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PKR My recovery begins<

I have navigated getting into and out of the car. My husband bought me a strap to help me lift the leg into and out of the car. I lack enough strength to get a good enough lift at this point. I did a short drive with the husband in the car. I can do it but it's not the most comfortable thing to do. A taxi isn't a viable option, it would be really expensive because of the distance. I'm still trying to scare up a companion for the trip. It could happen. Yes, it is my left knee, so no trouble with actual pedals.
 
tdawgs said:
He was telling me that the expectations for a partial knee and a total knee are very different in regards to ROM. I'm at 60 degrees currently and he was happy with that. He said once the stitches are out, I will probably gain a little bit more since everything won't be so tight.
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I don't know where he got that little gem about the difference in ROM expectations from! I've never heard that and I can't see any reason why they should be different. While a few people do recover faster from a PKR, most PKRs take just as long to recover from as TKRs do. I've had both and, honestly, I think my PKR recovery was the hardest.

Your ROM is excellent and it will continue to improve as your knee heals and the swelling goes down.

It is a little early to be driving so if you don't feel confident, give the PT a miss. It's less dangerous to skip the PT than it is to drive if you aren't 100% sure of your strength and reaction times.
 
I cancelled PT for today but I have to make it to my post op appointment tomorrow. I need these stitches out!
 
Thank you for asking! It didn't go as planned that's for sure :sad: The drive there was fine. Uncomfortable but fine. The NP called me back and we talked for a few and she was gathering up the supplies to remove the sutures. I have no idea what kind of crazy thing they did but it wasn't straight forward sutures. There was a long suture sticking out from above and below the knee and all I could see was one other suture that needed to be clipped about midway. I was nervous as heck!

She had me lay back and she clipped the one and pulled the one from below the knee. It stung a bit and it felt weird but it was out pretty quick. Then she moved to the top one. I think she must have had to clip something up there also and then she started to pull. I became drenched with sweat and I was about to vomit. If I hadn't been laying down I would have fainted! She had to stop. She had brought another nurse in to help and talk to me and try to keep me calm. It didn't work. She couldn't finish because I was too distraught and in too much pain. Since I had come by myself they couldn't give me anything. We rescheduled to finish this on Friday when my husband can come with me and I can go in fully medicated. A friend who's a nurse suggested I ask for an Ativan to take prior to going in so that I'm not so nervous. I think that's a fabulous idea!

She also sent me for an Ultrasound to check for a DVT, which I'm assuming is normal since I haven't heard from anyone yet. She did it to be cautious because when she was examining me I was tender in my calf. However, I had really extensive bruising and it's taking a good long time to heal. It's still bruised looking and very tender in some areas. She figured it was from the bruising but wanted to be 100% certain it wasn't anything more.

As for the progress that I'm making, they were very pleased! She was amazed that my knee is almost straight! The PT measured it at a 2 but when I did it for the NP she thought it was even better than that. My ROM has increased to 66 from 60 on Saturday. When she looked at it today it was even better she said, probably because I had been to PT earlier in the day and had loosened it up some more.
 
Sorry to read you'll have to go back and that you had a hard time with the suture removal. :sad:
You are a very strong person, no meds, the drive back and the pain onsite! I am in admiration!
Hope that today you are able to relax and take some :sleep: rest.
Hang in there! It will get better :friends:
 
Thanks for the nice words! I took a good nap once I got home yesterday afternoon and I fell asleep pretty early last night. Today I got my son off to school and fell back to sleep for 2 more hours!! Today is a day of rest, ice and elevation. Maybe later I'll do some of my exercises.
 
I'm sorry you had such a bad time with suture removal @tdawgs . I hope that Friday goes better for you.

It sounds as if the suturing you had was rather unusual. Do you have any photos you can show us?
 
Celle said:
Do you have any photos you can show us?
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I wish I did! After it's all said and done on Friday, I'm going to ask what they call it. Honestly right now I can't even think about it without getting very sick to my stomach. My approach to this is to just go in heavily medicated and get it over with. I'm so very nervous!
 
