TKR 5 months out

[smokey1]

Good morning,
It’s early but time means nothing in a hospital. Well, I had my total right knee replacement surgery yesterday. I had General Anesthesia and I woke up fine with no nausea or dizziness. They gave me a local in my knee before they stitched me up. That helped with the pain for most of the day. My surgery was at 10:30 AM. PT came about 4 and I was able to lift my knee about 2 inches and bend my knee about 70 percent . No problem using the walker and down the lobby and then to the bathroom. But at 7 PM , I needed Ocycotin and lifting my knee and my knee in general was a lot more painful, as they said it would be, because the local wore off. But still can manage walking with walker okay and lifting my leg , it just hurts more. I am going to try to stay ahead of the pain by keeping up with my meds. Good news , my leg is finally straight after years of being misaligned and knocked knee. No unusual nerve pain yet and can bend my toes. The journey begins...

 

[Jaycey]

@smokey1 Welcome to recovery! I moved your post to the recovery forum now that you are on the other side. Keep all your updates and questions here so that we have all your history in one place should we need to advise you.

Here are your recovery guidelines:
Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
We are all different, as are the approaches to this recovery and rehab. The key is, “Find what works for YOU.“ Your doctor(s), physiotherapist(s) and BoneSmart are here to help. But you have the final decision as to what approach you use.

1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary

2. Control discomfort:

rest​

elevate​

ice​

take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)​

don't overwork​

3. Do what you want to do BUT

a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you​

b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​

4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these

the BoneSmart view on exercise​

BoneSmart philosophy for sensible post op therapy​

5. At week 4 and after you should follow this Activity progression for TKRs

6. Access these pages on the website

Oral And Intravenous Pain Medications​

Wound Closure​

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?
Energy drain for TKRs
Elevation is the key
Ice to control pain and swelling
Heel slides and how to do them properly
Chart representation of TKR recovery
Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in a majority of BoneSmart's forums, we ask that each member have only one recovery thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review history before providing advice.

 

[FourCats]

Sounds like you’re very positive about your journey, something that is so important. Keep it up!

 

[Jo Wo]

thanks for the update. Glad you are on the mend.

 

[BBCG]

Happy to see you are here on the other side! Keep us posted and hope you can get some rest!

 

[Sandy11]

Finally done after that anxiety and nervousness! Happy to know so far no terrible moments. Hope it remains the same way all through your recovery.
I go tomorrow at 5.45 am with same day surgery scheduled at 7.10 am. Hopefully, will be able to be home by 3-4 pm.

 

[Mar]

Sending a prayer that your knee recovery is as good as it could be!

 

[BBCG]

Me also: praying for a caring and precise surgeon with minimal unneeded trauma to your knee! Looking forward to seeing you on this side later tomorrow!

 

[Sisterpat]

Congratulations on your new knee, Smokey! Praying all goes well.

 

[smokey1]

Thanks SisterPat!
Looking forward to hearing about your journey as well.

 

[Rollem1]

Good morning,
It’s early but time means nothing in a hospital. Well, I had my total right knee replacement surgery yesterday. I had General Anesthesia and I woke up fine with no nausea or dizziness. They gave me a local in my knee before they stitched me up. That helped with the pain for most of the day. My surgery was at 10:30 AM. PT came about 4 and I was able to lift my knee about 2 inches and bend my knee about 70 percent . No problem using the walker and down the lobby and then to the bathroom. But at 7 PM , I needed Ocycotin and lifting my knee and my knee in general was a lot more painful, as they said it would be, because the local wore off. But still can manage walking with walker okay and lifting my leg , it just hurts more. I am going to try to stay ahead of the pain by keeping up with my meds. Good news , my leg is finally straight after years of being misaligned and knocked knee. No unusual nerve pain yet and can bend my toes. The journey begins...

Ooh fabulous news - keep on top of those pain killer and stay positive - this forum is brilliant x

 

[Sisterpat]

Good morning, Smokey! How are you feeling post-op day 1? Rooting for you.

 

[kneeper]

Congrats!

 

[smokey1]

Good morning, Layla
It is day 8 of post op. My pain seems to be getting worse. Pain in my shins, calf, knee cap, foot. Especially, when I walk. It felt better 2 days ago. The only only thing that happen was , when I was walking down the stairs, yesterday, I lost my focus and I started to step down too hard on my bad leg. Could I have hurt my new knee. I didn’t fall or anything. I just felt a shooting pain when I did it,,

I was going to get off my pain meds by a Thursday . Now, I am not sure if should.,

 

[Roy Gardiner]

You'll notice that I have merged your newest thread with your original recovery thread. For several reasons, we prefer that you only have one recovery thread:

• That way, you have all your information in one place. This makes it easier to go back and review your history before providing advice.
• If you start new threads, you miss the posts and advice others have left for you in the old threads, and some information may be unnecessarily repeated
• Having only one thread will act as a diary of your progress that you can look back on.

So please post any updates, questions or concerns about your recovery here.

You'll see I've edited your post a bit too, clearly something had gone wrong - hope it's OK.

 

[Jockette]

The only only thing that happen was , when I was walking down the stairs, yesterday, I lost my focus and I started to step down too hard on my bad leg. Could I have hurt my new knee.

While this can cause you quite a bit of pain, something like this will not damage your new knee, but it’s very easy to upset it.

You will often come up with new pains here, there, and everywhere, in this recovery, and often there’s no cause, other than, it’s just been through a lot of trauma from this surgery.

 

[Sisterpat]

Jockette is right, and 8 days is VERY early on, when you consider that healing can take 365 days! You will likely experience all those different pains for quite a while, though they will become increasingly less as time passes. Probably not a good idea to aim for stopping pain meds this soon. Take it day by day. Hang in there. Things will improve, but in your knee’s own time.

 

[smokey1]

Thanks, Sister Pat
I guess at this stage , I cannot accept that it will take a year. It only took me 3 months for my hip and I know that the knee takes longer but I if I believe that this journey is going to take a year , I won’t be able to see “the forest from the trees”! I have a severe acid reflux and the pain meds make it worse even with taking the Protonix. So, I will be off the pain meds by Thursday and will continue to take Tylenol, 3 times a day. At least, I can start using ice in 5 weeks. I have a meeting with my surgeon tomorrow, I will see what he has to say. Thanks for your words of encouragement.
Smokey

 

[Jockette]

At least, I can start using ice in 5 weeks.

Did your surgeon say not to use ice? We’ve had other members with that recommendation from their surgeons, other surgeons say to use ice (or at least some version of it) They all seem to have different opinions, and sometimes, it’s just that, an opinion. There is no one right way to do this recovery, sometimes we just have to decide for ourselves what we will do, what advice we will accept or decline.

 

[smokey1]

I woke up about a 1/2 hour ago with a very painful toothache pain. I am only 9 days out from my TRKR. I have my first virtual follow up meeting with my Surgeon at 11:20 tomorrow. I know he said you are suppose to wait 2 months after to have any dental work for fear of infection. I am wreck at what to do. Should I call my dentist in the morning to try to get an appointment tomorrow but make it after my visit with my surgeon. Will my surgeon order an antibiotic for me? How seriously at risk am I for infection? I just took an Oxycodone for the pain . I can’t take ibuprofen. Please advise. Smokey