TKR liam2015: 1 Year Anniversary, Life Goes On!

[skigirl]

One thing that I tried was instead of two pills every four hours, I would take half a pill up to one pill every two hours. Keeping the pills on a shorter schedule seemed to help with keeping the dosage more level.

You don't need to do the home exercises three times a day---that could be one of the reasons you are in more pain. Right now, you are not in bad shape---you are healing from major surgery. I spent most of the first two weeks, lying in bed with my legs propped up and resting. I would get up to go to the bathroom, for little walks around the house and to get more ice or food.

At three weeks, most of the swelling was down and it was easier to begin gentle exercises. Many of the home pt's seem to have been poorly trained. They are often the most aggressive about exercise---so be careful. Remember that you are paying the bills and frankly, you are in charge. If the PT threatens to call the doctor or other silly stuff, you know that you are dealing with someone who was not trained well. Call for someone else or just wait until you do Pt in an office.

Elevation is the key to controlling pain and swelling

 

[liam2015]

thank you so much for that skigirl. maybe 3 times is too much, will cut down. didn't do any today. will be careful of physio ~ so far they have't called, just as well.

 

[liam2015]

hope everyone is doing okay tonight. it's after midnight here and i'm sitting up in bed, hubby sleeping beside me. i increased taking the oxycocet 5mg/325 mg from one every four hours to 2 every four hours for the last 2 days as the pain was creeping up well before the 4 hour mark. it's kept the pain at bay, but i've been very sleepy, can hardly keep my eyes open at times. my appetite has been very low, not feeling hunger at all, but eating small amounts anyways. tonight i started feeling queasy to the point where i have to have a sick bowl beside me at all times (i have not vomitted so far). it's also been 4 days since having a b.m. taking 2 or 3 docusate sodium and 2 senekot per day. still nothing, but passing gas a few times. as of tonight (actually thursday night) at 11:30 p.m. i decided to go back to one oxycocet and see how i do. i also cut back my hospital exercises to 2 times per day. i still haven't heard from physio which is fine with me for now as i don't feel ready.

i've had this lack of appetite and nausea before after de-bulking surgery for advanced ovarian cancer 10 years ago. i was taking hydromorphone, lost 30 lbs. in a short time. i'm fine now thank goodness. i'm not too worried about the constipation as i know from experience it will resolve. i went 10 days without after the cancer surgery. it's this sleepiness and queasiness that is bothering me. i will see how tonight goes. darn, not tired now lol.

 

[Jennszoo]

Maybe cut back a little more on the exercises if you're in that much pain. BS wisdom says walking, ADLs and gentle stretches are all we need right now in the recovery.

 

[skigirl]

Yes, absolutely!! If you have doubled your dose of oxycodone then you are doing too much. Also, it is imperative that you eat something when you take an Opioid. I kept crackers and peanut butter (in cute, little tubs) beside my bed and I ate two crackers minimum when I took a pain pill. I felt nauseated when I was taking too much pain meds, myself.

So, more rest, more ice, more elevation until your pain is gone. Then, gentle exercise---you cannot exercise your way into good rom, right now---you have healing tissues that get angry when they are overused. Right now, everything is gentle. Ride the bike for 5 min---no swelling? great, next time try 10 min. Swelling? Next time ride slower and maybe use 4 min. You get the picture----add things slowly.

 

[liam2015]

thank you skigirl and jennzoo. the knee pain has lessened even with cutting back to 1 oxycocet. i don't believe i've been overdoing it; haven't even gone out for physio. maybe the trip to the surgeon on monday triggered the pain. i did a fair amount of walking, also had X-rays done. the bed exercises are very easy and i've cut back on them also. finally the senekot is working, had a small b.m. this afternoon. i keep getting gas pains. is this an indication that things are starting to move? still very low appetite. i will take your advice and take a couple of crackers with the oxycocet. right now my tummy and bowels are the problems.

 

[sistersinhim]

I had to go on Miralax to keep get me then keep me going. I was also able to eat mixed nuts, which were a help. Could you try some prune juice?

 

[liam2015]

any tips for gas pains? i'm also nauseous and can't eat or drink anything other than water. the knee is feeling better though lol. i was recommended milk of magnesia and peptobismol but i don't think i can drink those. i'm having diarrhea every so often.

