahead of your pain. My OS was not a fan of ice either. I am unable to take much pain medication, so I have always used ice as a pain reliever. After much discussion, he allowed me to ice the sides of my knee but NEVER on the incision. So, I iced the sides. I will say I didn't understand why no ice on the incision (probably didn't want to constrict the blood vessels) but I have a beautiful scar - IMHO. Ha! Now that it is healed, I ice all over the knee. Good luck.

 

[JLP]

Just had a crying jag.

 

[Timetolive]

That is perfectly normal. Explaining it to your family is another story. Hugs.

 

[JLP]

I held it in until my hubby went for his daily walks. I rarely cry-can't remember the last time I did. But it did make me feel better. Now I can face the day. Thanks for listening.

 

[Timetolive]

The emotional aspect of knee replacement is well documented on this site. You will have more tears. I had my husband and daughter read the article on here about the depression and emotional part before surgery. They now just give me a hug, or tell me comforting things when the silliest things make me cry. I find it was a great release of all the fear and pain I had been hiding from everyone. It is hard to be strong all the time when you are in the throes of pain and recovery, had to give up your independence, and just feel lousy. This too shall pass. That is my mantra now!

 

[JLP]

My home nurse and PT visit. I was able to do my exercises with no problem which surprised me even though I cried through the whole thing. Both the nurse and PT encouraged me to take more medication (just like you all have done) which surprised me and to ice as much as possible. They said I will not have a problem getting the pain medication refilled by the OS. I saw the incision for the first time and it looks good with 50 staples. No one really understands how tough this is unless they have been through KR. So thankful to have this forum to read with all the outstanding advice.

 

[macduf387]

You should not be crying through pt its to much listen to your knee. I don't know why some os say no icing. I had a ice machine in the hospital and I had bought one before I had surgery. It was my best friend especially the first four weeks. I iced continuously and it helped tremendously. Look up ice machines I have a do joy I got off eBay for $50.00. You will see as @Timetolive has said this is a roller coaster ride of good days and bad days but we all get through it in the end. Hang in there.

 

[JLP]

I should have been more specific. I was crying because I was an emotional mess not in pain. The PT is extremely gentle and nice and does not force me to do anything. The only thing that I have trouble with are heel slides and she gently warms me up doing those before taking her measurements and she never pushes. She and the home health nurse along with you guys at Bone Smart have been encouraging me to take my meds on the clock and to even take more if needed. I naively thought the OS would not refill my pain meds but both the PT and nurse said the OS will refill as long as I do not appear to be misusing the medication. I have been icing and propping because my swelling is pretty bad. I had to take my compression hose off last night because my leg is so swelled that the housemates actually caused bruising. The nurse wants me just to prop, ice and relax to try to get the swelling down. I am so lucky that these two people are my home health care providers.

 

[macduf387]

At this stage you should just be relaxing with your knee up catching up on sleep elevating and taking your pain meds and icing. Hang in there it does get better it just takes time and you have just started on the road to recovery. The first four to six weeks are tough but each day you reach a different milestone and you feel good about it.

 

[JLP]

Pretty pain tolerant but this is just miserable. I have been propping and icing and the swelling is down some. I have to force myself to eat because food makes me nauseous. My poor hubby is going crazy trying to find food that I can tolerate. Today no PT or nurse visit. Thankful for that. PT is very gentle and I do not think I am overdoing it. Extension is 0 and ROM is 105. No redness or drainage with incision. It is just darned painful!

 

[macduf387]

@JLP crackers are good and I also liked salty pita chips. sometimes thats all I could tolerate. Chicken soup was good too. Also ginger ale. Also I ate dried prunes everyday to keep me regular because of the pain meds. ;)
I hope you feel better.

 

[referee54]

@JLP crackers are good and I also liked salty pita chips. sometimes thats all I could tolerate. Chicken soup was good too. Also ginger ale. Also I ate dried prunes everyday to keep me regular because of the pain meds. ;)
I hope you feel better.

Pretty much for me, too I also had some lightly buttered toast and Ritz crackers. Chicken soup (my darling bride made a lot of home-made soup) helped me get through some of those tough times.

 

[referee54]

I should have been more specific. I was crying because I was an emotional mess not in pain.

These post-op blues are normal and can be caused by the pain meds, the reliance on others and dependence, "cabin fever"---the list is rather long---here is an article about it: Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it

Hang in there and take this recovery one day at a time---you will get to that destination of being fully recovered!

 

[Celle]

If you continue to feel nauseous, do ask your regular doctor for a prescription for anti-nausea medication. Many of those pain killers have nausea as a side effect and I know how miserable that is.
Do make sure that you eat something - such as a cracker - with each dose of pain meds. That helps, too.

 

[JLP]

I force myself to eat yogurt and an egg every day. But I still have no desire to eat anything. Bland foods seem to be the ticket right now.

 

[Timetolive]

I am so sorry you are nauseous. I totally understand. My pharmacist told me to eat some form of protein when I took my pain meds. For me, anything sweet made me sicker. I could tolerate dry toast. I ate almonds with my pan pills - for some reason they tasted ok to me and had protein. Premium makes a small square cracker that I ate a lot. It did not leave the sweet taste that regular saltines did. I was so bad about nausea and food, I had to brush my teeth every time I ate something to get the taste out of my mouth. I do hope you can find something that works for you. I also drank unsweetened hot tea. I could sip that and it helped. I was looking around the house the other day, and I have emesis bags beside every chair I sat in and in the bedroom! There are still bags in the car. You will be in my prayers for a calm stomach and the ability to find something that will settle your stomach.

 

[Lovestoread]

I had a very hard time making myself eat so I wouldn't feel nauseous from the meds. I even went to my GP because I thought I had a stomach bug or something. When she saw my list of medications, her first question was to ask how much I was eating. When I said a half piece of toast in the morning and some saltine crackers in the afternoon, she knew what the problem was. Never in my life had I not been able to eat! My surgeries were during the hot summer and I found that smoothies and milkshakes helped.


Sent from my iPad using BoneSmart®

 

[Celle]

I force myself to eat yogurt and an egg every day. But I still have no desire to eat anything. Bland foods seem to be the ticket right now.

That's OK. All I wanted to eat for the first couple of weeks was soup and toast. Your appetite will catch up gradually.