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TKR July 9 ready to recover

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Oh how I feel for you, Charlie! You are by no means alone!!! :console2: I am also a side sleeper. This issue makes me nuts! :hairpulling: I am 5 1/2 weeks out and am still having a hard time with sleeping. :sigh: Before surgery I slept with my legs elevated and on my side. I know it sounds strange, but I did and all was fine. Now I come home and try to sleep elevated on my back, on my side elevated or flat and find that it is quite difficult. I end up having to place my legs flat instead of elevated. I had my right knee replaced and am a left side sleeper.

I wake many times a night to find a comfortable position to sleep. :boohoo: I use a body pillow between my knees and my knees are both bent at the same angle to start. If I move one of them slightly out of the same angle then this is when I start having problems. I've even resorted sometimes to sleeping on my right side and not allowing my legs to be even between the pillow. Kind of like scissor sleeping, but that doesn't last long. I end up on my back and this is not easy either.

Okay...here is a shocker :yikes: for those who have heard me say that I don't like taking pain medication!!! :rolleyes: The last two nights I have given in and taken pain medication to try to sleep. :shocked: I end up sleeping about 4 hours straight then wake to find that I am in a different position then when I fell asleep. I then try to find a comfortable position to no avail. I keep trying to find a comfortable position until I am so tired that I fall back asleep anyway. I wake many times after the initial 4 hours until I finally get up which is usually about 4 hours later. At least for the last couple of nights I actually got 4 hours straight of sleep. :doh: I need to be knocked out for 8 hours straight to even feel like myself again!!! :rotfl:

I hope you find a solution to your sleeping issue. I wish I could. :sad:
 
Daughter stalker your evening saga is a perfect descriptionof my evening right down to the right knee and left side sleeper lol
 
My Knee Charlie,

I am starting my 4th week post-op and I have managed to sleep on my side - op leg on the bottom, straight, pillow in between, and good leg bent on top. My back is soooooo relieved to get a bit of a break! This has helped my lower back a lot, gives me another option so I don't stay in one position and get stiff, and I have gotten a bit more sleep.

For what it's worth:
I just switched back to Tylenol pm for my evening doses of Tylenol. (I relied on Tylenol pm before surgery - one of the only ways to Get a full night's sleep). I talked with the pharmacist about substituting this to see if there were any concerns. She said that Tylenol pm tends to release gradually over the evening, keeping a more steady dose of relief. She was not concerned about "addiction" and said that if this is a method that works for me, no reason not to use it.
 
Hey Charlie,

Sorry to hear that my night time saga sounds like yours. :sad: I hope you get some sleep tonight!
 
Oh boy. I got a new PT this morning she has been on vacation and the other one was covering for her. They are very different . The First one would come and walk me thru the exercises. Take a walk out side and not push very hard. My new PT is definitely looking for some improvement in ROM she said I am probably at about 80 and my extension is good but needs another 5 degrees and showed me an exercise to do every hour ( basically sitting on one chair and putting heel on another ). Very doable. Then she showed me 3 other exercises to get the stretch going and I can choose 1 to do each hour. She said she likes to get people rom moving in the first 3 weeks so they don't develop scar tissue that makes it harder. Hmmm. Quite contrary to Bonesmart. I am kind of glad I had a more gentle PT for the first 3 weeks and now I suppose I can kick it up a notch. She really did not work with me per say but rather showed me the exercises and had me try them to be sure I understood them. So in reality she is recommending hard work but not standing there to be sure I am pushing it to the max. I will be able to push to my point of discomfort and stop. She will be back on Wednesday to check progress and if need be ask md if she can see me 3 times a week instead of 2. Well lets all hope this is a good thing.
 
Pt came back on Wednesday and I was at nearly. 90. So she was pleased. She will be back on Monday Looking for more improvement

I have aquestion maybe someone Can answer. PT. told me to massage scar. Break up the scar tissue. My incision is dry and still anti scabby. She said I can put lotion on it. But what do you guys use it doesn't seem right to put a fragrance lotion on it. She assures me the incision is sealed. Opinions?
 