 

[Jennszoo]

I took gas x the first few days. I was surprised at the gas pains bc I only expected that after abdominal surgery.

 

[sistersinhim]

Gas X helped me, too. You can find the generic of it just about anywhere. That should help with your nausea, too.

 

[liam2015]

thank you jennzoo and sistersinhim ~ i will get some. the pains have lessened and decreased some this afternoon after more diarrhea. maybe things are starting to move again. i had a good afternoon, friends visited and brought me an ottoman to put my legs up on while sitting and that really helped. knee is doing okay i think.

 

[sistersinhim]

Yay, for relief!

 

[KarriB]

https://bonesmart.org/forum/threads/pain-and-swelling-control-elevation-is-the-key.7602/
Use that ottoman with some pillows on top. Check out this elevation tip.

 

[liam2015]

thank you very much KarriB. i think i'm set up similar to the #3 photo but without the pillow. i will add a pillow tonight so i can watch some t.v. usually i had my leg hanging down and i could only last like that for an hour or so. again thank you so much.

 

[KarriB]

At this point and into 2 months the majority of your time should be spent with your leg up and iced. Letting it down will only bring on swelling which means pain and less ROM. It's swelling that keeps your knee from bending so you want to do everything you can to keep the swelling down. I spent 50-55 minutes of every hour elevating/icing in the first 4 weeks of my recovery. At this point it is the most important thing you can do for your knee.

 

[liam2015]

thank you KarriB...now that i have the ottoman i will be able to do that when i get out of bed. i've been spending a lot of time in bed because it got so uncomfortable with my leg down. finally my tummy has settled down. had my sister run out to get some Gas-X, even though i was okay this afternoon. took one anyways in the hopes the gas pains won't come back. also spread out the pain killers to around 5 or 6 hours. hope you're doing okay and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

 

[sistersinhim]

I'm so glad your tummy doing better and also that you are able to cut back on your meds. That will help with your tummy discomfort, too.

 

[liam2015]

I'm still struggling with tummy issues; the last 2 days have been awful, although i know others have it worse than me. i haven't had gas pains since last night (monday night) when they lasted for hours until i finally had 2 diarrhea runs at 3 a.m. i honestly can't remember now how i was on sunday. i also have nausea constantly and low appetite. today (tuesday) i didn't eat until hubby came home at noon and all i wanted was celery with peanut butter. my sister came over with a different kind of gravol (an antiemetic) with ginger but it was in the form of a gel cap and it wouldn't go down and i threw it up. tonight i tried to take my docusate sodium gel cap (which i had been okay with), again threw it up. around 4:30 today hubby heated up some mashed potatoes and broccoli which i ate (then another bout of diarrhea x2 and for dinner around 8 p.m. i had pasta with a couple tablespoons of tomato sauce. in between i've been snacking on "RiceCrisps" (rice crackers) although maybe they are constipating but they are the only thing i crave. they are salty and crispy, cholesterol and trans fat free.

i'm pretty sure it's the accumulation of drugs, specifically the oxycocet that has caused the tummy troubles as i had this before 10 years ago after abdominal debulking surgery for ovarian cancer and lost 30 lbs. quickly. i've cut down on the oxycocet because the knee pain is not as bad. last time i took one was at 3 a.m. when i woke up with some pain. tomorrow (wednesday) will be 3 weeks since surgery. i haven't been able to work on my exercises, feeling weak and nauseous. i'm using the walker and have been able to walk without but don't want to take a chance when i'm home alone in the day and feeling weak.

does anyone have any tip to help with the nausea? i can't eat or drink anything sweet, milky, or with flavour, although i craved ginger ale and that went down nicely. i realize that the less i eat, the more nausea...sigh!

 

[Jennszoo]

Could you have picked up a stomach bug? With the constant vomiting and diareah, that sounds more like a virus than the pain meds. Have you tried zofran?

 

[KarriB]

Have you talked to your Dr about zofran or a patch used for nausea? Ginger ale always helped my stomach, but when I took oxycodone I was ok as long as I at each something small with the meds.