Become an Insider

TKR May I have some cheese with that whine?

Good Job! Yes, being off of work during recovery does have its advantages. It's a stiff price to pay, though. Hope you feel ready to go tomorrow.
 
Hi y'all,

I've overdone it again! :boohoo: Go figure! :sigh: Yesterday was my first time in my swimming pool. The temperature in the pool finally got to where I would go in. Stretching in the pool is so much easier, but I kind of over did it! :hairpulling: I had to take pain medication to get to sleep last night. :cry: I despise pain medication and the side effects :yikes: that come along with it, but have to take them from time to time. :shrug:

I love my PT. :kittykiss: She saw me come into her office this morning and knew right away. :no-fin: She asked me what I had done to get such a swollen knee. I told her the story and she said that she sees people overdoing it from time to time. She had me slowly ride the bike for 10 min and do a couple of stretches then the rest of the session was massage and ice. I bet she spent 30 minutes just massaging my hamstrings, calf and quads. The massage made me feel SOOOO much better! :happydance: Usually we do other exercises, but she didn't want to anger my knee more that I had already made it. She told me to go home, rest, elevate and ice today. She also tole me not to do anything but rest today.

I know to slow down, but I think I need a few more times of banging my head on the wall to get it. :headbang:

Okay I think I've got it for now...ice, elevate and rest!!! Light stretching, too! :groan: Let's see how long it will last this time! :blush:

Thanks for letting me spill! :flwrysmile:
 
Well, I guess you wouldn't have known unless you tried. Sorry you have to suffer the repercussions of fun. Your PT sounds like such a wise woman--glad you found someone like her. One thing I have noticed is that, even though I may overdo a lot, I recover faster each week. Now, settle in with some ice for a while.
 
I know what you mean, ds. My sleep has improved over all, but i still wake myself up at night since I am a tosser and turner, and sleep on bith sides and my stomach more than my back. I have noticed that I can now bend my leg pretty good in my sleep, and the numbness over my kneecap doesnt bother me anymore.

I hope it gets better for you soon!
 
Oh, hang in there DS! I am 6 weeks today and have had good stretches of sleep now for almost a week. Frustrating as it is, it seems very common and it does get better (are you getting sick of hearing those 2 phrases yet).

Has your knee calmed down after your day at the pool?
 
Thanks, 50yrold!

My knee is a little bit better. If it wasn't for the PT yesterday and her massage I don't think it would have been better. Thank you for asking, Ready! :kittykiss:

Sorry, I'm having my pity party today. :sigh: It may be in response to the set back or the lack of sleep. I don't want to do anything, not even my home stretches. :sad: It is raining outside. I am tired of the rain also. I want a good sunny day! We had sunny days before and after I returned home from the hospital, but now that I can get into the swimming pool I have only been able to get into the pool one time. It also rained later that day. I better stop before I monopolize my writing with everything negative and nothing positive. :doh:
 
DS, it sounds like a great day to take off from your normal PT, and just do gentle stretches and slides. When I overdo it, which is on my office PT days, I may take the next day off, and just do my stretches and slides. My PT is okay with it and knows how hard I work it on my on days. It's worked for me!
 
Thanks 50yrold! :) I am having a better day today. It isn't much better, but it is better. I have PT today and haven't really done much the last couple of days. My knee isn't cooperating and the setback is getting me down. ROM is not the problem. The aching and pain is what is getting me. I was hoping that by this time I would either get used to the pain and get some sleep or that the pain would be better by now. Oh well! :sad:

Have an absolutely awesome day! :flwrysmile:
 
Yep, I am with you. You should read my post from this a.m. on my thread. You'll see we are experiencing the same. Just a few more weeks, I'm told, and we will be better than before the surgery, from a pain standpoint. I just feel for those folks who do no PT until about now in the process. It seems like it really prolongs the process!
 
Remind us what you're taking for pain. You're only a month out so you should be taking something.
 
Hi Kneeper :)

Trust me I am not fussing at you, I just don't see how the pain medication helps. :what: I guess I shouldn't have described my uncomfortableness as pain this morning. It was only pain on Sunday night and slightly Monday and at night also. I guess I was still throwing my pity party this morning. To finally answer your question, I take 400 mg of Celebrex for inflammation and 325 mg of aspirin (Ecotrin) 2 times per day for blood clot prevention. I am to take the Ecotrin for 6 weeks after surgery then stop.

Today I am 34 days on the other side of surgery. :yay: I stopped taking pain medication 12 days after surgery. I was on dilaudid and morphine IR. Not together, dilaudid then morphine IR. Pain medications were doing a number on my potty habits and making me not feel the pain necessary to stop me over doing physical therapy!!! :sad: I was not experiencing pain only aggravation from stiffness and swelling so I stopped taking the pain medication. :hissy: My OS was okay with me not taking pain medication. He released me to drive at 2 weeks and I have been doing so ever since. I haven't driven far yet, but it gets me out of the house and back to some normalcy. I take myself to physical therapy (one mile), the grocery store (one mile) and to Wal Mart (one and a half miles). At both the grocery store and Wal Mart I ride on the motorized carts to not over do my outing experience. I have a temporary disabled parking permit so I don't walk a far distance from the parking lot to the stores. I stopped walking with an aide (crutch) except on a couple of occasions a week ago Monday.

I have Vicodin from the arthroscopy in February 2013 which I didn't take, because I didn't have any pain after that surgery. I only had swelling from the surgery. I used crutches for a day and a half after surgery. Vicodin affects me like the dilaudid and morphine I took after TKR. I took one Vicodin Sunday night after the stretching session I had in the pool, because I just couldn't get to sleep from the swelling/pain. When I go back to the OS July 31st I will ask him for Ultram for the nights my pain becomes difficult so that I can get more sleep or for when I over do it.

