TKR LTKR Sept 24

[Minivertible]

Hi Helen I haven't had surgery yet but I am allergic to lots of meds and can't take percocet. But I can take Norco. Do you think that the norco does a good job with the pain for you or do you need something stronger?

Hi Tweet
I did try to take the percocet @ hospital this time with knee surgery but it really nauseated me. I took norco with the hip surgery last spring & it seemed to work fine. But I still took anti-nausea meds.
The knee pain post surgery is a lot stronger & Instill have to take ondansetron for nausea related to the narcotics. I don't think there's an alternative. I really don't want to experiment with meds very much right now. I'm taking 1 1/2 tablets every 4 hours. & i'm fairly comfortable 3 out of 4 hours. When I start pt I may up the dose to 2 tablets an hour before. If I take more than 1 1/2 i go psycho according to my husband. Also dizzyi wish I could take just one but its not adequate for pain control. I've heard of other meds on this site but results seem to vary greatly from person to person. I was totally off the norco 2 weeks after my hip surgery; I think this will take much longer. Hope this helps. I've noticed my appetite is slowly returning. When is your surgery?

 

[crystals5]

Hi Minivertible, sorry I haven't posted but I have been having a huge pity party . I have a daily meltdown with sobbing and I feel so alone like no one cares, as if I made a totally wrong decision by coming home instead of rehab and of course no one can possibly have as much pain as I do. I know for sure its going to get better but right now its not and I'm so tired of it and the pain. Today I just went with it and let myself person and feel sorry for myself and I feel better now.....LOL

I have almost completely lost my appetite too and today I checked and I actually gained 2 lbs . Heck I could stand to lose some weight too.

I have been very nauseaus and just took my first pill for that yesterday and it helped. Since my doc is going to be stingy about pain meds without a doubt I have been trying to cut down on those......wrong.......I'm going back to taking the max instead of the minimum.

You sound like you are doing great . When did it start to get better for you? I can't wait until I have one morning without the dreaded meltdown . Oh well, at least I know this too shall pass and after I cry I do feel very "cleansed" lol......

I was thinking of putting off physical therapy but since they have not called me yet maybe I will have until Monday which would be good.

Keep in touch and keep up the good healing.....prayers and good thoughts coming your way.

 

[Minivertible]

Hi Minivertible, sorry I haven't posted but I have been having a huge pity party . I have a daily meltdown with sobbing and I feel so alone like no one cares, as if I made a totally wrong decision by coming home instead of rehab and of course no one can possibly have as much pain as I do. I know for sure its going to get better but right now its not and I'm so tired of it and the pain. Today I just went with it and let myself person and feel sorry for myself and I feel better now.....LOL

I have almost completely lost my appetite too and today I checked and I actually gained 2 lbs . Heck I could stand to lose some weight too.

I have been very nauseaus and just took my first pill for that yesterday and it helped. Since my doc is going to be stingy about pain meds without a doubt I have been trying to cut down on those......wrong.......I'm going back to taking the max instead of the minimum.

You sound like you are doing great . When did it start to get better for you? I can't wait until I have one morning without the dreaded meltdown . Oh well, at least I know this too shall pass and after I cry I do feel very "cleansed" lol......

I was thinking of putting off physical therapy but since they have not called me yet maybe I will have until Monday which would be good.

Keep in touch and keep up the good healing.....prayers and good thoughts coming your way.

Crystal
I'm so sorry yoy're having such a rough time. I hope I can help a bit. The first 2 days home from the hospital I also had a meltdown, pity party et all. We're both entitled to this after what we went through. Think of it: on the fourth day after MAJOR, MAJOR SURGERY we have this great site to share all our feelings, good & not so good with some wonderful people who have all been through a version of TKR. you'e doing great to be able to get online & let it all out so to speak. I think you should encourage yourself to have at least one meltdown per day. WE DO NOT HAVE TO BE BRAVE AT A TIME LIKE THIS!!!!! I do have moments when the pain gets bad. The first night at hospital my pain leves were around 8 to almost 9. I knew by day 3 it would get better and it did. Do take as much pain meds as you need to be comfortable. If your surgeon is not cooperating, call your general family dr. He/she might be able to help. I had same thing happen with appetite. I ate like a pig the evening of surgery but by morning I had a bite of breakfast. My appetite is slowly returning. Today is day 10 after surgery for me. Appetite is back about 50%. This is only day 4 for you. Give it time & don't even think about weight at a time like this. STEP AWAY FROM THE SCALE. i have nausea every day at different levels. Some days it's barely noticeable. I take ONDANSETRON for it. It does work, some days better than others. I think the norco I take for pain causes the nausea. What are you taking for pain? After my hip replacement last spring, I remember the nausea got better when I was able to cut down the pain meds. The knee is more painful than the hip so I would imagine I'll be taking norco a bit longer. I still haven' started PT yet. Even with nausea meds I can't imagine Being in a car for the time it takes to get there & then "working". Maybe next week. I do the exercises I did @ the hospital when I'm up to it. Do you do a lot of icing Crystal? That's been very helpful for me. I have ice on my leg at least 50% of the time around the clock. I think it's probably much more than that actually. I also follow the bonesmart MANTRA. Don't stand when you can sit. Dont sit when you can lie etc.
95% of the time I sit I put my legs up. I try to not sit with my legs on floor if I can. A couple times a day I elevate legs to higher than my hips. I have a lounge chair, similar to a recliner but footstool is separate. I always put at leadt a couple of fat pillows on footstool part when I sit. Recliners are also good if you can elevate the legs so they're higher. It's helpful to have tv/music etc on for a bit of distraction the days will be long & the nights even longer but there will be an end. In just a week you will have made progress. You just have to get past the first couple of weeks. Hang in there. Remember- your daily meltdown is an entitlement. You did say you feel better afterwards. We're going to make it. I'll be thinking about you.

 

[Minivertible]

Crysal
I'm so sorry I forgot to ask ifmyou have some help at home & who's looking after you. Family, husband. I do think it's been easier for me to have a supportive husband & family. I also think it's way to early into your recovery to expect so much of yourself. Just know it will get better, not always with each day but maybe in a few days you'll realize suddenly you are felling a bit better. Recovery isn't a particularly even event. Sometimes you take a step forward & 2 steps backward. I'll bet in just another week you'll feel much better. It's after midnight here & I stayed up ro take meds on time & started thinking about you. Hang in there. It WILL be better soon.
Helen

 

[crystals5]

Hi Helen,
Thanks for the encouragement. You are really a sweetheart. I do not have anyone who lives with me but my son and his fiancee live about 20 minutes away. They came over for a few hours yesterday and did dishes, laundry and cleared off junk LOL from the tables next to the places I sit....Its amazing how much accumulates next to where you "camp out" during the day and evening if you don't regularly clear it off....

I will be waiting to hear when you don't need as many pain meds. I'm sure that will help with our nausea too. It is 430 here and I have already had my meltdown I think I have figured it out. I did sleep about 5 hours. When I get up in the a.m. the pain is so very bad. Today when I got up I didn't even think about it, just took the max dose of pain med. Because I go so long without pain med and because I have not walked in hours the pain is more severe so I melt down....

Thanks for all the encouragement Helen. I hope today finds you better and better

 

[Minivertible]

Crystal
Hope it was a good meltdown today. Do you have plenty of ice packs handy? I use the gel packs you get @ drugstores & I think wal mart has good prices. You need at least 4 of the large 10 x 14 size. I keep these on my knee & even move them around most of my leg to keep entire leg cool. These take a few hours to cool in the freezer so 1 gel pack isn't enough. You must also keep your leg elevated when sutting. I thing icing. & elevating help almost as much as drugs. I have a cat that spends a lot of time sniggling with me as well. Inknow just one more week will help tremendously. I think going to therapy will help as well. Just make sure you don't overdo it. I believe yoy're right about pain meds & going 5 hours. While it's great sleeping for 5 hours you play catch up with the meds & the pain gets a bit out of control. I wonder if setting the alarm for 4 hours would help so you don't go so long without meds. Hope your days goes a bit better. Here's hoping & praying.
Helen

 

[crystals5]

Minivertible. I had a HUGE meltdown yesterday and dozed on and off the entire day to the point I was getting worried. Today, no meltdown and I'm feeling pretty good. The nurse showed me a way to change my pain meds and I think this has worked.

I hope your continuing to get better and better.

 

[Minivertible]

Crystal
Soundsl like a wonderful breakthrough. Maybe the tide is finally turning for you. Keep in touch.
Helen

 

[crystals5]

How has your healing been going Helen? Are you still slowly getting better evey day? I sure hope so.

 

[Minivertible]

Cyyhtal
My healing process can best be described as uneven. It's not a steady upward mobility (bad pun intended) healing process. Similar to hip healing last spring. Last week after sitting on the porch I went inside & in the process I went up a step with the operated leg. Since then, it's been more sore. I was supposed to go up with the good leg & I messed up. Hopefully no damage was done. Of course I was hoping to have graduated to a cane by 2 weeks which is on Tuesday the 8th. I'm close but I think the step incident is slowing me down. OH WELL!
It's more important to be careful & stable rather than meeting arbitrary goals. I fibd i'm using the walker mostly for balance than for any real support. I noticed that the nausea I have most days went away much more quickle today after taking the anti-nausea medication. Hopefully this will continue. Appetite's holding steady but still beliw normal. Today overall I feel much better but I'm also anticipating everyday won't improve this much. I'm very thankful for days like this. I'm planning to go shopping w/husband this afternoon to grocery where they have the electric carts so I can get out a bit. Hopefully I won't relapse. I have staples out on Tuesday.
Overall looking back to last weekend I think i'm doing a lot better. At almost 2 weeks I think i'm better than I thought iD be. The improvements just can't be quantified on a daily basis. Inthink the roughest days were those bwtween the time I got home from hospital & for about 3-5 days afterwards. Who knows what this next week will be. Just have to hope for the best. My husband will be working from home the rest of the month but if I continue to feel like I do right now I'm sure I wouldn't have a problem getting along by myself.
Helen