The past several days I've been getting shooting pains through my knee. Anyone else get this? Normal healing process? Doesn't last long but man it hurts when it happens!!


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I think the shooting pains are from nerves trying to repair themselves. Lot of people get them. They do shock you though, don't they? We call them zingers.
 
That's exactly what it feels like! Ouch they do smart!!!


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I get those "zingers" too. It seems to come in batches, I will be fine for awhile then for 30 minutes they'll be zapping me on and off. They do hurt , luckily they are short zaps!
 
Today I had to do a little driving and of course my knee did a little swelling. So I'm in the recliner with the ice pack and I'm elevated as much as possible. When I went to the bathroom a bit ago I noticed my knee was really warm! It's not red at all. Just very warm. I have an appointment tomorrow. Hoping this is normal. It happened during my last PT appointment also.


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tdawgs said:
There was a long suture sticking out from above and below the knee and all I could see was one other suture that needed to be clipped about midway.
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What you have had is called a subcuticular stitch which means it's put in just below the surface of the skin like so

[Bonesmart.org] My recovery begins<


Some surgeons will use a dissolvable suture for this, others will use a non-dissolving nylon material which has to be removed. The biggest problem with this is that at the end the suture has to be perfectly straight so it slides out smoothly but if there's anything of a kink in it, it will be very difficult to remove.

Plus side is that as long as that which is showing outside the skin is trimmed off, the rest can be left without any danger to you at all. This is the self-same material that used to repair a hernia or a tendon and causes no harm left inside.

I had the same thing happen when I had a lump removed from my forearm though it that case, the surgeon had tethered it with a small knot (which sounds very like yours too) and when the nurse cut the knot one end, she cut it right off! So she tried the other end and did exactly the same thing! However, I wasn't bothered because, as I said before, this nylon suture is quite safe left inside us. But eventually, about 3 weeks later, one end extrude from the healed wound and I was able to grab it will a tweezer and it slid out fine. This could very well happen to you too. Funny things these subcutic sutures!

tdawgs said:
I noticed my knee was really warm! It's not red at all. Just very warm. Hoping this is normal. It happened during my last PT appointment also.
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It's normal in that it's a sign of a grossly overworked knee. Obviously I don't know the detail but it sounds to me like your PT is having you do far too much.
 
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Thank you for the information about the sutures. We're going to try again today with plenty of pain medication and a little Ativan for calm nerves. I hope we can get this over with quickly!! My husband is home and he's taking me to the appointment.

As for the PT, I had a PT assistant with my last session. I don't care for her very much actually. She did a bit of manipulation that I didn't like and I asked her to stop. She was pushing down to straighten the leg. I'm pretty straight. My last measurement was at 2. And she was giving me a hard time about how I couldn't do a straight leg raise yet. I told her at home I had done it a couple times but I thought my muscle was pretty tired at this point. My next 2 appointments are with the PT who I have worked with previously. He's really good and a lot less pushy.
 
Glad your husband will be there to take you - scary for you but you will be happy when it's done! Hope it goes well.


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So everything went well. I arrived with an Ativan and 2 Percocet on board! I had to be wheeled into the office because I was too tipsy. The assistant helped to get the steri strips off first and then they brought in an ice pack and had me sit with that for 10 min. I have a friend who works in that office, she came in to talk with me and keep me calm. They had me lay back and the NP pulled it out. It smarted some but it was no where near as painful as the first time. Thankful we can move past this little hiccup in healing.

However, today at PT I was in a lot more pain than normal. I can tell my swelling is up and I lost 10 degrees in ROM. That concerns me a bit. Not sure what's going on. I didn't like my PT assistant today. Apparently he didn't think I was going to show up. I ran a few minutes late because the Valet parking attendant wasn't out front of the building. I told the security guy there was no way I could park and walk in. He allowed me to just park it in the circle. So by the time I got all the way down to the PT department I was about 10 min late, then he didn't come out for another 10 min. Basically I had a 10 min PT session which was a waste of my time. So I'm home with my ice pack and putting it up on a few pillows. I did get the okay to start bearing more weight.


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