I understand for people who have pain that pain medication is necessary, but I usually don't see the aggravation of swelling and stiffness as pain. I also don't understand even after reading the thread that Josephine sent me and her asking me to read again how pain medication can help me deal with swelling and stiffness even though they are not anti-inflammatory drugs. :sorry: When I was on the pain medication and doing my PT I was over doing my therapy making me stay swollen. I didn't feel the pain which would make me stop the physical therapy exercises until there was too much pain for the pain medication and I was really over doing the physical therapy. This is what was making me keep the swelling that made my ROM not change much. If you can help me understand how pain medication will help me with the swelling and stiffness then I may take some pain medication. I just don't see taking pain medication for the sake of taking pain medication with all the side effects I have to deal with.

Today at physical therapy my ROM was 125/3 without pain medication. The PT was extremely happy with these numbers even though I only rested, iced and elevated for two days after my over stretching incident on Sunday. She may not have been happy with straightening to 3 but I was.

I appreciate all the assistance that people on this site have given to me. :kittykiss: This site is extremely valuable. My thoughts of how things would be after surgery were WAY off base. :shocked: I am glad that I found this site to see what to expect and to see how others are dealing with their TKR issues. :) I see that others are going through way more than I am so I also want to offer support. I also appreciate the care and concern from the people who have assisted me in this journey.

Thank you for caring enough to respond to my thread. :flwrysmile:
 
I'm not trying to push pain meds. (we just have a lot of people who feel they *shouldn't* take meds and stop before they need to.)
If you can deal with it with what you're taking more power to you. I understand your reasoning regarding pain meds & then winding up overdoing the PT.

I don't know how, but the (non-NSAID) pain meds did help me with the stiff, tight feeling in those first weeks. but your celebrex is probably helping somewhat.

Sounds like the PT is going well now. Great numbers. :ok: (Not that we should obsess about the numbers. ):wink:

And I understand sometimes you just need to vent. I know we keep saying it, but this recovery is a marathon. The knee will take its own good time.:wink:
 
Hey Kneeper,

I hope that I didn't offend you. :sorry: I really do appreciate the concern. :console2: Sorry for the tantrum. :tantrum: I am frustrated and anxiously anticipating my return to the Ortho Surgeon and work (TMI - and am on that time of the month). :hissy:
Thank you :flwrysmile:
 
Good for you daughter stalker, I am happy that it went well for you. That was a really long day for being out and about. Very encouraging to the rest of us
 
PT was not good for me because I had a substitute today . :sad: I really didn't like her either. I also didn't get my knee massaged. I can really tell the difference between when I get massaged and when I don't. :boohoo: The substitute is not trained/certified in massage therapy so she couldn't do it. I usually don't get knee massaged until after I do my exercises. If I would have known I would have requested to be with someone else. What a let down. :sigh: My PT will be back on Monday. :yay:

We had a beautiful sunny day today. :dancy: I am over all the rain we have been receiving. Rain is nice, but every day for the last week and a half? :what: It is almost as if I were living in Birmingham, Alabama in the summer time again! I loved growing up in Birmingham, but since I've lived here in Florida and have become accustomed to the 45 minute afternoon showers with the rest of the day being beautiful, I am now spoiled. I got a chance to get into the swimming pool this afternoon. :yay: I didn't over do the stretching this time. I just went in to relax since I was worked out at PT without a massage. PT was not too much, but enough to make me almost tell her no on the last exercise. I guess you can tell that I really believe in massage therapy. Massage therapy sure has helped me!!! :yes!:

Have a wonderful evening and weekend, all! :flwrysmile:
 
Sleep! Where are you??? :what: This issue makes me nuts! :hairpulling: I am 5 1/2 weeks out and am still having a hard time with sleeping. :sigh: Before surgery I slept with my legs elevated and on my side. I know it sounds strange, but I did and all was fine. Now I come home and try to sleep elevated on my back, on my side elevated or flat and find that it is quite difficult. I end up having to place my legs flat instead of elevated. I had my right knee replaced and am a left side sleeper.

I wake many times a night to find a comfortable position to sleep. :boohoo: I use a body pillow between my knees and my knees are both bent at the same angle to start. If I move one of them slightly out of the same angle then this is when I start having problems. I've even resorted sometimes to sleeping on my right side and not allowing my legs to be even between the pillow. Kind of like scissor sleeping, but that doesn't last long. I end up on my back and this is not easy either.

Okay...here is a shocker :yikes: for those who have heard me say that I don't like taking pain medication!!! :rolleyes: The last two nights I have given in and taken pain medication to try to sleep. :shocked: I end up sleeping about 4 hours straight then wake to find that I am in a different position then when I fell asleep. I then try to find a comfortable position to no avail. I keep trying to find a comfortable position until I am so tired that I fall back asleep anyway. I wake many times after the initial 4 hours until I finally get up which is usually about 4 hours later. At least for the last couple of nights I actually got 4 hours straight of sleep. :doh: I need to be knocked out for 8 hours straight to even feel like myself again!!! :rotfl:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Corganics CBD
Active Antimicrobial Hydrogel

Staff online

  • Jamie
    Jamie
    Staff member since Feb, 2009
  • benne68
    benne68
    Staff member since February 4, 2022

Members online

Total: 3,325 (members: 4, guests: 3,321)

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom