Bilateral TKR Luisa's road to recovery June 10th, 2013

[harplayer]

Dear Luisa,

I am just catching up with my buddy's threads, as I haven't be on the forum much...and saw your latest challenge! Oh how I wish I had some wisdom here...the muscle tear sounds painful! Just wanted to let you know that I am sending healing thoughts and hugs your way! Please take care and rest!
Harplayer

 

[new knee in June]

Good morning luisa,
How are you today good i hope. Just wanted you to know I'm thinking of you
Have a great week end
Diana

 

[Lmarshall]

Thank you for the pep talk gazelle7777 You are so right! 8 days can bring on a lot of good progress. I feel ive had some positive changes in my quad muscle. I am moving my leg, lifting it with much more ease, but it is still pretty sore. Unfortunately, I came down with a very nasty bug yesterday....fever, nausea, abdominal pain, body aches, but its much better today. These past 7 weeks have been the biggest challenge in patience in my entire life, as well as strength and perseverance. I dont think I could have done it without the wonderful support of my friends here at Bonesmart!

 

[MissJ]

Luisa
Having stomach flu while recuperating from BTKR is just wrong - talk about adding insult to injury!

Good luck with the upcoming job interview. I'm sure your ability to be excited is a bit compromised right now - but hey! Why not have a new job to go with your knees?

 

[Lmarshall]

Thanks so much for all your kind words Diana, Harplayer and Missj. After a nice much needed hot shower , I feel human again! I called the surgeon to see if a muscle relaxer could help with the pain, still no call back. I did read somewhere it could be helpful, I still have quite a few I came hone with from rehab, but dont want to use them unless she ok's it. still working hard at doing practically nothing !! Lol

 

[Lmarshall]

I finally got my hospital bills today....luckily, all I have had to lay out, thanks to my insurance was 100 dollars. Are you ready????? 3 day hospital stay for BTKR $181, 000 8 days $65, 000 Total roughly a quarter of a million dollars!!! I am honestly at a loss for words.

 

[new knee in June]

What !!!!!! oh, my

 

[Lmarshall]

Yup my oh my!! Physical therapy for 7 days (since I didnt get therapy my last day) cost a whopping $500 an hour, 2 hours a day, (total 7, 000) plus almost $800 for the eval.. . Occupational therapy was half that. I could go on and on, but it all shocked the hell out of me!

 

[new knee in June]

Luisa,
Maybe you should insure those 2 knees I hope your feeling better
Have a great weekend,
Diana

 

[Lmarshall]

Very upset today. Not so great night and totally painful each time I wait for my next dose of painkiller. Im depressed and consumed with the pain or discomfort of my left leg. I noticed a small area of bruising that showed up just under the lateral side of my knee. This isnt where the pain is. Pain is closer to the knee thigh area. Not mush else to say except this is the first time I have questioned my decision to do this. Yup totally and utter way way down in the dumps.

 

[gazelle7777]

Luisa, bruising can show up in the strangest places! When the tear happened, there was probably bleeding...the blood has to go somewhere. That is probably what it is from. Your body will break it up and dissolve it. Keep an eye on it of course. So sorry you are dealing with all of these issues. Rest, relax and heal. Are you able to sleep? I wish I could send you a big ((hug)).

 

[new knee in June]

Dear luisa,
So sorry to hear how you are feeling. is this the same leg as your tear? You are not yet 2 months
Out. Could you possibly take your pain meds before your pain gets so bad ? I remember when I thought will
I even be able to walk again the "what ifs " really got to me.
You truly have a lot on your plate....& resting &elevating are not what you want to hear.
I will say a for you tonight & know i am thinking of you always......
Healing thoughts coming your way,
Diana

 

[Lmarshall]

Yes diana, the left leg has the quad tear, pain anddecreased ROM. Thoughts of this interview next week with a possible start date of september 3rd have me spiraling into a panic and I have cried on and off all day. I can only take my pain meds every 6 hours, to take more would mean I run out before theend ofthe mo th. Wish I could sugar coat this post, but I dont have the ability to sugar coat much today. Dont mean to be a bummer, but I literally feel like ive stepped back at least 4 weeks in my recoup.....if not more. My ROM is very bad...hoping its very temporary.

 

[MissJ]

I'm so sorry to hear about your bad day - the hurting ones are so depressing. The "two days up/one day down" pattern continued for me for awhile. Be kind to yourself!

Do you know for a fact you wouldn't be able to get more pain meds before the end of the month if you needed them? It's so important both phyisically and psychologically to feel in control of pain.

September 3 is a whole month away. It doesn't sound like much, but a lot will happen in your recovery before now and then. And perhaps you'll be able to delay your start date too. One 12-hour period at a time for now...
j

 

[Kavan]

Luisa one thing that helped me was thinking about my back to work date in a positive fashion. I knew I wanted to go back to work July 30th so that became my driving factor. When I had setbacks or issues I would tell myself by July 30th I'll be walking straight at work. When I did therapy I'd think walking straight by July 30th. It really put my mindset in a positive fashion. It's so easy to get mired in what we cannot do but I tried to reverse it and look at what I could do. But I know its hard to do when you are in pain.

 

[Lmarshall]

Missj, if it was just regular knee healing, I could deal with it, but this is my muscle tear and my ROM has declined a lot. Im so depressed about it. As far as meds go, I was fecently increased to 4x a day from 3x a day and they would not (the pharmacy) fill it uhtil a specfic day... made me wzit,. Also 4x a day is already so much, ihonestly feel drugged allday. Hoping ig doesnt start making me sick, I have such poor tolerance to pain meds.

 

[new knee in June]

Dear luisa,
I hope your pain & discomfort are better today I can feel your frustration you are wanting to
Speed things up for your interview & that is very stressful.
How long did your doctor say the tear would take to heal ?
I would call my o.s tomorrow....to put my mind at ease.
you find some comfort & answers.
Thinking of you always,
Diana

 

[eastside85]

Hi Luisa! I read your entire thread last week, but never found time to log in and respond. I wanted to tell you that I had a similar thing happen, a muscle tear of sorts, in my right leg, early in recovery, don't remember off hand how many weeks post op, but it took several weeks to heal, but now that leg is ironically my better leg! So I hope the same happens for you, the healing does take a while, but it will not affect ROM in the long term. I do understand your time pressure due to the job interview, and will keep my fingers crossed all goes well!

I so understand your depression, it's hard to not give into it, it just descends upon us, and by the time we realize it, it's too late to prevent. Are you into supplements at all? There is a terrific book by author Julia Ross, called The Mood Cure. It's all about the neurotransmitters, like Dopamine, Serotonin, etc. She has a website, you might look it up and see if you could try some of her amino acids etc. All natural, and some of us need help, when levels get low. I take quite a few, and when I find myself feeling low, or too emotional (like now! lol) I always seem to have forgotten to take my little helpers. Mood levels are very dependent on these things, so that when we are stressed and facing challenges, we are a little tougher and able to withstand better.

I really enjoyed reading about New York, we lived - can you guess - on the Upper Eastside, in Yorkville, and my Mom had a little house in Elmhurst for a while, I just remembered the street name - Gorseline Street - that's amazing, my memory has been lousy but it came right to me! Lovely neighborhood, and like you said, so convenient to the city, for a while I lived with her, and I took the Queensboro Bridge over into Manhattan to work, until I moved. Such lovely memories, and I can feel the excitement of the city, just thinking about it. Did you happen to visit the German restaurants and stores back in the day? My in laws owned a deli on Second Ave, and for a while a little restaurant and bar on 86th Street, and I met my husband there, back in '73 ... what a fun time that was!

Ok, gotta run, I'm cooking dinner for my daughter and will bring it over later - she just had my first grandson, and he is adorable! Can't wait to go hold him ....

Best wishes for speedy recovery and that your worries will have been for naught.

 

[Lmarshall]

eastside85 Thank you so much for sharing youre story. It really has helped me have some hope! Today I tried on my outfit for the interview and will make sure its all pressed for Thursday. My Surgeon did not give me a timeframe for healing, but I will put a call in tomorrow and ask for a call back. I want to know if she can give me a muscle relaxer, and ask if she feels this re overy is taking too long to be a minor tear and if she recommends any tests. I really doubt it though, since swelling has gone down quite a bit and I can weight bear somewhat. I will ask if my continued ROM limitations are concerning. I do think preparing for the interview put mr in a better mental state. 2 hours later, right on schedule, pain comes creeping back at 5 1/2 hours after pain meds. Next hour was horrible. I ended up online and found a site a friend of mine recommended. I ordered a guided imagery mp3 for pain. Management, by martin Rossman. It helped me relax and while listening, had less pain, or was it the pain meds kicking in? Next time I feel my waves of depression due to pain, ill again listen to this. At the very least it stops the spiral to tears, then negative thoughts. Its been a VERY difficult week to say the least.

