TKR Lakegirl62's Recovery Thread

[Lakegirl62]

I’m post op day 10 and boy i thought i was doing great in the morning switching to a cane. After riding in the car to get a burger and back I had that energy drain that i read about on this site, I am so thankful for the previous posts that help educate and offer support at the same time. I will be traveling for 6 hours next week so pray that all goes well. I plan on having my hubby stop every hour or so to walk and reposition. All and all my pain is decreasing and the Tylenol is working. I really hated how the Hydrocodone made me feel. Thanks to all!

 

[Celle]

Hello @Lakegirl62 - and :welcome: to recovery.

I have moved your post from the July Sparklers thread and started this recovery thread for you. I did add your name to the July surgery list.

The monthly team threads are primarily to allow you to see who has had surgery the same month as you. Discussion of issues, comments, and questions regarding recovery must be kept in your individual recovery threads.

This is now your thread, where you should write about your progress, questions, and comments.
Please book mark it, so you can find it again.

I see that before you had your surgery you made several poss on Carlow's thread, but now you need to
write on your own thread, unless you are posting something you think will be helpful to another poster.

It sounds as if you may be rushing your recovery a bit. Your main job for at least the first 6 weeks is to spend as much time resting, icing and elevating you leg, and doing only gentle exercise, such as you get by walking around your house.

This recovery is going to take a full year and there's nothing you can do to speed that up. Trying to do too much, too soon could use problems and it might even slow down your recovery.

i will give you our recovery guidelines in my next post.

 

[Celle]

As
Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
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. Try to follow this

Activity progression for TKRs​

6. Access to these pages on the website

Oral And Intravenous Pain Medications​

Wound Care In Hospital​

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 the 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 the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
promised:

 

[sistersinhim]

Traveling for 6 hours on a less than 3-week old knee is going to be really rough. Can you postpone your trip? I'm afraid you'll be miserable with increased swelling and pain. If you have to go, make sure you have plenty of ice and pillows. You will need to ice and elevate the whole time you're traveling. Just the vibration of the vehicle and the bumps on the road will be uncomfortable. If you could put this off for at least another month or so you'd fare much better.