TKR Let the bells rings, let the birds sing!

[uva55]

Have you tried heat or icing your lower back??? Sometimes I had ice on my knee and heat on my back, my body is very confused...

I hope you find relief soon!!!

 

[TML]

Sorry to hear you're in so much pain. Here are a couple ideas that worked for me: when I wanted to move my surgical leg, Home PT taught me to slide my good foot underneath my surgical ankle/foot and lift my surgical leg with my good leg. It helped a lot in the early weeks before my quad muscles strengthened. My OS told me that knee replacement aggravates sciatic pain in many people with all the sitting and reclining. It did for me too and there were days when sciatica hurt more than my knee. I took Flexeril, a muscle relaxant, for the pain, iced my lower back/derrière where the nerve root is located, and did hamstring stretches. I am 3 weeks out and sciatic pain is much better but I ice and stretch often. Hope these help.

 

[kneeper]

I had a lot of pain in my back and legs in the first few days that I swear was worse than the knee. I tried alternating ice and heat on the back; heat on the thigh (away from the knee) and ice on the knee. I was also able to take a mild muscle relaxer that my doc prescribed. I just had to watch the timing of it with the pain meds.

 

[dnslbrg]

Thank you @TML and @kneeper. I totally forgot about sitting on a heating pad which worked pre-op. I don't have any back pain just butt pain that shoots down my leg at times.

I went to PT today for evaluation. I have the same PT that I had before surgery so that helps. He's gentle and listens to me.

Now my leg just hurts. I probably over did it by having to get in and out of the car along with walking and the few exercises he had me do. I think I might have to take another pain pill to get me past this.

Good night all.

Diane


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16

 

[dnslbrg]

Day 4 - I didn't sleep much last night. I woke every hour to check to see if it was time for a pain pill even though I have an alarm set. I've settled in front of the tv with bathroom breaks as needed. Putting any pressure on my leg to bend it hurts like crazy. I have to use the loop end of a dog leash around my foot to lift it up or down from the stool. My sciatic pain is relieved by sitting on a heating pad. I hoping tomorrow will be less painful.




Diane
RTKR 7/12/16

 

[dnslbrg]

Here I am wide awake. I tried to sleep on my side. It didn't work out very well. I woke with my leg hurting and my muscle spasming. I used the loop of the dog leash to lift my leg onto a stack of pillows which is providing some relief. Seriously how does everyone get their legs lifted? I swear mine just hurts thinking about it.


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16

 

[Suz]

Hi @dnslbrg! I was just reading through your recovery and wanted to say I hope things have improved for you. If not, make sure you follow the BoneSmart mantra's as closely as possible. Especially not overdoing any activity. You are so very early in your recovery that any activity beyond going to the restroom is possibly cause for the pain you've been having. The soft tissue surrounding your knee needs time to heal and it does that best when you have it properly elevated, iced & medicated.

I remember when I was in the first week of my recovery I read and was told the same thing here in the forum but I 'thought' I could beat the odds and get moving a little sooner than the norm. Not so at all, especially regarding PT. When I really focused in on those BoneSmart mantra's and quit PT that's when my pain began to really improve.

It's not the norm for us to do anything other than 'obey Doctor's Orders'. And I always have. But in this recovery the more I moved my knee the more swollen it became and the worst it felt. I finally waved the white flag and followed the BoneSmart mantras and things really started improving. My ROM didn't return as quickly as others, (I allowed aggressive PT my first few days out and believe that to be the cause), but today it has returned and I'm well on my way now to doing most things I did pre-op.

So be patient with your recovery. I spent allot of time reading here in the forum, watching TV and sleeping as often as possible no matter what time of day it was. Make sure if the pain persists you let your OS know so he/she can manage it better with different pain meds.

Most of us here have been where you are and still come back to BoneSmart now to offer support. Let us hear from you as often as you feel up to posting!

 

[dnslbrg]

@Suz thank you so much for replying. I guess I thought it would be easier. Not easy but not this hard. I'm trying hard to follow the bone smart mantras and not over do it. Right now it seems just getting back into bed is overdoing it because I can't lift my leg. I'll keep moving forward and try to stay positive. Your support means so much to me. Thank you.


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16

 

[Suz]

I guess I thought it would be easier. Not easy but not this hard.

Another 'thought' I had many times my first few weeks post-op! It's a consensus here in the forum that we aren't properly informed of just how involved a knee replacement really is. It is a much more 'major-surgery' than many of us are prepared for mentally.

I know for me I was told it would be hard for the first 6wks out but no one really explained, 'how-hard'! I joined BoneSmart a few wks prior to my surgery but I was on the other before surgery side and didn't wander over to this side at all. I had no clue hard things would be and there are several postings in my first few weeks that state I'm beyond miserable in my recovery.

Just about the time I felt I couldn't take any more someone here would share something encouraging and I would make a turn for the better in my recovery. Mind you, they were small turns at first but they did begin to get better! Even Josephine, our forum Nurse/Director, told me that most of us aren't prepared mentally for the major surgery required to get our replacements. And then there's the recovery- expect a year for everything to be fully recovered. You'll be much better at 6wks but there will still be days that are stiffer than others. And even now at 11wks I don't have my stamina completely back. But I'm so thankful that the raw pain is 98.5% gone!

I tell you this wholeheartedly- I remember that early pain but to be able to walk around outside on my farm as I'm doing today is unbelievable still to me. I'm walking up and down steep porch steps with NO pain! And I'm only 11wks post-op.

If my left knee ever even hints at the pain I knew pre-op I'm making it known to all.. it's 'gotta-go', lol! When I was where you are in recovery I would have never allowed such thoughts regarding another replacement.

It just takes time- but so worth the pain-free recovery that is in your near future! Find a few 'veterans' here on the forum that are positive and read their recovery journals when you're in the middle of the night and unable to sleep. I tried to stay away from the threads that were dealing with major issues in the beginning. Managing your thoughts in recovery is so necessary. Sure the thoughts you're having now are warranted, but take care of them with positive reinforcement. For whatever reason I followed Roy Gardiner's posts around, haha!

Be thankful you have a brand new knee now even though it hurts like the dickens at times. And I promise you.. Your bells will ring and those birds will sing again-!!

 

[Barnmom22]

@dnslbrg hello. I couldn't lift my leg for a week after surgery. The home p t taught me to put my good leg's ankle under the bad leg's ankle and let the good leg do the lifting. It worked well and then suddenly one day without thinking I was able to lift bad leg.

Everyone gets discouraged. Me as much if not more. A good day is when I don't cry. But when I moved from walker to cane, and could shower myself, and cook a meal I began to get it. Still disabled. Still in pain. But the healing is happening 24/7.


Sent from my iPhone using BoneSmart Forum

 

[Suz]

A good day is when I don't cry. But when I moved from walker to cane, and could shower myself, and cook a meal I began to get it. Still disabled. Still in pain. But the healing is happening 24/7.

This is it and so true Barbara! That's exactly the way the first 2-4wks were for me but then the subtle changes. They are slow but I just kept icing my knee and hanging out here in the forum. Felt very guilty.. like I was being lazy and unmotivated. But I would just sit day and night and read more in the forum from those who were further out in their recoveries for encouragement. I then began to realize my knee liked me being passive in it's recovery, having it as cold as possible and properly elevated!

Then I would sit and plot my next 'small' accomplishment. Like watering a few plants and then getting right back under ice! Keeping my knee appeased, lol. I continued to try and be as positive as possible and just like that- in my 5th & 6th weeks a couple of major improvements! I can't even tell you exactly when it happened but it was like, overnight! The golden hour I now refer to it as!

You should be approaching those weeks soon- and @dnslbrg before you know it you will be there also! My confirmation the first 4 wks was, 'this too shall pass'.

Lo & behold, the raw pain & desolation did!

 

[Suz]

I just read a post by a staff member that I followed for encouragement early on. He says right here, (a bit graphic but SO true), what I tried to say above!

OMG how we all remember the first month. You feel like it's going on FOREVER, it's never going to get better, the operation failed, the knee's in back to front and the sky is falling.

