Become an Insider

TKR Knee pain after 5 months is unbearable

Status
Not open for further replies.
I am in my 37th---and last year as a classroom teacher. I had a BTKR six years ago on November 8th of 2007. I returned to the classroom at just a tad under eight weeks when Christmas break ended. My OS said that I would be OK to do so, but eight weeks, for me, was not quite enough time. It is certainly do-able, but I paid the price in stiffness, some swelling, and a slower recovery.

If you can wait a little longer, that is what I would advise you to do; if not, understand that you should be able to ice and elevate and rest while you are at school, and you will probably a little tired (possibly more so) at the end of the day.

One thing that I did that helped me was to do nothing on Sundays---after church, I iced/elevated, and rested the entire day.

Please keep in mind that it is not just the teaching part---it is the logistical part that also catches up to you. It is getting up, fixing breakfast and lunch for the day, getting to school, etc---and then, at the end of the day, reversing the process!

Can you get a parking spot close to the building? Can others take care of your needs in the office---copying, etc?

Personally, after having the BTKR and going through what I did, if I were you, I would ask for a couple more weeks, at least.

I am lucky; in Ohio, where I teach, my contract is such that I can acrue 15 sick days a year and they build up. Then (as now, too) I have 280 sick days. Looking back to when I returned to teaching, I should have used a few more; by returning when i did, I now realize that I really slowed down my recovery.
 
Now I'm starting to freak out. I have to teach 140 school days to get a full years credit for teaching this year towards retirement. That only gives me 5 more days that I can miss for the rest of the school year. In addition , my administration switched my student teacher to another teacher in the building for reasons that I have yet to know. Many have discussed the Motrin Tylenol combo but any form of ibuprofen upsets my stomach. I'm anxious about pain management and teaching all day. I am renting a wheelchair to teach from for the first few weeks so I'm hoping that will help. I go to my post op visit on January 17 and I plan on having my doctor write down every little thing that I can and cannot do so that I have documentation. Suggestions besides staying off work are appreciated.
 
You might ask your doctor if you could try Celebrex. For some, it is easier on the stomach. It is an NSAID, but works differently than naproxin or ibuprofen products.

This may sound harsh, Nann....but you really MUST put your health first. If it is absolutely not possible to get credit for this school year toward your retirement, then so be it. It will not be the end of the world. But....do try to work everything possible to get the credit (how about teaching summer school??) and in the end you will know you gave it your best shot. But I can assure you that you'll be very miserable if you try and push yourself back to work when your body is not ready.
 
Nannharwood
Sorry you have to go back to work so soon. I think it will hurt your recovery but if you don't have the time or money to take off you do what you have to.
i just retired from teaching after 38 yrs. and I am so relaxed because I am not worried about getting back to work.
About 8 yrs. ago my husband was very ill for a long time because of a problem during a simple hernia operation. I missed a very long time of work and I was very lucky because my district let me use sick time. My husband was laid up for a yr. and ran out of vacation or sick time from his job, so for 6 months he went without pay. Right after he recovered I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and had a lumpectomy in the summer. I didn't have a lot of sick time so other than the day I had chemo, I worked through chemo and radiation. I had a great school year and my children in school made great progress because I had to progress monitor them each week because I taught children with learning disabilities. I did come home rested unless my kids had a sporting event which I never missed.
I understand the need to work and get a paycheck. We struggled for awhile. I could take off if I was tired or didn't feel well.
I wish you the best of luck and remember come home ice, elevate and rest.
 
I have a hard time believing anyone returned to work three weeks after bilateral TKR either. I am four weeks after bilateral and I spend most of my time in bed or exercising. I would love to go back to work but I know it's going to be quite a while yet.
My husband keeps trying to convince me that We really could go out somewhere because I'm lonely at home by myself, but I know I don't really have the endurance to do it yet.
 
I teach college and had just at 12 weeks when Fall semester began. It was tough, but students and colleagues helped. Teaching takes so much energy, I was wiped out by the time I got home. My classes are studio or labs, so long classes. I found that Aleve liquid gels work very well. I always take it with food and also two 500mg Tylenol every four or six hours helped. It's good you can ice and elevate. I was very relieved when my Spring classes got canceled. I was supposed to start this past Monday and I'm only seven weeks. I know I could bully my way through, but now I can focus on healing. I had three surgeries in the past twelve months, so some recuperating time is needed.

