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Revision TKR Lovetocookandsew’s long road to recovery

Thanks, Josephine. I don't know if they will go away as I have some others from previous surgeries years ago that are still with me. Luckily those are in areas covered by clothing. I'm trying scar-away sheets to see if they help. They have already stopped the itching-I hope they help the scar's appearance over time also.
 
Ok, @Pumpkln I'm posting this in my thread as you suggested. I'm almost at the 6 month mark, and was doing quite well until recently. I have more swelling than I did, and lately I've been having pain that's gotten steadily worse. I saw my OS today after emailing him a couple of pictures. He says my knee is definitely inflamed, but what worries him most is the pain that's growing. He thinks it's scar tissue forming inside my knee, and wants me off my feet, other than a few 10-15 minute periods each day for a couple of weeks. He said that he knows my body forms scar tissue since this scar has formed keloids, as have a couple of other surgery sites I have. He also wants me to try 2 Alleve twice a day for 10 days, then I'm to let him know how I'm doing at that point. Basically, I'm not to irritate my knee; let it rest and hopefully calm down. If not, the next step will be blood work and a bone scan, though he thinks those will come up normal; if so, he says we then have to "get serious and discuss the next step" (The next step is surgery to clean up the scar tissue). I am going to do exactly as the doctor orders and try to get it to calm down so as to avoid another surgery. Recovery from TKR is never easy, and has it's ups and downs...I had the downs, then the ups, now I'm having downs again, but hope to be on the ups again soon.
 
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Hi there Lovetocookandsew,

Sorry to hear you are having problems in recovery. I haven't read your entire thread but will do so later. Is the issue pain and swelling, or are you also having issues with flexion and extension?

Please do follow the orders of your doc and hopefully that will help. You might also try getting ice all around the knee using ace bandages, etc. also, after you ice, maybe use those terrible TED hose to help keep the swelling down. I would cut out the feet which makes them easier to get on, and put them on after icing. I also would wear them under pants/sweat pants sometimes. Anything to get the inflammation to go down.

If you do need surgery to remove scar tissue, then we will be here to help. It is no picnic but for me, it solved the problem of missing extension. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Do take care and post any questions you have!

Be well,

Dawn
 
Thank-you, @Dhare63. I have actually lost some of my extension, and possibly some flex lately. I don't know what the numbers are, but I know I can't straighten my leg as well as I could a couple of months ago. I'm not sure if it's due to the swelling increasing, or if I do have scar tissue forming and causing the problem. I have been elevating and icing more and will force myself to lie around like a couch potato. It'll be difficult as I like to be busy! I'm hoping the Giants make it all the way to the series, not only because I'm a huge fan, but so as to have something to do to help alleviate the boredom. Lying around when you feel ill is no fun, and you never feel bored, but when you are well and healthy, lying around is horribly boring. :bored:
 
I sure hope they figure it out and that it doesn't mean any more procedures. Don't know if you read my thread recently, but I'm having pain in one knee that they can't figure out. First the surgeon said it was tendonitis or bursitis but then when I went back after staying off my feet for 6 weeks, he wasn't so sure what was causing it. X--rays show implant just fine so maybe it's soft tissue tauma? It baffles me why one knee is fine and the other hurts worse than before surgery. But I've heard so many stories of people having multiples revisions, etc. that I'm trying to remember that it could be a lot worse. So I have an idea of what you're going thru. I expected to be walking without much pain and certainly to be walking without a cane by this point. Well, I guess we're just fated to get a little more downtime! Hang in there.
 
@VancouverUSAgal Thanks for your support. I didn't realize you were having problems-I sure hope they figure it out soon and you can get it resolved. I was doing wonderfully until just recently-I don't use a cane or anything-I just have a lot of swelling and some pain that goes from mild to downright painful at times. That's why the OS thinks it may be scar tissue forming, since I was doing great and am just now having some problems. Whatever it is, I'll do whatever I have to to go back to the painless knee I had recently-and am hoping it doesn't involve any more surgery! I'm also hoping the swelling goes away at some point as it does impede my ROM. Let me know how you do as time goes on.
 
I went to post this in @Pumpkln's site and thought I'd best reply in yours. I don't wish to derail Chris's thread xxx

Believe me @lovetocookandsew in socialised medicine (our NHS National Health System) age and quality of life (although this is strenuously denied by the authorities) is definitely a factor when it comes to treatment. It is overstretched, over used, not enough to go around, resulting in a postcode (zip code) lottery even for certain drugs for cancer for patients. It's a nightmare that people as Ill as that are treated differently according to where they live, as to whether those drugs get prescribed or not. It's in a real mess over here. I wish I could afford private healthcare but it's out of the question at the moment. In England you pay about £8 per item on your prescription. In Wales and Scotland they pay nothing! Yet this is so called United Kingdom. Nothing united there eh? Rant over. Getting down off my soap box now.

