Revision TKR Lovetocookandsew’s long road to recovery

[Cococay]

I hope you don’t mind my asking- you mentioned taking Tylenol and ibuprofen- and that there’s nothing more you could get unless your back in the hospital-why aren’t any pain meds an option for you? I was surprised that you didn’t mention anything like that.

 

[lovetocookandsew]

It's a long story, but narcotic pain meds give me a horrible reaction-my OS says they will kill me. So, I'm unable to take any kind of them at all.

 

[sistersinhim]

Looking at those xrays I can see why you are in so much pain. You are in my prayers!

 

[Sara61]

Aww Kim so sorry you are going through so much pain and discomfort, here's hoping a better few days for you, will keep you in my prayers xx

 

[Celle]

I'm sorry you're still in pain, Kim.
I hope that Home Health comes today and helps to get you more comfortable.

 

[lovetocookandsew]

Home health was here earlier. Naturally, she can't do anything to reduce my pain, but she did tell me she thought it was obviously a full 10. She wants me to not do anything for a week other than the toilet, ice and elevate. No extra walking or moving around for this next week. She's hoping a week will bring about a reduction in pain. I hope so as the ON_Q will be gone by then, and it is definitely keeping the pain from the lower leg surgery at bay. When it goes, that pain may very well rear it's ugly head; or maybe I'll be lucky and it won't hurt at that point.

She did remove the ace bandage; we'll see if that helps my foot swelling at all. That doesn't hurt, it's just numb and tingly from all the swelling. which is annoying. My tolerance level for anything right now is nil, so the less issues the better.

 

[Cococay]

I think your knee will agree with the home health nurse for you to do nothing that isn’t essential for the next week. I can see now why finding a way to get your pain controlled is so difficult.
Thinking of you.

 

[Pumpkin]

Has the removal of the ace bandage helped your swelling? Do you have the riser or commode yet?

is on your schedule for the next week, hope you start feeling better soon!

 

[lovetocookandsew]

I have the commode over the toilet and it's solved the issue of getting up. My foot swelling has all but disappeared already-so even though the bandage wasn't overly tight, I am sure it was the cause of the swelling, numbness and tingling. I now have an almost normal looking and feeling foot, other than some discoloration.

 

[lovetocookandsew]

Oh, I don't remember if I mentioned it, but my OS was only able to remove 20 cc's of fluid from my knee area. He also sent out a bunch of tissue samples from the knee area just to be safe-so far nothing's come back. He said he's hoping the swelling, which he said is not fluid, but irritated tissues, will recede as I recover. He said it may be that everything was so irritated for so long that that may be the cause of the continuous swelling. It's not a guarantee, but he thinks it's very possible. So, we shall see if it turns into a more normal knee in the future and allows me to bike, take stairs like an adult and swim.

 

[Jockette]

Your poor leg has been through so much!

 

[lovetocookandsew]

I'm thinking about taking bets (not real bets-just fun bets) as to how many total steri-strips I have this time on all three sites. Remember, last time I had a ton just on the knee scar (I had something like 17 total!) so I'm betting I have way more this time around. My OS really likes the steri-strips for some reason. And I know he wasn't sure the glue would be enough this time, so thought he may have had to use staples also. But, he didn't use any staples, so my guess is he played it way safe and steri-stripped me up the ying-yang...lol.

 

[Jockette]

Steri-strips! !!

 

[lovetocookandsew]

@Jockette ...............

Last time not only did I have 17-ish of them, they were gorilla glued on and took a month to finally fall off. So, I won't be surprised to see the same this time.........ugh.

 

[Jockette]

I was so excited to get my stitches out at 2 weeks post op, only to be disappointed/agrivated by getting steri-strips, and told I could shower for 3 days. I had been allowed to shower as soon as I got home from the hospital. And the fraying of them agrivated me so much!

 

[lovetocookandsew]

I'm not even wanting to shower yet-the pain is too intense just moving or walking -so it may be a while before I want to take a shower. But, I was told I cannot shower until 10 days after discharge anyway, so maybe by then I'll feel better and want one.

I also can't move my right leg on it's own at all yet. I was surprised to have log leg considering the cuts are in totally different places, but apparently whatever makes the quads sleep after a TKR did, or does, the same thing with this surgery. I can move my foot and ankle, but not any part of my leg.

 

[Cococay]

I haven’t heard the term log leg- I tried looking it up and couldn’t find anything specific... when you say you can’t move your quads- is it numb or weak?

 

[Celle]

"Log leg" is just a term we use on BoneSmart, to describe the feeling that your leg is heavy and stiff, and won't move without help.
It's a very common, temporary happening after both hip and knee replacements.

 

[Pumpkin]

Your leg has been very traumatized by two surgeries, your brain is trying to protect your leg from further injury by not letting you use it. Once your brain figures out is is safe to move, you leg will start working again.
You will need more healing before your leg wakes up.

 

[Cococay]

Just seeing those X-rays- your poor knee....Im sure it’s hard for you to be stuck in bed - and be in so much pain.... I hope that it gets at least a little better the more your knee rests-
My heart goes out to you— it’s been really rough for you. Each day is a day closer to healing. Has the home health nurse been back?