Good Luck with going back!
 
I teach high school math and had both of my tkrs at the beginning of summer vacation. That gave me 8+ weeks for recovery. With my right tkr (which didn't heal correctly so I ended up having a revision a year later) I went back for the teacher workshops and the first day of school and then took an additional 3 weeks off.
Having the surgery in the summer was fine because I live on a lake so was able to recover while lounging in the lake, sitting in the sun reading, etc.

When I did go back, some good tricks were: I taught with the use of a digital projector and a document camera (so could teach sitting down), iced during planning and lunch times, asked kids to run errands for me, did not take on extra tasks, etc. Make your school life about as simple as possible for the first month or so.

Sorry you have to go back so soon. I understand the necessity of having to go back due to contracted work days and such. With my revision I had to take 4 weeks with no pay and that was extremely tough financially.
Best of luck!
 
Thanks for the advice. I do have an activboard in my classroom which sounds like what you described. I plan on having students run errands as well and icing my knees during my first period planning and during lunch. I do have an intern teacher this year but thankfully she is right across the hall from me so I don't have far to go. I plan on making my schedule as easy as possible for the first month or so. I'll use a wheelchair for awhile since it's easier to get up from when I have to walk around to keep from getting stiff. Low seats or regular seats are still difficult to get up from unless I have some help.

Now has your healing been to this point? Was it easier to teach as the year went on and deal with the pain? I still have some sick days to use but I need to be judicious with them so that I still get credit for a whole year of teaching.
 
General question for anyone to answer--- How do you deal with sleep or lack thereof? My sleep has been nonexistent and I get around three or four hours a night. I need 7-8 to function when teaching and my school frowns on naps....lol
 
Yeah. There should be napping mats like we had back in kindergarten. :)
 
I went to the doctor today for post op. Apparently, I'm not bending my knees as much as I should. I'm currently bending at 95 degrees. The doctor has decided to bend them himself while I'm under anesthesia. I'm very disappointed as my PT thought I was doing well considering where I was before surgery. My knees are still extremely painful. I'm now scared about what will happen next. Has anyone else been through this? Advice please before next Tuesday.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
@Nannharwood .....would you please create a signature that has your surgery date in it? It's difficult to advise you when we have to search to see how long it's been since your TKR.

Your surgeon is suggesting an MUA. You can read about it at this link from the BoneSmart Library. Lots of our members have them, but usually it's best to wait a while to be sure it's not actually swellling that's causing the problem. Your surgery was on December 10th and it was a BTKR, which normally is more challenging in recovery than a single TKR. In my opinion, you should hold off a bit before having an MUA as you are only 5 weeks out from surgery. You have been pushing yourself trying to "get well" by your January date to get back to work. My guess is your knees are rebelling and swollen which would be inhibiting your ROM.

Did you read the links I posted for you earlier? Those articles would have explained in more detail why you are still having pain. Your body is very early in this recovery process. I'm sorry if someone led you to believe it was realistic to return to work so soon. You would be an unusual patient to be able to go back to full time teaching in 5-6 weeks after two knee replacements!

The MUA (if you need it and if you have it) may give you additional ROM, providing it really is scar tissue that's holding you back. But if it's the swelling, having this procedure may not produce any measurable result until you get that swelling under control. That can only be done with lots of rest, ice, elevation and keeping your pain levels down. Exercises should only be gentle bends and stretches several times a day or maybe 5 minutes or so on an exercise bike if you have one. No errands. No housework. No walking other than just around the house. And definitely no pushing and shoving on your knees.

I'm curious....did your surgeon tell you that there is only a limited time for you to obtain your ROM?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Informative
Reactions: KTF
I took Tylenol PM or Benedryl at night. If you take it about ½ hour to an hour before you plan to go to bed, it usually helps. If you do take it, plan on getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep/rest or you might be groggy in the morning.
 
It became a lot easier. Sometimes I would be stiff after school and my knees would ache, but you have to go home and put them up. I did cut down on weekend activities for the first few weeks back at school- spent the time resting instead.
 
For temporary insomnia, I can heartily recommend a conversation with your primary care provider to see if a prescription sleep aid would be appropriate for you. There a quite a few good choices for short term use that help with both onset insomnia (cannot fall asleep) and maintenance insomnia (cannot stay asleep, or early morning awakening). One med, zolpidem, is available as a generic. Others, such as Lunesta, can be pricey (think $3-5 per pill) BUT they are very effective. Of course, this type of med has to be a safe choice for you & you need to talk to your doc.

I will say my personal experience has been that my sleep was very disrupted (couldn't stay asleep for more than 2-3 hours) and Lunesta 3mg gave me 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep and I woke up feeling a bit groggy for about 30 minutes and then felt great and not tired for an entire 15 hour day. I have been fortunate in that I seem to tolerate a huge variety of meds just fine...and it may be very different for you.

but start with a phone call to your doc. She/he may have a good solution for you.
 
Still not getting much sleep but I'll talk to the doctor about what I can take. I'm still having a lot of pain in my right knee. Before surgery, my left leg had more pain which was the reason that I went to the Ortho in the first place. After surgery, the left leg is bending at 105 and I struggle to get 95 or 97 out of the right. Has anyone experienced more pain in knee leg versus the other? How do you deal with pain after six weeks of surgery because shouldn't it be better by now?
 
I can report that I have definitely experienced a differential in pain and flexibility between knees. Just like you, the knee that was worse before surgery is now the better knee. Go figure. I read many other report similar experiences on this site, so you are definitely not alone.

As for "should be" levels of pain at six weeks post-op, if you peruse other threads on this site you'll see there is a common theme of individuals with beliefs about "shoulds" and a chorus of replies to the effect that (1) each individual is different - there is no prescribed time line of where you 'should' be in terms of pain and (2) given the trauma of BTKR, given the amount of healing required for the body to restore itself, do NOT be surprised at pain for weeks going forward. Some forum members will report painful days six months out! I don't want to usurp the role of our Moderators, but I'll bet you could look at that list of standard reference articles they post for new members to remind yourself about typical progressions and need for pain meds. Six weeks out is not that long and you should not be surprised at needing some medication.

I work professionally with people in pain and the starting point is always that pain is a personal, subjective experience. It is what the person says it is! Pain meds are useful tools to achieve functional goals -- to get restorative sleep, to participate in therapy, to be able to enjoy a meal at table with family and friends. No reason NOT to use pain meds (as prescribed) to attain reasonable goals. Of course, if you experience new, different or severe pain, you should discuss it with your doc to be sure nothing new has developed. But for same-old, same-old pain: do the bonesmart basics (rest, elevate, ice) and take pain meds as needed without guilt. You may even need to take them scheduled, round the clock, if pain is still a big problem. The usual recommendation is to take a non-opioid (like acetaminophen) routinely and then add a more potent med as needed (heeding any limitations that apply to you individually.) That's my recommendation, anyway.

For what it is worth, I'm at 8 weeks post-op and I still need some Vicodin (plus my daily chardonnay) once or twice a week.

Hope you have a good day today!!!
 
Didn't your surgeon tell you that the recovery from a total knee replacement takes up to 18 months?

6 weeks is not that long- of course you are still going to have pain. You had major surgery with a lot of trauma to your soft tissues and such. Hang in there, it does get better, but it does take time.
 
He told me one year for recovery. I'm just so sore and unable to move sometimes without major pain and depression, well, that's another issue. I know depression can be a part of the recovery package because I'm dealing with pain, not being to perform basic things like I used to do, run simple errands, etc. I know recovery is different for everyone but I don't understand how people can state (who are at the same amount of weeks that I am) that they are doing all these things. I am at seven weeks tomorrow and I spoke with my doctor today by phone. He stated that by my March 7 appointment, I should see a big difference. I just don't know if I believe it; it seems too good to be true.
 
@Nannharwood you need to go back and read the articles Jamie left you in post #18.
They contain answers to everything you have mentioned.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Corganics CBD
Active Antimicrobial Hydrogel

Staff online

Members online

Total: 628 (members: 3, guests: 625)

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom