TKR luvcats recovery box

luvcats

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I'm home. Surgery went well. I'm glad I read someone's comments about muscle cramps that's my biggest healing challenge right now. Otherwise the pain would be quite manageable.

leg cramps are awful.

Now I'm safely ensconced in my bed about to have some supper and then probably a nap.
 
Welcome Home!!:happydance:

I will leave you our Recovery Guidelines. Each article is short but very informative. Following these guidelines will help you have a less painful recovery.

Knee Recovery: The Guidelines
1. Don’t worry: Your body will heal all by itself. Relax, let it, don't try and hurry it, don’t worry about any symptoms now, they are almost certainly temporary
2. Control discomfort:
rest
elevate
ice
take your pain meds by prescription schedule (not when pain starts!)
don't overwork.
3. Do what you want to do BUT
a. If it hurts, don't do it and don't allow anyone - especially a physical therapist - to do it to you
b. If your leg swells more or gets stiffer in the 24 hours after doing it, don't do it again.​
4. PT or exercise can be useful BUT take note of these
5. At week 4 and after you should follow this
6. Access to these pages on the website

The Recovery articles:
The importance of managing pain after a TKR and the pain chart
Swollen and stiff knee: what causes it?

Energy drain for TKRs

Elevation is the key

Ice to control pain and swelling

Heel slides and how to do them properly

Chart representation of TKR recovery

Healing: how long does it take?

Post op blues is a reality - be prepared for it
Sleep deprivation is pretty much inevitable - but what causes it?

There are also some cautionary articles here
Myth busting: no pain, no gain
Myth busting: the "window of opportunity" in TKR
Myth busting: on getting addicted to pain meds

We try to keep the forum a positive and safe place for our members to talk about their questions or concerns and to report successes with their joint replacement surgery.

While members may create as many threads as they like in the majority of BoneSmart’s forums, we ask that each member have only One Recovery Thread. This policy makes it easier to go back and review the member’s history before providing advice, so please post any updates or questions you have right here in this thread.
 
:yay: Welcome home and congrats on your new baby knee! Remember to spend a lot of time icing, elevating and resting, along with some walking as in the Activity Progression article above. :ice::elevate::sleeep:
 
Glad to know it went well. Rest, rest rest keep up with your meds. Take it hour by hour
 
Wonderful to hear you’re home. Get lots of rest, and keep us posted. Susie
 
:welome: to the recovery side. We have been waiting for you!

Happy to hear that your surgery went well and that you are now home.

Anna:flwrysmile:
 
Happy news! Now you can finally put into practise all the prep work you did before the tkr! Wishing you a smooth journey! :loveshwr:
 
Welcome to the other side......
 
So glad to hear things went well! If allowed, take magnesium glycinate, anywhere from 200 to 400 mg per day, which will help a lot with the cramps. But even more important, drink a lot of water and use some electrolyte powder. Personally, I don't like Gatorade, but if you do use that. I use Nuun tablets or Ucan electrolyte powder. I will join you in this group in a few days!
 
My brain was mush for about 3 weeks. Just go with it. It gets better as your body's shock wears off.
 
I bingewatched a lot of shows the last time. The first month that was about all my brain could do. When I tried to read I could not remember the page I had just read, so TV helped.
 
If allowed, take magnesium glycinate, anywhere from 200 to 400 mg per day, which will help a lot with the cramps. But even more important, drink a lot of water and use some electrolyte powder. Personally, I don't like Gatorade, but if you do use that. I use Nuun tablets or Ucan electrolyte powder.
I think it's dangerous to mess around with your electrolytes. You don't need supplements unless you are low and you'll only know that by having a blood test.
 
Slow your mind down, the first week is rough, everything is going to hurt, your mind is mush. Keep drinking water, and staying on top of your pain meds
 
Somehow it is already Friday. Not sure how that happened.

Last night I hit that really fun place where the nerve block wears all the way off. Too much excitement for me really. I've got things better controlled today. Ice seems to really be the key.

I've had a little trouble finding something to watch that is interesting enough to have on the the background, but not so interesting I wont doze off when I need to.

I'm sleeping better than expected. I do wake up every few hours, but I just turn on the bedside light to figure out which meds are next then go right back to sleep.

I'm expecting home health to come by today to set me up with a nurse and then in home PT.

So far I've been doing the exercises given to me by the surgeon, but not as many as is recommended. I'm good at listening to my body.

Woohoo! I made it through a whole post without dozing off in the middle!
 
I was kind of wondering how you would feel when the nerve block medicine ends. Glad it was not too terribly horrible. That has me a little worried. So you are doing home PT? They asked me if I wanted to do that and the last time I did not so I wanted to give it a try again this time. But if the first time is too much I will ask for home PT. When I had the first knee done I did not have any streaming services so a friend brought a ton of DVDs over. But I don't remember how much I dozed, probably a lot. I think I have blocked out the memories from that time to some extent!
 

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