Don't worry. Your body is reacting to a mad hooligan hacking, cutting, sawing and chopping* at your leg and is saying WHAT IN THE NAME OF A VERY RUDE THING INDEED was THAT?!? And has taken over nearly all bodily resources to heal. That's why you feel so bad, severe damage and the body's reaction.

All the things you describe are normal. It will get easier as the body adapts and heals.

It will get better. Relax, take it easy, don't fight it. Most of all when you start PT don't let them hurt you, not even a little bit.



*not chopping, I made that bit up.

 

[Roy Gardiner]

I just read a post by a staff member that I went to for my encouragement early on

I hope it worked, glad to be of help if it did.

a bit graphic but SO true

oh dear it was supposed to be kinda funny...

 

[Suz]

@Roy Gardiner, yes it was very funny, lol! It's the words hacking, cutting, chopping, & sawing I was referring to as a 'bit' graphic!!

It was those words of yours however in my initial weeks of recovery that finally got through of just what the hades had happened to me and WHY I was feeling as dark in my life as I ever had-!!

 

[Roy Gardiner]

Suz, when I was pre-op I was a terrified Big Girls Blouse and got any amount of help from here. I am here post-op to try and pay some of that forward (it's impossible to pay it back, of course) and if I succeed it makes me happy, thank you for saying so.


dnslbrg, I hope this exchange is helpful and not hopelessly off topic. Back to your recovery...

 

[newlybionic]

Try not to measure how you are doing on a day to day basis. Early on you will find that just adding the slightest increase of activity will just wipe you out completely. As the weeks go by you will begin to do more and more. This time is your investment in your future for a pain free knee. Keep track at all the minor things you did accomplish during the day even just the simplest thing of making a sand which or getting your own ice wrap. Keep going back to the beginning of your thread and you will be able to see a progression to where you are now, that helped me to see I was going forward.

 

[LaylaHips]

@dnslbrg- I just found your recovery thread-I am one day ahead of you (TRKR 7/11/16). I don't have any good advice yet, but reading the advice from fellow bonesmart members on your thread has helped me, too! I have been feeling a teensy bit down the last two days because even though I had prepared for the worst, it's a bit disappointing when pain prevents one from making progress. I think my last day of the nerve block catheter (Friday), I had the best movement and range of motion. So, backward sliding is a bit disappointing. Also, because my pain meds were not ordered until 36 hours after the surgery (mistake on someone's part), it took a couple of days to calm the pain down. When I came home from the hospital I went to my room and made a cocoon of pillows and have been here most of the time. Yesterday I went downstairs to watch TV much of the day, and that turned out to be too much for me. PT starts sometime next week, but I have my husband take all phone calls so he told them I wouldn't be able to decide which day until Monday. I'm not worried about them having me "over do" because with my hip replacement (last August) they only gave me programs and didn't really touch me. (The hip was a different story, however, no pain, ever). So, just wanted you to know I'm thinking of you and hope to be your recovery "buddy". Best wishes!

 

[dnslbrg]

Thank you all so much for every word of encouragement and input. To have you all understanding what we're going through is such a comfort. I have read and re-read what you have all said and it really means so much. Last night I felt so alone and hopeless. Today is a little better.

I'll try not to measure every minute by the last and I know I have a long road ahead of me but after trying to remedy my bad knee for several months with no success I know I'm finally headed in the right direction.

Thank you all again.



Diane
RTKR 7/12/16

 

[dnslbrg]

Help getting into bed. My bed is very high up and I'm having such a hard time getting into it. I've tried using a leash as a lifter but it doesn't work very well. Just now I cried out in pain bringing it up and around the last few inches. It felt like my knee was going to break through the top of my thigh.

Does anyone have any suggestions?


Diane
RTKR 7/12/16

 

[Diane LTKR]

Diane, I was having the same issue getting into my bed last night. I have found two things that worked for me. First, you can sit on the edge of the bed and have someone lift BOTH of your legs slowly at the same time and kind of swing them on the bed. That's what they did for me in the hospital. Also, I bought a leg lifter (Amazon) and it has been a tremendous help. It has a kind of stiff ring on the end so your foot can slip in easily. That way, I control how quickly I lift my leg...not someone else. I found the dog leash hard to get on my foot. Hope this helps and you get some relief.