As far as the interview goes, 2 out of the 5 comittee members know I had this surgery. Ill as upbeat as possible, explain I had a minor setback with therapy by overdoing it and should be fine in a few days. My surgeon gave me an expected return to work date estimated as sept 3rd. If they do hire me, and I need to postpone for a week or 2, I hope it doesnt become an issue. Let me stress, isay all this while in my positive mindframe....this is not the only way my thinking goes...hence my prior depressing posts.

eastside85 do you remember how long it took to recover? Would love to email or private message you for some input/ advice!

 

[eastside85]

Hi Luisa,

I had to go back and read my post about this when it happened, I couldn't remember the details. But it sounds like possibly your tear is more substantial, not sure. I had been overdoing my activities for a few days, and when I lifted my leg up, something "tore" and I thought I had torn the stitches that were holding the quad muscles together, or something like that. The pain was explosive and I heard a pop, or tears, so not sure it's the same thing. But here is what I had posted about it:

We had a lovely day, and the meal was perfect. I did a bunch of preparation and probably over did a bit, getting up and down from my chair all during the hours they were here. And when everyone had gone home, around 4 pm, I went upstairs with my ice packs, and decided to use the CPM for a while, had it set on 90, and started to lift my right leg up into place, when all of a sudden, a sharp pain shot into my thigh muscle, right above the knee, I thought I heard a rip, and I let out a long scream and cried from the pain, for a few minutes. When it calmed down a bit, I tried lifting my leg again, and the muscle hurt so bad, I gave up and just cried some more. I thought I had possibly ripped open the stitches that attached the quad muscle, or something like that. I decided to get up and tried to walk, that was actually possible, but only by limping, so I went back to the bed, lifting my right leg up by the pant leg, and took two Percocet, and feel asleep from exhaustion.

Around 7:30 the phone rang, and it was Jennifer, to set up the appointment for this morning. I was in a deep sleep, and when she said, could I come by around 8:30 I looked at the clock and thought it was MOnday morning at 7:30?? I listened to her for a while, and said ...sure ... that should be fine, I should be able to get myself together, then I started telling her what happened, and as I came to more and more, I realized it must be Sunday evening, and I even said to her "wait, it's still Sunday, isn't it ... " lol, we both laughed at that one, and I told her I had taken two Percocets, and was a bit out of it. She said she would be here early in the morning, and she was just here, took a look, and said it wasn't as bad as I had thought. Not a road block, just a bump, and she wants me use the walker again, at least for a week, and not put any strain on the right thigh muscle for now. She did her magic again via massage, and wrapped my legs, and while she was working on them, she told me there was no damage done, stitches were not opened, and it was just my over active weekend, that must have made the muscle give up on me, when I tried to lift it on the machine, with a swing. The machine will be gone as of today, and as far as she is concerned, no big loss. There is research showing that patients with TKRs show no measurable profit from using the machine, over those who do not use it at all.

OK, so my daughter came back last night, I had texted her what happened, and that I was ok, but she insisted on sleeping here, and it was such a relief, I cried again when she got here, haven't cried this much in many years. I was so disappointed and discouraged, but that's all gone now, I know I will be ok.

So my sweet sister is doing all the shopping for baby shower on her own, she will bring me the diapers and rubber bands today, to start rolling them. Then tomorrow we will put the ribbons and decorating touches on. I made her a list, and she will take care of everything. I also ordered some stuff on amazon - what a life saver that shopping site is, I just love it!!!

I'm blessed with my family, truly I am.

Pain is gone now, I was even able to do a little bit of lift with knee on rolled towel, Jennifer said that was a good sign. And to just take it very easy rest of the week. I absolutely have to make it to the baby shower next Sunday. And we were supposed to go to dinner with my daughter's in laws, they are coming from out of town for the shower, not sure if I will be able to go, Saturday evening, but we shall see. I am icing non stop right now, and it feels good.

More later, I'm exhausted and think I will snooze for a little while ....

Sorry about the rambling, but thought I would post the whole thing, to show what happened to me., and my thinking at the time ... Does this sound similar to yours? I did have pain when walking etc. and couldn't lift the leg for a few days, but it might have been different from yours. I didn't feel the need to go to the ER or anything, but I am not someone who usually panics either, which isn't always a good thing. I tend to the opposite, kind of freeze and go stoic, after the initial upset.

Luisa - I hope you are feeling better, and my instinct would be to immobilize for a few days, just to see if it gets better that way. Are you still exercising the leg or letting it just heal? Is it swollen? Does the area feel tender when you touch it?

Did I answer your questions? Please let me know if there is anything I can help with, I think you should be fine by Sept. 4th and wish you all the best!!