Hi My knee Charlie My PT told me to do the same thing and I used Tea tree oil with vitamin E. When this absorbed I used Aveeno moisturizing lotion as the tea tree oil seemed to dry the scar more. The tea tree oil did loosen a lot of the dry scabs and they came right off. I started moisturizing at around 3 weeks.
It feels so good when the scar isn't dry. Bliss!
 
I think something mild like Aveeno or CeraVe would be fine. I was recommended cocoa butter with vitamin E.
 
:sos: Hi all I haven't checked in in a while. Just reading others journeys. Well I am at 5 1/2 weeks and doing fairly well not too much pain. Mostly at night. My biggest concern is sleep. I normally can fall asleep on command lol. I tried Tylenol pm. That worked for a few nights. My knee just gets very uncomfortable and I can't fall asleep. Kind of like restless leg syndrome. Then when I wake up to go to the bathroom. Same thing all over! I am only taking 1 Norco before bed. And Tylenol during the day sometimes.

I go to the doctor this week and I feel like he is going to release me back to work :sos: I don't feel like I have the stamina yet and with this sleeping issue I can't see myself getting up at 5:30 am . I am also feeling really guilty about being off for 6 weeks. Not to mention that I had 2 weeks off before that due to a death in the family. I know my boss and my staff are really expecting me back soon! Yikes
 
Pool party! Went for my 6week post op and I can now DRIVE!! And go in the pool. He also prescribed 8 weeks of outpatient PT 2 to 3 times a week. He asked about my rom and I told him it was 106 last week at PT. and he said that's great. He showed me the X-rays of before And after was was quite pleased. Because its a teaching hospital. I saw the nurse practitioner first. She said I still have six more week off work if I need it and let her know when I am ready to go back. I told her about my sleeping issue and she said to keep taking my pain meds at night. She said its hard to sleep because the soft tissues are still healing and now is not the time to cut back on meds. She said your body needs the sleep to heal. Overall it was. Good visit. The doctor said PT is hard to get scheduled so he was going to get some one to get me an appointment sooner ( employee perk lol). Overall a good visit.
 
Hi My knee Charlie,

I am so happy to hear that you had a great OS visit! Things seem to be looking up for you! Keep up the great work and enjoy getting into the pool! Driving is also a wonderful thing! Keep us updated on your progress. It sounds wonderful!

Take care :flwrysmile:
 
Unfortunately no sun today so no swimming. But there was a car! I took a ride to a few stores looking for new furniture. I went to 3........ I should have stopped at 2.... Need I say more. It was good for the soul so I will deal with it and delivery for dinner cause there is no cooking going on here.
 
So recovery from my outing was better than expected I took a pain pill when I got home and relaxed foot semi elevated. No swelling or pain today.
 
I've driven twice since I was released, and so far, no bad feedback from the knee. Interested in what your nurse practitioner said about the pain pill at night. I just don't want to take the Norco at night, so I'm taking ibuprofen and Tylenol p.m. Last night was good with that. My P.A. did say he would give me some Tramadol if I needed it, but maybe I won't.
 
Brithael That's how I was feeling too. But after a week or so with the Tylenol pm it wasn't working. So I am following doctors orders and taking the Norco at night for now
 
I may have to do that. Sleeping is my worst problem right now. I'm going to try one more night with Tylenol p.m. and ibuprofen, and if that doesn't work, I'll try 1/2 a Norco.
 
Hi again. I had my first outpatient PT yesterday. I mainly did exercises on a table so that he could give me a home regimen. Some were similar to the ones the home PT gave me but others were. One had me tighten my quad muscles and lift leg keeping knee straight. A little tough Did3 sets of 10 on each leg. Came home and iced. Ohhh boy my quads are killing me today was going to shop. But it hurts to walk much. Knee feels fine. Maybe some pool time is in order
 
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