I think your system is working well over there but what happens if someone's on a low income and cannot afford the healthcare? Xxxx

Love Nana moon 27 xxx
 
In the US, there is a law that says if someone goes to the ER, they have to be treated regardless of ability to pay. Also, states have a welfare type of coverage for those with low incomes. I don't exactly know how they work, but I do know they have them. I have heard horrible things from the UK's and Canada's socialized medicine coverage, and I know it's awful and not something I ever want. While our system isn't perfect, it is the best in the world. For instance, if I need to see my doctor, I can get in the same day if needed, or within a couple of days if I'm not seriously ill. If my doctor happens to be off, there are many other doctors I can be seen by that day. If I need tests, they are done either on the spot, if I'm in the ER as I was several times post TKR and needing Cat-scans, MRI's, x-rays, etc., or if my doctor orders them for that day, etc. Otherwise they are scheduled quite soon. Medicines for us are very cheap-we pay a small fee per prescription only. Private healthcare is not cheap here either-but it's part of the benefits package through my husband's job and we pay a small share of the monthly fee. We've had the same insurance for 37 years, and I hope to keep it until I die as I love the coverage I have. We have many choices for insurance coverage, but I love the one I first chose when our oldest son was a year old, so have kept it ever since. I am so sorry you have to live through socialized medicine, and hope one day the UK comes to their senses and gets rid of it, and I hope the US never allows it to happen here.
 
I am so sorry to hear about your knee. I was hoping that it will stop and get better. When you garden you aren't knelling on the knee are you? I was told that the first couple of years you need to be very carefull. Keep in touch. Tashia
 
@tashia Hey stranger-how are you? I'm not kneeling at all, and I'm actually not gardening either. I haven't been doing anything that strains my knee other than normal household related stuff, but now I've been basically grounded for a while. I'm doing very little besides driving myself nuts from boredom......lol. My knee was doing really well, then it started having issues. I'll speak to the OS this week, and then I'll know more, but he thinks I'm getting scar tissue inside, so it may need to be cleaned up. I'm hoping it'll settle down, but doesn't look like it will. I hope you're doing well!
 
I spoke to the OS today after 10 days of limited activity (BORING) and Alleve with no change to the swelling and pain levels (the pain has actually gotten a little worse). He's ordered blood work and a bone scan, then we'll go from there.
 
Right direction to determine what is going on. Good luck!


Sent from my iPod touch using BoneSmart®
LTKR Sept 13 2011
Revision April 15 2014
 
lovetocookandsew said:
@Pumpkln He said he thinks intense PT may help-I don't understand how intense PT will help the swelling go down and all the pain go away, but I'll try it I suppose...........I won't allow them to cause me pain, but I'll do some solid painless PT if for no other reason than to see if it helps. If not, he said we'll go from there.
Click to expand...

Depends on what the OS and the PT think intense PT means:
If it means working on the build up of scar tissue in your knee with soft tissue massage, use of modalities, ultrasound, cold laser, heat, cold, and so on, then OK.

If the OS and PT mean pushing on your knee so much it causes further swelling and pain, then say "NO"!

Does the OS think you have arthrofibrosis?

@skigirl had scar tissue removal.
 
@Pumpkln Believe me, I won't allow any PT that involves more swelling or pain. The OS didn't say anything about arthrofibrosis. He didn't really tell me anything about what may be wrong, he just said my knee is "normal". I totally disagree as I'm the one living with it, but he thinks at 8 months I still have a long way to go before it's healed. I think, considering it was doing so much better, and seeing other knees at around this amount of time, that swelling of this amount and the growing pain is not normal. But I'll try the PT starting tomorrow and see what happens. He also thinks if I have all the scar tissue removed, it won't help for reasons he tried to explain. (I hate to say it, but he was kind of hard to follow as he has a fairly severe stuttering problem.) He's supposed to be a top doctor, so I'll try it his way and if it helps, great. If not, I'll go back to my OS and go from there.
 
Hi - I haven't been on here in a long time. I'm so sorry to hear you are still having trouble as I am. Hope we both get better by the New Year. My right knee has been fine but the left basically got worse around 3 mos. and has not gotten any better. Implant looks great according to OS so his latest guess is that maybe I have a stress fracture or something and he's sending me for a bone scan and possibly another MRI. He first thought it was bursitis and then didn't have any idea and now this theory. We'll see. I've tried to carry on life as best I can and not dwell on it (one of the reasons I've mostly stayed off here) but continuing to use a cane and have serious pain if I walk more than about 1/2 a block was not in my recovery plan! I wish I could snap my fingers and make us both completely healed and pain free.:friends:
 
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