TKR Lee Marie's Journey

[LeeMarie]

HI @LeeMarie, I just saw your posts and noticed that you had a LTKR on the same day as me!

Well, I wish that we had something more pleasant in common, but it is nice to have someone on the exact same time line.

I had a lot of bruising on my outside calf and ankle as well, the pain on my calf is gone and my ankle only hurts a little. I had a really bad Valgus knee.

I put my scar pic up in the scar thread. Check out my calf, and that was just when the problem was beginning. I totally empathise with that pain and discomfort! What is a Valgus knee?

My last measurement of ROM was 100 and my swelling seems to not want to go away, which is normal I guess. I'm still on hydromorphone every 5-6 hours and Tylenol. At night the pain wakes me up.

I tend to take my meds around midnight, and then i sleep until about 6am now. I am so thankful for that because it was 1.5 hours max for weeks. I'm sorry to hear that you still wake in pain. My worst pain is during the day because i save my meds for nighttime. They never want to give me enough to last all d ay, every day.

I've been really lazy the last two days, although I did have P/T at home yesterday, but my P/T doesn't push me too hard. So it's officially week 4 for us and I'm hoping the next few weeks, I see more improvement. The weather here is horrible, rainy and cold. (Long Island, NY). Anyway, I hope you feel better. Mentally this is tough, what the heck, physically too!

My PT told me that weeks 4-6 are the worst weeks for scarring internally and this involves contraction. She said to keep working on flexibility, but not to get discouraged if the numbers get a little worse or plateau for a bit. I guess that we need to be patient, yes. I don't know about you, but this isn't my strong suit.

I'm reliant on a few friends to bring food by, but I did drive out today for Burger King (LOL) haven't been there, at least for 6 months, so I don't feel guilty and actually went to the movies by myself, with my icepack. Empty movie theatre, so I propped up my leg. (St. Vincent, w. Bill Murray, EXCELLENT MOVIE!) Anyway, good luck w. everything, wishing both of us rapid improvements! Be well.

Do you find that just sitting still is taxing? I went to Starbucks today, and had my leg up, but was in pain the whole time, and for hours afterwards. By the way, I'm from Montreal, and used to go to NY all the time. Had many in Long Island too. I had a boyfriend with a Hoby cat and we loved sailing in the Long Island Sound. Great memories! There was a train that went to Central Station overnight. Now I'm in Seattle, so lots of rain here too.

Please keep in touch. I hope that we are both on the verge of feeling much better.

 

[Josephine]

It's less potent but more effective. It's actually a synthetic form of morphine and until very recently, was not listed as a narcotic. Sadly that has changed but it's much, much better to use than oxycodone.

 

[LeeMarie]

They argued that what they were giving me was more effective. Despite my telling the nurse that I found the Norco to be minimally effective and the oxycodone better, they reduced the amount of oxy by 2/3 and gave me the same amount of Vicodin. I am supremely frustrated because they eliminated both of my RA meds completely for a time and then reintroduced only one, but seem to question my need for painkillers.

I give up! Called my rheumatologist's office today in the hope that they will take over my pain meds.