 

[judgar]

HI Helen. Its been rough. Iam sick to my stomach all the time. I start pt tomorrow but Iam going to tell them if I can not take some meds and keep it down I will not do it tomorrow This has been a lot rougher than I thought it would be. Iam just hoping it gets better soon

 

[crystals5]

You are doing great Helen. Other than the step incident you are moving right along. Keep it up. I like to watch so I can gauge how I might progress

 

[Minivertible]

Hi everyone
I had a couple of days with setbacks. Nothing major. Just more nausea & unexpected pain episodes. The best I can do is expect them & deal with it. Yesterday I rather quickly started using a cane & it seemed much easier to use than the walker. When I tried using it last week I just wasn't ready. Yoy'll know when it's time. That's good news since I seem to have moved up a level in the on going process. Everytime I have setbacks, they'e followed by upward mobility (love the pun). This morning I went to dr office to get staples removed. Boy did that hurt. When I had staples removed from hip surgery last spring I hardly felt it. Anyone else have this happen? I do like my dr. He's great with his attitude re drugs/therapy. He always asks what questions I have & then asks what drugs I need to refill. Never a problem getting what I need. The only question is whether I need sonething that might work better. The only questions regarding mobility are that to get along I need to be able to extend to 0* & flexion of 110* by 6 weeks. I told him i've been slowly working on my own since I've had a lot of nausea & haven't been up to pt outpatient yet. Since I had 0 extension the day after surgery that's obviously great. I should be able to easily get to 110 flexion in just a week or two I think. He was not at all concerned at how I accomplish it. I'm fairly motivated. I'm still thinking i'll schedule a few sessions of formal pt when the nausea improves maybe by end of week. I feel absolutely no pressure of any kindnfrom my dr. The last thing he said is to get plenty of rest & not overdo it. I go back in another month for xrays & to see if I'm healing well.
4/2/13 RTHR
9/24/13 LTKR

 

[crystals5]

Minivertible, I started using cane yesterday also. Actually, I just didn't always use the walker and when the physical therapist saw this she grabbed my cane and showed me how to walk with the cane. I don't trust it for going out yet but I am learning. Apparently, this is the way to learn to walk again if you have limped before and I have limped for years and look forward to not limping.
Sorry about the pain and nausea. I'm dealing with that too. I either suffer all night and into the day with pain trying to get a handle on it or I'm sick from taking the pain meds. I have been stingy with the pain meds as my understanding was I won't get anymore. I see the doctor Friday. I may be wrong and if I am I will begin to take them and deal with the nausea as he has given me meds for that also.

Anyway, I guess its all part of this whole recovery. It sure does take all the energy out of you though.

Keep healing and posting....... your doing great.

 

[Minivertible]

Hello my bionic comrades
How goes it. I got up this morning & it suddenly hit me: this recovery may take a while. Had staples out on Tuesday & it's been a tough couple of days since. I've slept during much of the day & the rest of the time I'm totally wiped out. I can't seem to stay awakr enough to eat a meal.
How are you getting along crystal? I think about you often. Hope things are a bit easier.

 

[crystals5]

Hi Minivertible, I know what your going through. I'm sorry your having a hard time but the rest is very healing and that sounds good. I sure hope it gets better. Your not exaggerating when you say this is going to take awhile.

Without going through the whole thing again you can see how I felt this am on my thread in the recovery area. I see my os tomorrow and my main concern is that he gives me a refill on my script. If he does I'll feel better knowing I can get my pain under control and then slowly come off of them.

 

[leejaa]

You are early still on the healing path and sleep is great and valuable. It will get better and much patience is needed. This is the hard part often but the knee rules.

 

[skigirl]

Helen, I moved your thread from the pre op forum into the Knee Recovery forum. I thought you would have more responses to the thread here.

 

[Minivertible]

Helen, I moved your thread from the pre op forum into the Knee Recovery forum. I thought you would have more responses to the thread here.

Thanks

 

[crystals5]

Helen,

How have you been? I haven't seen you posting. I hope your pain is under control and you are doing good.

I am about the same. Still fighting with the pain but it is getting better.

Let me know how you are.