TKR Midwest Girl - Round 2 Recovery

[Celle]

The other is that when I'm doing a straight leg raise or a short quad arc exercise I can feel a snap or pop above the knee cap as if a tendon is rolling over a bone and snapping. She doesn't know what that is for sure. Maybe broke an adhesion lose or the kneecap isn't tracking correctly now.

Stop doing the straight leg raises. Once you can do them, you don't need to keep doing them. It could well be a tendon moving over the bone, in which case it will slowly settle down as all the soft tissue swelling reduces.

As for the kneecap possibly not tracking properly, I don't think that's likely. If it was tracking properly before, why would it suddenly start not doing so?

 

[midwest girl]

To add to the fun of the last few days I'm now having muscle spasms/cramps. It's in my surgical leg starting at the ankle and moving up the entire length of the calf muscle. You've never see me move so fast to whip off the blankets, polar ice and get my leg down to massage the muscle. I've had 4 now since 4:00am. So now I sit in my recliner with the polar ice on my knee and a heating pad on my calf. Let the fun continue!

 

[Timetolive]

Oh my. I am so sorry all this is happening to you! How disappointed I know you were when you saw your incision. I will second others about our bodies healing beautifully. I decided after my first scope that I really didn't care about scars. I mentioned on another thread that my father was an amputee and even when people make fun of my "fish belly white" legs, I tell them that at least I have a leg! That is how I feel about this brand new scar I have. Once our incisions heal, we will be able to massage them - getting rid of any infection (if you have any) is most important - cosmetics will come. I know that is little comfort in your distress. Please show the stapling to the doctor beforehand. He deserves to know what his PA is doing - afterall, it is HIS reputation on the line with your knee - not the PA's. I totally understand about not wanting to upset and trying to please others. That is my life. But you know what? You are ONE patient to them. THEY are your ONLY doctor/team. You deserve to be treated with respect. You chose this surgeon because you had complete confidence in him - now trust that you did a good job in choosing and voice your concerns to him. He may surprise you in how interested he is to get honest feedback from such an intelligent and caring woman. You will be in my prayers. The cramping? I have that in my upper thigh - the cat now just rolls her eyes when I roll through the den for the umpteenth time in the middle of night trying to walk it off. The husband? He just snores.........

 

[midwest girl]

To be fair to the PA she did staple the rest of the incision perfectly. It's just this one small section that got a little off track. And the incision on my right leg (which she closed) turned out fine.
My surgery and time up until Wednesday has been going better than expected. I'm sure in part because I knew what to expect this time. And I'm sure I'll get back on track soon. This is just a blip on the road of recovery. Yes, I am on antibiotics for the incision infection. I have no fever and my WBC is normal for which I'm thankful.

 

[Celle]

I agree that your surgeon needs to see your scar with the mis-aligned staples, before they are removed. He does need to see what a poor job his PA did this time - even if she's done your other knee all right, she messed up this time. Don't make excuses for her. She definitely had an "off" day, with both injection and staples.

Your surgeon does need the feedback and you're paying him after all (either directly or through your insurance) so you have a right to receive good service.

 

[Slainte]

Muscle spasms are the pits. My OS gave me a prescription for a muscle relaxer and that took care of that!

 

[Celle]

Write own everything you want to tell your surgeon, so you don't forget. Add the muscle cramps to the list.

 

[Josephine]

I have one section in my incision where the PA didn't get the staple lined up correctly and one end of the staple is actually in the middle of the incision so there's a gap. And every day there has been drainage with today being the most. And today I had the first signs of yellow in the incision.

It's okay, don't fret. What you're seeing there is just old exudate, not infection. Nothing to worry about at all.

Plus I'm sure I'll have an ugly scar.

No you won't. The joy of staples is that they do make a good scar regardless of how untidily they are applied. Within the next 6 months, your wound will look just like mine!

So now I'm going to have to ask my surgeon if he did it or his PA and say it failed. I'm dreading telling my surgeon what happened when I attempted to rise from a seated position incorrectly and potentially caused harm to my knee. He's not going to be happy. I've cried and fretted about this all evening to the point where I feel sick. Every time I think about it I start crying.

My dear, if I had a pound for every time someone has predicted a surgeon would be furious, cross, not happy, outraged or incensed, I'd be a very wealthy woman! You're making a large mountain out of two very tiny molehills! Injections do fail, it happens often, even if the surgeon himself did the injection it could fail. And people do have oopsies when getting up and the 'potential' of damaging your knee was so remote most likely your surgeon won't even take any notice of it. So do please stop getting yourself in a twizzle over some very minor issues. They're really not worth all this angst and it sounds like you doing pretty well everything considered.

 

[midwest girl]

2 week anniversary today! Yesterday I saw the OS. Both he and his PA were in the room. I still had oozing coming out of the one spot in the incision so he decided the staples must stay in another week. They both squeezed on that area to push out exudate and it was just red sera in color and they thought pretty superficial. He did note that I had a varicose vein near that spot that they "buzzed" when making the incision. She removed the staple that was in the middle of the oozing part of the incision since it was doing no good and pulled the incision together with steri strips. And then removed about 5 staples (every other one) at the top of the incision. He ordered a refill on the antibiotic to extend it an additional 10 days. Go back next Monday and hopefully have all the rest removed. I'm going on week 3 of no shower - ugh! Sponge baths dong cut it.

My new thing now is the muscle spasms/cramping in my calf. This started Saturday morning. To be safe he ordered an ultrasound to rule out DVT (which was negative). He also gave me a script for a muscle relaxer. Took one last night at bedtime, but I still had a couple of episodes of cramping. I put a heating pad on my lower calf, being aware to not get it near my knee. The heat does seem to help.

Yesterday was a long day with Doctor, then ultrasound then pt and then to Walgreens to pick up more bandages. The knee was pretty swollen by the end of the day. but ice and elevation took care of it and it looks pretty good this morning!

 

[referee54]

I'm going on week 3 of no shower - ugh! Sponge baths dong cut it.

I feel your pain. My OS had pretty much the same post surgival protocol about showering. Sponge baths were "blech" in my book.

I will tell you this---something to look forward to: your first shower, after your TKr, will feel absolutely out-of-this-world amazing! I would sit in the shower (I had a shower stool, and just luxuriate as the hot water hti me---and I would let it warm up my quads so it could actually get a great stretch.

I never felt so refreshed in my life! You will get there, I promise---hang in there---just a bit longer, and that shower will be another step toward normalcy.

 

[My knee Charlie]

Yea no shower is the pits. On my first leg I could not shower for about 12 days. On the second one. He changed the type of bandage he used Aqua something. But it was waterproof so I could shower right away. Nice!

 

[Clipless]

I would have slapped on a waterproof barrier and taken showers no matter what my OS said. I'm a rebel, and yes sometimes it gets me in trouble.

 

[Timetolive]

I am glad your appointment went well. Sorry about the cramps! Do you think the muscle relaxer is helping today? I hope your afternoon is peaceful.

 

[midwest girl]

@Timetolive the muscle relaxer is take as needed. And the majority of the time that's during the night. So I take one at bedtime. I had a couple of painful spasms last night. I'll keep taking at bedtime and I know that this too shall pass. Having occasional constipation so having to deal with that also. But it's not near as bad as it was with my right TKA. For which I'm grateful!!

 

[jmdearras]

My new thing now is the muscle spasms/cramping in my calf

I had those. Caused by aggressive PT! too many reps on a leg lift, too soon. I also was given muscle relaxants PRN

 

[foodiex2]

@Midwestgirl... I fully understand set backs in TKR all to well. This forum has been my life line. The take it slow , rest and ice a lot is the truth! We must be gentle with our selves our body just had major trama. I'm only 4 weeks out ... Not to much advice to give other than listen to your bone smart friends they are the best! And I am keeping you in my prayers


Right knee arthroscopy Feb 16 2015 TRKR Oct. 26 Rtkr.
Hematoma- result of Zarelto from 10/29/2015

 

[midwest girl]

Yep. I'm all about icing, elevating and resting. That's what I learned with my right total knee and I do even more with this knee. Overall I think this recovery is going much smoother and easier than my right knee.

 

[newlybionic]

Next time you go to your therapy session ask about how to do some calf stretches. I remember screaming in the middle of the night (scaring my dogs) and throwing blankets pillows and ice all over the floor to try to stretch my calf muscles out. I wish you a steady recovery a Happy Thansksgiving day!

 

[midwest girl]

Thanks @newlybionic! Yes, we have been doing calf stretches at each PT session. Happy thanksgiving to you also!

 

[midwest girl]

Tomorrow we are expecting a storm with ice and snow. Ugh! The thing I was dreading. Suppose to go to a friends house for lunch. They've offered to come and get me. And for PT on Friday my therapist would prefer I find a ride that way I can be let off at the door which has an overhang drive up. 2 weeks out is a little early to be tempting ice.